Study On Measurement Of Public Scientific Literacy In Social Context

The issues about public scientific literacy are followed with many interests in the world nowadays.And the measurement of public scientific literacy has been conducted in many countries in the world.However,there are many disagreements with the issue about the measurement of public scientific literacy which generally include four kinds of viewpoints:whether public scientific literacy can be measured; how to measure and evaluate public scientific literacy accurately;critics to or questioning on the measurement indicators of public scientific literacy by J.Miller; study on constructing a new model of public scientific literacy measurement or improving the measurement indicators by J.Miller.But the dissertation discusses how the concept of scientific literacy comes into being and is changed,and how the measurement of public scientific literacy has been conducted in different social contexts after the World Warâ…¡in the framework of sociology of science.Different measurement models of public scientific literacy in the different social contexts in the world are reviewed according to which the problems about the measurement of public scientific literacy in current social context in China are analyzed,and some countermeasures to them are also put forward.Firstly the relationship between the changing process of social context and both the studies on scientific literacy theories and the measurement of public scientific literacy are discussed.It is showed that the social context after World Warâ…¡can be divided into three stages according to its relation to both the variation of the concept of scientific literacy and the surveys of public scientific literacy by analyzing lots of bibliographic data and comparing the studies on scientific literacy in different periods in the world history.How the political situation,economic development or cultural factors influence the study on and measurement of public scientific literacy in each of the periods are elaborated.Secondly it is analyzed how the measurement indicators,questionnaires and items are designed to survey public scientific literacy in different social contexts.By studying the sample questionnaires,items and papers on the measurement of public scientific literacy in different countries or by the different groups,the various aims and goals in different social contexts are discussed;various kinds of scientific literacy concepts are annotated.And how the diversity of social contexts are expressed or embodied in the questionnaires,the items and the models of the measurement of public scientific literacy by illustrating the measurement of public scientific literacy in the United States of America,United Kingdom and the Program of International Students Assessment by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,discussing the impacts of social contexts on the measurement of public scientific literacy.Thirdly,the problems on the measurement of public scientific literacy are explored and the proposals to them are put forward.The variation of social context and its effects on the development of Chinese public scientific literacy after 1949 are probed.The problems about the measurement of public scientific literacy in China are analyzed It is also pointed out that the new study on public scientific literacy development will be conducted following the innovation-oriented country construction.It is also analyzed a new study project and its achievement about the measurement indicator system of Chinese public scientific literacy after the Outline of the National Scheme for Scientific Literacy is promulgated for implementation, putting forward some proposals to the measurement of public scientific literacy in current social context of China.Lastly,reflection on some theoretical problems about public scientific literacy is given,such as the level of public scientific literacy being compared between different countries or groups in different social contexts,and the relation of public scientific literacy to certain individualities of man.Additionally,some original studies are made as following.One of them is the Model of Analyzing Public Scientific Literacy in Social Context is constructed in this dissertation.Another one is that the problems about Chinese public scientific literacy measurement are found out and some constructive proposals proposed.The third one is to apply sociological theory of scientific knowledge and the concept of local knowledge to ananlyze the comparability of the level of public scientific literacy between different countries or groups.The forth and also the last one is to point out that public scientific literacy development relates to some individualities of man.