The Nature of Science and Inquiry: Their Importance in Developing Scientific Literacy

The phrase “scientific literacy” has been around for over half a century and its connection to an understanding of nature of science and scientific inquiry was, perhaps, most formalized by the work of Showalter (1974) and by a National Science Teachers Association position statement on science-technology-society (NSTA, 1982). In general, scientific literacy was always at least partially associated with an individual’s ability to make informed decisions about scientifically-based personal and societal issues. However, the achievement of literacy was not always strongly associated with understandings of nature of science and scientific inquiry. This presentation will illustrate the importance of understandings of nature of science and scientific inquiry to the achievement of scientific literacy.

In terms of scientific inquiry, students are expected to develop the various skills and abilities that scientists use to develop scientific knowledge (e.g., observation, inference, data analysis, etc.) as well as an understanding ABOUT scientific inquiry (e.g., there is no single scientific method).  With respect to nature of science, students are expected to understand the characteristics of scientific knowledge that are directly derived from how the knowledge is developed. For example, scientific knowledge is always subject to change, it involves some degree of subjectivity and creativity, and it is empirically based.

If students are to achieve the goal of scientific literacy, they must know how the knowledge is developed and the limitations of the knowledge based on how it is developed. This will enable students and our citizenry to make informed decisions about the ever increasing number of scientifically-based personal and societal issues.