Promoting science skills acquisition for empowerment and sustainable development

This paper examined some of the major science skills and how their acquisition through skill-based approach to teaching and learning will promote empowerment and sustainable development. Nigeria is a member state of the United Nation (UN) and a signatory to many of the United Nation Development Programmmes (UNDP), among which are the Education For All (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and of recent, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All these programmes are in a way aimed at making the world a better place for the present and future generations through education. Central among their targets is knowledge, skills acquisition, empowerment and sustainable development as captured in the Target Areas of SDGs goal 4. Whereas the critical elements of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (NEEDS) and the targets of the MDGs addresses basic science skills at lower level of education, the higher science skills also x-rayed in this study are at the heart of sustainable development. Hence, for empowerment and sustainable development to strive, it is recommended that science skills-based approach to science teaching should be incorporated in the teaching of science, and Science skills acquisition should be made to be an integral part of science instruction at all levels of learning.