ABSTRACT

A number of aspects of the learning and teaching of science will contribute to the wider development of pupils in the school. Numeracy and Literacy are whole-school issues to which science can make a major contribution. The same view can be taken of both citizenship and sustainability, which can also be addressed through science. Issues of common debate which draw on science in the media, for example BSE, HIV, GM foods and more recently avian influenza impact on all members of society or citizens. Other issues that are rooted in science, for example animal experimentation, organ transplantation and nuclear weapons programmes raise ethical objections among a sizable minority (and in some cases a majority). With this in mind some may argue that socio-scientific issues is perhaps a better term than citizenship and global issues a better term than sustainability; whilst these terms may be even more wideranging than the areas to be discussed here, they both share a common view of being based in science and potentially impacting on society.