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Scientific Literacy in Environmental and Health Education

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Science | Environment | Health

Abstract

Grand challenges for this age set the stage for this chapter. Because many challenges are directly related to the environment and health, one must ask a question that introduces the theme of scientific literacy—“What is important for citizens to know, value, and be able to do relative to the environment, health, and science-related issues?” The chapter continues with a review of results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 science survey. The discussion includes a definition of scientific literacy, presentation of results for students’ attitudes toward selected environmental issues, and students’ interests in selected health issues. The chapter concludes with implications for enhancing scientific literacy using environmental and health contexts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An earlier version of the following analysis can be found in McCrae (2009).

  2. 2.

    PISA scales are constructed with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100.

  3. 3.

    Topics are ranked according to how difficult it was for students to express interest in learning about them. Often, however, there was no significant difference in the difficulties of two or three items that have successive ranks.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), Colorado Springs, USA

    Rodger W. Bybee

  2. International Conference, Environment & Health in Science Education, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Rodger W. Bybee

Authors
  1. Rodger W. Bybee
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Correspondence to Rodger W. Bybee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Insitute of Education, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Albert Zeyer  & Regula Kyburz-Graber  & 

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Bybee, R.W. (2012). Scientific Literacy in Environmental and Health Education. In: Zeyer, A., Kyburz-Graber, R. (eds) Science | Environment | Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3949-1_4

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