Over the last 50 years, the concept of ‘science literacy’, or ‘scientific literacy’, has increasingly become the term used to describe the goal of science education (Roberts, 2007; Feinstein, 2011). In their seminal report ‘Beyond 2000: Science education for the future’, Millar and Osborne (1998) reviewed the purpose of science education, the focus of which they felt had for too long been placed on providing a ‘preparatory education for… a small minority of the population’, i.e. future scientists (p. 1). At the heart of their recommendations lay the concept of ‘science literacy’ as something ‘necessary for all young people growing up in our society’ (Millar and Osborne, 1998, p. 4) to enable them to make informed judgments regarding ‘social and ethical issues’ relating to science (Millar and Osborne, 1998, p. 4). Science literacy, the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes, can be a understood as a tool that will ‘help people
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