International > CAIP > Events > Summer 1998

The ICSU Program for Capacity Building in Science

by Molly Maguire Teas
ICSU

First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank AAAS and CAIP for inviting me to give this talk. I also want to thank the National Academy of Sciences, and in particular, Wendy White, who has not only supported this program from the outset but who has also generously housed the Secretariat for the past year. Since this is a new program, I am glad to have the chance to talk to a wider audience about what we hope to achieve. I would like to start by giving you some background on how the program came about and then talk briefly about the program itself.

BACKGROUND

In 1993, ICSU established the Committee on Capacity Building in Science, chaired by Dr. Leon Lederman, of the FERMILAB in Batavia, Illinois, to provide a visible role and voice in capacity building for ICSU. The mandate of the program is to focus on activities in developing or non-industrialized countries. This past year, a Secretariat, was opened and work on the program began.

The core of the program is the underlying belief that the capacity to understand, utilize and create scientific and technological knowledge is an essential requirement for economic and social development. Science-based skills fuel economic growth, and individuals benefit when they are able to take advantage of new technologies for increased production, better environmental practices, global communication and improved health care.

The program reflects the belief that capacity building begins with schools. There is strong evidence that shows that a high quality science education, as part of a broad curriculum, strengthens the already multiple, positive outcomes of schooling. These outcomes, particularly for girls, include economic benefits as well as such non-market benefits as reduced fertility and infant and child mortality, improved nutrition and health care practices.

Yet the quality of elementary education, particularly science education, is very poor in most developing countries. Too often, students do not even gain a rudimentary understanding of basic science because of a shortage of trained teachers, lack of even the simplest materials and reliance on rote memorization.

India and Brazil, two countries currently under consideration as pilot countries for program activities, illustrate the problem. In India, nearly half of enrolled children in the country drop out by the end of grade 5, and the rate is disproportionately higher for girls and the poor. Further, the bulk of the education budget goes toward secondary and higher education at the expense of the elementary level [1]. Teaching training takes place in large groups, and special training for science, such as in "hands-on" activities, or using locally available materials for science projects, is nearly non-existent in the public school system.

The situation in Brazilian schools is not much better. While primary enrollment rates increased dramatically in the past twenty years, "…the expansion of coverage was associated with a dramatic decline in completion rates because the system was unable to offer adequate quality schooling to a larger and more diverse pool of students…In Brazil, about 36 percent of students ever complete the eight grade primary cycle…In the lowest quality primary schools, generally found in Brazil’s poorest districts, many teachers have themselves not completed primary school. Teachers cannot teach what they do not know. School shifts of less than four hours are not common, schools lack basic facilities, and have few books or other learning materials" [2]. Meanwhile, as in India, the best Brazilian schools maintain high quality by international standards.

Program Objectives and Plan for Action

It is in this context or poor educational quality in developing countries that the three program objectives were created. They are:

  • Improve the quality of science teaching and learning, beginning with the primary level;
  • Promote the public understanding of science;
  • Reduce the isolation of scientists.

Teach Science

The program will focus on improving science education and promoting the public understanding of science through two initiatives - a new Internet web site, and a volunteer program for scientists.

First, the web site. The purpose of the site, called Teach Science, is to promote information transfer in science and technology education, particularly in developing countries. No such site is known to exist at this time. Currently, teachers and scientists in developing countries with access to the Internet must rely on sites geared to American or European scientists and educators - information likely to be inappropriate for their own situation.

It is recognized that Internet connectivity may be years away for most people in developing countries, but the situation is changing quickly. For example, Brazil recently invested in thousands of new computers for public schools. But in order for these computers to work for students, teachers need training in how to use them, and access to Internet sites appropriate to their own classrooms.

The new web site will include a variety of information for science educators and scientists including: examples of lessons plans tested for effectiveness, ideas for utilizing locally available materials for science projects, journal articles, and professional development information.

The site will also include a "Newsroom" with newsworthy items in science education and press releases. Provision of press-ready copy will make it easier for news organizations to collect and transmit stories about science. This is one way we hope to work with the media to raise the profile of science and science education in developing countries.

The Science Corps

The mission of the Science Corps is to create partnerships between volunteer scientists and teachers, children and the public. This innovative new program will address each of the program objectives and is based on lessons learned from similar volunteer programs around the world (e.g. Science Hotline and Let’s Talk Science in Canada), and from lessons of international education research.

The Science Corps will take advantage of the ICSU structure, where, except for a few small coordinating secretariats, the organization is made up entirely of volunteer scientists. ICSU can marshal the scientifically and technologically trained personnel, in country, to assist in schools and teacher training institutes.

Let me stress that Science Corps volunteers will be recruited locally to work in their own communities and countries. Special efforts will be made to recruit female volunteers, who can be particularly effective in encouraging girls and women’s participation in science. Volunteers can work for a few hours a month or a few hours per week, depending on their time and interest. When possible, the program will support long-term partnerships between scientists and schools by pairing scientists with area science teachers to work individually and repeatedly with these teachers and their classes during the entire academic year.

Volunteer activities will include:

  • Scientists in the classroom, talking about what scientists do and how they do it or giving demonstrations or fields trips
  • Teacher professional development, for example, providing demonstrations on how to incorporate hands-on learning in the classroom, or how to use locally available materials for experiments.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, we intend to begin our work with pilot programs. We are also making a significant effort to assess other similar programs and lessons of experience from around the world. We do not want to reinvent the wheel. Any thoughts or experiences you might have, scientific or otherwise, would be welcomed.

Endnotes

1. Teas, Molly, "India Public Expenditure Reivew, Sector Report: Education", The World Bank, South Asia Country Department II, Population and Human Resources Division, December 21, 1993.

2. Birdsall, Nancy and Sabor, Richard H. Eds. Opporunity Foregone: Education in Brazil. The Inter-Ameican Development Bank, Washington, DC. 1996, pp. 23-24

1998 Summer Meeting Papers

Education and Capacity Building
Shirley Malcom

Sustainable Development and the Environment
Walter Reid

Infectious Diseases and Public Health
James Hughes

ICSU Capacity Building Program
Molly Teas

Status and Trends in World Science
Maurizio Iaccarino