Status of Reforms in Science Education in the Arabic Educational Systems in light of International Trends

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the major international movements of developments and reforms in science curricula, programs, approaches and projects which have influenced the educational systems in developed and developing nations. The study also aimed at investigating the scope of the effectiveness of reform and development movements in the Arab Region in science education and to shed light on the status of these reforms. The results of the study revealed that the major and the more widespread influencing movements in most nations including the Arabic ones were: the movement of interaction among Science, Technology and Society )STS(, Project )2061( Science for All, Project Scope, Sequence, and Coordination )SS and C(, National Science Education Standards )NSES(, Trends in International Mathematics and Science )TIMSS(, the Program for International Student Assessment )PISA(, and Next Generation Science Standards )NGSS(. The major contributions accomplished by Arab Educational Systems, where )Pisa( assessments and )TIMSS( exams. The participation of the Arab countries in such international evaluation studies is considered to be a great contribution and a brave positive step towards change and development. However, the results of these studies were disappointing as the level of the accomplishment of students in science and mathematics was lower than the international level in all the years between 1995 until 2015. The study concluded with questioning the efforts of reform and development in teaching and learning science’ claiming that it failed to accomplish the required goals. The study also necessitated reconsidering these projects of reform and development in order to activate the reform spirit under a new slogan, which could be called ”Reform of the Reform“.