Interactions between the formal UK school science curriculum and the public understanding of science

The debate about the public understanding of science has taken place at a time when science education in UK schools has undergone significant change. This paper examines some of the features pertinent to the two areas. The aims of school science education are shown to be generally consistent with those cited for increasing the public understanding of science. A comparison is made between the science occurring in the public domain of newspapers with that included in the formal curriculum. A large degree of complementarity is noted leading to the conclusion that schoolchildren’s exposure to newspaper science can be beneficial to their formal education. The rationale of journalists in writing about science is considered and the issue of relevance is shown to be consistent with the perceived needs of schoolchildren. In the 1980s and 1990s there has been considerable development in the UK in the related but separate areas of public understanding of science and school science. Despite the view of some commentators such as Chapman, that science education has been over-sold in this period,1 there exists a commonly held belief that a greater awareness and understanding of science and scientists by the public will be for the general good. This feeling may well be more international in acceptance, as claimed by Sir Walter Bodme