For this key element for developing scientific literacy, students should reflect on their practice and how beliefs and pre-conceived ideas can influence the science learning that occurs in the classroom (Norris & Phillips, 2003), in an effort to develop as reflective citizens. In the Australian Curriculum: Science, there was
Skills strand. This regrettably falls short of the reflective practice proposed by this investigation, where critical reflection (Mezirow, 2006) on one’s own knowledge, influence, beliefs and actions about science and the particular use of scientific knowledge and procedures is desired.
There should be recognition, by both the teacher and student, that how a reader (in this case, the student) positions themselves in relation to the text they are reading can influence their ability to understand its technical, scientific language (Norris & Phillips, 2003), and that the nature of science texts usually presented to students in school classrooms can give agency to the teacher and text (Kalantzis & Cope, 2008), assuming both are ‘right’, and not to be challenged. In contrast, this investigation recommends that students be taught how to analyse critically scientific information, reflect on their learning, and make informed and socially appropriate decisions about how the scientific information they are presented with influences their lives and the lives of others (Norris & Phillips, 2003).
To achieve this, it is recommended that students be taught how to differentiate between statements in the text that assume, infer, hypothesise, conclude, justify an action, express a doubt or provide evidence for a claim (Norris & Phillips, 2003), and to understand their own positioning in relation to the text. For this to occur,
teachers should recognise the value of critical reflection and intentionally teach reflection strategies to their students. An examples of this, continuing to use the Year Nine Content Descriptors, “Ecosystems consist of communities of
interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (Australian Curriculum, 2011, p. 58)” and
“People can use scientific knowledge to evaluate whether they should accept claims, explanations of predictions (Australian Curriculum, 2011, p. 61)”, could be for
global warming and climate change (as recommended for Key Element Two), and employ scaffolded comprehension strategies, where students are prompted to investigate their own opinions about global warming and climate change both prior to and after the teaching of the scientific content.
One type of comprehension strategy that could be utilised is Reciprocal Teaching, a instructional procedure developed by Palincsar and Brown (Spörer, Brunstein, & Kieschke, 2009) that can improve students’ comprehension skills though a
scaffolded, four step approach of Question, Summarise, Clarify, and Predict (Spörer, et al., 2009; Stricklin, 2011). This explicit teaching strategy can promote student engagement with the text to improve their comprehension skills, and provides a scaffolded approach to literacy instruction that can be used with science texts (Spörer, et al., 2009). Use of a scaffolded strategy such as this, by Science teachers could encourage the incorporation of reading, comprehension, composition and literacy instruction time into the Science classroom.
It is anticipated that as teachers and students become more familiar with critical reflective practice, it may become more common-place in Science classrooms around Australia. As detailed in section 4.4.2, the Science as a Human Endeavour Content Descriptors can encourage teachers to link scientific content and
knowledge with social relevance, and ensure students are exposed to socio- scientific issues. Whilst teachers are incorporating these Content Descriptors into their teaching practice, thus exposing students to socio-scientific issues, and additionally utilising explicit teaching methods and comprehension strategies, it is anticipated that the nature of Science learning may become a reflective form of learning. For example, when students are expanding their curiosity, asking questions and showing a willingness to explore how science changes the world in
(Australian Curriculum, 2011), students can be encouraged to question critically their own beliefs and ideas.
Therefore, this investigation recommends the incorporation of critical reflective practices throughout Science learning in the classroom. This is to be achieved by exposing students to multi-modal texts that present socio-scientific issues in society, and the use of scaffolded comprehension strategies, to encourage students to analyse critically the science that is presented to them and how it interacts with their own pre-conceived beliefs and ideas about scientific knowledge. This focus on critical reflection and socio-scientific issues can ensure scientific literacy is central to Science learning, and that each of the three strands science learning presented in the Australian Curriculum: Science are valued in Science classrooms.
In summary, this investigation has made recommendations for each of the key elements for developing scientific literacy, to provide ways past the social problem of ambiguity within curriculum documents about the development of scientific literacy. Each of these recommendations is underpinned by a desire for
professional development strategies that can assist teachers in recognising both the importance of scientific literacy and the importance of intentionally teaching for scientific literacy. These professional development strategies should focus on teaching for scientific literacy as central to Science learning, as presented by Figure Nine, and how each of the three strands of science learning in the Australian
Curriculum: Science can contribute equally to teaching for scientific literacy. Table 2
below represents how these recommendations are linked to each of the key elements for developing scientific literacy.
Table 2: Recommendations for embracing the key elements for developing scientific literacy
Recommendation
Key elements for developing scientific literacy 1: Scientific knowledge in its multiple representations 2: Social relevance 3: Cultural and contextual relevance 4: Critical reflective practice
Use of the graphic representation of scientific literacy
(developed by this investigation)
Promotes scientific literacy across all strands of the Australian Curriculum: Science
Science Understanding Content Descriptors
(adapted from existing literature and developed by
this investigation) Read without Content Elaborations Read without Content Elaborations Science Understanding Content Descriptors
(adapted from existing literature and developed by
this investigation) Evaluate against student social context Evaluate against student social context Evaluate against student social context Science as a Human Endeavour Content Descriptors (developed by this investigation)
Align with Science Understanding
Content Descriptors
Align with Science Understanding
Content Descriptors
Multimodal texts
(adapted from existing literature and developed by
this investigation) Incorporate into teaching practice Incorporate into teaching practice Multimodal texts
(adapted from existing literature and developed by
this investigation)
Incorporate into assessment items
Scaffolded comprehension
(adapted from existing literature)
Use of strategies like Reciprocal
Teaching
Critical reflection
(adapted from existing literature)
Utilise before and after topic