I struggled with memorizing information of any kind (to this day don’t ask me what 8 times 7 is, even though I went well past calculus in college) and I loved science. This meant that biology classes were easy – we dissected things, we looked at entire ecosystems and how the different organisms interacted and we built models of the different organ systems in the body.
Chemistry on the other hand – was impossible. In school we had to memorize the periodic table – why? Every lab I have ever worked in had the periodic table on a giant wall poster as well as individually laminated sheets available for the researchers. In chemistry classes we had to memorize all the formula, the reactions and the laws. Repetitive problem solving was the preferred method of instruction with occasional visits to the lab. For a learner like myself, chemistry was torture.
In order to graduate from Kalamazoo College we had to take and pass oral and written comprehensive exams in our major. In Biology that meant taking the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and passing with a certain percentile ranking. The day the scores came in I went to work (cleaning the animal rooms for the biology department) and was met at the door by the head of the department. He demanded to know “ How did you do it?” I had no idea what he was talking about – “Do what?”. “How did you manage to out score the pre-med students on the GRE? You aren’t smart enough!”
This was the conundrum I had faced all through my schooling – I would be put into the advanced classes because I understood the material only to be moved back when I made mistakes because of my struggles with memorizing (always being told I was “too dumb” or “too lazy”). In order for me to succeed I had to “know and understand” the material which was not the target in classes.
As I think back to my own education the real meaning of scientific literacy becomes quite clear.
I was a scientifically literate student. The GRE, like many standardized science assessments, assessed “science reasoning”, therefore, I was great at taking them. The pre-med students were great at memorizing facts. They received much higher grades than I did in school because the questions they were asked on tests matched the information they had memorized. When these students were faced with a new situation in which they had to apply the information they had memorized – they were stumped.
The National Academies define scientific literacy as “the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity”. Scientific literacy is so much more than having memorized a bunch of facts, principles, laws, and theories. It is our responsibility as teachers to facilitate this transition of our students into scientifically literate adults.
Scientific literacy is the ability to use, apply and then communicate ideas in many forms. A scientifically literate student has the ability to look at a phenomena, generate questions in a search for understanding, design experiments to answer the questions or design a solution to a problem. A scientifically literate student can communicate ideas and understandings through the development of models and the creation of evidentiary based arguments. Scientifically literate students communicate their understanding of science through written essays, illustrations, and discussion and can apply their understanding in new situations to answer their questions and solve new problems.