Evaluating Turkish science curriculum with PISA scientific literacy framework

Any society needs more scientifically literate citizens even if they do not follow a career in science. In the 2015 PISA assessment, Turkey ranked 34th among 35 OECD countries based on science literacy scores. The relatively unsuccessful results of Turkey from international level examinations like PISA has necessitated the questioning of various components of science education. One of these components is surely the science curriculum. Being aware of this, we investigated the primary and middle school Turkish science curriculum for the balance of science literacy aspects based on the PISA 2015 science literacy framework. This framework defines scientific literacy under four aspects, namely contexts, knowledge, competencies, and attitudes. The results revealed that the Turkish science curriculum does not adequately reflect all dimensions of science literacy and is dominated by the pure knowledge of the content of science. The curriculum developers should consider these two points in future curriculum revisions to increase our success in international examinations like PISA and to help raise scientifically literate students.