In an increasingly complex world, it is critical that all students have extensive practice in what it means to think like a scientist. The skills essential in science education are “not only needed by scientists, but by every citizen in order to become a scientifically literate person able to function in a society where science has a major role and impact [on daily life]” ( Huppert et al., 2002 ).

In the last twenty years, educators and researchers have begun to look carefully at science education and how students learn best. It is generally accepted that students learn best by doing – particularly in science courses ( Dalton et al., 1997 ).

When students are engaged in “actively constructing knowledge from a combination of experience, interpretation and structured interactions with peers and teachers” ( Roschelle et al.) , they are more likely to gain an expert understanding of science concepts.

When the science labs were re-designed in 2005 the primary focus was on providing students environments conducive to work on their own, independently performing experiments and projects and simultaneously ensuring unobtrusive guidance and support from teachers and experts.

Separate state of art labs, in physics, chemistry, biology and math, which could accommodate 50 students each, are equipped with all the necessary paraphernalia.