Americans' Scientific Knowledge Is Average At Best
Think back to the last time you were taught science in a formal setting. Was it in high school, college, or in a postgraduate setting? Perhaps you find most of your information on the Internet? Or have you retained it from when you were in school? Do you know who Jonas Salk is, the difference between astronomy and astrology, and at what temperature water boils in Los Angeles and Denver? According to a new poll, your own and thousands of other Americans' knowledge of science is average at best.
In a new Pew Research Center report, researchers took a representative survey of more than 3,200 U.S. adults using a 12-question, multiple-choice test. The average number of correct answers was eight, while 27 percent answered nine correctly, 26 percent answered 10 or 11 correctly, and just six percent got a perfect score.
"As science issues become ever more tied to policy questions, there are important insights that come from exploring how much Americans know about science," said lead author Cary Funk, an associate director of research at Pew Research Center, in a press release. "These data provide a fresh snapshot of what the public knows about some new and some older scientific developments — a mixture of textbook principles covered in K-12 education and topics discussed in the news."
As you might imagine, the data shows that those with a higher level of education got more answers correct. If you own a college or postgraduate degree, you are more than twice as likely to get at least eight out of 12 questions right, compared with adults with a high school diploma or less. For those who own a postgraduate degree, the average correct answers was nine, while those with less than a high school diploma only answered half of the questions correctly. The research also found that 57 percent of postgraduate recipients achieved 10 to 12 correct answers, whereas only 18 percent of those with a high school diploma or less achieved the same.
Generally, the researchers found that men scored higher than women, whites scored higher than African-Americans and Hispanics, and those aged between 18 and 49 scored higher than those aged 65 and above.
I could tell you how many Americans answered each question correctly, but that would give away the questions, thus ruining the fun. Instead, I’ll let you take the quiz for yourself and find out exactly where you land on the spectrum.