Educology

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Within traditional home education in many parts of

Nigeria, there are some unquestionably harmful traditional

practices. In this educological study, some of these

practices are identified, and the underlying traditional

rationale for the practice is explicated. The deleterious

consequences of the practice are enumerated in terms of the

undesirable effects on the individual, the family, the nation

at large and the process of national development. Finally,

some measures necessary for eradication of these practices

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are outlined.

Nigeria is bedevilled with a number of harmful home

education practices. They are harmful both to individuals

and to the process of national development. Some of these

include early marriages, female circumcision, male child

preference, child labour and begging assistance.

What makes these traditional home education practices

harmful? For the large part, the practices constitute

physical and mental abuse of children. In the context of this

study, children are taken to be individuals from birth to 14

years of age. Child abuse within the context of this study is

taken to be any practice which is detrimental to the child’s

well rounded development, including their physical,

emotional, conative and intellectual development. Abuse

encompasses both overt abuse and negligent treatment of

children.

In the Workshop on “Child Labour in Africa” (1986)

held at Enugu, a number of child abuse issues were

identified. The issues included, not only the onerous

conditions and consequences of child labour, but also

deleterious practices used in childbirth and in rearing and

caring for infants and young children.

It was acknowledged at the Workshop that most

women, even those in urban settings, preferred home

delivery to hospital delivery. It has been part of their home

education that girls are taught that home delivery is the best,

and it continues to be a tradition with which women feel

comfortable. There is nothing inherently harmful in home

deliveries, but in Nigerian home deliveries, it has been

typical that local traditional implements are used in the

process. Blades are typically unsterilized. Sometimes, not

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knives, but blades of grass are used to cut the child’s

umbilical cord. Such practices introduce easily avoidable

infection and jeopardise the life of the newborn child with

fatal diseases such as tetanus.

The pattern of child abuse has continued, the Workshop

acknowledged, with the practice of handing care of the

newborn child over to an inadequately trained and qualified

house maid. The maid may never have had any previous

experience in child care. The mental and physical condition

of the maid is hardly known. Because it is a low paid and

low status job, the maid typically originates from a

disadvantaged situation with little formal schooling and may

have suffered malnutrition and may carry a set of

debilitating infectious diseases such as malaria and

tuberculosis. The child is consequently abused by being

negligently exposed to inadequate care and infectious

diseases.

The pattern of abuse has continued with the widespread

practice of female circumcision. Girls at the threshold of

puberty have traditionally been circumcised as a mark of

their maturity and traditional identity as mature women.

Girls have traditionally been taught through home education

within their families that it is right and proper to be

circumcised. While many dread it, many girls also

anticipate their circumcision with pride, for it marks their

entry into womanhood and their acceptance as an adult

woman. Practices vary, but the labia or clitorus or both may

be surgically removed in a female circumcision. This is

traditionally done without anaesthetics, antiseptics or

antibiotics. Traditionally very elderly women, who have no

appreciation of the dangers of infection from unsterilized

instruments, perform the circumcision. The girls are held

down, and the old women cut away. The complications can

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be horrendous. They include fatal loss of blood, death from

shock, fatal infections, extensive scarring, complications in

child birth and extreme pain during sexual intercourse.

Another area of traditional abuse of children has been

that of agricultural labour. Through home education,

children are taught that they have an obligation to their

parents to generate income for the family. Poverty stricken

parents have hired out their children as farm hands to earn

money for the family. It has been typical for the children to

be terribly exploited. They have been overburdened,

overworked and underfed or malnourished. In some cases,

they have been indentured, i.e. sold into an extended period

of work which closely resembles slavery.

A practice related to child labour has been that of using

children for begging. The children have traditionally been

used as assistants to help a blind beggar collect money.

Some parents have made available their children, especially

their girls, to beggars as assistants, and in return, they are

compensated with a small fee from the beggar’s takings.

The children involved have been deprived of schooling and

exposed to numerous hazards and risks, including injury

from traffic accidents, sexual assault and rape, exposure to

weather and infections. Pneumonia is a not uncommon

health hazard for begging assistants.

In addition to agricultural labour and begging assistants,

children are used by parents in street trading. Again,

children are taught in their home education that they have

the duty to assist their parents in generating income, and the

children are used in trading in the streets. Children either

assist their parents, or they set up street stalls on their own

or they simply roam the streets in the pursuit of trading

goods to people passing by. This practice often deprives the

children of their opportunity to attend school, and it exposes

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them to a wide range of dangers and hazards including

physical abuse, sexual assault and rape. There is, of course,

no harm in a mother asking her daughter to assist in her

street sales. The child abuse arises when the child is

deprived of schooling, or the child is exposed to the dangers

of sexual assault and physical abuse.

Early marriage is another harmful traditional practice.

Through home education, girls are taught that marriage is a

highly desirable, even essential achievement, and that

marriage must be achieved as early as possible. This push

for early marriage results in many girls entering into

marriage as soon as they reach puberty.

At age 13 or 14, they are still far from physically and

emotionally mature. As young wifes, they are expected to

bear children, and they themselves, through their home

education, accept and even enthusiastically embrace this

expectation. But they do not have the physical maturity to

go through the trauma of child birth. Many have prolonged

and difficult labour, and many die in the process of giving

birth.

Among those who survive, one of the most troublesome

complications is vesico virginal festula (VVF). Because the

girl does not have a fully developed pelvic region, it is not

uncommon for a girl to suffer a ruptured bladder when

giving birth. The pelvis is basically too small to

accommodate the birthing process, and the pressure from

the muscular contractions during child birth ruptures the

bladder. This can be repaired surgically, and it usually is.

But, the expectation placed upon a young wife is that she

bear several children. Repeated childbirths and repeated

rupturing of the bladder eventually results in the bladder

becoming irreparable. The bladder then leaks urine

constantly. This condition is VVF.

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Women with VVF suffer the humiliation of constantly

leaking urine and smelling of urine. Their husbands

abandon them and go marry other women. Their parents

reject them. They become social outcasts. One of the

saddest sights in Nigerian hospitals is that of young girls

with urine bags attached to them wandering the halls.

Another ugly feature of the emphasis in home education

for children to earn income for their families is that of child

prostitution. The pattern is typically that of an experienced

prostitute recruiting girls from poverty stricken parents to

engage in child prostitution. A variation of this scenario is

the situation in which certain hotels give accommodation to

homeless children in return for a percentage of the earnings

from prostitution. This is child exploitation of the most vile

kind. It virtually destroys the life chances of the child, and

it perpetuates the cycle of sexually transmitted diseases,

including the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome

(AIDS), which is rampant in Nigerian society.

