Literacy And Scientific Literacy

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Introduction This review summarizes the effects of reading, writing, and language skills on scientific literacy. To start, we will look at the value placed on scientific literacy in society which in turn would place value on this research. Next, we will describe the connection between reading/language skills and science literacy. We will also examine how the integration of these skills can influence literacy in the science field. Finally, the ways reading and language skills are incorporated into science classrooms will be reviewed as each source has different methods to bridge these two areas.

Importance of Scientific Literacy Scientific literacy was first coined by James Bryant Conant, President of Harvard University, in 1952. Scientific literacy is described as having an understanding of science which can be applied to civic, social, economic, and cultural affairs. By this definition, we can extrapolate that a person must be scientifically literate in order to successfully navigate society and many social situations. Pearson, Moje, and Greenleaf (2010) stressed:
Development of a scientifically literate citizenry has been tied to the future of robust democratic society. Explicit calls for proficiency in reading and science literacy for all envision a populace capable of fully participating in the workplace and civic
According to Greenleaf et al. (2011), “Our democracy and future economic well-being depend on a literate populace, capable of fully participating in the demands of the 21st century” (p. 4). This literacy is not just affiliated with novels and poetry. Being literate in modern times also requires literacy in science and technology in order to keep up with cultural innovations. Because of this realization we can see that improving literacy in the secondary science classroom is not just an exercise in improving test scores, it is also imperative to creating citizens that can successfully navigate

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