The discussion this afternoon was focused on strengthening science literacy and developing practical ideas to formulate science policy. But before the discussions could continue, the group had to discuss the meaning of the topic.
The group quickly honed in on the word ‘literacy’ as the key part of the topic sentence. An alternative suggestion was ‘citizenship’, which implies that people don’t have to know the science, but have to understand the issues and be able to make choices. Engagement was raised as another possible term, and it was noted that it also links into the concept of citizenship.
These discussions were not resolved, so the group moved on to talk about the practical things that could be done under the topic ‘strengthen science literacy’.
The group was split into small groups to start to make practical suggestions. These suggestions were entered into a document so that the entire group can debate the practical suggestions raised during the group discussions tomorrow.
Policy recommendations and the specifics of the discussion will follow once the group reconvenes to present their ideas. You can see the spreadsheet containing their recommendations here.