Developing Meta-Scientific Literacy skills (MSL) through socioscientific issues requires more than subject knowledge. Because of the complex and controversial nature of the socioscientific issues, along with the social dimensions of those issues, teachers need a broad range of transversal competences and attitudes, which is also the aim of SciLMi. These transversal competences and attitudes can support teachers to guide inquiry, facilitate dialogue, manage uncertainty and support democratic participation in the classroom. The transversal competences are relevant across subjects and educational contexts and therefore extend beyond discipline-specific teaching expertise. This is one of the major goals of the SciLMi project and the SciLMi framework - to provide teachers with the tools to wok outside their disciplines. The educators' dimension of the framework aims to present transversal teachers' competences and attitudes required to support students' meta-scientific literacy skills (MSL). The aim of the educators' dimension is to translate student MSL into competences and attitudes that teachers need in order to empower their students to become meta-scientifically literate citizens. The first part of the educators' dimension is an overview table with examples of teaching methods and practices that can be used to design or implement a SciLMi lesson. The second part of the educators' dimenions includes information that are useful before going into the classroom (i.e. understand the SciLMi learners' dimension from the perspective of a learner, to understand the aspects of socioscientific issues as the context for instruction, and appreciate the cross-disciplinary nature of SciLMi). The third part of the educators' dimension presents information on what to consider in preparation to teach a SciLMi lesson and during the teaching, including practical information on how to promote attitudes of openness and respect in the classroom, and examples of teaching methods and practices that can be used to promote the MSL and the learners' dimensions.
\nIn order to foster MSL, teachers need to have transversal competences. Transversal competences are broad competences that can be applied across different subjects and can also be implemented in real life situations - and this is that the SciLMi project and framework have aimed to develop. Transversal competences include combinations of knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and dispositions. Specifically, in educational contexts transversal competences often include critical thinking, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, openness to multiple perspectives and responsible participation in society. Within the SciLMi framework, and specifically within the learners' dimension, these transversal competences can enable teachers to support their students in evaluating information critically, engaging with diverse viewpoints, reflecting in ethical ways and communicating, using socioscientific issues as the context. Within the educators' dimension in the SciLMi framework transnversal competences and attitudes are important because teachers are not expected to focus on teaching the content only, but they are also expected to shape learning environments in which students learn how to engage critically and constructively with complex issues. Teachers are therefore expected to act as facilitators of dialogue in their classrooms, moderators of uncertainty, and role models for democratic participation. For example, in order to prepare students to evaluate information critically, teachers are required to demonstrate intellectual openness and to acknowledge uncertainty, to consider alternative perspectives and to seek for reliable evidence. In a similar way, supporting respectful classroom dialogue on controversial socioscientific issues requires attitudes from the perspective of the teacher such as emphathy, tolerance and openness, along with competences in discussion facilitation. These attitudes cannot be "taught" through direct instruction but can be modeled by the teachers, and be developed indirectly through classroom culture. The educators' dimension therefore does not only focus on instructional methods and strategies but also on transversal professional competences and attitudes that will support the teachers in implementing the SciLMi framework in a wholistic way.
\nIn the sections that follow you can find practical information and advice on how to create a classroom culture that promote transversal skills and attitudes related to MSL and the learners' dimension of SciLMi.
","UPDATEDAT":"2026-05-26T11:27:58.547Z","ID":"46a4262b-138c-4943-b589-55ad5a94840b","TITLE":"B) Educators' Dimension"}