ABSTRACT
The focus of many educational systems is rooted strongly in a belief that an understanding of science is so important that it should be a feature of every young person’s education (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989; Confederacion de Sociedades Cientificas de España, 2011; Fensham, 1985; Millar & Osborne, 1998; National Research Council, 2012a; Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (KMK), 2005; Taiwan Ministry of Education, 1999). Many of these documents and policy statements give pre-eminence to an education for citizenship. Likewise, the emphasis in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) frameworks is on science for citizenship seeking to assess the competency of 15-year-old students to become informed critical consumers of scientific knowledge—a competency that all individuals are expected to need during their lifetimes (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2012). Drawing on the example of PISA, this chapter explores what kinds of knowledge bases are required to engage in such reasoning.
