ABSTRACT
Knowledge has become the main element in a society heading into the twenty-first century. The new social, cultural and economic experience is exciting; it ignites the imagination and appears to offer a wealth of new opportunities to humankind. The main aim of education was and remains the imparting of reading and writing skills, or the classic three r’s: reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Literacy has always been considered to be the key that opens the door to culture, but as we draw nearer to the year 2000, it takes on a different, broader meaning. To cope with the definition of the educational crisis, the concept of literacy has been expanded from knowledge of reading and writing to mastery of basic concepts and skills in different disciplines: scientific literacy, technological literacy, humanistic literacy, civic literacy, and so on. Environmental education is vital to fostering literacy, which requires becoming well-acquainted with the laws of natural science.
