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practices which are common across all sciences (National Research Council, 2012). Hence, all
these competencies are framed as actions. They are written in this manner to convey the idea of
what the scientifically literate person both understands and is capable of doing. Fluency with these
practices is, in part, what distinguishes the expert scientist from the novice. Whilst it would be
unreasonable to expect a 15-year-old student to have the expertise of a scientist, a scientifically
literate student can be expected to appreciate their role and significance and undertake an
approximation of the practice described.
Figure 3a. PISA 2015 Scientific Competencies
Explain phenomena scientifically
Recognise, offer and evaluate explanations for a range of natural and technological
phenomena demonstrating the ability to:
Recall and apply appropriate scientific knowledge;
Identify, use and generate explanatory models and representations;
Make and justify appropriate predictions;
Offer explanatory hypotheses;
Explain the potential implications of scientific knowledge for society.
38. Demonstrating the competency of
explaining phenomena scientifically
requires students to
recall the appropriate content knowledge in a given situation and use it to interpret and provide an
explanation for the phenomenon of interest. Such knowledge can also be used to generate
tentative explanatory hypotheses in contexts where there is a lack of knowledge or data. A
scientifically literate person should be expected to draw on standard scientific models to construct
simple representations to explain everyday phenomena such as why antibiotics do not kill viruses,
how a microwave oven works, or why gases are compressible but liquids are not and use these to
make predictions. This competency includes the ability to describe or interpret phenomena and
predict possible changes. In addition, it may involve recognising or identifying appropriate
descriptions, explanations, and predictions.
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