2019 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 267-278
In this paper, using the comparative history of Japan and the UK during three periods, the author discusses the content of science curricula according to theories of knowledge. Who has decided the content of teaching and learning, including knowledge of/in science and about science? Which criteria has been discussed for selecting those contents? As a result, science (rika) education should be regarded as a product/phenomenon of the social and historical contexts in which science educators have historically endeavored. The content of teaching and learning in our contemporary era, the author proposes, should be decided and selected based on the purposes of science education, as well as the knowledge and competencies that students will be expected to develop and acquire through this education. To do so, it is necessary to discuss the “noosphere” based on arguments that fully involved not only academia, but also science, industry, and society in general. Finally, the author argues that the definitions of the separate subject curriculum and the discipline-centered curriculum where science (rika) is a school subject traditionally based on natural science should be re-interpreted to take into account globalization and contemporary contexts.
