Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes To Practices

" This book] is important reading for policymakers in science education, science educators, and those interested in reading a carefully crafted book about scientific literacy." - The Science Teacher

Some contend that the value of science education has declined and our goal of scientific literacy is an unrealized and unrealizable myth. And others simply declare that our efforts to reform have failed. Rodger Bybee, one of the nation's foremost science educators, responds to these charges, offering new insights into the issues surrounding contemporary reform.

"Achieving Scientific Literacy" offers a broad vision for improving science education that is at times historical and philosophical and also concrete and practical. It extends and elaborates on several themes, including:

• a clarification of scientific literacy
• a systemic perspective on reform
• a standards-based approach to improving science education
• an emphasis on science teaching and student learning

Bybee maintains that although the rhetoric of reform is national, the actual reform must occur at state and local levels. His book addresses the critical challenge of transforming issues from national standards to state and local practices, and ultimately to the classroom, with the aim of developing greater coherence and consistency in science education.

"Achieving Scientific Literacy" is a book anyone concerned about the future of science education should own. It will help classroom teachers, science supervisors, and administrators with both the larger perspective of reform and the practical issues of improving their programs and practices. Undergraduates who are entering theprofession, scientists and engineers who support and influence school science programs, and teachers and policymakers who identify and address critical issues of educational reform will find the book just as valuable.