Senior Secondary Science is a two-year programme designed for learners who have completed Junior Secondary education. It is designed to provide learners with scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for understanding and responsible participation in the society. It also prepares the learners for tertiary education, vocational training and provides them with foundation skills for employment.

Subjects for the Senior Secondary programme are categorised into groups: coreand optional. All the Science subjects fall into one optional group: Sciences. There are four forms of Science offered in the group and learners are expected to choose one.

These are:

• Science : Single Award
• Science : Double Award
• Pure Sciences (Biology, Physics and Chemistry);
• General Science (only offered to private candidates)

The Science : Single Award syllabus consists of one third of the Pure Science syllabi ; Biology , Chemistry and Physics giving it an equivalent of one subject.

 Rationale

The Science Programme for the two years of senior secondary education is expected to facilitate the holistic development of the learner in a global context. The programme intends to instil a sense of appreciation for science and to make sure that the learners can cope in a technologically changing world. The programme will help learners to explore and apply the scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired to address environmental, social, economic and political issues in their day-to-day lives. Through this programme learners will get an opportunity to explore and understand the natural world (life processes, physical phenomena and nature of substances).

Science is an experimental discipline and its method of inquiry allows learners to appreciate the practical impact of Science on their lives and society as a whole. The Science programme will equip learners with skills that will be of long term value and encourage them to participate in lifelong learning. In the process the learners will exercise their creativity and develop skills such as critical thinking, innovativeness, communication, analysis, observation, recording, drawing conclusions, making judgements.

The syllabuses will also expose learners to the practical applications of Science. This will contribute towards popularising Science and developing an interest in, and positive attitudes towards Science among all learners.

The Senior Secondary Science syllabuses recognise the importance of offering key concepts and principles of Science in Physics, Chemistry and Biology to provide learners with a more unified view of the Sciences and awareness of the connections among them and technology.

Recommended teaching methods

• The syllabus encourages a learner-centred approach as emphasised in the curriculum blueprint. This involves laying emphasis on science process skills, problem-solving skills, and the acquisition of hands-on experience which should increase the participation and performance of all groups e.g. groups of different abilities, learners with special needs, girls and boys.
• Teachers should approach the teaching-learning process in a learner-centred way. A variety of methods to achieve this should be used e.g. inquiry, demonstration, practical work, project work, case study, field trips, discussions, computer guided learning etc.
• In order to facilitate a learner-centred approach there should be pre-planning of activities to be done and there should be adequate working space to accommodate these activities.
• Teaching methods should expose learners to practical applications of Science in everyday life. Learners should be presented with opportunities to do practical work. The local environment should be used to provide context to the syllabus.
• Science should be presented in an interesting and challenging way that should popularise it and encourage learners to opt to pursue Science and Science-related fields for careers.

Assessment Objectives

Science experiences to be provided to learners should aim to cover the following domains: knowledge and understanding; handling information, application and solving problems; investigation and experimental skills and attitudes in Science. These domains should provide guidance in assessment of learners.

Learners should be able to demonstrate:-

Assessment

To ensure that learners attain the set aims, the course will be assessed through a variety of continuous assessment techniques. Projects, tests, experiments, surveys etc. will be used. The outcome of these will be used to improve instruction and guide progression.

At the end of the course a terminal examination will be administered. Continuous assessment in the form of course work will also contribute to certification. Where it is not possible to offer course work, alternative papers to test the same knowledge, skills and attitudes will be used.

Examination syllabuses will be developed by the examining body to provide teachers with guidelines on objectives to be tested.

Organisation of the syllabus

The syllabus is divided into three sectionsPhysics, Chemistry and Biology. Each section is organised around broad content areas subdivided into topics. Each topic consists of general objectives which give rise to specific objectives. The specific objectives describe what learners are expected to do. These objectives are divided into Coreand Extended. The extended specific objectives are highlighted in bold italics. All learners are expected to follow Corespecific objectives. The extended specific objectives provide more challenging work for those learners who can benefit from it.

At the beginning of the syllabus, details about experimental and investigation skills needed to carry out practical work have been identified. These skills should be applied through out the Science course.

The Science : Single Award syllabus has been developed on the assumption that it will be allocated a minimum of 160 minutes per week. Each section of the syllabus has been designed to be completed in approximately 45 hours of teaching time.