Science Without Literacy: A ship without a sail?

Abstract

This article argues that reading, writing and argument are central to any conception of science as it is currently constituted. Moreover, it is through the texts of science, popular accounts or journalistic reported versions that the majority of the public interact with and consider the implications of the findings that science presents. However, the study of the language of science, science's epistemic base and the cultural norms and values that underpin its practice are currently considered only marginal to the teaching of science. Rather, the specialised laboratories provided for science teachers and the narrow conception of science embodied in the curriculum gives pre-eminence to science as an empirical activity in the naive belief that this is central to understanding the nature of science. The consequent failure to recognise the centrality of language, literacy and argument to science education leaves the majority ill equipped to become critical consumers of science. Change requires a concerted attempt to reconceptualise the priorities for science education through a mix of new curricula, new strategies and last, but not least, new modes of assessment.