| Abstract: | One of the aims in the Singapore Green Plan is to maintain a more proactive and environmentally conscious population. This can be met through the education of the people. The Plan recognises that one of the most important target groups is the student population. For this to be achieved, a case can be made for the teaching of biology as a core subject in both the primary and secondary schools. According to the Biological Science Inquiry Model, a teaching model designed for instructing and nurturing the learning process of students, a good foundation in biology will enable students to be more open minded, more inquiring into related issues and apply biological principles to rationalise such issues. A good grounding in biology will therefore help students to have a better understanding of environmental issues as these issues are extensively related to biological principles. This can be illustrated by the ten issues concerning the global environment highlighted at the United Nations Conference on the Environment in June 1992. Through a systematic discussion of each of these issues, this paper illustrates the importance of biological knowledge in understanding the problems, implications and consequences of these issues. |
