Accompanying the rapid pace of scientific discovery and growth of scientific knowledge is the need to make public-policy decisions about complex issues in areas such as health care, genetic engineering, and energy sources. In order to participate effectively in the decisionmaking process, citizens need to be scientifically literate, which means that they have the capability to understand scientific knowledge, identify important scientific questions, draw evidence-based conclusions, and make decisions about how human activity affects the natural world (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007).