Scientific Literacy
What do we mean by 'scientific literacy'?
One way of answering the question is to identify the knowledge and skills to be expected of a scientifically literate person.
We would expect a scientifically literate person to be able to:
- appreciate and understand the impact of science and technology on everyday life;
- take informed personal decisions about things that involve science, such as health, diet, use of energy resources;
- read and understand the essential points of media reports about matters that involve science;
- reflect critically on the information included in, and (often more important) omitted from, such reports; and
- take part confidently in discussions with others about issues involving science.
Consumers not producers of science
Most people are unlikely ever to be producers of new scientific knowledge. But we all need to be informed users and consumers of scientific knowledge, whether or not we use science in our work. For this, we need to have some understanding of two quite distinct kinds of thing:
Knowledge of these ideas and explanations provides underpins our definition of scientific literacy. Teaching and learning takes places in the context of nine modules:
- B1 You and your genes
- C1 Air quality
- P1 Earth in Universe
- B2 Keeping healthy
- C2 Material choices
- P2 Radiation and life
- B3 Life on Earth
- C3 Food matters
- P3 Radioactive materials
