I profile here a prospective method for assessing nature of science (NOS) knowledge, as an alternative to VNOS and similar approaches. Questions about cases in contemporary news and from history probe scientific literacy in context. Scoring targets how “well informed” the analysis is, based on identifying relevant NOS information and interpreting its import appropriately. The assessment shifts focus from declarative statements to functional (or interpretive) analysis. It also entails reframing current NOS characterizations from selective lists of tenets to the multiple dimensions shaping reliability in scientific practice, from the experimental to the social—namely, to Whole Science. This approach underscores the role of reflective student inquiry and historical and contemporary cases in NOS instruction. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95: 518–542, 2011

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Research has now demonstrated that students can learn nature of science concepts variously through student‐led investigations, contemporary cases, and historical cases. Here we articulate more precisely the merits, deficits, and context of each approach and begin to profile how to integrate them as complementary methods. Emphasis now needs to shift to the needs of practicing teachers and the detailed strategies and modes of assessment that make each method effective and manageable in a classroom and institutional context.

Using several familiar examples

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Individuals are increasingly relying on social media as their primary source of scientific information. Science education needs to adapt. Nature of science (NOS) education is already widely accepted as essential to scientific literacy and to an informed public. We argue that NOS now needs to also include the NOS communication: its mediation, mechanisms, and manipulation. Namely, students need to learn about the epistemics of communicative practices, both within science (as a model) and in society. After profiling the current media landscape, we consider the implications of recent major studies on science communication for science education in the 21st century. We focus in particular on communicative patterns prominent in social media: algorithms to aggregate news, filter bubbles, echo chambers, spirals of silence, falseconsensus effects, fake news, and intentional disinformation.We claim that media literacy is now essential to a complete view of the NOS, or "Whole Science." We portray that new content as an extension of viewing science as a system of specialized experts, with mutual epistemic dependence, and the social and communicative practices that establish trust and credibility. K E Y W O R D S media literacy, nature of science, science media literacy, social media ---This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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