Innovative lesson based on ICT Integrated Thiruvathirakali on the topic Pros and Cons of traditional and modern food.

Innovative lesson based on ICT Integrated Thiruvathirakali on the topic Pros and Cons of traditional and modern food.

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Scientific literacy

Scientific literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories

Definition

According to the United States National Center for Education Statistics, "scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity".^[1] A scientifically literate person is defined as one who has the capacity to:

• understand experiment and reasoning as well as basic scientific facts and their meaning.
• ask, find, or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences.
• describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena
• read with understanding articles about science in the popular press and to engage in social conversation about the validity of the conclusions
• identify scientific issues underlying national and local decisions and express positions that are scientifically and technologically informed
• evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it
• pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence and to apply conclusions from such arguments appropriately^[2]

The OECD 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."^[3] A scientifically literate person, therefore, is willing to engage in reasoned discourse about science and technology which requires the competencies to:

• Explain phenomena scientifically – recognize, offer and evaluate explanations for a range of natural and technological phenomena
• Evaluate and design scientific inquiry – describe and appraise scientific investigations and propose ways of addressing questions scientifically.
• Interpret data and evidence scientifically – analyze and evaluate data, claims and arguments in a variety of representations and draw appropriate scientific conclusions.

Scientific literacy may also be defined in language similar to the definitions of ocean literacy,^[4]Earth science literacy^[5] and Climate Literacy.^[6] Thus a scientifically literate person can:

• understand the science relevant to environmental and social issues
• communicate clearly about the science
• make informed decisions about these issues

Finally, scientific literacy may involve particular attitudes toward learning and using science. A scientifically-literate citizen feels concerned about environmental and social issues, responsible to act on these issues, and empowered to use science as a tool in addressing these issues. A scientifically-literate citizen is research-oriented as he/she feels the need to search for something.

History[edit]

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.^[7] By contrast, scientific literacy is now taken to mean that everyone should have a working knowledge of science and its role in society. Science literacy is seen as a right of every person and a requirement for responsible members of society, one that helps average people to make better decisions and enrich their lives. The shift occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the publication of Science for All Americans^[8] and Benchmarks for Science Literacy.^[9]

Initial definitions of science literacy included elaborations of the actual content that people should understand, and this content often followed somewhat traditional lines (biology,chemistry, physics). Earth science was somewhat narrowly defined as expanded geological processes. In the decade after those initial documents, ocean scientists and educators revised the notion of science literacy to include more contemporary, systems-oriented views of the natural world, leading to scientific literacy programs for the ocean,climate, earth science, and so on. This shift has ensured that educators' views of science literacy stay in sync with the directions and advances of real science in the real world.

Science, Society and the Environment

The interdependence of humans and our natural environment is at the heart of scientific literacy in the Earth systems. As defined by nationwide consensus among scientists and educators, this literacy has two key parts. First, a literate person is defined, in language that echoes the above definition of scientific literacy. Second, a set of concepts are listed, organized into six to nine big ideas or essential principles. This defining process was undertaken first for ocean literacy,^[4] then for the Great Lakes,^[10] estuaries,^[11] theatmosphere,^[12] and climate.^[6] Earth science literacy^[5] is one of the types of literacy defined for Earth systems; the qualities of an Earth science literate person are representative of the qualities for all the Earth system literacy definitions.

According to the Earth Science Literacy Initiative, an Earth-science-literate person:

• understands the fundamental concepts of Earth’s many systems
• knows how to find and assess scientifically credible information about Earth
• communicates about Earth science in a meaningful way
• is able to make informed and responsible decisions regarding Earth and its resources^[5]

All types of literacy in Earth systems have a definition like the above. Ocean literacy is further defined as "understanding our impact on the ocean and the ocean's impact on us".^[4] Similarly, the climate literacy website includes a guiding principle for decision making; "humans can take action to reduce climate change and its impacts".^[6] Each type of Earth systems literacy then defines the concepts students should understand upon graduation from high school. Current educational efforts in Earth systems literacy tend to focus more on the scientific concepts than on the decision-making aspect of literacy, but environmental action remains as a stated goal.

The theme of science in a socially-relevant context appears in many discussions of scientific literacy. Ideas that turn up in the life sciences include an allusion to ecological literacy, the "well-being of earth". 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?" A discussion of physics literacy includes energy conservation, ozone depletion and global warming.The mission statement of the Chemistry Literacy Project ^[ includes environmental and social justice. Technological literacy is defined in a three-dimensional coordinate space; on the knowledge axis, it is noted that technology can be risky, and that it "reflects the values and culture of society".Energy Literacy boasts several websites, including one associated with climate literacy^] and two advocacy organizations.

