Scientific Literacy – Group TDT

Edited by Rachel Billes, Co-Authored by John Muir, Danielle Mackay and Shaun Finnigan         

The term ‘Scientific Literacy’ is one that can often be heard in academic conversation but what does it actually mean? To be literate is having the “ability to read and write” (Oxford Dictionary, no date), therefore it would be assumed that being ‘scientifically literate’ is about having the knowledge to be able to understand different scientific concepts. However, scientific literacy is not just about knowing how to carry out a range of different experiments. It refers to having a knowledge of scientific concepts and being able to apply what we know to decisions that we make throughout our daily lives, regarding “personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs and economic productivity” (Literacy.net, no date). This entails that being scientifically literate gives you the proficiency to be able to “ask (about), find and determine” (NSES, no date) scientific experiments, and establish whether information that has been shared is of a reliable background. From this we can use individual methods to judge and evaluate the experiments, resulting in conclusions which have come from personal knowledge and research.

The best and most well-known example of scientific literacy, or a lack of scientific literacy- leading to inaccurate reporting- is the MMR vaccine scare. This started when a paper was published in 1998 and reported that twelve children had been found to have bowel syndrome and signs of autism after receiving the vaccine. However, the report provided no hard evidence to support the argument that there was any link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The main author of the report, Dr Andrew Wakefield, initially stated at a press conference that parents should avoid the MMR vaccine. It was later found that the author of the report did not have the medical qualifications to assess the risk of the MMR vaccine, and he was found guilty of four counts of dishonesty. These events had a major effect on public confidence in the MMR vaccine. Vaccination rates continued to fall, even after there were many reports showing that there was no link between the vaccine and autism. When it was found that Wakefield had actually been funded by a lawyer firm that wanted litigation against MMR, confidence eventually returned but a combination of poor scientific practice and lack of scientific literacy led to inaccurate reporting in the media for several years.

In terms of scientific literacy in the classroom, the process of fair testing is an important part to any science-based activity that you may be conducting with your pupils. Therefore, it is vital that you teach them just how important this element is. Fair testing means that only one factor is changed at any one time ensuring that all the other conditions are left the same throughout. In scientific terms, changing a factor is known as changing a variable. It is essential that children understand the effects that changing one or more variables has in order to fully understand the experiments you teach them. But how does teaching fair testing link to scientific literacy? By making your children aware of fair testing, you are stating that an experiment will have no deliberate advantages or disadvantages as they follow a procedure that will provide a legitimate outcome. Through this, students will then be able to “identify questions and draw evidence-based conclusions”. Fair testing ensures that there is less of a bias within the experiment. Scientific literacy is linked to fair testing through the fact that it is “evidence-based” and not simply an answer that people are to believe. Fair testing helps to reduce this idea of “bad science” in schools. It will help your pupils to progress within their scientific literacy and encourage them to become more questioning, providing results that have evidence to back up the findings.

References

Literacy.net (no date): Scientific Literacy: [online] Available from: <http://www.literacynet.org/science/scientificliteracy.html> [10/02/16]

National Science Education Standards (no date): Chapter 2 – Principles and Definitions: [online] Available from: <http://www.nap.edu/read/4962/chapter/4> [10/02/16]

OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] (2003) The PISA 2003 Assessment Framework – Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving Knowledge and Skills. Paris: OECD.

Oxford Dictionary (no date): Literate: [online] Available from: <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/literate> [10/02/16]

Radio 4, Science Betrayed, Thursday 24 March 2011 at 20:59 (available online at http://bobnational.net/record/55921)

Receiving Feedback

When I receive feedback, I appreciate it because if it is critical, it helps me to improve my practice and writing ability as I can take the advice on board and incorporate into what I do next time. Critical feedback also suggests that the person writing it has taken the time to consider what I have said so it makes me feel as if my work has been appreciated.  If it is positive feedback, then it does not help me to better myself but serves to boost my self-confidence so receiving both types of feedback can be useful. I will probably receive feedback in the future from my superiors so it is good at this stage to learn how to take feedback and use it to improve yourself.

