Scientifi c Literacy in Undergraduate Political Science Education : The Current State of Aff airs , an Agenda for Action , and Proposed Fundamental Benchmarks

Political science is falling behind a broad movement in the United States that seeks to reform the teaching of scientifi c literacy in undergraduate education. Indeed, political science is far behind that movement because the discipline does not have a collective commitment to science education at the undergraduate level. This article discusses prominent eff orts in this reform movement and assesses the state of science education in our discipline. The authors propose an agenda for action on this issue in political science as well as fundamental educational benchmarks for undergraduate political science literacy. Kim Quaile Hill is the Cullen-McFadden Professor of political science at Texas A&M University. He can be reached at [email protected]. Rebekah Myers is a master of arts student in political science at Texas A&M University. She can be reached at [email protected]. about the political behavior of individuals, groups, institutions, and nations. This person also would understand the limits and tentativeness of scientifi c knowledge. And why is political science literacy important? Prewitt (1983) argued 30 years ago that scientifi c advances that are ill understood by the general public may compromise their role in the democratic process. That is, scientifi c literacy may be a fundamental part of civic education. Further, social science research assumptions and methods have been widely adopted in the decision processes of business, government, and the nonprofi t sector. Thus, our students may not be able to function as professional or civic leaders without knowledge of the science of the social sciences. Yet, what is the character of undergraduate education for scientifi c literacy in political science, and how commonly might scientifi c literacy be achieved for our students? To answer these questions, fi rst consider the most prominent educational goals of our discipline. We seek to educate students in the value of the humanities and liberal arts for understanding politics. We strive to enhance students’ capacities as active participants in the governing process. We also seek to educate students on why the discipline is a social science, the ways by which it pursues scientifi c knowledge, and the current state of that knowledge. In the latter respect, we could say that political science seeks to enhance social science literacy. We assert, however, that the scientifi c-literacy eff orts of our discipline are limited and fragmentary. Indeed, the discipline does not off er a systematic foundation in this type of education for