American Adults Flunk Basic Science

[NOW tense]

Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.

Interesting article.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090312115133.htm

[madaboutharry]

1. That is a little scary!

These are facts learned in elementary school.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. The US used to be the international leader in science and technology

Nowadays, not so much. When only 1/5th of adult Americans can answer three very basic science questions correctly... that is just sad. Have we really become so abjectly ignorant?

[BlueJazz]

3. I took the test...got them all right but the questions are very easy. It's ...

... disheartening to realize that so many people missed the questions.

[rurallib]

11. I tripped on the fresh water question.

I feel so freepish.

[BlueJazz]

17. That was a rather hard...I just guessed :)

[Hoopla Phil]

24. Me too but I was only off by a few percentage points.

[Orrex]

4. 24 hours, right?

Or is it 28 days?

:shrug:

[BlueJazz]

5. No...you Idiot...the answer is one week.

:)

[Orrex]

6. Doh! I always screw that up!

[azul]

15. The curious questions for which the answer is 28 days:

The period of the sun, the moon, and human females?

Mind boggling. Science of creation laughing at our little knowledge.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I have no idea if you're being serious or not.

[Orrex]

18. And don't forget 75% of all Februaries

It's also the approximate length of Waterworld.

Amazing!

[Lebam in LA]

7. 5 out of 6 right

I was off on the fresh water question. I thought it was between 4 and 10% but its lees than 3% :banghead:

[tomg]

12. Same thing here. The fresh water. I don't feel

so much stupid as I feel pretty worried. Didn't Bush buy almost 100,000 acres of land in Paraguay that sits on top of one of the largest underground bodies of water?

edit: typos

[TZ]

8. Not a surprise.

I see ignorance of even HS science on a daily basis...

[doc03]

9. It seems to be going faster every year to me n/t

[DrDan]

10. look at these poll results for beliefs in Evolution vs Creationism

Obviously some overlap in the results, But Total True in belief in Evolution - 53%, in Creationism - 66%.

More Americans believe in Creationism. And more find evolution to be false.

**********************************************************

A. Evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life

Definitely true - 18%
Probably true - 35%
Probably false - 16%
Definitely false - 28%
No opinion - 3%
Total true - 53%
Total false - - 44%


B. Creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years


Definitely true - 39%
Probably true - 27%
Probably false - 16%
Definitely false - 15%
No opinion - 3%
Total true - 66%
Total false - 31%

[Greyskye]

20. That's a higher percentage than this international poll from 2005

[DrDan]

21. yeah - the results I posted were from 2007

[Greyskye]

22. At least the trend is in the right direction.

Small favors...

[Howler]

13. LOL!!!

I got 6 out of 6 but I would've missed that fresh water question if I hadn't read the article.Snort!

[Orsino]

14. Stage lead-off in the story.

Having a basic knowledge of scientific principles is no longer a luxury but, in today's complex world, a necessity.

If that were so, we wouldn't fail this test, would we? We have the luxury of remaining ignorant of basic scientific facts, so we do.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. The kids and I got 6 out of 6. The fresh water one almost got us but

YoungerGreenKid said he knew that fact from reading it in a book once. :D

[Orrex]

23. I got six for six, but that little quiz is baloney

It's just a trivia quiz. It doesn't do anything to assess one's knowledge of basic science, unless basic science is just a few memorized facts.