Science Knowledge Quiz | Hacker News Reader

Science Knowledge Quiz

pewresearch.org

8 pointstokenadult9 comments

As a former science teacher, this is the sort of thing that really bothers me (no offense to the original poster).

Beyond the basics, people don't need science facts as much as they need science thinking. In other words, we need to be teaching people the philosophy of science: science as a method of acquiring knowledge.

I don't care what you know--tell me why you know it.

These facts are what allow you to make informed decisions. Democracy and capitalism both work only as well as the population is able to make good choices. I'd say science literacy is actually very important.

I'm arguing relative importance, so I'm not saying that the facts aren't important. What I'm saying is that understanding the scientific method and having decent critical thinking skills are more important. Science is more than a bag of facts.

I don't care what you know--tell me why you know it.

What kind of answers would you be looking for from well educated students?

Well-educated students would be able to visit a site like this: http://creation.com/ and realize that their conclusions are flawed because their methods are wrong: http://creation.com/about-us#what_we_believe They would be able to clearly and persuasively articulate why the conclusions are incorrect.

If we teach science as a collection of facts that you believe because the authority (your teacher) said so, then we aren't preparing students to think for themselves.

It's an interesting quiz, most of it was pop science stuff that you would pick up if you've been following the news. Pluto/Aspirin/Tsunami's. Questions on these topics were more correctly answered than basic science facts.

It's interesting that most common correct answer was that Asprin prevents heart attacks, while the most common incorrect answer was that electrons are not smaller atoms.

I wonder why that is? It it just short memory, something you saw in a Bayer commercial vs something you learned in school.. Or frequency people talking about aspirin and heart attacks.

Would people remember the aspirin fact because it might be important to their health? Whereas most might not find utility in knowing the Standard Model.

Strange fact is that the question about aspirin is the only one I failed on. Maybe it is because english is not my native language and did not get the whole idea of the question

So according to the results summary at the end, about half the adult population, and a quarter of college graduates, are under the impression that antibiotics kill viruses.

The other questions, despite being rather basic scientific knowledge, are arguably not relevant for most people, but that question worries me because of the antibiotic resistance issue.

It is kind of depressing that apparently around a third of college graduates think lasers work via sound waves, though. Sigh.

Antibiotics is sad.

For lasers I'd be willing to bet a bit of confusion (ie yes, lasers are focused waves... See something WAVE, click WAVE).

Overall result is depressing though.

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