science literacy definition science communication New Atheism

Next week there will be big news on the science communication front. In anticipation, I was just going back over some things that I have written on the topic over the past decade. I ran across an essay I wrote for Skeptical Inquirer from 2003, which I posted below the fold. The essay puts into context an interesting debate that took place in the pages of The Guardian between eminent UK scientist Susan Greenfield and science communication professor Jon Turney. Greenfield's side of the debate reflects a continued dominant line of thinking referred to as the "deficit model," the assumption that…