School Science - emphasize on skills?

These are the ideas that struck me on the articles by Rampal, Bartlett and Gardner. All of them in a sense talk about having a curriculum that is in a sense"life-oriented"- All learning international, domestic, culture specific- all should have its roots in real life contexts and situations. How far this is possible in various societies is the question. In an academics driven(or should I say examination driven) society like India- how much is and can be done to increase context or skill based learning is open to discussion.Is content more important than context, is it less important or are both on par with each other?Hope to hear views from others.

A few thoughts emerging from a reading of Anitha Rampal's "School Science in Search of a Democratic Order"


Changing social, political and economic scenario dictates content and methodology of science.

New discoveries/knowledge - rapidly changing perspectives- have we kept pace?

Science in Aditi- more lateral than vertical – progression of skills/concepts?

Skills to be taught in primary- communication, group work, information retrieval and time management - skill application not in isolation

Context related science teaching –problems in high school where content is master to great extent?

Technology/ integrated curriculum frameworks and roles in Science education- How far are we and how can we make it better?