Achieving Science Literacy
This is part 2 of a 3 part series on Scientific literacy. In the first installment, I covered “What is Scientific Literacy?” This installment will rely on the content present in the previous post, and I highly recommend that you read that first. If you are like me and just want to hit the deep end running (to mix my metaphors), then by all means, please do.
We typically think of scientific literacy as a part of formal education ( i.e., K-12th grade in the States). Unfortunately, formal education is struggling to achieve this, as only 21% of high school graduates in the US could score ‘proficient’ in standard science tests. (National Science Foundation: Science and Engineering Report 2009). But focusing on formal education to teach science literacy also fails to see that scientific literacy is not something that can be completed. It is life-long participation in a society that understands and values scientific achievements and progress. To address this, we need to look at scientific literacy as it encounters societal barriers, the mainstream media, and the impact that an individual’s community has on their own scientific literacy.
Addressing the Digital Divide
The digital divide has been identified as a problem in most developed countries as the discrepancy in digital access and literacy between different demographic groups. It has been estimated that 21% of Americans struggle with fundamental literacy (US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, July 2019 report). It has been established that well-educated, wealthy citizens are more likely to consume and produce media content (Voss 2018). This means that they exert significant influence over what is produced, both content by them and content created for them. Digital and science literacy have also been shown to alter how one uses search engines, further disenfranchising those left behind by the digital divide (Hargittai 2001).
Literacy Through Media
The news outlets are the primary source of scientific information for the average citizen. Therefore they will need to be part of the solution. Their participation cannot be left to fact-checking, censorship, or the universal flagging of controversial topics. Fact-checking is inefficient as it requires too many resources to police the entire internet. Censorship attempts to eliminate the need for science literacy by removing controversial content, however, it can be used to misinform as much as inform. Finally, the universal flagging of controversial topics effectively draws one’s attention the first time. As with everything, though, eventually, people stop noticing the warning label. The universal flagging also does very little to educate the user on science (or digital media) literacy.
Instead, we must have better scientific communication through the media. Science producers need to communicate their work to the general population with minimal jargon. They will also need to inform the public on the context of their research and the impact on society. None of which is well taught in the majority of graduate programs. The media producers should focus on the context and the outcome of the science rather than sensationalizing headlines. They could also be transparent with how the articles were produced (implicit and explicit bias). Additionally, those that make content have the ability (and potentially the responsibility) to educate the general public on scientific advances. Finally, we need to harness social networks as a vehicle for science literacy, as these networks can efficiently distribute misinformation.
None of us are as smart as all of us
No individual exists apart from some community, and science literacy can be passed through the community. In a community, ideas and information are exchanged and combined to form new knowledge and new ideas. This literate community could, potentially, compensate for an individual’s lack of literacy, though the extent is still uncertain.
Therefore, Achieving Scientific Literacy will be a massive undertaking. Science literacy depends on basic literacy, digital literacy, and media literacy. It isn’t something you can finish in high school and be done with; it is a life-long participation and engagement with science. But it is worth the price. Our lawmakers must be informed on scientific advances and technological advances to safely regulate the new technologies. Our democracy relies on an informed populace that understands the current issues and can debate them.
Keep in touch for the third part of this series on Scientific Literacy. Once I finish this series, I’ll work on a different topic for a little bit, as these articles require a lot of reading to make sure I’m up to date on the science. But I would be happy to have a weekly post on the science news of the week, if that is something that would be interesting for people. Let me know if that would benefit you.
