Scientific literacy involves the use of key scientific concepts in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world. It also involves being able to recognize scientific questions, use evidence, draw scientific conclusions and communicate these conclusions. Scientific concepts relevant to the students’ world both now and in the near future will be used.
PISA assesses scientific literacy in three dimensions:
scientific concepts:which are needed to understand certain phenomena of the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity;
scientific processes:which are centred on the ability to acquire, interpret and act upon evidence.
scientific situations:selected mainly from people’s everyday lives rather than from the practice of science in a school classroom or laboratory, or the work of professional scientists