How science literate are you?

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
I agree, but I understood the intent of the question. But, yeah -- Even going by what the Big bang Theory says, it was not really an explosion as much as a dramatic expansion.

I agree. I did kind of grit my teeth when I saw that one and decided to forget about the discrepancy and try to figure out what answer they were looking for.

That's a pretty good indication of scientific literacy when you're able to determine flaws in the questions themselves.

I should have been prepared for those low percentages after learning that 1 in 4 Americans and Brits thinks the sun revolves around the Earth, but I wasn't prepared. Any 10th grader should have easily aced that test.

a reply to: ISeekTruth101

So not only is your scientific literacy shamefully bad but now you're demonstrating a complete lack of understanding about evolution?

Give it up, dude, give it up.

I found a slightly more difficult science literacy test on the Smithsonian site. I accidentally got 12/13 because my click on Q12 failed to click. It was a straightforward one too!

The results breakdown shows that 18-29s fair better (on average) than the 30-49s so perhaps the younger generation isn't the car-crash some people like to think. Surprisingly less than half know what people are fracking for and it's such a current media topic. Common gases in the Earth's atmosphere are unfamiliar to around three quarters of people across all ages and both genders.

This one here at CSMonitor is a far more difficult SoB. I got a flattering 76% (38 right from 50) and found it tough. No doubt some members can do better and get some gloaty mojo going lol : )

a reply to: Kandinsky

That one's a little harder. I thought Mercury had a tiny moon but I guess I missed the part where they decided it didn't after all.

a reply to: Bedlam

If you found it hard, I can begin the process of healing my bruised ego : )

a reply to: Bedlam

It can be argued that earth has more than 1 moon too, although that seems to change every other day..

And thanks Kandinsky, that one was much harder! In my defence though I was watching Kingsmen at the same time and was slightly distracted..

agree. I did kind of grit my teeth when I saw that one and decided to forget about the discrepancy and try to figure out what answer they were looking for.

That's a pretty good indication of scientific literacy when you're able to determine flaws in the questions themselves.

I knew what answer they were looking for but I refused to give the wrong answer so I got 10/11. Even ignoring the fact the Big Bang theory describes an expansion process and not an explosion, it's still just one of many theories about how the universe began, interpreting it as a fact about how the universe began is quite naive.

Also I cannot believe only 48% of people got the question about lasers right, did they think earphones work by shooting low powered laser beams into their ears? The only question I found slightly difficult was the one about antibiotics, amazingly more people got that right than the question about lasers. I guess people are more familiar with the details of being sick than learning about light.

originally posted by: Kandinsky

This one here at CSMonitor is a far more difficult SoB. I got a flattering 76% (38 right from 50) and found it tough. No doubt some members can do better and get some gloaty mojo going lol : )

82% for me on that particular quiz.

I did poorly on the chemistry questions and a couple of the mechanics questions (although after I got the Newton-force question wrong, I kicked myself because I would have figured out the correct answer if I would have just though about it for a minute). I did very well on the astronomy questions.

I did get a few by guessing -- but those guesses were truly "educated guesses", in as much as I had some periphery knowledge of what was being asked, and was able to whittle away some of the incorrect choices.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Me too. I scored through educated guesses and elimination whenever I was unsure. Chemistry isn't my strong point either.

Years of reading New Scientists and popular science books hasn't had the effect I might have hoped for.

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: Bedlam

If you found it hard, I can begin the process of healing my bruised ego : )

I have to admit, too, there was some question about the 14th moon of Saturn being named Abysmus or Saladdressingus something and I couldn't tell you but the first two or three larger moons.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Now that was a scientific literacy quiz!

I got 42 out of 50 for 84%. I feel both satisfied that I got so many and disappointed at missing ones that I should have gotten. And from the Christian Science Monitor of all sources. Of course, that won't slow the accusations that Christians are unscientific, which was the real point of the quiz from the OP.

The quiz on the first page of this thread wasn't designed to measure scientific literacy, it was designed to measure conformity. Take the first question, for instance: Is the Earth's core very hot? Well compared to a pizza oven, yes, it's very hot. Compared to the core of the Sun, not so much. "Very hot" has no scientific meaning. Other questions could be debatable, to say the least.

It's like when you take a quiz and see the question, "Slavery was the cause of the Civil War." If you answer true, you get full credit. If you mention things like social or economic factors, you are a racist.

There are theories that do not require a big bang, but I obviously knew what answer they wanted.

Coelacanths are dinosaurs right? we are both alive today, so technically we have lived alongside dinosaurs.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

No, Coelacanth's aren't dinosaurs. Just fish. Another thing about them is that those surviving in the Indian Ocean today are only 2 extant species out of what was once nearly 7 dozen species spanning over 400 million years. Coelacanth is actually the order of fish, not the actual species contrary to most peoples impressions of them. The current species have been around for less than 25 MA and are actually a bit different than those who were swimming the oceans while the dinosaurs roamed the earth as there was actually quite a fair amount of diversity in their morphologies depending on species and time frame. One cool thing about them is that the order is so ancient that they are actually more closely related to mammals, reptiles and lungfish than they are to modern ray finned fish(coelacanth are an older lobe finned fish). The actual reason they are called a living fossil by marine biologists and paleontologists is because they are the last surviving members of their order, not because they have remained unchanged for 10's or 100's of millions of years.

Got them all right, but what scares me - I was not at all surprised by % for questions #5 and #7?!

Science denial and abuse of children from early childhood tend to do that...

The CS monitor quiz was much harder, and a tad bit embarrassing...

75% was my score... I honestly thought I was a bit better educated in the sciences than that...

a reply to: Kandinsky

I got a 68 on that last one.

But I suck at the physics stuff. I took a brush with it in high school, and anything I've picked up since has been through my own reading which has been spotty and not terribly deep into which Greek letters get used in which equations. Mostly I blame the teacher who could take 10 minutes of material and make it a 50 minute lecture. Nice man ... boring speaker.

My wife and kid did this test last night, wife got 9 out of 11 and 10 year old got 10 out of 11.

To my big surprise, only one kid got wrong was one about antibiotics.