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2 Science Literacy and Health Literacy: Rationales, Definitions, and Measurement
Pages 21-46

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From page 21...
... We also discuss the definitions of health literacy, as well as how the concept has been measured. Because science literacy is the primary focus of the committee's charge, we devote most of our attention to this topic, addressing health literacy in separate sections intended to show how the two ideas are -- and are 1In one effort, Layton, Jenkins, and Donnelly (1994)
From page 22...
... RATIONALES FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE LITERACY Four broad rationales have been proposed as to why science literacy is important and necessary: the economic rationale, the personal rationale, the democratic rationale, and the cultural rationale. In this section, we examine each of these rationales in order to provide a context for how the desired outcomes of science literacy inform understanding of the term itself.
From page 23...
... . In one form or another, this argument has been a feature of the discussion about the role of science education in society for the past 100 years (see, e.g., Dainton, 1968; European Commission, 2004; Lord Sainsbury of Turville, 2007; National Academy of Sciences, National clined as the sole source of scientific information.
From page 24...
... Science literacy, from this perspective, is a valued outcome because it strengthens economies and economic competitiveness, leading to less unemployment and a high standard of living. Specific to employment claims, however, the mechanisms through which science education contributes to economic growth are contested.
From page 25...
... Such goods and resources include the air, oceans, national parks, sanitation, water, public libraries, health infrastructure, and even accumulated scientific knowledge. In a democracy, managing public goods requires active civic engagement to sustain these resources and ensure their equitable distribution and public access.
From page 26...
... As Norris and colleagues (2014) note, definitions of both science literacy and health literacy invoke a valued direction or desired goal.
From page 27...
... argued that someone who was science literate would be able to "participate in human and civic affairs." In practice, the term science literacy was used to make an educational case for teaching science to the "90% of all working people" who were not "potential scientists," and who, it was argued, should experience a different kind of science education to enable them to achieve such a goal (Klopfer, 1969, p.
From page 28...
... Ten years later, the UK policy report Beyond 2000: Science Education for the Future argued that "the primary and explicit aim of the 5-16 science curriculum should be to provide a course which can enhance ‘scientific literacy' " enabling students to, among other things, "express an opinion on important social and ethical issues with which they will increasingly be confronted" (Millar and Osborne, 1998, p.
From page 29...
... Interestingly, this definition, unlike many others, specifies that the knowledge required to undertake these acts includes not only content knowledge from the various sciences, but also knowledge about how scientists do their work and knowledge about how to make sense of science. While earlier definitions of science literacy sometimes focused on a simplified vision of scientific epistemology referred to as "the scientific method" (Rudolph, 2005; Windschitl, Thompson, and Braaten, 2008)
From page 30...
... . Beyond this generally shared value, we identified a set of seven commonly proposed aspects of individual science literacy (summarized in Box 2-2)
From page 31...
... Yet the distinction between science literacy and technology literacy is not well defined and "science literacy" is often used as an 4Norris (1997) also explored an idea of science literacy rooted in autonomy -- what he called "intellectual independence." 5See https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/statement-nihfunding-research-using-gene-editing-technologies-human-embryos [July 2016]
From page 32...
... They are, in short, what many scholars expect would be useful or valuable. This list includes: foundational literacies, content knowledge, understanding of scientific practices, epistemic knowledge, identifying and judging scientific expertise, cultural under standing of science, and dispositions and habits of mind.
From page 33...
... . Cultural Understanding of Science Although this dimension of science literacy is less widely discussed, scholars have long argued that people who are science literate understand the tremen dous epistemic achievements of science, appreciate of the beauty and wonder of science and the contributions of science to society -- what Shen and others have described as a cultural understanding of science.
From page 34...
... Defining Health Literacy The focus of the majority of the definitions for health literacy has been on the capabilities needed by individuals to access and understand health information so that they can act on it. For example, in 1998, the World Health Organization defined health literacy as "the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health" (World Health Organization, 1998, p.
From page 35...
... . In the case of health literacy, however, the desired goal implicit in the definitions for health literacy cited here is the promotion and maintenance of good health -- for individuals, communities, and societies (World Health Organization, 1998)
From page 36...
... 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.
From page 37...
... . These "Oxford Scale" science knowledge questions were developed in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom (see Durant et al., 1989; Evans and Durant, 1995)
From page 38...
... The second scientist wants to give the drug to 500 people with high blood pressure and not give the drug to another 500 people with high blood pressure, and see how many in both groups experience lower blood pressure levels. Which is the better way to test this drug?
From page 39...
... , the focus on constructs and inquiry is meant to apply primarily to "civic" science literacy, which Miller describes as the type of science knowledge that might be needed by a citizen to take part in public life, including following news in media outlets, such as The New York Times (Miller, 2004, p.
From page 40...
... One important change to the items that Miller popularized occurred in the 2010 version of Indicators when the National Science Board decided to reduce the battery of knowledge questions used to track factual knowledge from 11 to 9 items, removing the questions on evolution and the big bang. The decision to remove these items was based on research that suggested they were effectively assessing religiosity, rather than factual science knowledge among the U.S.
From page 41...
... Issue-Specific Measures In addition to general science knowledge, it is also easy to imagine an infinite range of measures aimed at capturing knowledge of specific scientific areas or domains. However, whereas the public health community continues to create a broad range of measures aimed at capturing knowledge about specific
From page 42...
... Clinicians may use them to assess a patient's health literacy level prior to or at the beginning of a health care visit. Researchers may seek to improve health literacy directly, measuring it before or after implementing an intervention, or they may focus on examining the impact of an intervention on behavior, using health literacy as an independent or control variable.
From page 43...
... . However, rather than measuring health literacy directly, these instruments were actually measuring aspects of foundational literacy.
From page 44...
... CONCLUSIONS The committee's review of the history of the definitions of science literacy reveals a shifting landscape in which science knowledge has emerged as only one component of a larger and more nuanced construct. Health literacy, too, has evolved, in ways that suggest new potential for synergy between research on health literacy and science literacy.
From page 45...
... is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of science literacy. CONCLUSION 4  Concerns about the relationship of health literacy to health outcomes have led to a reconceptualization of health literacy as a property not just of the individual but also of the system, with attention to how the literacy demands placed on individuals by that system might be mitigated.


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