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Over the last decade, reform in science education has placed an emphasis on the science practices as a way to engage students in the process of science and improve scientific literacy. A critical component of developing scientific literacy is learning to apply quantitative reasoning to authentic scientific phenomena and problems. Students need practice moving fluidly (or fluently) between math and science to develop a habit of mind that encourages the application of quantitative reasoning to real-world scenarios. Here we present a student-facing model that challenges students to think across these two fields. The model brings together math and science with a goal to increase scientific literacy by engaging students in quantitative reasoning within the context of scientific questions and phenomena. In the classroom, the model serves to help students visualize the logical and necessary moves they make as they use quantitative reasoning to connect science practices with mathematical thinking.
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Designing learning environments to promote competent lay engagement with science
An important goal of science education is promoting scientific literacy—the competence to interact with science as laypeople to solve problems and make decisions in their personal and community lives. This is made more challenging in an age of increasing science denialism. In this article, we discuss how to design learning environments for science education that can help students attain scientific literacy. We argue that science curricula should encompass lessons with two distinguishable foci. One focus engages students in understanding the reliability of science. The second focus engages students as laypeople interacting with science in the public sphere. We discuss these two curricular foci, presenting examples from our own work on designing and implementing instruction with the first focus.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2009803
- PAR ID:
- 10533075
- Publisher / Repository:
- European Journal of Education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- European journal of education
- Volume:
- 58
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1465-3435
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 407-421
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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