Justin F. Shaffer|Julie Ferguson|Kameryn Denaro
Use of the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills Reveals That Fundamental Literacy Is an Important Contributor to Scientific Literacy
Colorado School of Mines|University of California, Irvine|University of California, Irvine
college science courses aim teach students disciplinary knowledge scientific literacy skills several instruments developed assess students scientific literacy skills studies reported demographic differences may play role goal study determine whether demographic factors differentially impact students scientific literacy skills assessed 700 students using test scientific literacy skills tosls validated instrument developed assess scientific literacy college science courses interestingly found scholastic aptitude test sat reading score strongest predictor tosls performance suggesting fundamental literacy reading comprehension critical component scientific literacy skills additionally found significant differences raw scientific literacy skills basis ethnicity underrepresented minority urm vs nonurm major science technology engineering mathematics stem vs nonstem year college eg senior vs freshman grade point average gpa sat math scores however using multivariate regression models found difference based ethnicity data suggest students aptitude level training based gpa sat scores stem nonstem major year college significantly correlated scientific literacy skills thus could used predictors student success courses assess scientific literacy skills