Abstract
A holistic view of scientific literacy-related literature was generated based on bibliometric analysis. The purpose was to provide insight into and knowledge on evolving knowledge fronts and to highlight the turning points in the existing literature between 1980 and 2019. Scientific literacy in society can potentially help to answer unsolved riddles of socio-scientific issues (SSI) to enable people to become smart and responsible global citizens. Specifically, two decades before and after the year 2000 was taken into account as it comprised the most noticeable revolutionary developments in terms of economics, technology, culture, and society. Interestingly, the attention paid to scientific literacy significantly increased after the financial crisis of 2008. International Journal of Science Education and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching were observed to be the top-cited and top publishing journals, respectively. Similarly, Jonathan Osborne, Rosalind Driver, and Norman G. Lederman were recorded as the most cited and most published authors, respectively, during the study period. Alarmingly, most of the literature evolved in and was dominated by the Western region, indicating the need to understand the regional-cultural complexities of the East and the rest of the world. The recent evolving clusters, with titles of literacy (as a concept), learning progression, and informal reasoning, were observed to be currently active knowledge areas in the evolution of the intellectual structure of scientific literacy-related literature. However, no recent trend or emerging research direction was noticed in the last decade, even though new and digital media (including immersive media) have revolutionized the communication channels and public understanding of science and socio-scientific issues.
Highlights
The literal meaning of literate is a letter
Authors’ intention to exclude reviews, letters, editorials, and short surveys as a purpose of the current study is to examine the intellectual growth of the related academic literature
The current section comprises quantitative findings on 1948 authors, representing 135 countries, with 159 funding agencies and 158 academic journals observed to have participated in the evolution of the academic literature related to scientific literacy
Summary
The literal meaning of literate is a letter (derived from the Latin word littera). scientific reflects knowledge (derived from the Latin word scientia; Rusli, 2012). In 1958, the first traces of scientific literacy in the academic literature were observed when the need for public understanding of science was raised (Hurd, 1958). Victor Showalter (1974) unified the goals of science education through seven dimensions of scientific literacy, which comprises the individuals’ ability to understand the nature of scientific knowledge, the capability to accurately apply scientific concepts, efficacy to use processes of science, values with the essence of scientific principles, readiness towards science and technology while viewing society, belief in lifelong learning, and with the readiness to develop science and technology-based skills. In the authors’ view, Vision I and Vision II in science education demand an equal level of attention while examining the evolution of academic literature. Vision I addresses the processes and product of science, and Vision II pays attention to the significant role of situation and environment where a scientific component exists
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