Nigeria is indisputably a male dominated society, and

this male domination is manifested in home education and

in many other ways. Parents prefer to have male children

rather than females. They would rather send their sons to

school than their daughters. When they are forced by

financial circumstances to make a choice, they will even

arrange for the early marriage of their young teenage girls in

order to use the bride price or bride prize (or in western

terms, the dowry) to finance the schooling of their sons.

When wives are widowed, they are often stripped of any

claims to inheritance from their husband’s estate. There

have been many cases of the husband’s family completely

stripping the widow of all her assets and forcing her to leave

the home she shared with her husband. Picture a situation

in which a woman has had a considerable number of

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children for her husband, the husband dies, the husband’s

family forces the widow to leave and refuses to allow her to

take any assets with her, not even the property which she

acquired together with her husband. This is patently unfair,

but the husband’s family believes vehemently that this right

because they have been taught that it is right through their

traditional home education.

On the other hand, in situations in which the woman has

established an estate prior to her marriage, if she

predeceases her husband, he claims all or her estate. This is

traditional, and the belief that this is right is perpetuated

through traditional home education, even though it is again

patently unfair.

Through traditional home education, the disadvantaged

status of women is perpetuated in the consequent attitudes

of both males and females, and this cultural tradition of

disadvantaged female status undermines the national

process of economic and social development.

Realizing the economic risks and hazards of marriage,

many Nigerian women enter into matrimony with mixed

feelings. They feel ambivalent, both blessed and cursed. In

their own self defense, many women establish secret

accounts and acquire assets which they hide from their

husband as an insurance against the possibility of his

premature death. The quality of a marriage relationship is

substantially diminished when there is so much fear,

suspicion and mistrust.

Bride price, or bride prize, has already been mentioned.

This is a form of dowry in which parents of a daughter

negotiate with the prospective husband to pay an agreed

sum of wealth in the form of cash and/or assets, such as

livestock and property, in exchange for the hand of the

daughter in marriage. Through home education, bride price

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or bride prize is something which both males and females

learn to accept and expect. It is a way assuring that the

husband’s intentions are serious, that he has the wealth to

maintain a family and that the family which is handing over

the daughter receives sufficient compensation to replace the

earning power of the daughter.

The negative side of the bride price or bride prize is that

it turns the process of contracting to marry into a

commodities exchange. The daughter is reduced to goods

and chattel. It is a situation in which the woman is handed

over to the husband as if she were a cow or a goat, to be

bought and sold. Having paid a high price for his bride, the

husband sometimes thinks of his bride as a breeding cow,

and he expects her to become pregnant immediately and to

produce a male baby in the bargain, or else he will go

looking for another bride.

In addition to the onerous side of the bride price or

bride prize, through home education both males and females

learn to accept and expect that the wife’s proper role is to

remain locked in the home away from the outside world and

to remain preoccupied and contented with home duties,

child bearing, child rearing and farming. While women are

afforded the least opportunity for school and self

improvement, they are at the same time, with inadequate

preparation, assigned the task of providing the vast majority

of home education for their own children. In terms of

national development, it is a system of self perpetuation

which fails to break the inadequacies and the harm which

certain features of traditional home education engenders.

The consequences of harmful traditional home

education can be viewed from many different perspectives.

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There are individual consequences relating to the well being

of the individual child’s health, values, attitudes and

economic opportunities and chances for a well balanced,

prosperous and happy life. There are group consequences

relating to the general fairness, justice and stability which a

society might reasonably expect to achieve.

The welfare of a nation depends upon the well being of

its individuals. If a significant proportion of the individuals

who constitute the nation have been abused, made to feel

subhuman, made to be social outcasts, there are obviously

grave consequences for the well being of the society.

For the sake of both the individuals concerned and the

well being of the larger society, steps need to be taken to

eliminate child abuse in Nigerian society and especially to

improve the status of girls and women.

The situation can be improved by approaching it from

several different directions. Obviously one approach is that

of legislative reform, and this is the responsibility of the

federal government. The federal government needs to

undertake structural adjustments in its policies and

programs, e.g. make school for girls both fee free and

compulsory. With compulsory schooling, there is a

legislative basis for removing children from the streets who,

during school hours, are engaged in hawking, begging,

trading and otherwise soliciting. The laws regulating

inheritance can be reformed to include rights for wives and

women, thus giving them a firm financial basis within their

marriages and families.

In addition to legislative reforms, there needs to be the

creation of an infrastructure of agencies which have the

authority, power and resources to implement the reforms.

Agencies such as social welfare and youth services, and

organizations such as Girl Guides and Boys Brigade have

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important roles to play in the education of children, youth

and parents.

It is arguable that the Nigerian child is abused because

the Nigerian family is abused. A mother sends her child out

on the streets to hawk her wares because the family is

impoverished. A family sends its male child as an

indentured servant to work as a farm labourer because the

family is desperate for money. Young girls are hired out by

their families as house maids to earn the family much

needed income. Poverty within the family makes parents

desperate, and it leads them to abuse their children. One of

the important elements required to break this cycle of abuse

is economic development which provides new opportunities

for the parents and adults of the family to generate income.

Legislative protection, effective enforcement agencies

and policies to engender economic opportunities are but part

of this complex picture of reform. The harmful elements of

traditional home education must also be eradicated through

appropriate educational programs, and this will require

education at the community level of all members of the

family, and especially of the women. The woman is the

house wife, the mother and the child carer. Women have

always contributed hugely to the economic, social and

political life of their communities. Women are the ones

who initiate infants into the culture of their society, and this

is why so much of the matter lies in the hands of women.

Worshop on Child Abuse in Africa, Enugu, 27 April - 2 May.

Dyorough, A.E. (1986): “Beggars and Begging Assistants. The Study

of Jos Metropolis.”

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Ango and Gyuse (1987) have argued that, within the

context of Nigerian culture and schools, practical work

under the guidance of competent teachers with scientific

equipment and procedures are vital aspects of scientific

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training. They further have argued that all school science

instruction should include practical work as a substantial

proportion of the instructional program. The benefits of

practical work are many. Practical work turns abstract

concepts into concrete experiences. It engenders not only

skills which are appropriate for scientific inquiry, but it also

inculcates attitudes and conceptual perspectives which are

necessary for skilled scientific inquiry. Practical work is

especially important for Nigerian children because so many

come from backgrounds in which a scientific viewpoint and

empirical experimentation are simply not part of their

cultural heritage.

