Nama : Agnes Tabitha

NRP :3205018039

Independent Study

Scientific literacy should not be taken to mean the knowledge of a lot of science, but rather
the understanding of how science really works. When many people hear the word science,
they may think of classes they took in high school involving frog dissections or toothpick
towers or mixing strange chemicals in beakers. Some may even think of the controversy
surrounding some contemporary science issues, such as global warming, vaccines, or
genetically modified foods. What most people probably don't think of is the truest definition
of science: the systematic way of investigating the natural world around us through
observation and experimentation.

Understanding this process is critical for us humans to navigate the aforementioned issues
and continue to learn about the universe around us so that we can best live in it. For this
reason, science literacy continues to be a key focal point in education, politics, and sociology.

So, What is Scientific Literacy?

Science Literacy is the knowledge of key science concepts and the understanding of science
processes. This includes the application of science in cultural, political, social, and economic
issues. All of these areas are ever-changing landscapes in today's world. For example, on the
subject of climate change, someone who is scientifically literate:

1. Is knowledgeable on basic Earth science and natural history facts

2. Understands atmospheric, geological, and biological processes pertaining to climate
3. Understands how climate research is conducted, and
4. Is aware of the current geopolitical landscape pertaining to climate change

The issue of science literacy has become increasingly important in education. Schools now
favor student learning through inquiry-based learning rather than through fact
memorization. This means that understanding the process of science and the application of
scientific concepts is the central goal.
At primary school levels, students are encouraged to think like scientists as they satisfy their
curiosity about the natural world, and they are guided towards asking the right kinds of
questions rather than simply finding the right answers. At secondary school levels, training
scientific literacy increasingly incorporates more subject-specific factual knowledge and
processes. These approaches help to ensure that students enter college with applicable skills,
in addition to knowledge, whether or not they choose to pursue careers in science. The
ultimate objective is to produce scientifically-responsible citizens, as scientists or otherwise
as normal members of society.
How to be Scientific Person?
1. are interested in and understand the world around them
2. engage in the discourse of and about science are able to identify questions, investigate
and draw evidence-based conclusions
3. are sceptical and questioning of claims made by others about scientific matters
4. make informed decisions about the environment and their own health and well being
The science-literate person is one who is aware that science, mathematics and
technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and limitations;
understands key concepts and principles of science; is familiar with the natural world
and recognizes both its diversity and unity; and uses scientific knowledge and
scientific ways of thinking for individual and social purposes.
The definitions varied in the degree to which they emphasized each of these three goals,
and, overall, there is no common agreement about the nature and definition of science
literacy. Valuing scientific approaches to inquiry, however, does not mean that an
individual has to be positively disposed toward all aspects of science or even use such
methods themselves.
The methodological challenge to including dispositions within science literacy is that
previous research has often examined whether science literacy predicts certain attitudes
or dispositions. From this perspective, including dispositions in a definition of science
literacy borders on tautological, as something cannot be both a necessary element of
science literacy and a possible outcome of having or using science literacy. Reading
across the most prominent and influential definitions of science literacy, the committee
identified elements that are common to many, if not all, definitions. The most basic of
these ideas is that science literacy has value to the people who possess it, whether it
solves civic and personal problems or makes the world a richer and more fascinating
place and that it should be understood in light of that value (Norris et al., 2014).
Health literacy is linked to literacy and entails people's knowledge, motivation and
competences to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to
make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease
prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the life
course. A comparison of the research on science literacy and the research on health
literacy reveals some overlap. The capacity for civic engagement, which has long been a
concern for scholars of science literacy, is emerging as a potential component of health
literacy. In contrast, science literacy has only recently started to focus in concrete ways
on empirical links to decisions and action—a characteristic emphasis of research and
writing on health literacy. Both fields are paying increasing attention to social systems
and the way they constrain and enable literate action. In summary, although the two
constructs have evolved separately, there is some evidence that the researchers and
practitioners who deal with science and health are struggling with many of the same
challenges.
Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to questions
derived from curiosity about everyday experiences. It means that a person has the ability
to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Scientific literacy entails being able
to read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in
social conversation about the validity of the conclusions. Scientific literacy implies that a
person can identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express
positions that are scientifically and technologically informed. A literate citizen should be
able to evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the
methods used to generate it. For scientific literacy useful for us to be able to think
scientifically, can understand what is true according to facts and what is wrong.