What is Scientific Literacy?

What exactly should a student know or be able to do in order to be "scientifically literate?" Scientific literacy is an ill-defined term, however there are frequently repeated components in many definitions (Millar, 2006). The two most common components are:

• a core knowledge of science concepts and

• an understanding of the nature of science

which is often interpreted to mean an understanding of scientific methodologies. However, students in the United States are doing poorly at acquiring this form of literacy as found by international test results (OECD, 2018a; OECD, 2018b). This presents a problem as scientific literacy is necessary to function in the modern world as both an informed citizen and consumer (Achieve, 2013).

Every writer on the subject on the subject of scientific literacy seems to agree that there is no broad consensus on what constitutes sufficient scientific literacy (Alters, 1997; Fensham, 2002; Millar, 2006). The earliest widely used definition emerged in the Sputnik-era of changes in US science education. At this time, scientific literacy was used to mean what a member of the general public should know about the field of science. This led to scientific literacy being used a goal for science education, helping mobilize significant resources for revamping the field over the next two decades. However, this broad definition acts more as a catch-all term than a useful idea of what aspects of science the public should know or understand.

Although previous definitions of scientific literacy existed, Thomas and Durant’s (1987) seminal work on the public understanding of science became a frequent touch-point from which most modern definitions are derived. Thomas and Durant state that scientifically literate people,

• “Have some basic knowledge of science and technology, particularly in the context of their own lives”

• “Have the skills that are necessary to interpret new developments in science and technology, particularly as they impinge on their own lives or the lives of others around them”

• “Possess the attitudes that permit them to respond actively and effectively to these developments where appropriate.”

These can be paraphrased to define scientific literacy being a base of science content knowledge, understanding scientific methodologies, and having the ability to apply these in one’s life. Much of this definition is related to how science and technology are used in a person’s own life as a citizen and consumer and is a common theme found in others’ definitions of scientific literacy (DeBoer, 2000).Other common themes between definitions of scientific literacy in various works include an understanding of the nature of science and an understanding of the methods of science (Millar, 2006).

Upon further inspection, these two ideas are closely related. To understand the nature of science is to understand how scientific knowledge is produced, in other words, understanding the methods of science (Ryder, 2001). Thus, scientific literacy frequently has as part of its underlying definition an understanding of scientific methodologies.