Ausubel (1968) supports this view that practical work is

extremely valuable in promoting the development of

meaning and understanding. He maintains that practical

work enhances the quality of a student’s learning. In his

words, practical work creates a “discovery-reception

continuum,” as opposed to a “meaningful rote learning”

experience. He argues that process skills, such as

measuring, observing, classifying and predicting, are crucial

for the development of a fruitful understanding of scientific

concepts and propositions and for a meaningful use of

scientific procedures for problem solving and for applying

scientific understanding to one’s own life.

It is appropriate to conceive of teaching as not only

giving guidance and providing counselling, but also as

skillfully constructing situations in which students may

engage in guided study with a view to achieving intended

learning outcomes. To this end, Ango and Gyuse (1987)

have suggested that teachers should “not do all the telling,

discussing and doing” in science classrooms. They

advocate that school teachers not only initiate action and

demonstrate skills, but also provide appropriate practical

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work and experiences for their students. In doing so,

teachers need to exercise their creativity and utilize what is

available in their environment through improvisations.

Within the context of Nigerian schools, this is a necessity

because of the scarce instructional materials, equipment and

resources available to schools. Addressing the issue of

teacher improvisation, Balogun (1982) advocates that

Nigerian school teachers look in their environment and local

setting for look alike and substitute materials. Others

concur, e.g. Olademeji (1978), Ango (1982) and Oludotun

(1986).

There are many process skills encompassed in the

conduct of scientific inquiry. It is a complicated business,

and it is not appropriate to teach all process skills at once or

to teach all of them at all age levels of students.

The concept of the spiral curriculum provides an

appropriate guide for the teaching and studying of process

skills in science. Appropriate selections of science process

skills can be taught and studied in the early years of primary

school. The young students can be given the opportunity to

to observe, handle things and explore the environment. The

basic learning which pupils achieve from these initial

experiences can be used as a basis for building a more

extensive understanding of science process skills in the later

years of primary school and on into secondary school.

Within Nigerian schools, one of the major deficiencies

which sadly arises out of the teaching and studying of

science is that students develop very limited understanding

of scientific concepts. For example, they can write a

definition for osmosis, but not associate any meaning with

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the definition. They can say and write the words, “An acid

is a proton donor,” but they attach no meaning to the words.

For the teaching and studying of science to be of

substantial value, the students must be able to apply

scientific concepts, procedures and attitudes to their wider

life. The value of learning science is greatly enhanced when

the students are lead into an extensive understanding and a

practical conception of how scientific concepts and

principles apply to themselves personally, to their families,

their communities and their nation. A restricted and narrow

understanding of science without expertise in the associated

scientific skills is an understanding with very limited value.

Lamentably, in Nigerian schools, sometimes the teacher

is the major impediment to the process of developing

scientific skills. Teachers sometimes simply lack expertise

in the science process skills themselves because of

inadequate and inappropriate training. In their preparation

to become professional school teachers, their guided studies

of science have been deficient. Also, their guided studies of

the educology of science education, i.e. knowledge about

the teaching and studying of science, have been inadequate.

Among the science process skills which should be

engendered in the teaching and studying of science are those

of measuring, observing, classifying, inferring, predicting,

communicating, interpreting data, making operational

definitions, posing questions, hypothesizing, experimenting

and formulating models. School teachers need to be expert

in these processes, and they also need to be expert in the

teaching of these processes.

From range of process skills associated with scientific

inquiry, some of the skills can be rated as being the very

basic ones. Students should be introduced to these skills

early in their school experience because so much of their

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success in subsequent guided studies requires a sound

understanding and appropriate use of these skills. This

basic set includes the skills of observing, measuring,

classifying, inferring and communicating.

For some years, Ango and a number of post graduate

students at the University of Jos in Plateau State have been

conducting educological research aimed at determining the

degree to which school teachers in Nigeria have mastered

and can use scientific process skills. This research has been

conducted on the assumption that mastery of scientific

process skills by science teachers is a prerequsite for science

teachers to be able to foster those same skills in their

students. A second assumption is that this expertise alone is

not enough to do the job adequately. Teachers must also

have expertise in the educology of science education. That

is, they must also be able to make appropriate instructional

provisions for their students to engage in effective guided

studies of scientific concepts, propositions and procedures.

The Nigerian National Policy on Education (1981:5)

properly places a significant emphasis on the importance of

students acquiring skills. The objective is stated as follows:

The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competencies

both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live in

and contribute to the development of his [sic] society.

The importance of the role of process skills in the

teaching and studying of science is widely acknowledged by

experts in the field. Brown and Jegede (1982), for example,

argue for the value of learning process skills in order to

develop expertise in problem solving. Of necessity,

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school teachers necessarily play a crucial role in assisting

students to acquire scientific process skills. There is a

prima facie case that teachers need to acquire the skills of

science in order for them to be in a position to foster the

same understanding of those skills in their students. This is

but one condition for success. The other is that teachers

must acquire expertise in the effective teaching of science.

They must know both science and the educology of science

education.

In order to make it clear what is meant by basic process

skills of science, a selection of these skills is explicated as

follows.

Communication is a critical aspect of scientific

investigation. Without it, scientific investigation would be

pointless. No one, other than the original investigator

would be able to know the results or findings of the

investigator. Thus, the skill of communication must be

included in the early stages of teaching and studying of

science. Thoughts, ideas, research findings and all sorts of

vital information need to be communicated for awareness,

learning, instruction and other purposes. There are many

means of doing so, for example, speech, writing, pictures,

diagrams, graphs, mathematical formulae, tables and

figures. The importance of communication is widely

acknowledged by experts in the field, for example,

Observation and communication ... are two process skills which are

absolutely essential if an individual is to relate to the physical

world. [AAAS Report, 1965:17]

Observation is another one of the most basic and first

used process skills of science. Almost every activity of

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science begins with observation. From nature to the test

tube and to experiments in the laboratory, observation must

be used.

A useful characterization of scientific observation is

given by Harlen (1987:183):

taking information about all things around, using the senses as

appropriate and safe; identifying similarities and differences;

noticing details and sequence; ordering observations.

Observation alone is not necessarily an accurate and

reliable activity for gathering data. Observers often “miss

seemingly obvious things” and “invent quite false

observations.” Nevertheless, the skill is valuable for and

crucial to both the process of conducting scientific inquiry

and to the process of teaching and studying the ways of

science.