Attitudes as part of scientific literacy

Attitudes about science can have a significant effect on scientific literacy. In education theory, understanding of content lies in the cognitive domain, while attitudes lie in the affective domain.^[19] Thus, negative attitudes, such as fear of science, can act as an affective filter and an impediment to comprehension and future learning goals. Studies of college students' attitudes about learning physics suggest that these attitudes may be divided into categories of real world connections, personal connections, conceptual connections, student effort and problem solving.

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. These attitudes may be important measures of science literacy, as described in the case of ocean literacy.^[21]

Promoting and measuring

Proponents of scientific literacy tend to focus on what is learned by the time a student graduates from high school. Science literacy has always been an important element of the standards movement in education. 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.

Programs to promote scientific literacy among students abound, including several programs sponsored by technology companies, as well as quiz bowls and science fairs. A partial list of such programs includes the Global Challenge Award, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and Action Bioscience.

Some organizations have attempted to compare the scientific literacy of adults in different countries. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that scientific literacy in the United States is not measurably different from the OECD average. 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. The U.S. figure is slightly higher than that for Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. And it’s double the 2005 rate in the United Kingdom (and the collective rate for the European Union)." 

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 and earth science.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS.....

A developmental task is one that arises predictably and consistently at or about a certain period in the life of the individual (Havighurst, 1948, 1953). The concept of developmental tasks assumes that human development in modern societies is characterized by a long series of tasks that individuals have to learn throughout their lives. Some of these tasks are located in childhood and adolescence, whereas others arise during adulthood and old age (see also Heckhausen, 1999). Successful achievement of a certain task is expected to lead to happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure may result in unhappiness in the individual, disapproval by the society, and difficulty with later tasks.

Developmental tasks arise from three different sources (Havighurst, 1948, 1953). First, some are mainly based on physical maturation (e.g., learning to walk). Another source of developmental tasks relates to sociostructural and cultural forces. Such influences are based on, for instance, laws (e.g., minimum age for marriage) and culturally shared expectations of development (e.g., age norms; Neugarten, Moore, and Lowe, 1965), determining the age range in which specific developmental tasks have to be mastered. The third source of developmental tasks involves personal values and aspirations. These personal factors result from the interaction between ontogenetic and environmental factors, and play an active role in the emergence of specific developmental tasks (e.g., choosing a certain occupational pathway).

Childhood and adolescence

Early childhood is characterized by basic tasks such as learning to walk, to take solid food, and to control the elimination of body wastes. In addition, young children have to achieve more complex cognitive and social tasks, such as learning to talk, to form simple concepts of reality, and to relate emotionally to other people. In middle childhood, developmental tasks relate to the expansion of the individual's world outside of the home (e.g., getting along with age mates, learning skills for culturally valued games) and to the mental thrust into the world of adult concepts and communication (e.g., skills in writing, reading, and calculating). Achieving adolescent developmental tasks requires a person to develop personal independence and a philosophy of life. Adolescents are confronted, for example, with learning to achieve new forms of intimate relationships, preparing for an occupation, achieving emotional independence of parents, and developing a mature set of values and ethical principals. The peer group plays a major role in facilitating the achievement of adolescents' developmental tasks by providing a context in which some of these tasks can be accomplished.

Adulthood and old age

The concept of developmental tasks describes development as a lifelong process. Thus, it is also an early and significant contributor to the emerging field of lifelong human development (e.g., life-span psychology and life-course sociology; Setterstery, 1999).

In young adulthood, developmental tasks are mainly located in family, work, and social life. Family-related developmental tasks are described as finding a mate, learning to live with a marriage partner, having and rearing children, and managing the family home. A developmental task that takes an enormous amount of time of young adults relates to the achievement of an occupational career. Family and work-related tasks may represent a potential conflict, given that individuals' time and energy are limited resources. Thus, young adults may postpone one task in order to secure the achievement of another. With respect to their social life, young adults are also confronted with establishing new friendships outside of the marriage and assuming responsibility in the larger community.

During midlife, people reach the peak of their control over the environment around them and their personal development. In addition, social responsibilities are maximized. Midlife is also a period during which people confront the onset of physiological changes (Lachman, 2001). Developmental tasks during midlife relate to, for example, achieving adult responsibilities, maintaining a standard of living, assisting children with the transition into adulthood, and adjusting to the physiological changes of middle age (e.g., menopause).

