How do you prevent misunderstandings at a school like Long-View, where learning is student-directed? Under what circumstances does a teacher provide the "right answer," especially in the science classroom? Moreover, what constitutes scientific consensus? According to who? What does it mean to be "right"? Concern about the right answer belies a common misconception about science education—a misconception resulting from faulty science education—premised on the understanding of science as a body of settled knowledge.

Recent developments in science education reflect a shift in emphasis from science as a body of knowledge to a broader view of science that addresses the nature of scientific knowledge itself and the skills required to access and evaluate media accounts of science. In short, the goals of science education have shifted from scientific knowledge to science literacy—the scope of practice in the field of science has broadened from "how the scientific community produces science information, [to] how media repackage and share the information, and how individuals encounter and form opinions on this information….”