Achieving scientific literacy: an integrated curriculum approach to enhancing scientific literacy for students

Abstract

This paper describes the development and implementation of an innovative high school science course to improve students’ scientific literacy. The goal was to create a rigorous and thought-provoking course to engage students in contextually relevant learning focused on the core concept of scientific literacy. The challenge was to teach the prescribed Programs of Study for Science 10, Mathematics 10 Common, and Chemistry 20 in the time normally needed to teach only two of those courses so students would make connections and apply knowledge across the disciplines. This has been achieved through interdisciplinary projects throughout the year. This successful project was named Scimatics. I encourage others to create similarly meaningful courses for their own students using their and their students’ passions and expertise to guide them.