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Scientific Literacy and the Twenty-First Century

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Understanding Literacy and Cognition

Abstract

This chapter offers a glimpse into Canada’s future (25 years from now) by extrapolating from key events that have occurred since World War II. Prominent in this analysis and projection is an “attentive public,” who assumes social responsibilities related to science and technology. The 21st century will demand citizens who have the savvy to explore, understand, and to some degree control, their own fate in a society increasingly shaped by science and technology. Citizens with these abilities are science literate. In this chapter, scientific literacy is: (1) described in terms of a savvy citizenry; (2) explored with respect to its status as an education goal; and (3) defined within a case study of curriculum change in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York

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Aikenhead, G. (1989). Scientific Literacy and the Twenty-First Century. In: Leong, C.K., Randhawa, B.S. (eds) Understanding Literacy and Cognition. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5748-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5748-3_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5750-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5748-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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