Dang (1991: vi), in investigating Nigerian teachers’

mastery and use of observation processes in biology

teaching, discovered that teachers scored reasonably well on

mastery and effective use of the skill (64.6% and 60%

respectively). Contrary to expectations, the less qualified

teachers showed higher mastery and effective use of the

skill. National Certificate of Education (NCE) holders

showed the least effectiveness in the use of the skill. The

teacher’s mastery and effective use of observation were

linked with age, qualification (i.e. level of school, college or

university attained) and teaching experience. It was found

that there was a significant relationship between these three

variables and the level which students attained in mastery

and use of the skill.

A clear statement of what constitutes the process skill of

classification is that of Ndu (1988:7): Classification is the

“process of sorting, grouping and arranging on the basis of

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similarities and differences.”

Classification as a science process skill is important

because it contributes to the extent to which students

understand, conceptualize and attach meaning to scientific

ideas. Classificational keys are important for conceptual

organization. They facilitate students’ understanding and

promote sound conceptual structure by allocating items

within a conceptual scheme. Classificational keys also

facilitate students’ ability to retrieve information from a

conceptual scheme (Kahl, Bulletin No. 161, Wisconsin).

To attain competency in the use of classification means

that students are able to conceive of order and add meaning

to their experience of the world around them (Tokara,

1991:47). Tokara (1991: xi), in addressing the issue of

mastery of classifying in Nigerian schools, found a

positively significant relationship between student mastery

of the skill and mastery by the teacher of the skill. Tokara

also found a significant relationship between the teacher’s

ability to classify and the teacher’s academic qualification,

but not the gender of the teacher.

Conceptions of contemporary best practice of teaching

and studying emphasize that students should be involved in

the study process through manipulation of equipment and

objects and through participation in any scientific activities

pertinent to a given situation in effective guided study.

The “child’s education” must be based upon “the

strategies of inquiry that facilitate the adaptation of

knowledge to new demand” (Hurd, 1964). To almost all

experts and proponents of best practice

Good science teaching must be based on observation and

experiment. There can be no substitute for these. [UNESCO,

1962: 9]

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Pam (1991: vi-vii) conducted an investigation in

Nigerian schools of the mastery and effective use of

providing opportunities for students to manipulate materials.

Pam found a significant positive relationship between

teachers’ mastery of manipulative skills and academic

qualifications. However, no significant relationship was

found between the teachers’ expertise and gender. Also, no

significant relationship was found between teachers’

mastery and students’ attainment of the skill. Pam

concluded that the teachers’ effective use of the skill is

nonetheless critical to the effective teaching and studying of

science.

Ango (1986: 35) notes the importance of practical

experiences in science teaching and learning in this way:

A learner acquires more in a science learning situation when he/she

is given the chance to perform certain activities which include,

manipulaitng apparatus, classifying data, designing experiments, ...

[forming hypotheses] to making inferences and verifying results.

Learning by students is facilitated by the process in

which they are informed with feedback about their solutions

to problems. With feedback, they can rework problems,

formulate new problems and solve them. One of the main

ways in which students receive feedback from their

scientific inquiry is through measurement. It is a science

process skill which gives students an opportunity to

appraise themselves realistically. Adetula (1981:15) states

clearly the important role of measuring:--

Nearly every aspect of contemporary civilization depends on the

concept of measurement and its application, ranging from the

relatively simple measurements needed for the manufacture of

clothing to the highly complex measurements required to send a

space craft into orbit.

Measuring involves evaluation, which entails value

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judgements. James (1963: 249) defined measurement as a

process which involves comparison of an entity with a

standard unit of measurement which has been arbitrarily

determined.

Timothy (1992: v-vi), conducted an investigation of

Nigerian teachers’ mastery and effective use of the process

skill of measuring in the teaching of integrated science in

junior secondary schools. The findings showed an increase

of mastery of the skill with the age of the students. It also

showed no significant relationship between the teachers’

mastery and the students’ mastery. Finally, experienced

and professionally qualified teachers showed mastery of the

skill more than the inexperienced teachers.

Posing questions is one of the most commonly used

process skills of scientific inquiry. It is also part and parcel

of everyday classroom teaching and guided study activities.

That is, questioning is an important scientific process skill.

It is also well established in educology as an important

effective teaching skill and an important effective guided

study skill.

Whether initiated by teacher, student, or both, posing

questions establishes a critical basis for classroom

communication. Even if a science classroom is completely

devoid (as some Nigerian classrooms sadly are) of apparatus

and chemicals for demonstration and experimentation,

teachers and students can still ask questions of each other.

And the questions constitute an important avenue for

teachers and students to make science lessons lively and

involving.

A number of educologists have identified the value of

teachers posing questions for their students. For example,

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Kwatishe (1992: 15), notes that “questions have distinct

characteristics, serve various functions and stimulate

different kinds of thinking” in students. Rothkopf (1972:

87) maintains that posing questions to students has the

effective of improving their learning performance. Andre

(1979: 281) argues that when teachers pose questions to

students, they give direction to students “to examine

instructional material or ... [their] memory of it and to

produce some [meaningful] response.” Akinmade and

Mang (1991: 2) view questions as “a useful stimulus to plan

and execute investigations ....” Campbell (1987:15) sees

questions as guides which give direction to decision making

and action. Martland (1975: 74) argues that one of the

important values of teachers posing questions to students is

that the questions help students to focus and clarify their

thoughts and conceptions.

Jacobsen et al. (1984: 144) provide an appropriate

summary of the value of teachers asking questions of

students:--

A cornerstone of any effective teaching technique is classroom

questioning. It is a critical skill that can be used with any subject

matter area, any grade level, and with any given teacher

personality. It promotes involvement, enhances learning, requires

little effort, and motivates the students. It promotes a shift from

teacher-centred to a student-centred environment.

Kwatishe (1992: xi-xii) investigated teachers’ mastery and

effective use of the skill of questioning in Nigerian

classrooms. A significant relationship was found between

teachers’ mastery of the skill and their professional

academic qualification. This finding implies that for

teachers to exhibit the art of questioning they must be

trained in the art. That is, it must be included as part of

their study of educology, as well as of their study of science.

Kwatsihe also found that teachers’ competence with the

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skill of posing questions had no significant relationship with

their years of teaching experience or with their gender. On

the other hand, it was found that there was an indication of a

general influence of the teacher’s skill upon the students’

performance, i.e. attainment of intended learning outcomes.

