How Much Do Americans Know About Science?
An exclusive poll shows Americans crave stronger mathematics, science schooling for U.S. kids and have a pretty strong grasp of the subjects themselves
- By Terence Monmaney
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2013, Subscribe
The idea that the nation faces a crisis in science education has more than hit home: Many Americans think U.S. teens perform even worse on standardized science tests than they actually do.
That’s according to a new national survey by Smithsonian and the Pew Research Center that also found unusually strong support for boosting math and science instruction in school.
The survey, done to gauge public scientific literacy and educational priorities, involved a representative sample of 1,006 adults in the continental United States who were reached in March on a landline or cellphone.
Respondents received on average what might be considered a passing grade on the quiz portion of the survey, answering 9 out of 13 questions correctly more than half the time. Men scored slightly better than women, though women were better informed about the threat of antibiotic resistance.
SPOILER ALERT! Take the test before reading further!
Science and technology in the news rang a bell more often than not. A majority correctly noted that nanotechnology involves small things and natural gas is the resource extracted by “fracking,” or hydraulic fracturing. The youngest group, 18- to 29-year-olds, matched others on most knowledge questions but flunked the one about fracking. Fifty-eight percent of respondents correctly said the gas most closely associated with global warming is carbon dioxide, compared with 65 percent who got the question right when Pew last posed it in a survey, in 2009. That decline is difficult to explain, given that climate change seems to be a more prominent issue than before.
Supporters of strengthening science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education warn that U.S. students are falling behind other nations in technical subjects. This gloomy forecast has sunk in. Asked how 15-year-olds in the United States compare with those in other developed nations on a standardized science test known as PISA, for Program for International Student Assessment, respondents tended to rank American youths at the bottom of the pack. In fact, they place in the middle, scoring 17th out of the 34 developed nations in 2009, the most recent year for which results are available.
The survey included a question that has apparently not been asked in such open-ended fashion in a poll before: What one subject should schools emphasize more? People’s answers fell into 12 main categories, with nearly half of respondents offering a STEM subject: 30 percent said mathematics, 11 percent said science and 4 percent said computers or computer science.
The response, says Scott Keeter, Pew’s research director, “reflects a perception that the U.S. is at risk in those areas, that American superiority might be slipping away and needs to be addressed.”
After math the subject most often said to need more emphasis in school was reading and writing, favored by 19 percent of those surveyed. Surprisingly few respondents, just 4 percent, called for stronger computer education, perhaps because American youngsters are perceived as having adequate, if not excessive, exposure to computers.
When asked the key reason young people don’t pursue degrees in science and math, 22 percent of those surveyed said such degrees weren’t useful to their careers and 20 percent said the subjects were “too boring.” By far the most common response, though, was that science and math were “too hard,” a belief held by 46 percent of respondents.
That might be a problem educators need to study.
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Comments (16)
Why are people in college and get only 6-9 answers correct. our society needs to improve education. I am a Sophomore in highschool and I know more than 75% of the public. This is worrying. Is this what our world is becomin?
Posted by Isaiah Robinson on May 6,2013 | 09:44 AM
The answer marked as correct on the second question of the quiz in wrong! The quantum theory of the atom shows that bound electrons in an atom are not well locallized. The "size" of an atom is usually determined by the 90% probability contour for finding the electrons bound in the atom. The nucleous of the atom is compact. Its electrons are not. All electrons, bound or not, obey Heisenberg's uncertainty principal. This tells us that the uncertainty in position of an electron is not arbitrarily small and depends inversely on the uncertainty in the momentum. In solids, particularly metals and semiconductors, many electrons are shared throughout the solid and are completely delocalized. The above are rather fine points of quantum theory. However, electrons are poorly understood by the general public. I am a retired physicist, and am well versed in this subject.
Posted by Lenn Kupferberg on April 28,2013 | 11:19 AM
"...the gas most closely associated with global warming is carbon dioxide..." Really? What happened to water vapor?
