A Case for Media Literacy in the Context of Socioscientific Issues.

Abstract

Background: The call for a scientifically literate citizenry necessitates individuals who are able to understand and make decisions regarding socioscientific issues. Socioscientific issues are social dilemmas with no definite solutions that have captured the attention of media sources nationally and internationally. This implies that scientifically literate individuals also need to be media literate and able to critically analyze socioscientific information presented in the media. Because teachers are considered the most influential factor in promoting student achievement and literacy, it is imperative that teachers be scientifically and media literate as well. Goals: The purpose of this study is to examine the types of media and criteria that preservice science teachers use to select and evaluate information pertaining to socioscientific issues presented in multimedia texts intended for use with k-12 students. Research Methods: Exploratory study using course artifacts generated by 40 middle childhood science preservice teachers. Data sources were analyzed for frequencies and emergent patterns. Results: Preservice teachers selected a variety of multimedia resources to teach socioscientific issues. They reexamined the selected multimedia resources with readability criteria for use with middle childhood students. The preservice teachers suggested the addition of four new criteria to the readability checklist to make it science specific. These four criteria provide a basis for informal reasoning processes.