One point of departure in this paper is an awareness that we are living in the Anthropocene era. Based on this, education, including science education, needs to be re-visioned. Since the first use of the term by Hurd in 1958, many different definitions of scientific literacy have been put forward. One and a half decade ago Roberts (2007) suggested two visions of scientific literacy and science education. To simplify, Vision I can be described as science without society (internal view), whereas Vision II is about contextual application of scientific knowledge in life and society (external view). As a complement to the two well-spread visions by Roberts, a Vision III has been suggested (e.g. Aikenhead, 2007; Yore, 2012; Liu, 2013; Sjöström & Eilks, 2018). This paper tries to systemize what different scholars have meant with the three different visions, especially focusing on Vision III. Furthermore, the paper elaborates on different ways in how the three visions relate to each other. The three visions are also discussed in relation to curriculum theory (e.g. Deng, 2020) and different curriculum emphases, educational-philosophical frameworks, and worldview perspectives.

“Bildung” is a central concept in central European/Scandinavian educational theory. It has a long and multifaceted history of ideas including for instance humanistic values and the ideas of critical-democratic citizenship. In this paper Vision III of scientific literacy and science education, as it is presented in the international literature, is examined. Furthermore, implications of a Vision III-view on Bildung and teachers’ didactical choices are discussed.