1. Scientifically Literate Citizenship in the United States in the 1980s: Challenges to the ‘Deficit Model’ of Public Understanding of Science Jane L. Lehr (jane.lehr@kcl.ac.uk) 20 May 2005: Science and the Public

2. Deficit Model in PUS Assumptions ‘Public Ignorance’ is the problem Science is privileged Science is a value-free and neutral activity Goal To increase scientific content knowledge of public

3. A moral panic Something or someone is defined a a threat to values or interests This threat is depicted in an easily recognizable form by the media There is a rapid build up of public concern There is response from authorities or public opinion makers The panic recedes or results in social changes (Thompson, 1998, p. 8)

4. A Threat to Values or Interests A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (1983) Action for Excellence (1983) Educating Americans for the 21st Century (1983)

5. Mass Media Discourses “Scientific Illiteracy: Public lacks grasp of technical issues, studies show” (30 June 1986) “How scientific should we get? Without scientifically literate citizens, democracy’s in peril, educators say” (21 Feb 1988) “The dismal state of scientific literacy” (3 Feb 1989)

6. Formal Science Education for Citizenship Science for All Americans American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989 Scope, Sequences and Coordination Project Content Core National Science Teachers Association, 1992 National Science Education Standards National Research Council, 1996

7. What is Scientific Literacy? Goals All students should adopt the ‘scientific worldview’ and ‘scientific habits of mind’ Strategies Exposure to the history and nature of science will facilitate training

8. Scientifically Literate Citizenship What is the political meaning of scientifically literate citizenship? Who is scientifically literate? What model of citizenship does U.S. formal science education normalize for (future) non-scientists?

9. US vs. UK Differences Civic Epistemology (Jasanoff, 2005) Styles of public knowledge-making Public accountability (basis for trust) Demonstration (practices) Objectivity (registers) Expertise (foundations) Visibility of expert bodies

10. What does this difference mean? Comparative PES Measuring ‘progress’ in US vs. UK Science education as a primary site of citizenship training for future non-scientist citizens in the US. Formal education as a site for intervention Local | National | Global