Not all types of questions are always useful in every

instance of teaching and guided study. Types of questions

should match the level of understanding and reasoning

ability of the students. In addition, some questions only

promote recall of information and rote learning with very

limited comprehension of meaning on the part of the

students. Other questions, when framed properly, promote

higher levels of reasoning, thinking and analysis. Within

the teaching and guided study of science in schools,

teachers need to achieve a balance of questions which call

for both simple recall and higher orders of reasoning and

problem solving. To be effective in the task of promoting

extensive and useful scientific understanding, attitudes and

skills, school science teachers necessarily must develop a

range of skills in relation to posing appropriate questions to

students. As Farrant has stated, the appropriate use of

questions by teachers within the classroom setting is

A highly complex skill requiring an understanding of people and

group psychology as well as a thorough knowledge of what is

being taught. [Farrant, 1980:191]

Science is characterized as being systematic because of

its organized, special approach to investigation and problem

solving. Guruge (1977:5) defines organization as a social

process which is designed “to ensure cooperation,

participation and intervention of others in the effective

achievement of a given determined objective.”

The skill of organization as a teaching process which

24

uses school laboratory experiences for science students is

summarized by Soar and Soar (1979: 97-120). They

identify three phases of organization, or perhaps they are

more properly conceived as three dimensions of classroom

organization, i.e.

regulating students movement

which learning tasks are selected and implemented.

encouraged in laboratory and the kind of freedom students have to

explore ideas.

Soar and Soar are addressing the issue of organization

as part of the educology of science education, i.e. as

knowledge about a set of teaching skills which are effective

in the teaching of science.

Al-Kamu, (1992: vi-vii) conducted an investigation in

Nigerian schools of teachers’ mastery and their effective

use of the skill of organization in the teaching and guided

study of biology. It was found that most teachers

acknowledged the importance of organization. In the

sample, 87.7% of the teachers indicated an awareness of the

skill as important and useful in the teaching of biology. No

significant relationship was found between of the

organizational competence of the biology teachers and their

levels of qualification, teaching experience and gender. Al-

Kamu compared the frequency of use of the skill by biology

teachers with the learning achievement of biology students.

It was found that those students who experienced frequent

use of organizational skills by their teachers achieved higher

levels of achievement in their biology practical test.

For Gagne (1963:145), exptertise in scientific inquiry is

25

the ultimatel objective of science education. His conception

of teaching and conducting guided study of science and his

conception of scientific inquiry and the nature of science are

rooted deeply in the activities and experiments which

students under guidance undertake. Scientific inquiry is

constituted by

A set of activities characterized by a problem solving approach in

which a newly encountered phenomenon becomes a challenge for

thinking. Such thinking begins with a careful set of systematic

observations, proceeds to design the measurements required,

clearly distinguished between what is observed and what is under

ideal circumstances, brilliant leaps, but always testable and draws

reasonable conclusions.

Extending on Gagne’s conception of appropriate

circumstances for the effective teaching and guided study of

science, Ausubel (1968) argued that such teaching and

studying should lead to the students achieving meaningful

learning vs. rote learning. With meaningful learning,

students have extensive mastery of a range of useful

scientific skills. With rote learning, they are able only to

write definitions and lists, but they are not able to solve

problems. Obviously the business of teaching and

conducting guided study of science should be aimed at

achieving meaningful learning.

Choji (1992: vi-vii) conducted an investigation of

teachers’ mastery and effective use of the skill of

experimentation in Nigerian classrooms. It was found that

students’ experience with apparatus and experiments had a

highly significant relationship with their understanding of

science and of experimentation as a process of science.

The challenge within Nigeria is that of conducting

effective teaching and guided study of science with

inadequate or nonexistent resources, such as apparatus,

illustrative materials and chemicals.

26

Scientific inquiry is empirical in nature. Through

observation and experiments, data are gathered. Once

collected, the data need interpretation so that meaning and

sense can be related to the data. Interpreting and inferring

are critically determinant activities of science. Information

gathered from scientific investigation usually is not readily

useful and meaningful to other scientists and the wider

community. Data have to be analyzed and interpreted, and

inferences have to be made to produce and extend

knowledge which is to have usefulness and meaningful

applications for life.

Fom (1991) undertook research on teachers’ mastery

and effective use of the skill of interpreting data in the

teaching and guided study of integrated science in Nigerian

schools. It was found that inspite of teachers being aware of

the importance of the skill and having a high degree of

mastery of the skill themselves, their students indicated that

they rarely used the skill. No significant relationship was

established between teachers’ experience and their expertise

in the use of the skill.

The value and the necessity of the skill of interpreting

data needs to be given greater prominence. It needs to be

given more prominence in the process of teaching and

conducting guided study of science in Nigerian schools. It

also needs to be given more prominance (1) in the teaching

of science in teacher preparation institutions and (2) in the

teaching of the educology of science education in teacher

preparation institutions.

Process skills of science are basic and critical

27

components of the process of conducting study of science

under the guidance of a teacher. For many years, now,

Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives has received

wide recognition, and it has been used in many curriculum

design and development projects. Bloom identified three

major realms or domains of intended learning outcomes:

the cognitive domain of knowledge, the affective domain or

attitudes and the psychomotor domain of manipulative

skills. These categories have stood the test of time and

acceptance by experts, and they provide an excellent

conceptual framework for revision of curriculum so that it

incorporates the basic scientific process skills.

The sure route to the attainment by school students of

mastery of the basic skills of science is through having

adequate teachers. The teachers must be experts in two

areas. They must be masters of science process skills. They

also must be masters of effective teaching practices which

optimize the chances of students effectively studying and

learning the skills. The process therefore begins in the

institutions which prepare candidates for professional

school teaching. The expertise of the professional teachers

flows on to the school science classrooms. The other part of

this process is much needed inservice courses for teachers

who are already employed in the schools. It is obvious

from recent educological research that teachers already in

practice should be given inservice training and retraining in

the art of proess skills use and teaching. Brown (1977: 83)

appropriately states that

If inservice teachers are to be held accountable for identifying and

teaching a process component of science, then they should be

provided with the skills necessary to execute this task.

The obvious avenue of enabling school students to achieve

expertise in science process skills is through appropriate

preservice preparation and continuous inservice retraining

28

of science teachers. This requires guided study by teachers

of science and of educology of science education.

Adetula, L.L. (1981): “Teaching and Understanding of Measurements,”

Akinmade, C.T.O. and Mang, L. (1991): “Evaluation of the Basic and

Integrated Science Process Skills in Biology.” A paper presented at

STAN Biology Panel National Workshop at Katsina.

Al-Kamu, M.P. (1992): “An Assessment of Teachers Competence in

Organizational Skills in Relation to Students Achievement in

Biology Practicals.” An MEd Science Education Project.

