Science literacy in the twenty-first century: informed trust and the competent outsider

Abstract

A primary justification of teaching science to all young people is to develop students to become “critical consumers” of science. This worthy goal, however, is hampered by a flawed premise that school science is sufficient to develop intellectual independence. In contrast, we start from the premise that we are all epistemically dependent on the expertise of others. Hence, any science education for all must develop the capabilities to become a “competent outsider” capable of making judgements not of the science itself, but whether the source is credible. Essential to developing such informed epistemic trust are: (1) a basic understanding of the social practices that enable the production of reliable knowledge; and (2) a familiarity with the major explanatory theories and styles of reasoning that guide the work of scientists. These elements provide a framework for the non-expert necessary to interpret and understand the work of scientists and the claims they make. We show how such an education would address three of the four primary aims of science education outlined by Rudolph (2022). To achieve this goal a substantial reduction of existing standards to an essential, but fundamentally different, core is required, while returning significant autonomy to classroom professionals.