Chapter 3: Science Literacy As a Social Interactional Inquiry Process: What Does Science Literacy Have to Do With It?

Numerous recent studies have affirmed the reciprocal supportive relationship between literacy and science (Greenleaf et al., 2011; Pearson, Moje, & Greenleaf, 2010). The American Association for the Advancement of Science highlights the significance of scientific literacy for students’ participation in a global society (Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1991). Scientific literacy has claimed a newly expanded territory in today’s instruction and curriculum in the United States (Cassidy, Grote-Garcia, & Ortlieb, 2015). In this chapter, we reimage scientific literacy as a social international inquiry process. It is therefore defined as social, cultural, and literacy knowledge, competence, and practices demanded for learning and application of scientific concepts and content in discipline-specific and interdisciplinary contexts.