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Salvaging science literacy
Author(s) -
Feinstein Noah
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.20414
Subject(s) - scientific literacy , science education , science, technology, society and environment education , social science education , next generation science standards , science communication , nature of science , rhetorical question , literacy , philosophy of science , sociology , public engagement , outline of social science , public awareness of science , work (physics) , field (mathematics) , mathematics education , interpretation (philosophy) , pedagogy , engineering ethics , political science , psychology , public relations , epistemology , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , pure mathematics , programming language
There is little evidence that the prevailing strategies of science education have an impact on the use and interpretation of science in daily life. Most science educators and science education researchers nonetheless believe that science education is intrinsically useful for students who do not go on to scientific or technical careers. This essay focuses on the “usefulness” aspect of science literacy, which I contend has largely been reduced to a rhetorical claim. A truly useful version of science literacy must be connected to the real uses of science in daily life—what is sometimes called public engagement with science. A small number of science education researchers have already begun to connect science education and the broader field of public engagement with science. Their work, as well as the work of researchers who study public engagement, suggests that it is possible to salvage the “usefulness” of science literacy by helping students become competent outsiders with respect to science. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95: 168–185, 2011