Old age has often been characterized as a period of loss and decline. However, development in any period of life consists of both gains and losses, although the gain-loss ratio becomes increasingly negative with advancing age (Heckhausen, Dixon, and Baltes, 1989; Baltes, 1987). A central developmental task that characterizes the transition into old age is adjustment to retirement. The period after retirement has to be filled with new projects, but is characterized by few valid cultural guidelines. Adaptation to retirement involves both potential gains (e.g., self-actualization) and losses (e.g., loss of self-esteem). The achievement of this task may be obstructed by the management of another task, living on a reduced income after retirement.

In addition, older adults are generally challenged to create a positive sense of their lives as a whole. The feeling that life has had order and meaning results in happiness (cf. ego-integrity; Erikson, 1986). Older adults also have to adjust to decreasing physical strength and health. The prevalence of chronic and acute diseases increases in old age. Thus, older adults may be confronted with life situations that are characterized by not being in perfect health, serious illness, and dependency on other people. Moreover, older adults may become caregivers to their spouses (e.g., Schulz and Beach, 1999). Some older adults have to adjust to the death of their spouses. This task arises more frequently for women than for man. After they have lived with a spouse for many decades, widowhood may force older people to adjust to loneliness, moving to a smaller place, and learning about business matters.

Other potential gains in old age relate to the task of meeting social and civic obligations. For example, older people might accumulate knowledge about life (Baltes and Staudings, 2000), and thus may contribute to the development of younger people and the society. The development of a large part of the population into old age is a historically recent phenomenon of modern societies. Thus, advancements in the understanding of the aging process may lead to identifying further developmental tasks associated with gains and purposeful lives for older adults.

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  IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG THE STUDENTS...

The social media has become one of the most important communication means in recent times. However, social networking exist so as to provide communication among people regardless of the distance, making it open to people easily share information, files and pictures and videos, create blogs and send messages, and conduct real-time conversations. These systems are referred to as social, simply because they allow communication with buddies and coworkers so easily and effectively. It also strengthens the ties between people of those systems. The favorite in the realm of internet sites are Facebook, Twitter and others. These websites and social forums are way of communication directly with other people socially and in media. They are playing a large and influential role decision-making in the occasions from the global world economically, politically, socially and educationally. The driving factors for adoption of social media are the progressively ubiquitous access, convenience, functionality, and flexibility of social technologies  It has been contended that, poor greater education, social technologies supports social constructivist techniques to learning they potentially have to improve students’ construction of understanding and promote student interaction . An additional benefit of social technologies provided on the internet is that they are frequently free or require marginal investment, eliminating a potential barrier to adoption There has been various overview and opinions which recognized four major advantages of social media use in higher education. These include, enhancing relationship, improving learning motivation, offering personalized course material, and developing collaborative abilities . This means that social networking activities have the possibility of enhancing student contact and is used to improve their participation in class, particularly where introverted students are involved. Students can function in online group learning, with less or no anxiety of needing to raise questions before peers at school

Effects of social media on the Academic Performance of Students
The social media engages students and have to be examined as entrepreneurs of understanding. The medium of internet is marketing with increase in its programs. The interactive character of online conditions has extended with social networking. Hooking up through social networking began as being a niche activity, though time it's a phenomenon. The web sites are employed in many ways like developing metropolitan areas, speaking, blogging etc. Additionally different institutions even nowadays are developing groups on several Websites  The improved usage of Websites has become a worldwide phenomenon for quite some time. What began out as being a hobby for several computer literate people has converted to a social norm and existence-style for individuals from around the globe  Teens and teenagers have especially recognized these internet sites to be able to contact their peers, share information, reinvent their personas, and showcase their social lives . While using the increase of technology helpful for getting together with others along with the recognition on the internet, Internet sites are now being an activity that's done mainly on the web, with Websites According to  Facebook users often time experience poor performance academically. Similarly,  posit that social media is negatively associated with academic performance of student and is a lot more momentous than its advantages. Internet addiction consequently gave rise in internet usage within the last couple of decades.  recommended that addicted users prefer using internet setting back their personal and professional responsibilities which ultimately leads to poor academic performance. According to  pointed out that Facebook users devoted lesser time to their studies in comparison to nonusers did and subsequently had lower GPAs.  Also mentioned that among various unique distractions of every single generation, Facebook remains a major distraction of current generation. According to impairment of educational performance and internet dependency are correlated by utilizing synchronous communication programs including internet sites and forums. There are benefits and risks associated with using any social network. There have been reports regarding its effect on students’ academic performance. Some researchers investigated the end result of social networking usability among College students’ and with their academic performance. They found a poor effect and influence when the media is overuse in such a way that do not academically improve learning or its process  and Other researchers examined this same problem but found either no significant relationship between using social networking and student academic performance  or really a factor in students’ academic performance