Andre, T. (1979): “Does Answering Higher Level Questions While

Ango, M.L. and Gyuse, E.Y. (1987): “The New Emphases on Science

and the Challenges to Secondary School Science Teaching.” A

paper presented on the Role of Universities in the 6-3-3-4 System of

Education held at the University of Jos on 15th June.

Ango, M.L. (1986): “Teaching and Learning of Biology Practicals:

New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.

Brown, R.W. (1977): “The Effect of Process Skill Instruction on

Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

Choji, S.A. (1992): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

Experimentation and its Effective Usage as a Science Process Skill

by SS II Biology Teachers in Plateau State.” An MEd Science

Education Project.

Dang, A.S. (1991): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

Observation and its Effective Usage as a Science Process Skill by

Teachers of Biology in the Second Year of the Senior Secondary

School in Plateau State.” An MEd Science Education Project.

29

Longman Group Ltd.

Fom, C.C. (1991): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

Interpreting Data and its Effective Usage as One of the Science

Process Skills by Integrated Science Teachers in Some Selected

Junior Secondary Schools in Jos Metropolis.” An MEd Science

Education Project.

Gagne, R.M. (1963): “The Learning Requirements for Enquiry.”

153.

Guruge, B.S. (1980): “General Principles of Management for

Gyuse, E.Y. (1984): “The Development of Verbal and Non-Verbal

Scientific Communication Skills in Secondary Schools.” A paper

presented at the National Seminar on Education Skill Formation and

Nigerian Education Centre for Development Studies. Jos: 27-31

March.

Harlen, W. (1987): “Primary Science Teaching for Process Based

Learning.” Barnados: A Report of Commonwealth/UNESCO

Workshop.

London: Oxford University Press.

Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. Inc.

Kahl, W.C. (1989): “A Guide to Science Curriculum Development.”

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Bulletin No. 161.

Kwatishe, D.T. (1992): “An Assessment of the Mastery of the Skill of

Questioning and its Effective Usage as a Science Process by

Teachers of Biology in SSS I in Taraba State.” An MEd Science

Education Project.

Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

of Education.

(Nigeria) Ltd.

Pam, S.S. (1991): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

30

Manipulating Materials and Equipment and its Effective Usage as a

Science Process Skill by Teachers of Integrated Science in the

Junior Secondary Schools.” An MEd Science Education Project.

Rothkopf, E. (1972): “Variable Adjust Question Schedules,

Interpersonal Interaction and Incidental Learning from Written

87-92.

Timothy, A.G. (1992): “An Evaluation of the Skill of Measuring and its

Effective Usage as a Process Skill by Integrated Science Teachers in

the First and Second Year of Junior Secondary School in Plateau

State.” An MEd Science Education Project.

Tokara, R.N. (1991): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

Classification and its Effective Usage as a Science Process Skill by

Teachers of Biology in the First Year of the Senior Secondary

Schools in Bauchi State.” An MEd Science Education Project.

Yorkshire: Educational Productions Ltd.

Yilwa, V.lA. (1990): “An Evaluation of the Mastery of the Skill of

Communicating and its Effective Usage as a Science Process Skill

by Teachers of Integrated Science in the Junior Secondary Schools.”

An MEd Science Education Project.

77

78

The search for peace has been a perennial undertaking

in human history. O’Connel (1991) properly and cogently

argued that peace provides conditions within which persons

and groups develop most fully and without which life is

disrupted and resources wasted. However, human history

has been steeped in blood from recurring war.

Some years prior to O’Connel, Jaspers (1968) noted that

peace has become an even more central issue in our times

than previously in history because the possibility of nuclear

destruction is going to hang over the world for the

foreseeable future. Jaspers stated:

In the past, the worst disasters could not kill mankind. Multitudes

whole nations … perished; others survived and forgot. But now our

intellect fells us with inescapable logic that soon there will be no

more oblivious survivors .… There could be confidence, in the

past, because in every disaster some were spared. Now however,

man can no longer afford disaster without consequences of universal

doom …. [p. 315]

The world, since 1945, has continued to be ravaged by

violence, conflicts and wars, as evident in Yugoslavia,

Somalia, Uganda, Burundi, Liberia, Zaire, and the Middle

East, among others. Nigeria also has witnessed its unfortunate

share of grievous ethnic, civil and religious conflicts

in the course of its history. Recent sharp ethnic and

religious divisions have posed a serious threat to the current

democratization process in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, it is a typical situation that children come to

school from widely different cultural, social and religious

backgrounds. Each ethnic and religious group brings with

it habits of behaviour, attitudes and expectations which

widely diverge from other groups. Some groups are very

aggressive, others docile. Some are weak, others are very

strong. Some are very dull, while others are very intelligent.

79

Some are poor, while others are rich. Some are stingy,

others are altruistic and so on.

The differences among the children sometimes lead to

episodes of destructive competition, power struggles,

attention and favour seeking, self-projection and

egocentrism, and pride and arrogance. The competition

among groups in schools at times erupts into ugly, even

violent conflicts. The conflicts manifested among social

and cultural groups within schools mirror those which occur

in adult society within Nigeria.

Much research has shown that wars (or even military

conflicts short of war) are nonexistent, or very rare, among

democracies (Gledish 1992; Ray. 1995; Russett 1993,

1995). According to Hermann and Kegley, Jr. (1996) this

fact has not been lost on policy makers in search of a

guideposts for their post cold war foreign policies.

For example, the Group of Seven (G-7) has made the

promotion of democracy a principle around which to focus

its blue prints for a twenty-first century peace. However,

the theory of civic culture (Almond and Verba, 1963;

Inglehart, 1988, 1990) postulates that the viability of

democratic institutions is affected powerfully by attitudes,

positive feelings towards the political system, and belief in

the trustworthiness of other citizens. Thus, since peace

education is viewed as a life affirming approach to human

interaction. Its proper major focus is to teach children and

citizens non-violent resolution skills. There is no

gainsaying its indispensability in inculcating appropriate

civic culture and attitudes among children to uphold our

nascent democracy.

The argument being advanced in this discourse is that

process of peace education is an appropriate strategy for

80

forestalling violence and for constructively managing and

resolving conflict in a democracy. The acceptance of peace

education as an appropriate process further implies that the

development of an educology of peace education (i.e.

knowledge about the process of peace is education) is

necessary. It is required because there needs to be

knowledge which can make the process of peace education

effective and efficacious in achieving the desired outcome

Humankind has been classified zoologically as a

primate. According to Travers (1973), most primates live

in groups and spend substantial amounts of time each day in

social interaction.

