Scientific literacy as an emergent feature of collective human praxis

The time is out of joint. I cannot avoid remembering September 11, 2001—I was in Barcelona, Spain, attending an international science education conference where I was to give a plenary talk about science education as praxis for making a better world. Ironically, on that day I was forced to experience the negative results that the work of science educators can bring forth. I watched (through technology enabled by science, enabled by science education) an act of horror (enacted through technology, enabled by science, enabled by science education) as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed and thousands working there were killed. Back at home, I had to experience the response. Again live, I saw more acts of horror as B-52 bombers (developed by engineers and built by technicians, trained by science educators) destroyed Afghan villages and maimed more innocent people, mostly women and children. There were, of course, other responses in the wake of these events, the redirecting of funding from humanistic programs, increased efforts in the areas of science that feed the technologies of ‘star