Scientific literacy – does it help us to live in the modern highly technological world?

We routinely engage in discussions on climate change, fighting viruses and healthy eating….but is our opinion based on scientific evidence or even basic knowledge of laws of physics and nature. In other words, are we scientifically literate? I have always had keen interest in nature and general science but funny enough it never occurred to me to “measure” my scientific literacy.

OECD defines scientific literacy as the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science as a reflective citizen. It emphasises the importance of being able to apply scientific knowledge in the context of real-life situations, interpret and critically evaluate what mass media is telling us.

Scientific literacy is as important a measure of a county’s overall education level as literacy, mathematic literacy and now of course, digital literacy. How is your country doing? Click here to find out https://data.oecd.org/pisa/science-performance-pisa.htm

As the world is becoming more and more technological, scientific literacy can become a useful instrument for job seekers who need to adapt to technically demanding and complex positions.

Are you intrigued to find out how science literate you are? There are numerous quizzes and tests, some fun and some more serious. I have just completed this one, got 10 out of 11. Umm, there is some room for improvement. What is your science literacy score?

https://www.pewresearch.org/science/quiz/science-knowledge-quiz