Posted by John on April 27,2013 | 01:44 PM
A 75% rating out of 100 for the American public is pretty grim. It should be at least 80, preferably 85. This will not get better until there is an overhaul of basic elementary and high school education. Fewer tests, better teacher training/control of curriculum, and more egalitarian resources for all school systems.
Posted by Mary F. Richards on April 25,2013 | 01:59 PM
I missed1 of the questions.
Posted by dyan on April 24,2013 | 12:32 AM
So where's the link to take the quiz?
Posted by Wes Foggy on April 24,2013 | 09:42 PM
As someone scientifically literate enough to answer the 13 questions correctly, I point out that this article is seriously lacking in crucial information by not reporting the poll's margin of error and confidence interval. Reporting straight percentages of a sampling poll without those key qualifications is inherently unscientific itself.
Posted by jr on April 24,2013 | 08:19 PM
Nice of you good folks to include some global warming propaganda in your "quiz". Let me ask YOU a science question: have you got a working atmospheric model that has been shown to possess some validated predictive value? Or is science now performed by consensus?
Posted by Sal Russo on April 24,2013 | 08:15 PM
This quiz has made me sad. Not because of MY score - I scored a perfect 13 (and confidently knew I would before I ever took the test - quite frankly, I was surprised how easy it was - silly me - I thought it was going to be a CHALLENGE!) Nope - I'm sad that there are so many stupid Americans out there. An electron bigger than an atom??? Oh, come on! REALLY??? And they don't know what gas causes global frikkin warming after ALL the hype about it? SERIOUSLY? Is there a country - a democratic country - that doesn't discriminate, isn't handicapped with a huge, deluded religious population, with happy, prosperous INTELLIGENT people that would accept a few smart Americans who promise to behave nicely? If so - please let me know - I'd move in a frikkin heartbeat!
Posted by Bertie Eisensteinie on April 24,2013 | 06:40 PM
Hi, The science and technology quiz is not very accurate! I took it three times with the same (correct) answers and got three different results. None of the results reflected my actual answers. I hope no one is taking the results very seriously!! thanks,
Posted by Nan Davenport on April 24,2013 | 06:14 PM
I think science and math literacy would be stronger if charts and tables addressing said topic included labels on the numbers such as "%" or "n="
Posted by Dave on April 24,2013 | 01:54 PM
Follow up: OK, electrons are larger than various nuclei. If with Atom you mean Nucleus AND Electrons > Electrons then the questions is graded correctly. Still a bad question since quantum physics kind if makes "size" a bit irrelevant and old school. Kind of like asking - what is the size of a cloud of energy. Depends. We are not in the 1940 anymore.
Posted by Andrew on April 24,2013 | 01:32 PM
These are fairly softball true/false questions. It's my opinion that folks should be consistently scoring above 10 on this quiz before they enter high school. If not, then what are children being taught (by their parents and their schools) from ages 5 to 14.
Posted by Gus on April 24,2013 | 01:20 PM
I am a former high school science teacher. I can definitely say that the biggest issues I faced in my classes were the perception that science was hard, and that the students didn't think they were capable of learning science. I believe the first issue stems from the fact that science is presented to kids as if it were a hard subject rather than just an explanation of how the universe works. That idea is planted in their minds and re-enforced until the kids believe it. The second issue is squarely on the parents that stress their child's limitations instead of their potential. I spent a lot of time working to convince my students they were more than capable of learning science.
Posted by foodphd on April 24,2013 | 01:20 PM
I got all 13 correct. It is very concerning that almost 40% couldn't get more than 7 correct. But I am over 60 and the schools have been dumbed down a lot since the '70's.
Posted by rel on April 24,2013 | 12:51 PM
Looks like I got one wrong. I said an electron is larger than an Atom. Oh wait. It is larger than some and smaller than others. Mass is much lower. So the questions is silly. An electron is certainly larger (takes up more volume) than a Proton or Neutron. It is smaller then say a Gold Atom. But the point is that this questions must be eliminated since it is a very bad question without a real answer. Perhaps an article on lacking educators and test creators should follow.
Posted by Andrew on April 24,2013 | 12:35 PM