Abstract

NASCIMENTO-SCHULZE, Clélia Maria. A study about scientific literacy with students from Santa Catarina. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2006, vol.8, n.1, pp. 95-106. ISSN 1516-3687.

Scientific and technological literacy of the population is important to prepare citizens for everyday life and political participation. Aiming at evaluating the scientific education offered to secondary students from the state of Santa Catarina, the present investigation had as a goal to measure the scientific literacy level of students from the last year of secondary school, enrolled in schools from the cities of Florianópolis and Criciúma. 754 students took part on the study, 618 of which were from public schools while 136 were from private ones. Participants answered to a Portuguese translation of the Test of Basic Scientific Literacy, a scientific literacy measure created in South-Africa. Results pointed that the found scientific literacy level was 36,5%, similar to South Africa’s. Students from private schools have obtained higher indexes than those coming from public schools. We conclude that it is necessary to enhance science teaching in Santa Catarina to promote the social inclusion of citizens.

Keywords : Scientific literacy; Secondary school; Science and technology; School network; Science teaching.

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