Scientific Literacy: 3 Reasons to Become Scientifically Literate

Scientific literacy refers to the ability to parse through scientific information and understand it. Furthermore, it can entail the knowledge necessary to conduct experiments, hypothesize about new data, and think critically about the wider world.

At a very early age, even elementary school students receive exposure to scientific concepts in the interest of building this sort of literacy. Schools follow national science education standards to bring the next generation up to speed on everything from physics and chemistry to the broader life and social sciences.

Certain scientific authorities lament what they see as the low standards of scientific literacy throughout contemporary society. They insist we need education reform to ensure the general public can better learn to see the world through a science-oriented lens.

Scientific literacy enables you to understand why things are the way they are. Becoming a science-literate person can lead to or contribute to:

• A greater impetus to act on important issues: Scientifically literate citizens are more likely to act when science indicates a crisis is on the horizon. Scientific issues often become political and ethical issues, drifting out of the lab or classroom into the real world. Science teachers help their students identify issues like these as well as propose ways they can act to solve them.
• A greater understanding of the world: From elementary to high school science and beyond, teachers do their best to explain the wonders of the natural world to their students. Scientific knowledge expands your ability to grasp mysteries you previously thought of as inscrutable and unsolvable.
• Improved critical thinking skills: Science learning allows you to hone your critical thinking skills in a way that can apply to a vast array of other arenas in your life. As you comb through scientific evidence and assess data, you train yourself to think objectively. Core competencies like these have far-reaching benefits on your general decision-making capabilities.

The more science literate a society becomes, the better equipped it is to meet the challenges of the contemporary world. Consider these ways to improve the public understanding of science:

• Combat misinformation. Science education is essential to combating misinformation. Unless people know how to vet sources of information, they’re more prone to take untrue or science illiterate alternatives at face value. This has led to people outright denying the reality of climate change and global warming, as well as refusing to take life-saving vaccines.
• Demonstrate the real-world value. People are more likely to achieve scientific literacy when they see it has pragmatic value. Show students how an increased understanding of science can boost economic productivity, increase personal well-being, improve professional development, and have a positive general impact on their everyday lives.
• Specify needed skills. There are many different important science literacy skills, so help people break them down into manageable chunks. Walk students through how to form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment using the scientific method, or read through a science paper and evaluate its veracity.
• Take a wide-angle view. Encourage people to study all sorts of different scientific fields. For example, someone may have a hard time understanding the scientific processes underlying a life science (like chemistry) but also take to a more physical branch of the field (like earth science). You could then use their enthusiasm for the latter to inspire them to work harder to understand the former. Utilize different science teaching strategies to encourage a love of the field in general.

There are various approaches you can take to test for scientific understanding. Here are a few key ways to evaluate literacy in the science classroom:

• Follow an established science curriculum. You can find plenty of curricula to guide your own personalized science education goals. For example, institutions like the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Science provide general wisdom about how to teach students to become science literate throughout their time in school.
• Start a dialogue. Constant conversation and experimentation are part of the very nature of science. As such, scientific inquiry requires a group approach to problem-solving. Ask your students to help each other deepen their understanding of scientific concepts and step in to assist them along the way. See if they’re grasping these concepts as you talk to them.
• Test for knowledge. Try to test for knowledge of science concepts in multiple different ways. Ask your students to conceive of and conduct an experiment from start to finish. Encourage them to write a scientific research paper with the appropriate citation format, utilizing peer-reviewed resources. Provide traditional multiple-choice tests to evaluate general scientific knowledge as well.

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