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Scientific literacy – How do South Africans stack up?

This month Africa's largest science festival kicks off in Grahamstown South Africa. This has become an important annual event in promoting the public understanding of science in the region

Having a basic knowledge of scientific principles is no longer a luxury, according to the director of South Africa's annual national science festival, Sasol SciFest, which starts in a month. "In today’s complex world, scientific understanding is a basic necessity," said Brian "Bugs" Wilmot.

Wilmot said that research announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in March in San Francisco, USA, demonstrates how science knowledge is an integral part of a functioning democracy.

The research, by Jon Miller of Michigan State University, warned that scientific illiteracy was on the increase in the industrialised world. Roughly a quarter of all adults in the industrialised world - including USA, Europe and Japan - were scientifically illiterate. South Africans consistently score very low in similar studies. In fact, South African learners are regularly outstripped in science and mathematic by pupils from much poorer African nations.

The good news, as SciFest manager Anja Fourie pointed out, was that informal science education such as that offered by SciFest, which will take over Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape for seven days beginning on 21 March this year, was listed as one of the factors which reduced scientific illiteracy.

Fourie said scientific literacy was a must for anyone seeking well-paid employment, as well as for governments trying to strengthen the economy. Science knowledge also helped with shopping, as customers purchase electronics such as cellphones, plasma televisions and microwave ovens, and in the field of medicine, as patients better understand issues such as the need to complete an entire course of anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Most important, American science education professor Jon Miller announced at the AAAS seminar, was a scientifically literate electorate who could help shape public policy. "Over recent decades, the number of public policy controversies that require some scientific or technical knowledge for effective participation has been increasing," he said. "Any number of issues, including the siting of nuclear power plants, nuclear waste disposal facilities, and the use of embryonic stem cells in biomedical research point to the need for an informed citizenry in the formulation of public policy."

More information:

  Sasol SciFest, see www.scifest.org.za 

Email: scifestmedia@foundation.org.za

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