Travers indicated that these interactions involve playful

behaviour and behaviours that are collectively called

grooming behaviours. According to him, humankind

belongs to a group of species which have high innate social

needs, and when these needs are not satisfied, trouble

results.

According to Clemente and Lindsley (1967) warfare and

other antisocial tendencies did not appear until sometime

after primitive technologies emerged. However, Dowse and

Hughers (1972) argued that aggression and violence have

been part of human history since its beginning, and probably

because of this, the idea that such behaviour is inherent in

human beings has considerable plausibility. While some

contend that aggression is instinctive in man, others believe

that it is a learned behaviour.

A third orientation towards the origins of aggression in

humankind, which is the most widely explored in social

sciences, is the frustration–aggression theory. The basic

81

postulate of the theory is that interference with goal-directed

behaviour creates frustration, which, in turn, leads to

aggressive responses usually directed against the reputed

frustrating agent (Dollard et al 1939). This assumes that in

social life, humankind comes to value many things: wealth,

status, power, security, equality, freedom, and so on. When

human beings cannot achieve these values, or when

achieving one value means losing another, dissatisfaction,

anger and often aggression occur.

There has been a number of traditions of thought which

go back almost to the origins of self-conscious reflection

about humankind and its social relationships. The problem

of conflict resolution has been polarized between two views.

One perspective is of those who have contended that

effective conflict resolution is correlated with a capability to

exercise some form of power over conflict parties to

encourage or coerce them to arrive at a settlement. A

second perspective is of those who argue in favour of noncoercive

resolution based on trust-including dialogue and

the formulation of integrative or “win-win” outcomes.

According to Woodhouse (1996), what makes the

linkage of the two approaches possible is the emergence of a

more sophiscated concept of power. With this conception,

the more radical assumptions of conflict resolution theory

are beginning to come into alignment with long term

changes in the environment of international politics which

have been identified by interdependence theorists. Nye in

Woodhouse (1996:45), for example, contended:

82

Although force remains the ultimate form of power in a self help

system it has become more costly for modern powers to use than in

previous centuries. Other instruments such as communications,

organizational and institutional skills and manipulation of

interdependence have become important instruments of power.

Nye referred to these other instruments of power as “soft

power,” which negates “hard power’ (the power to

command, order, enforce). Bounding, in Woodhouse

(1996), also underscored that integrative power (co-optive

and cooperative relationships built on intangible qualities

such as mutuality, respect, legitimacy, and trust), a nonmaterial

democratic community in which there is a respect for human

rights.

as a country with a system of government which encourages

and allows right of citizenship such as freedom of speech,

religion, opinion and association, the assertion of the rule of

law, majority rule, accompanied by respect for the rights of

minorities. This system of government allows for universal

suffrage, and it precludes ethnic or class cleavages.

According to Dowse and Hughes (1972), the prime idea

in democracy is that the government must have room to

maneuver. It must have the power to implement its

decisions. But at the same time its decisions must, at the

very best, be taken in the light of the known wishes and

aspirations of the citizens.

Inspired in part by rapid diffusion of democratization

since the late 1980’s, the major industrialized democracies

have anchored their security policies on the belief that a

world of democratic states would be a peaceful world

83

(Jaggers and Gurr, 1995; Starr, 1995; Hermman & Kegley,

Jr.1996).

According to Hallenberg (1994:149), the propensity of

democracies to cooperate generally with one another is a

critical component of democratic peace theory that

challenges realism and especially, neo-realism. Herman and

Kegley, Jr. (1996:437) have emphasized that democratic

peace theory derives its popularity primarily from its core

proposition -- that when conflicts arise, the parties will

resolve them through compromised bargaining rather than

resorting to force.

In addition to the foregoing peace theory, the theory of

civil culture (Almond and Verba, 1963; Inglehart, 1990)

postulates that the viability of democratic institutions is

affected powerfully by attitudes. These attitudes include

factors such as belief in one’s ability to influence political

decisions, feelings of positive effect on the political system,

and the belief that other citizens are basically trustworthy.

Therefore countries with high levels of these civil

culture attitudes are expected to be more likely to adopt and

sustain democracy over time than countries with low levels.

Another alternative possibility is that the civil culture

attitudes are an effect rather than a cause of democracy.

According to this line of argument (Muller and Seligson,

1994), the successful persistence of democracy over time is

likely to cause increases in levels of appropriate civil culture

attitudes because high levels of subjective political

competence, pride in the political system, and interpersonal

trust are a rational, learned response to the experience of

living in a country that has a stable democratic regime.

From our foregoing understanding of the idea of

democracy, and the two prime theories of democratic peace

and civic culture, we can readily deduce that peace is both

84

an antecedent and corollary of democracy. The idea here is

that peace is an integral part of the democratization process.

The process of peace education is properly viewed as a

life affirming approach to human interaction. Its principal

focus is the teaching of and the learning by children and

citizens non-violent resolution skills. The process of peace

education indeed may be our last and best resort in our quest

for sustainable democracy and a world of enduring peace.

In order to have a good grasp of the concept of peace

education, it is beneficial to have a proper conprehension of

the concept of peace. According to O’Connel (1991), in St

Augustine’s great definition -- “the tranquility of order,”

O’Connel (1991:6) stated :

involved in … understanding of peace is a set of attitudes among

persons and groups … that seek to uphold the values of justice,

freedom and peace inherent in stabilizing order.

According to Rogers (1991), the process of peace

education is concerned primarily with positive approach to

peace-making. This approach entails the development of

people who internalize a positive vision of peace and have a

real sense of justice (personal and social). Also, they are

people who sensitized themselves and who have helped to

cope with the various social manifestations of violence and

conflict in their own lives and the wider world. Peace

education is also viewed as a life affirming approach to

human interaction (Sehmidt and Friedman, 1989). The

general goal of peace education can therefore be

summarized as equipping children with conflict resolution

skills which will enable them to maintain cooperation in

resolving conflicts.

85

Literature searches in this area reveal a global awareness

and realization that appropriate solutions to eradicating

societal violence and resolving conflicts peacefully lie in the

process of developing within children, right from home

through school, skills for resolving conflict by non-violent

means.

Children are the adults and leaders of tomorrow. We

have an obligation to guide and assist them to acquire nonviolent

conflict resolution skills. We have a responsibility

to help them develop the knowledge and attitudes which

enable them to cooperate and engage successfully in the

process of managing and resolving conflicts peacefully and

constructively. In fulfilling these obligations, we are

contributing to the development and maintenance of a stable

democracy and a peaceful world.

