Scientific literacy

Some examples of successful collaborations between chemists and high school teachers were described at the 9th International Conference on Chemical Education (14). Australia (15), Great Britain and Canada all have national efforts underway to improve their secondary school curricula. The long term goal of each is to promote scientific literacy, and each new program draws heavily upon global environmental science for examples that are relevant to students. In each of these... 

We live in a complex, rapidly changing, material world, major aspects of which require an understanding of the ideas of chemistiy. Education for scientific literacy in respect of the public - people of all ages - is now widely seen as a general goal for science education, whether pursued formally or informally. It seems appropriate to talk about chemical literacy - the contribution that chemistry can make to scientific literacy - and to amend the hitherto general discussions to focus on this particular aspect (Laugksch, 2000 Roberts, 2007). 

DeBoer, G. E. (2000). Scientific literacy Another look at its historical and contemporary meanings and its relationship to science education reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(6), 582-601. 

Laugksch, R. C. (2000). Scientific literacy A conceptual overview. Science Education, 84(1), 71-94. 

Shwartz, Y, Ben-Zvi, R., Hofstein, A. (2006). The use of scientific literacy taxonomy for assessing the development of chemieal literacy among high-school students. Chemical Education Research and Practice, 7(4), 203-225. 

As a result of science education research, a new era of reform in science education has started with the new centuiy. New standards have been fixed (National Research Council, 1996, 2000). The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) and also the 2061 project of ihe American Association for the Advancement of Science (1989,1990) assume that inquiry in general and inquiry in the context of practical work in science education is central to the achievement of scientific literacy (Hofstein Mamlok-Naaman, 2007). 

Barke, H. D. (1997). The Structure-oriented approach. Demonstrated at the example of interdisciplinary teaching spatial abilities. In W. Graber C. Bolte (Eds.), Scientific literacy. Hamburg IPN. 

The Group A emphases are those that inform the development of chemical literacy (DeBoer, 2000) and should be made available to all students (cf scientific literacy - (Roberts, 2007). These emphases all call for an imderstanding of a macro type of representation, so that learners appreciate what it is when they encounter a chemical phenomenon e.g. a solution, a colloid, a precipitate. This understanding would enable students to answer the question what is it and possibly what to do with it how to act when they encounter such a chemical phenomenon. These emphases also call for an understanding of the submicro type of representation, so that learners can qualitatively explain the nature of the macro phenomena that they encounter and hence be able to answer the question why is it as it is In order to explore these emphases, a chemistry curriculum would need to address a variety of contexts related to the three Group A emphases that have mearung in the everyday world. Pilot, Meijer and Bulte (2008) discuss three such contexts ceramic crockery, gluten-free bread and the bullet-proof vest. 

Roberts, D. A. (2007). Scientific Literacy / Science Literacy. In S. K. Abell N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research in science education (pp. 729-780). Mahwah Erlbaum. 

United States Education Secretary Richard W. Riley recently commented on the results of a national assessment of scientific literacy among U.S. high school graduates.111 We are confronted by a paradox of the first order. We Americans are fascinated by technology. Yet, at the same time, Americans remain profoundly ignorant. ... 

It is the editors hope that the Second Edition of the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Chemistry will serve the needs of scientists, engineers, students, teachers, librarians, and writers for high-quality information, and that it will contribute to scientific literacy and communication. 

In addition, the decreasing scientific literacy among the U.S. general public, in the national media, and in state and federal government raises concerns over the society s ability to assess and balance technological risks and rewards objectively, and to put them in perspective with other needs. 

Parchmann, L, Demuth, R. Energie verstehen - Energie nutzen Bedeutung des Basiskonzepts Energie zur Entwicklung einer Scientific Literacy". Chim.did 30 (2004), 132... 

The most common definitions of science literacy are scientific awareness and scientific ways of knowing. In simple terms, scientific literacy is a combination of concepts, history, and philosophy that help us to understand the scientific issues of our time. The aim is to have a society which is aware of scientific developments. 

Scientific literacy is based on the understanding of the most general principles and a broad knowledge of science. A society that is scientifically aware possesses facts and vocabulary sufficient to understand the context of the daily news. If one can understand articles about genetic engineering, the ozone hole, and greenhouse effect as well as sports, politics, arts, or the theater, then one is scientifically literate. 

Scientific literacy is different from technological literacy and many times people are not clear about this. A survey indicated that less than 7% of adults, 22% of college graduates and 26% of those with graduate degrees are scientifically literate. These numbers are not encouraging. In order to rectify this problem, more emphasis has been placed on science education in K-12 and at the college level. 

The need to enhance scientific literacy has been advocated as one of the ways to improve science education in this millennium (Millar Osborne, 1999). Assuming scientific literacy must include an understanding of the nature and processes by which scientific knowledge is developed, some researchers (Boulter Gilbert, 2000 Erduran, 2001) pointed out the importance of model-based teaching and learning. In the chemical education... 

Osborne, J. (2000). Science education for contemporary society problems. Issues and dilemmas. In O. De Jong, E. R. Savelsbergh, A. Alblas (Eds.), Teaching for scientific literacy Context, competency, curriculum (pp. 15-25). Utrecht CdP-Press. 

Ryder, J. (2001). Identifying Science Understanding for functional scientific literacy. Studies in Science Education, 36, 144. 

A context-based approach makes it possible to develop a curriculum whose content is closely related to the needs of the students concerned, as determined by the contexts in which they will lead their lives. A perceived benefit of a context-based approach is thus that it is a good way, perhaps the only way, to develop a curriculum for scientific literacy. As the University of York Science Education Group put it in their report (2001) ... 

Holman, J. (1997). The National Curriculum a golden opportunity for scientific literacy In W. Graber (ed). Scientific Literacy. Kiel IPN. 

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