SAND MINING

Sand mining is a practice that is used to extract sand, mainly through an open pit. However, sand is also mined from beaches, inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds andriver beds. It is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to make concrete. It is also used in cold regions to put on the roads by municipal plow trucks to help icy and snowy driving conditions, usually mixed with salt or another mixture to raise the freezing temperature of the road surface. Sand dredged from the mouths of rivers can also be used to replace eroded coastline.^[1]

Another reason for sand mining is the extraction of minerals such as rutile, ilmenite and zircon, which contain the industrially useful elements titanium and zirconium. These minerals typically occur combined with ordinary sand, which is dug up, the valuable minerals being separated in water by virtue of their different densities, and the remaining ordinary sand re-deposited.

Sand mining is a direct cause of erosion, and also impacts the local wildlife.^[2] For example, sea turtles depend on sandy beaches for their nesting, and sand mining has led to the near extinction of gharials (a species of crocodiles) in India. Disturbance of underwater and coastal sand causes turbidity in the water, which is harmful for such organisms ascorals that need sunlight. It also destroys fisheries, causing problems for people who rely on fishing for their livelihoods.

Removal of physical coastal barriers such as dunes leads to flooding of beachside communities, and the destruction of picturesque beaches causes tourism to dissipate. Sand mining is regulated by law in many places, but is still often done illegally.^[3]

Sand mining is a practice that is becoming an environmental issue in India. Environmentalists have raised public awareness of illegal sand mining in the state of Maharashtra andGoa of India.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Conservation and environmental NGO Awaaz Foundation filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court seeking a ban on mining activities along the Konkan coast.^[11] Awaaz Foundation, in partnership with the Bombay Natural History Society also presented the issue of sand mining as a major international threat to coastal biodiversity at the Conference of Parties 11, Convention on Biological Diversity, Hyderabad in October 2012.^[12] [13] D. K. Ravi, an Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka state, who was well known for his tough crackdown on the rampant illegal sand mining in the Kolar district, was found dead at his residence in Bengaluru, on march 16, 2015. It is widely alleged that the death is not due to suicide but the handiwork of the mafia involved in land grabbing and sand mining

 IMPACTS OF SAND MINING

For thousands of years, sand and gravel have been used in the construction of roads and buildings. Today, demand for sand and gravel continues to increase. Mining operators, in conjunction with cognizant resource agencies, must work to ensure that sand mining is conducted in a responsible manner.

Excessive instream sand-and-gravel mining causes the degradation of rivers. Instream mining lowers the stream bottom, which may lead to bank erosion. Depletion of sand in the streambed and along coastal areas causes the deepening of rivers and estuaries, and the enlargement of river mouths and coastal inlets. It may also lead to saline-water intrusion from the nearby sea. The effect of mining is compounded by the effect of sea level rise. Any volume of sand exported from streambeds and coastal areas is a loss to the system.

Excessive instream sand mining is a threat to bridges, river banks and nearby structures. Sand mining also affects the adjoining groundwater system and the uses that local people make of the river.

Instream sand mining results in the destruction of aquatic and riparian habitat through large changes in the channel morphology. Impacts include bed degradation, bed coarsening, lowered water tables near the streambed, and channel instability. These physical impacts cause degradation of riparian and aquatic biota and may lead to the undermining of bridges and other structures. Continued extraction may also cause the entire streambed to degrade to the depth of excavation. 

Sand mining generates extra vehicle traffic, which negatively impairs the environment. Where access roads cross riparian areas, the local environment may be impacted.

