Trends in research on science in today's society: A systematic review

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze which trends of research have been used in the last ten years concerning science literacy among citizens. We analyzed 96 articles out of the 734 works published in the two most relevant science teaching journals in Spain. Some remarkable tendencies have been observed while paying attention to keywords, research models, objectives, types of samples, sources and techniques for data collection and used analysis. It seems to us that there are still many pending subjects concerning science literacy: no studies on the way individuals update their scientific background throughout their life have been found, nor any piece of research that considers differences between citizens when interpreting socioscientific issues due to factors such as their initial training, their age, or the type of sources they work with. However, we do not seem to be the right people to suggest measures to intervene in scientific literacy of lay individuals, other than basic their scientific training, throughout their lives.