It goes without saying that today's world is not the same as that of our grandparents, parents, or even that of our own childhood. Multiple changes, too numerous to list, have created a world that is increasingly complex and highly technical. Today's children must be prepared to flourish in such a world; they must be armed with the scientific attitudes, thinking abilities, and broad concepts that will serve them well in a future world that we cannot even imagine. At its core this implies that today's students must become scientifically literate. It is essential that they become creative problem solvers, critical thinkers, effective communicators, inquirers, and reflective learners; and that they do so using scientific knowledge, skills and habits of mind.

The daunting task of preparing children for such an adventure is the responsibility of the science education community within Georgia. Critical to success in this venture is the understanding that science at its roots is a human endeavor. The three principal aspects of science as a human endeavor are the scientific view, scientific inquiry, and the scientific enterprise itself.

The Scientific View

The scientific view describes how scientists and students approach and think about the world. This means the scientists often "share certain basic beliefs and attitudes about what they do and how they view their work." [5] A basic tenet of this view is that scientific ideas are subject to change. This implies that an important purpose for science is producing new knowledge. While believing that scientific knowledge is tentative, scientists also consider most scientific knowledge as durable. That the modification of ideas, not their outright rejection, is the norm. Lastly, this view implies that science cannot and should not try to supply answers to all questions. Science has limitations that are finite.

Scientific Inquiry

Scientific inquiry is the process by which scientists test, refine, and discover new ideas. It goes far beyond researching known scientific facts and information. At the heart of scientific inquiry are the processes of questioning; asking what, why, and how - and searching for answers to these questions. Scientific inquiry is also democratic, allowing independence and freedom of thought and encouraging disagreement and alternative explanations. Through this process scientific ideas become understood, then accepted or rejected. These characteristics of scientific inquiry have important implications for the nature of science teaching and learning in all grades. Because inquiry is so fundamental to understanding the true nature of science, classroom environments must strongly emphasize the inquiry that science itself stresses; questioning, testing ideas, searching for alternative explanations, and allowing and even encouraging disagreement.

The Scientific Enterprise

The scientific enterprise is a complex set of activities that influence and are influenced by the context in which the enterprise occurs. It is organized into various fields and disciplines to facilitate research and the communication of research findings. Scientific knowledge is not created in a vacuum. Participants in the scientific enterprise are expected to conduct themselves within the boundaries of ethical norms. A knowledge of history assists scientists by helping them avoid past errors and extend successes. It enables students to understand the cultural context in which scientific ideas were conceived, and what led to their acceptance or rejection in the scientific community and in the community at large. A historical perspective also helps students to understand how science affects and changes culture. This knowledge is vital if students are to effectively address current as well as future concerns.

The sections that follow define and clarify the three dimensions of the Capacity Cube for science. The first major section discusses Habits of Mind from a scientific point of view While these Habits of Mind are the same as those laid out in the mathematics section, certain nuances distinctive to science will be addressed and expanded upon. The section on Vehicles for Understanding and Doing lays out several cross-cutting and common themes which spiral throughout all sciences and most grade levels. Lastly, the section entitled Scientific Big Ideas examines the major science-content topics and the understandings necessary for scientific literacy.