In this research, the perceptions of Secondary School students (15-17 years old) are studied, according to their gender and educational level (compulsory and post-compulsory education), towards three aspects related to the social function of science. The 158 participants filled in an internationally validated questionnaire, which has allowed us to obtain diagnostic data regarding these factors that indicate a greater recognition of the importance of the role of Science in society, compared to the rest, which decrease in the following order: adoption of scientific attitudes and interest towards it in leisure time, respectively. Finally, didactic implications are provided from the field of Didactics of Experimental Sciences, in relation to the projection of this study towards future teaching proposals, which would allow the implementation of a knowledge connected to the identity of the student in order to promote their scientific-technical vocations.