The second aspect is the Dimensions of Scientific Literacy. These Dimensions, delineated by the factors within each Dimension, are the target outcomes for students' science education in Saskatchewan schools. No one can maintain that there is a particular body of knowledge that all graduates should attain. However, research in science education indicates that acquiring an understanding of, and an ability in, the factors that underlie the Dimensions of Scientific Literacy will give students the ability to function in society as scientifically literate people.
The third aspect is that of scientific knowledge. There is an expectation that students should acquire this knowledge through an activity-oriented science program. The Common Essential Learnings and the factors within the Dimensions of Scientific Literacy are taught through the context of the disciplines of science. The science program seeks to use the broad fields of earth science, life science, and physical science as sources of activities and information in order that the first two aspects can be accomplished. A topical course overview, attached as Appendix A, shows how this approach will be implemented in the Curriculum Guide.
"We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world... Except for children (who don't know enough not to ask the important questions), few of us spend much time wondering why nature is the way it is..."
Creative questioning is what drives science, and the ability to conceive such questions is what we want to foster in science students at the Middle Level. Encourage and assist students to create questions about what is around them. Give them an opportunity to explore and to discover answers to those questions. Ask them to analyze, compare, and evaluate those answers.
Science involves constructing an understanding of how the natural world works. We observe what is around us, ask questions, and seek answers. The questions which we ask and the way we seek the answers is what distinguishes science from other ways of knowing about the world. This construction process is done through activities. Words in textbooks are not the way understanding is communicated. Words in textbooks may serve as examples of how to communicate understanding, or may confirm or contradict an understanding. But concrete experiences are the basis for insight into the concepts. This is what Middle Level science must provide for the students.
Middle Level students are immersed in the world of their peers, their environment, and their personal development and problems. Early adolescents are aware of the reciprocal nature of peer and community influence. They tend to be emotional, reluctant to accept authority, and easily bored. Middle Level science classes must provide opportunity and guidance for students to discover the science in what is around them and in what they do. They must see what they study as relevant to themselves and to their situation. The Middle Level curriculum guide is designed as a foundation and support for teachers who are trying to encourage such inquiry.
Like each of us, Middle Level students have created a picture of the world. In science class they must be given a chance to reexamine, rethink, and reconceptualize their experience from the point of view of science. We want them to rethink their picture of the world so that they are able to view the world with science as their frame of reference. This does not mean extinguishing other points of view. Scientifically literate people understand how science works and how science interprets events. Scientifically literate people do not think that science is the only mode of explanation. Science is one context for examining themselves, their ideas, and their lives.
Active participation must be at the core of science learning. Through such activity comes the broad view of science as defined by the seven Dimensions of Scientific Literacy. When activities are analyzed, we find that they are always multi-Dimensional, and most can be adapted to develop understanding of all seven Dimensions. The factors of scientific literacy are the primary foundational objectives for the K-12 science curriculum. Students who understand these factors understand how science works, and these factors are best developed through activities.