Moral issues and social policy in science education: Closing the literacy gap

The development of our students as rational beings, capable of informed policy judgments with respect to science and society, has been proposed as a major goal in science education for many years. To think that this capacity is not part of what it means to be scientifically literate would entail envisioning science education divorced from its social function. The goal was made explicit in the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) Committee on Curriculum (197 1) recommendations and has been identified and reaffirmed by present members of NSTA a decade later (Kahle 8z Yager, 1981). It is less clear, however, how this goal may be implemented in the science curriculum, what a new rationale for this curriculum entails, and what atmosphere our classrooms would take on as science educators strive to achieve a more complete realization of scientific literacy. The aim of this article is to develop a more thorough rationale for the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to science education. This rationale will entail arguments stressing the need for educational reform and will summarize the most viable approaches and important considerations in responding to that need.