’Scientific literacy’ nedfelt i geofagene

In Report no. 30 to the Storting (2003-2004) ‘Culture for learning’, five basic skills are introduced: Tobe able to express oneself orally, to be able to read, to be able to express oneself in writing, to be ableto do arithmetic, and to be able to use information and communication technology. We employ andextend a model for scientific literacy introduced by C. Wallace in order to illustrate and point out challengesfaced in school science teacher’s practices when basic skills are introduced as part of the newcurriculum in Norway. By discussing the model for scientific literacy in relation to a teaching sequencein the earth sciences, we argue that the local environment offer rich opportunities for developingbasic skills in the guise of scientific literacy.