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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2006  > October  >
Research: Science and Education
Chemical Education Research
Chemical Literacy: What Does This Mean to Scientists and School Teachers?
Yael Shwartz, Ruth Ben-Zvi, and Avi Hofstein
Department of Science Teaching, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Cover
October 2006
Vol. 83 No. 10
p. 1557
Abstract
The ongoing reform in science education sets the attainment of "scientific literacy for all" as its main goal, and therefore, teaching high school chemistry should address this aim. Traditionally, scientists from academia were dominant in determining the content and structure of high school chemistry courses. Teachers were then usually involved only in later activities based on syllabi conceived by these scientists. In this study we let chemistry teachers be the main partners in the process of defining chemical literacy. The extent of agreement with the teachers' definition of chemical literacy was evaluated by presenting it to members of the Israeli Chemical Society. A consensus of opinion was reached regarding specific concepts, the context, and learning skills that were suggested by those who defined it. However, the results indicate that scientists perceive "chemical literacy" as reflecting only a few core chemical ideas, whereas teachers perceive it in a broader context that links chemistry with other disciplines and introduces applications of chemical knowledge.
Supplement
A description of the analytic methods used, additional statistical results, and the interview questions for scientists are all available.
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Citation
Shwartz, Yael; Ben-Zvi, Ruth; Hofstein, Avi. J. Chem. Educ. 2006 83 1557.
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Keywords
Chemical Education Research; Curriculum; General Public; High School / Introductory Chemistry; Public Understanding / Outreach
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
8/23/2006
8/28/2006
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