From studies conducted in the U.S.A., American parents

who were surveyed reported that teaching children nonviolent

skills was important to them as parents. They said

that they would pay more for such programs. And they did

not think that pre-schoolers were too young to participate in

learning non-violent living skills (Peterson, 1993).

In contrast with the American studies, a global survey

revealed that peace education programs have not taken root

in the majority of countries, Nigeria included. This is a

great challenge. This challenge goes out to teachers,

academics, early childhood educators and educologists and

to Nigerian government organizations involved in early

childhood education. The challenge calls for all stake

holders to summon the will and assemble the resources

necessary for planning and implementing effective and

efficacious peace education programs in the schools.

Peace education is based on a number of principles.

They include (1) an attitude of give and take cooperation,

86

(2) respect for others and their opinions, (3) leadership

skills, (4) benevolence in civic and cultural attitudes which

lay emphasis on otherness. These are some of the essentials

of a functional peace education curriculum which is crucial

to the sustenance of democracy.

From a survey of educological literature about peace

education, it is apparent that a number of different peace

programs have been developed. Examples include those of

the Montessori classroom, peer-mediation, and creative

conflict solving programs.

With the many existing curricula of peace education

programs, it is apparent that not all of the curricula include

all of the possible elements of peace education. But what is

apparent is that there is a wide range of concepts,

propositions, skills, attitudes and values from which one

may choose in developing a curriculum of peace education.

Thus a curriculum of peace education may include

features such skills in peaceful solution to conflicts, problem

solving approach, learning of non-violent skills for daily

living and social skills, peer-counselling, attitudes and skills

of cooperation, understanding of human rights and

children’s rights, role-playing in constructive conflict

resolution, non-violent classroom environment and a range

of aspects which promote and facilitate peace in conflict

resolution, such as understanding of cultural variations,

linguistic differences, citizenship education and national,

state, or ethnic loyalties.

There are many integrative features available to a

curriculum of peace education. For example, biblical

instructions such as “the Gentiles are heirs together with

Israel … and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus”

(Eph.3:6), and “But our citizenship is in heaven” (Philipian

3:200) are examples of instruction in peace education.

87

These scriptures may be used to develop the concepts and

attitudes of otherness and fairness to all, and being free of

all forms of racism, ethnicity, political and class divisions,

and all forms of segregation that could threaten any attempt

to institutionalize a stable democracy.

Children at all levels of their school life need to be

exposed to peace education programs, not only for a holistic

personal development, but as an instrument for a sustainable

peaceful, democratic and egalitarian society. For this

purpose, teachers, academics and educologists have vital

roles to play in the development and implementation of an

adequate curriculum of peace education.

The challenges which call for personnel development

through pre-service and in-service teacher training,

workshops, seminars and conferences. Indeed teachers

have a great challenge in developing, maintaining and

protecting democracy through peace education.

One cannot doubt that curriculum in all schools in

Nigeria, for example, have bits and pieces of topics which

are intended to promote cultural, ethnic and racial

understanding and peaceful or benevolent civic culture and

attitudes.

But what currently exists is not enough. It is too

piecemeal and haphazard. What is needed is a more

extensive, articulated, coherent approach to promoting peace

education in a more practical and purposeful manner. This

is needed for the larger purpose of promoting a sustainable

democratic and peaceful society.

In conclusion, it has been argued that there is an ongoing

danger of the use of war to resolve national and global

conflicts. Modern warfare is made even more dangerous by

88

the existence of nuclear war capabilities and the possible

spread of nuclear warfare capabilities to other nations.

It has been argued that an important, if not essential,

element for a sustainable democratic and peaceful society is

a program of peace education for its citizenry. Children are

the adults of tomorrow. They need to be equipped with

skills for constructive conflict resolution, and they need to

be given guidance in their development of appropriate

attitudes towards civic culture. Peace education needs to

begin with the first days of school experience and extend

through the children’s entire school life. For as the Holy

Bible recommends, “Train a child, in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6).

In an effective peace education program, both the family

and the school must cooperate to embrace the concept of

peace education. They need to appreciate the power and

effectiveness of skills of non-violent conflict resolution in a

democratic state like Nigeria. They need to work together

with government, and non-governmental organizations to

formulate and implement a peace education curriculum in

the Nigerian school system.

To facilitate this, conferences and workshops by and for

early childhood specialists, educologists and teachers are

necessary to work out the modalities, relationships,

structures and logistics involved in appropriate peace

education programs for schools. They are the people with

the expertise to develop the requisite educology of peace

education. It is the educology of peace education which

forms the knowledge base for making rational, well

informed decisions about what to incorporate into a

curriculum of peace education. In their deliberations, they

of course must not operate in a cultural, economic and

political vacuum. They must not lose sight of all the

89

personal, societal, political, cultural and economic forces

which militate against the formulation and implementation

of any new change in society. They must inform themselves

of what has already been achieved in peace education

programs. They must also remain cognizant of the fact that

the children of a nation are its future and that an investment

in children is an investment in the future of the nation and

its democratic character.

Little, Brown.

California: University of California Press.

Connel, J.O. (1991): “Teaching About Peace: Concepts, Values

and Practices”.

Yale University Press.

London: John Wiley and Sons.

Hallenberg, J. (1994): “Public Opinion, Elections and Foreign

Herman, M.G. and Kegley, Jr., C.W. (1996): “Ballots, a Barrier

against the Use of Bullets and Bombs: Democratization and

No. 3, pp.436-60.

International Bible Society.

90

Inglehart. R. (1988): “The Renaissance of Political Culture,”

Jaggers. K. and Gurr, T.R. (1995: “Tracking Democracty’s Third

Vol. 32, pp, 469-82.

Trans). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Muller, E.N. and Seligson, M.A. (19940, “civic Culture and

Peterson, J.P. (1993). “Teaching Non-Violent Living Skills in

p.72.

University of South Carolina Press.

Rogers, P. (1991): “Education for Peace in the Classroom

Curriculum Development Strategies and Materials: A Case

19.

Russett, B. (1995): “The Democratic Peace: And Yet It Moves,”

Schmidt, F. and Friedman, A. (1989): Fighting Fair for Families.

Guides.

Starr, H. (1995). “The Diffusion of Democracy Revisited.”

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International

Studies Association, February 20-24, Chicago.

Macmillan Company.

Woodhouse, T. (1996): “Ethnicity, Conflict Resolution, and Post-

Bradford, United Kingdom: Redwood Books, Trowbridge,

Wiltshire.