Critical Science Literacy: Making Sense of Science

Abstract

In this “new media” world, more is demanded of citizens in terms of evaluating scientific claims than ever before. Science itself is a social activity. While so-called heuristic (cue-based) processing is often defined as less desirable than systematic (more thoughtful) processing, we are almost all dependent on heuristic cues when evaluating science. Priest argues here that we need to redefine science literacy as involving understanding the social character of science—how science actually works in terms of the collective ability of the scientific community to arrive at consensus-based conclusions through processes of discussion, replication, and review. Naturally those processes are imperfect, but they generate the best knowledge we have. Part of this new “critical” science literacy is understanding the nature of scientific consensus.