The Pew Research Center recently compiled a lengthy and exhaustive study on the state of science education in the United States. The project–which sampled about 1,000 randomly selected US citizens–tackled a variety of issues in the public perception of science. Some of the results were surprising–84% of Americans think that science’s impact on society has been almost entirely positive–and some where less surprising (that is, more disheartening): fewer than half of those surveyed knew if an electron was smaller or larger than an atom. The Pew Center correlated the results with a few different factors, including education (which, not surprisingly, correlates very strongly with scientific literacy), age (the 30-49 age group was the most scientifically literate, while the 65+ age group was the least literate), and sex (on average, men know more than women). They did not, however, bother to correlate the results with religion, which would yield some interesting results, I suspect–specifically, my (perhaps unfounded) suspicion is that religiosity will correlate negatively with scientific literacy: I’d be willing to wager that the strongly religious know less about science than the irreligious. At the very least, I imagine that atheists would do better than average on a quiz like this–now, thanks to the pure awesomeness that is the Internet, we can test my hypothesis.
Since the official results have already been compiled, the Pew Center has made the original literacy quiz available on their website: you can answer the same questions that the original respondents answered, and see where you score for your gender, education, and age. The quiz is short–only 12 questions long–so I’d recommend taking it, if just for the inevitable ego boost that it will give you. If you do decide to take the quiz, post your score (as well as whether you identify as an atheist, agnostic, Christian, &c.) in the comments; let’s see if my hypothesis that atheists will do better than average–the average score overall was a bit less than 8 out of 12. I got all of them right, which means that I don’t have to commit seppuku, at least not today. How’d you do? Were there any questions that gave you pause? Anything about the results in general that you find surprising?
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I got all 12 right and I am a strong atheist. I am also glad to have avoided the need for ritual suicide.
Also, I fit in the male, 18-29, and some college education range.
Yea I got the 12 out of 12 as well… its not that hard really I was surprised by how easy it really was.
Also the male 18-29 with (the Australian equivalent) college education
Thanks for the results! It seems that so far this totally unscientific poll supports my hypothesis.
Lord Scarab: That’s why I find it so discouraging that some of the questions garnered lower than 50% averages. Still, I suppose it’s heartening that younger generations tended to do better; at least science education is doing SOMETHING. It seems like we could still use a lot of improvement, though–knowing (for instance) that electrons are smaller than atoms seems like it ought to be an iron-clad requirement for high school graduation.
Female, Atheist, College Education, 18-29 age bracket, scored 12 out of 12.
If I had gotten less than that, I would have been embarrassed to say I was in the college supposedly-educated population.
I got all 12 right… I read a lot of books though since my high school was less than educational and yes I am an atheist
Got 12 of 12. I noticed that the three questions that women did better than men on where all medical/biological questions.
Which over-the-counter drug do doctors recommend that people take to help prevent heart attacks? 89% and 94%
How are stem cells different from other cells? 51% and 54%
Antibiotics will kill viruses as well as bacteria. 49% and 59%
It is a pity that the survey was restricted to an insanely fundamentalist theocracy/idiocracy/cacocracy/anti-scientococracy.
It would have been more instructive had it been conducted world-wide.
12/12 I identify as Atheist. In the 30-39 age group.
Took a technical course after High School. I do a lot of reading and desire to get additional education.
These questions are pretty much common sense. Perhaps I just don’t appreciate properly the average person’s viewpoint, but I don’t think anyone would even have to be much of a science fanboy or fangirl to get these all right.
12 right, 31 year old male atheist/skeptic, college graduate
I got all 12 right! I am in the 18-39 age group atheist/skeptic, college graduate and graduate education.
12 0f 12, 18 to 29, strong atheist, with some college.
I’d like to point out though that the scariest part of this survey was that roughly 1/3 of those polled had the answers to only half of the questions. That’s just embarassing. I’m going outside to make sure everyone on the street knows the differences between a bacterium and a virus, that co2 makes global warming, and that the surface of a cooling planet can be a dangerous place to live.
12/12, Atheist, Female, College Grad, 18-29
@Brian C Posey: probably b/c women are more likely than men to deal w/ health issues
It seems to me that the most telling thing about this survey is that those questions are being used to evaluate scientific literacy. It is akin to using a Dick and Jane book to evaluate ordinary literacy. Is the US really this scientifically ignorant? Hoo-e-shoo!
I got 12 out of 12 but I was unsure about two and simply guessed right. I am an atheist but I am unconvinced the results of this quiz or these comments tell us much we do not already know. OF COURSE religious people are less scientifically literate than non-theists. Religious people are less RELIGIOUSLY literate than non-theists too. How many Atheists do you know who cannot kick fundy’s butts discussing the bible? Not what it means, what is SAYS. If there are any really smart people defending god and religion, PLEASE share them with me. I keep looking for them but haven’t found any. The most intelligent sounding ones define god so vaguely as to be meaningless. They sound like atheists who simply cannot bring themselves to come out of the god-myth closet.
The moJoe gets 12 for 12.
It’s good to see so many scientifically literate people around here. It seems pretty obvious that there is a strong correlation between religiosity and scientific illiteracy, but you’re right, RA, it would be nice to see some more formal, controlled studies done in this area.
I got 11/12 however I blame the one wrong answer on a miss-clicked response, however I did guess on two of them but got them right.
I am a strong atheist, Male, University drop-out.
Oh I feel dumb. I, too, guessed on two of them, but guessed incorrectly..lol. 10 of 12, Female, 30something, some college, strong atheist.
12/12, Strong atheist, 30-49 age group.
