Science education is important for all ages

The curriculum outlines the important ideas we think all students should learn about science. It has taken two years to develop and has involved the most extensive consultative process seen in Australian education. Teachers, scientists, academics, bureaucrats, parents and members of the community have all had the opportunity to have their say on what is important.

Thousands and thousands of people have discussed and contributed to what it should be. While some people will be disappointed that their particular views have not been included in the way initially intended, all voices have been heard.

There have been a number of major challenges in developing the curriculum. The first is the obvious one of creating a single curriculum - there are now eight throughout the country, each with its own history and culture.

Second is the challenge of addressing the declining student interest in science. Third, there is the imperative to realistically determine the relevant and most important science ideas for our students, where science knowledge is changing and expanding at a phenomenal rate.

There are three major strands outlined in the document: science inquiry skills, science as a human endeavour and science understanding. All are of equal importance but some sub-strands and the concepts they contain may require varying learning times to achieve.

Most people would appreciate the importance of science understanding and science inquiry skills in a curriculum. Science is a way of answering interesting questions about the world in which we live.

The inquiry skills provide the process by which the answers are found. And the answers determine the science understanding.

Perhaps the more intriguing strand is the science as a human endeavour. In this strand, students appreciate the relationship between science and society.

It emphasises the impact of contemporary science and the work of scientists, past and present. The curriculum has been developed around a number of big science ideas. Called the unifying ideas, they have been introduced to the relevant level of schooling.

So, for young children, the value of observation, order and change are introduced.

While older primary-school children begin to understand the value of patterns, systems, relationships and evidence, high-school students understand the ideas of sustainability, interdependence, models and theories.

The Australian Science Curriculum will provide the basis for students learning science in meaningful ways. With the support of teachers, they will develop their science understanding and skills so they can function effectively in a scientifically and technologically advanced society.

It is important for all Australian students to learn science.

As a result of the new curriculum and their teachers, students will be able to make decisions based on scientific evidence and reasoning about the environment and their own health and wellbeing, which will benefit each person and the nation.

* Emeritus Professor Denis Goodrum is from the Australian Academy of Science and project director of the educational resource Science by Doing.