Riparian Habitat, Flora and Fauna

nstream mining can have other costly effects beyond the immediate mine sites. Many hectares of fertile streamside land are lost annually, as well as valuable timber resources and wildlife habitats in the riparian areas. Degraded stream habitats result in lost of fisheries productivity, biodiversity, and recreational potential. Severely degraded channels may lower land and aesthetic values. All species require specific habitat conditions to ensure long-term survival. Native species in streams are uniquely adapted to the habitat conditions that existed before humans began large-scale alterations. These have caused major habitat disruptions that favored some species over others and caused overall declines in biological diversity and productivity. In most streams and rivers, habitat quality is strongly linked to the stability of channel bed and banks. Unstable stream channels are inhospitable to most aquatic species. Factors that increase or decrease sediment supply often destabilize bed and banks and result in dramatic channel readjustments. For example, human activities that accelerate stream bank erosion, such as riparian forest clearing or instream mining, cause stream banks to become net sources of sediment that often have severe consequences for aquatic species. Anthropogenic activities that artificially lower stream bed elevation cause bed instabilities that result in a net release of sediment in the local vicinity. Unstable sediments simplify and, therefore, degrade stream habitats for many aquatic species. Few species benefit from these effects. The most important effects of instream sand mining on aquatic habitats are bed degradation and sedimentation, which can have substantial negative effects on aquatic life. The stability of sand-bed and gravel-bed streams depends on a delicate balance between streamflow, sediment supplied from the watershed, and channel form. Mining-induced changes in sediment supply and channel form disrupt channel and habitat development processes. Furthermore, movement of unstable substrates results in downstream sedimentation of habitats. The affected distance depends on the intensity of mining, particles sizes, stream flows, and channel morphology. The complete removal of vegetation and destruction of the soil profile destroys habitat both above and below the ground as well as within the aquatic ecosystem, resulting in the reduction in faunal populations. Channel widening causes shallowing of the streambed, producing braided flow or subsurface intergravel flow in riffle areas, hindering movement of fishes between pools. Channel reaches become more uniformly shallow as deep pools fill with gravel and other sediments, reducing habitat complexity, riffle-pool structure, and numbers of large predatory fishes. 1.3  Stability of Structures Sand-and-gravel mining in stream channels can damage public and private property. Channel incision caused by gravel mining can undermine bridge piers and expose buried pipelines and other infrastructure. Several studies have documented the bed degradation caused by the two general forms of instream mining: (1) pit excavation and (2) bar skimming. Bed degradation, also known as channel incision, occurs through two primary processes: (1) headcutting, and (2)"hungry" water. In headcutting, excavation of a mining pit in the active channel lowers the stream bed, creating a nick point that locally steepens channel slope and increases flow energy. During high flows, a nick point becomes a location of bed erosion that gradually moves upstream (Fig. 1).

Groundwater

Apart from threatening bridges, sand mining transforms the riverbeds into large and deep pits; as a result, the groundwater table drops leaving the drinking water wells on the embankments of these rivers dry. Bed degradation from instream mining lowers the elevation of streamflow and the floodplain water table which in turn can eliminate water table-dependent woody vegetation in riparian areas, and decrease wetted periods in riparian wetlands. For locations close to the sea, saline water may intrude into the fresh waterbody.

1.5  Water Quality

Instream sand mining activities will have an impact upon the river's water quality. Impacts include increased short-term turbidity at the mining site due to resuspension of sediment, sedimentation due to stockpiling and dumping of excess mining materials and organic particulate matter, and oil spills or leakage from excavation machinery and transportation vehicles.

Increased riverbed and bank erosion increases suspended solids in the water at the excavation site and downstream. Suspended solids may adversely affect water users and aquatic ecosystems. The impact is particularly significant if water users downstream of the site are abstracting water for domestic use. Suspended solids can significantly increase water treatment costs.

1.6  Summary

Impacts of sand mining can be broadly clasified into three categories:

• PhysicalThe large-scale extraction of streambed materials, mining and dredging below the existing streambed, and the alteration of channel-bed form and shape leads to several impacts such as erosion of channel bed and banks, increase in channel slope, and change in channel morphology. These impacts may cause: (1) the undercutting and collapse of river banks, (2) the loss of adjacent land and/or structures, (3) upstream erosion as a result of an increase in channel slope and changes in flow velocity, and (4) downstream erosion due to increased carrying capacity of the stream, downstream changes in patterns of deposition, and changes in channel bed and habitat type.
  
• Water QualityMining and dredging activities, poorly planned stockpiling and uncontrolled dumping of overburden, and chemical/fuel spills will cause reduced water quality for downstream users, increased cost for downstream water treatment plants and poisoning of aquatic life.
  
• EcologicalMining which leads to the removal of channel substrate, resuspension of streambed sediment, clearance of vegetation, and stockpiling on the streambed, will have ecological impacts. These impacts may have an effect on the direct loss of stream reserve habitat, disturbances of species attached to streambed deposits, reduced light penetration, reduced primary production, and reduced feeding opportunities