INTRODUCTION
The global economy and environment of the 21st century have created both challenges and opportunities for teaching and
learning in science education. The developments in technology, transformed perspectives on environment and human
roles and activities in shaping the future, the many problems and challenges faced by nations and people with regard to
sustainability and survival, the emergence of new technology to affect almost every aspect of life, the increase call for
accountability and political involvement in social responsibility, environmental and educational sectors, and the need to
educate a more diverse population in a highly competitive world with limited resources and insurmountable conflicts have
given rise to new paradigms and incentives in science education. One of the salient drivers of the transformed
opportunities and challenges for teaching and learning in science is the education arms race which is driving nations to
compete against each other on students’ performance in the sciences. Currently, the United States with its great economic
wealth finds itself in a position where many less politically and economically prominent nations are ahead in science
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literacy or scientific literacy at all levels. For example, in 2007 and 2009, international comparative reports found that the
United States ranked far below many nations in science achievement among elementary and secondary school children.
The realization that science education is critical to economic growth has led the United States government and
other governments across the globe including those of China, Finland, among others to focus on scientific literacy across
the board as a competitive educational strategy that promises high technological, social, and economic returns. Thus, the
recognition of science education as indispensable to national and global competitiveness and progress has increased over
the last few decades, especially after the cessation of the value decade (1990-2000), when phenomena such as global
warming, change in climatic patterns and resulting natural disasters across the globe, increased understanding of linkages
between human activities and environmental degradation as the green revolution garnered more serious attention from
various stakeholders. Science education, especially as connected with environmentalism, economy and survival, has
therefore acquired more prominent attention in both policymaking and national-global strategic spheres and initiatives.
This has added new incentives to the call for changed approaches to science education from philosophical, pedagogical,
methodological and practical perspectives.