The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Framework (2015) defines scientific literacy as "the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.
[7] Reforms in science education in the United States have often been driven by strategic challenges such as the launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957 and the Japanese economic boom in the 1980s.
[10] For Hurd, rapid innovation in science and technology demanded an education "appropriate for meeting the challenges of an emerging scientific revolution.
"[9] Initial definitions of science literacy included elaborations of the content that people should understand, often following somewhat traditional lines (biology, chemistry, physics).
"Scientific literacy means that a person can ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences.
[19] Comparisons of the views of citizens and scientists by the Pew Research Center suggest that they hold very different positions on a range of science, engineering and technology-related issues.
[6] Each type of Earth systems literacy then defines the concepts students should understand upon graduation from high school.
Robin Wright, a writer for Cell Biology Education, laments "will [undergraduates'] misunderstandings or lack of knowledge about science imperil our democratic way of life and national security?
[28] Thus, negative attitudes, such as fear of science, can act as an affective filter and an impediment to comprehension and future learning goals.
[31] The decision-making aspect of science literacy suggests further attitudes about the state of the world, one's responsibility for its well-being and one's sense of empowerment to make a difference.
[32] In the K–12 classroom, learning standards do not commonly address the affective domain due to the difficulty in developing teaching strategies and in assessing student attitude.
All science literacy documents have been drafted with the explicit intent of influencing educational standards, as a means to drive curriculum, teaching, assessment, and ultimately, learning nationwide.
A partial list of such programs includes the Global Challenge Award, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and Action Bioscience.
[40] Science News reports "The new U.S. rate, based on questionnaires administered in 2008, is seven percentage points behind Sweden, the only European nation to exceed the Americans.
"[41] University educators are attempting to develop reliable instruments to measure scientific literacy, and the use of concept inventories is increasing in the fields of physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology[42] and earth science.