Why Teach for Scientific Literacy?

It can be seen from the international and national exams that students in the US are not achieving acceptable levels of scientific literacy by the time they leave compulsory education after 12^th grade. On the most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for science, less than 10% of American 15-year-olds scored in the top third for science (OECD, 2018a). This means that over 90% of test-takers were unable to use theoretical knowledge to interpret information or make predictions, implying that the vast majority of American students in compulsory education are not able to apply the science content they are learning in the classroom to their daily lives (OECD, 2018b). Similar results were found on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams in the area of science. The NAEP explicitly claims to assess key parts of scientific literacy and understanding the nature of science and is given to samples of 4^th, 8^th, and 12^th grade students across the United States (National Assessment Governing Board, 2014). Only 20% of 12^th graders scored Proficient and a mere 2% scored Advanced (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.a). These means over 75% of test-takers struggled to explain the results of an investigation, identify factors that affect a system, or identify relevant evidence that supports a conclusion (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.b). In the important roles of citizens and consumers, most American students are not scientifically literate. Yet having a scientifically literate populace is vital for positive change on critical issues such as climate change (Hornsey et al., 2016) as well as for public health initiatives such as the current COVID-19 mass vaccination effort.

Research shows that nature of science understandings must be explicitly taught to be effectively learned by most students (Bell et al., 2003; Brickhouse et al., 2002; Khishfe & Lederman, 2006). It is not sufficient to simple give students experiences that imply that science uses many methods or that leading theories can change when more evidence is made available (Moss, 2001). They do need those experiences, but then those nature of science understandings must be explicitly pointed out to students. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) contain a very useful set of nature of science understandings, so this website contains resources to help you easily incorporate this part of NGSS into the lessons you already have.

Search Standards

In this section, the NGSS Nature of Science understandings are aligned with the rest of NGSS (Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, Performance Expectations, and Disciplinary Core Ideas). The Performance Expectations and Disciplinary Core Ideas are divided into common subjects (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) to make searching for the topics and standards relevant to your class easier to find.

Search Lessons

Here you will find example lessons of how other science teachers are incorporating the nature of science understandings into their own lessons. Lessons are divided into common subjects (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) to make searching for the lessons relevant to your class easier to find.

Articles on the Home Page

Short referenced articles are available from this site's Home Page that discuss topics such as scientific literacy, teaching the methods used in science, the nature of science in NGSS, and improving science fair scoring.