Giving feedback

I also find the process of giving feedback helpful as if you read someone else’s work and then think of constructive criticism, that is not only helping them to improve their own writing but you might also be able to apply it to your own work. Later, when I become qualified to educate in a primary school, during meetings with staff members I should be able to confidently give advice to fellow colleagues because I have started with feedback to cohorts now in university.

Words/phrases I associate with being a professional:

Integrity
Competent
Knowledgeable
Calm
Skilled
Reliable
Motivated
Good Self-presentation
Responsibility
Dignity
Has professional values
Evaluative

Reflection is defined as either “serious thought or consideration” or “an idea about something, especially one that is written down or expressed” by the Oxford dictionary but I believe reflection has a deeper meaning than that. Reflection, to me, is being able to look at your actions or writing critically with no bias and I believe that this is very difficult to do as it is nearly impossible to look at your own work with no bias. Reflection also involves being able to look at your actions from different perspectives so as to gain better understanding of their impact. I often find myself trying to look at things I have done from the perspective of others and usually find it interesting to try and get inside someone else’s mind. I also believe that reflection can also be important before you act by considering all the different ways your action can be construed.

I do not think that it is a natural thing for a human to reflect, especially in a critical way, about their doings but I believe that reflection is more of a learned behaviour in a sense. However, i feel it is important that we learn how to reflect especially due to the impact an ability has to reflect on learning. Reflection greatly increases the quality of writing someone is able to produce as it enables them to polish pieces of work without the aid of a teacher before handing it in. It may be a good idea to educate those in primary school on how to reflect so they know how to for when they have to produce work of a higher standard. As a primary school student, I never would have thought about my work critically or even have thought about ways of improving or bettering my work. The only times I would think about that would be when I had my work given back to me with penned in teacher’s comments in the margin. I firmly believe that if I was taught how to reflect on myself before this stage, it would have prepared me better for later study.

In a recent lecture, Derek Robertson asked us to reflect on what we thought five important virtues were for teaching and I believe that these five core values are necessary to be a successful educator.

Tolerance

For a teacher to have tolerance means that they are able to tolerate children from any background without having any pre-conceived notion of how well they may do. A teacher with tolerance should not judge a child based on race, gender or socio-economic class. They must be open minded to any culture and not impose their own views on the classroom or any students mind. A tolerant teacher would also set a good example for their students as it would teach them not to judge or bully anyone and treat everyone equally regardless of their culture. It is also very important for a primary educator to display tolerance as pupils are at a very susceptible age and could potentially copy some of the teacher’s behaviour.

Fairness

In order to set a good example for the pupils, a teacher must treat them all fairly. When I was in primary school, I noticed some of my teachers acted in a sexist way, which was possibly subconscious, because they would discipline the males in the class more than they would the girls. I feel that disciplinary measures should be applied based on circumstance and regardless of gender.

It is also good for primary students to learn fair etiquette early on in their life in the hope that this would carry on for their behaviour as adults. For example, teaching children to share when they are given something seems like it is very good practice.

Patience

A patient teacher to me means an understanding teacher who can adjust their teaching style to the different speeds at which their pupils work at. For example, a teacher with patience will not get annoyed by a pupil interrupting their lesson with questions or with a request to slow down and will be prepared to explain a concept as many times through as is required.

As a primary student, I felt too nervous to ask my Maths teacher a question or to slow down because the teacher had a reputation as being “strict” and I was too embarrassed that I would look stupid if I asked. If a teacher was able to give the impression that they were patient and happy to answer questions, the pupils may feel less afraid or ashamed.

Empathy

I believe that a teacher should be able to display empathy to their students in order to truly be an effective teacher and make a difference in a pupil’s learning. If a pupil feels like their teacher does not understand how they are feeling then they will never give full confidence or trust to the teacher which can be important for pupils to feel happy in the classroom.

Kindness

Kindness is also very important when dealing with primary students. Difficult students can seem to need more discipline when sometimes this is not the case. I know when I was in primary school, for my first two years, I caused trouble constantly and was punished for it constantly until I was placed in a kind teacher’s class where I learned to behave myself without the need for stringent punishment.

However, with this virtue there needs to be more of a balance as it is equally important for a teacher to be firm with discipline as the teacher could easily be taken advantage of as a lenient teacher.