Now, may I suggest that—if you haven’t already—you all pile over to the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s website and take their bible quiz?
http://www.ffrf.org/quiz/bquiz.php
46 / 50. Woot!
12/12, Male, College Educated, Weak (but convinced) Atheist, 18-29 age group.
Result: 12/12
Identifies as: Atheist
Age: 18-29
Gender: Male
Education: College, in progress
12/12, Strong atheist, 30-49 age group, Male, B.S. in Biology
Far too easy for 12/12 to just be in the 10% range.
12/12, atheist, female, 18-29 age group, college educated (psychology/neuroscience)
I’m a little disappointed in my age group’s performance considering we’ve grown up in such an era of scientific progress and information, which is freely available on the internets.
I hate to be “that guy.” But one of the questions was about gasses warming the atmosphere. The question was worded so oddly that it almost made it impossible to pick CO2 as the answer.
I’m not a “denialist” but I do sit in a middle ground where I only accept independently reviewed research on this topic now and, as a result, I’m not a CO2-believer.
I got 12/12, I’m an atheist, I have two degrees in engineering, and I’m NOT a right-wing nut job. Am I alone in having to think hard about that question?
12 / 12, Technical College, Atheist, 41, Canadian, surprised at the level knowledge you shouldn’t need to hit 12 out of 12.
I’m an 18-year-old, male, devout Christian and I scored 11 out 12.
12/12 24YO Male Atheist University Graduate
I’m 16, female, atheist, and still in high school, and I got 12 out of 12 correct
I’ve been believing your concept for a couple years now, other people need to come to believe it too
I got a 12/12 and I’m a female “weak” atheist or an agnostic. That quiz was insanely easy, it kinda freaks me out that 8 is the average score. >_>;;
11/12 female atheist, 20 years old
I answered all 12 correctly, and I classify myself as Atheist. I am a 38 year old male. I would say that I am unimpressed with the questions, however, given the nature of our current society to believe all kinds of data spewed out by the media as well as Hollywood, I am not suprised. People tend to believe far more than they should, just because it was on the Discovery channel or some such crap. They do no research of their own, or extremely little if it does not show up on the front page of a web browser. I… I am disgusted with the average score.
Shawn: I only have a HS diploma, but I was educated in Nuclear Power by the US Navy. I did have to pause on the CO2 question as well. I remember reading about many different gases, but it did seem, most all the information indicated CO2 was a larger player. That does not make it correct, i.e. Climategate.
Atheist 12/12 39yrs old.
12/12 Male/20/some college/uni
I was expecting more trying questions.
I am a male in highschool, scored 10/12.
Am a strong atheist.
I must say that I think that SOME of the people who posted responses to this must have added a couple. I doubt EVERYONE got 12/12 even if atheists are much smarter on average than relegious. Although those atheists who scored lower might have just not posted out of self pitty. Lol just speculating.
I have got to say that I am embarased to say that I got 9/12 right.. I am a female 30-49 age group.. Non-religios beliver.. But I did only take on science class in my whole life so what ever I did know I learned from reading..
I am male, in the 30-49 age group, I’m positively anti-theist, I am educated to post-graduate level and I scored 11/12. Damn you, aspirin!
11/12 correct
female
18-29 age group
some college
atheist
I usually do crappy on science quizzes so I was a little worried about taking it. 12/12 BABY!!
female, 33, some college, atheist
I got 4/12 correct. I am Pagan and CEO of an umbrella company.
I got zero correct but I know that God hates Haiti.
I love science! 12/12 female, atheist, 45, some college.
12/12 correct. Female, 19, some college, Atheist.
12/12
Strong Atheist
PhD in Math, ABD in physics.
It is frightening to me that pure guessing would be expected to give better results on the T/F questions. How is it possible for 70% of any population to get such a question wrong?
12/12 strong atheist from Holland.
Was too easy I think…
12/12 Atheist
63 Male Canadian B.A. Administrative & Commercial Studies (Social Organization & Human Relations/Psychology)
Doesn’t seem to take a high degree of science literacy to get them all right. Think I’ll go embarass myself by trying the Bible quiz
12/12, Atheist, 30-49 age group, Male, B.S. in Computer Science
12/12. I’m an anti-theist, but I also have an advantage as I’m a scientist too! Still, I find it hard to believe that anyone could score less than a 7 on that…
12/12, Female, 30-49 age group, college educated strong atheist. Wow, that was ridiculously easy, didn’t have to even think about any of them, any high school grad should have gotten all those right. It is quite scary how unknowledgable people in this country are. The scary part is they don’t care. They spend all their time entertaining themselves, no interest in increasing their knowledge, no wonder so many of them fall for the ridiculous God /Jesus thing
I also scored 12, but only because I recognized the unintended error in the quiz question: “Which is bigger, an electron or an atom?”.
Oddly, an electron is larger specially (it occupies a greater volume).
In QM, widely considered to be the most definitive model we now have, each mass is represented by a wave function. The electron, massing far less than a proton and of course even farther less than any atom, has a larger wave function.In theory it extend infinitely although practically it has high probability of being within a small radius of some center location. As the mass of an object increases, its wave function becomes more determinant.
This is, of course, needless hairsplitting except in certain situations.
This question represents one of those!
Regards,
GaryB
Haldane: “The Universe is not only stranger than we believe, it is stranger than we can believe”
12/12 and it was far too easy. Male, 51, college graduate.and a natural atheist. I was born an atheist just like everyone else. Being a skeptic, I stayed an atheist.
I let my 15 yr old take the quiz and she could answer every one without needing to read the choices. Not exactly a Jeopardy hall of fame stuff. I don’t look at them so much as “science” questions though. It seemed more like a common knowledge quiz or something.