How much do you know about science topics?

[jim584672]

Take the test, 12 questions...

Science Knowledge Quiz | Pew Research Center


12 of 12 for me

 

[Meadbh]

12/12 here too.

 

[JoeWras]

12 for me, but I'm a total science geek, so this was a gimme.

The results breakdown is interesting.

- Not surprised that old people smoked the nukes question. I guess since nukes are being swept under the rug these days, the kids struggled.

- Ditto on polio. Old people remember or were touched by or know someone touched by it. Kids? Why even get vaccinated. That's poison! They probably know that Jenny McCarthy is right. Sigh.

- Glad the astrology question wasn't worst than it is.

- Chem geeks like me are distressed by the boiling answer. I guess with microwaves these days, nobody has to follow "high altitude" baking anymore.

 

[hnzw_rui]

Lol, 11 of 12 for me. I've forgotten my gas pressure laws so I already knew I was going to get the boiling point question wrong. Instead of getting lucky on a guess, I deliberately chose the wrong answer on that one.

 

[ERD50]

...
- Chem geeks like me are distressed by the boiling answer. I guess with microwaves these days, nobody has to follow "high altitude" baking anymore.

I also assumed the notes on cooking directions would have sunk in to the general public.

I also say one of their answers was incorrect (but I chose it, got 12/12, as it was the 'best' answer) - spoiler alert - I'll put the comment in white text, highlight it with a mouse-drag to read it:

[spoiler-alert]

A sound wave really doesn't have 'amplitude' or 'height' - it has peaks and troughs of pressure differences. Now, if you graph them, you could refer to the 'height' or 'amplitude' on the graph, but the sound wave itself does not have these things. Waves in water have amplitude, but not sound waves.

[/spoiler-alert]

In some ways, that was better than some other 'science' tests I've seen, which were mostly memory/history tests. This had some of that, I'd prefer to see questions that test understanding of science (like the boiling point one).

-ERD50

 

[samclem]

12/12. Kinda surprised that 3 questions were missed by more than 50% of respondents. It looks like the average # right was between 8 and 9, so we'll see if e-r.org is like Lake Wobegon.

 

[braumeister]

BZZZZT!
Sorry, but astrology has nothing to do with science. What was that doing in there?

 

[ERD50]

12/12. Kinda surprised that 3 questions were missed by more than 50% of respondents. It looks like the average # right was between 8 and 9, so we'll see if e-r.org is like Lake Wobegon.

I was curious if their age/education/race breakdowns were from this self-selected survey, or was that from random testing where those demographics were obtained w/o self selection (or even lying)?

IIRC, education had perfect correlation - the more education the better they did on every question. I can understand that certain ages could have a better understanding in different areas (like older people being more aware of polio). But age and other demographics also can overlap with education. It would be interesting to see the other factors adjusted for education - i.e., split college education by age group, etc.

BZZZZT!
Sorry, but astrology has nothing to do with science. What was that doing in there?

I think the point was whether people know that astronomy is the correct word for the science of stars/universe. And they didn't say 'astrology' was a science - they asked (again, highlight to see):

Which of these terms is defined as the study of how the positions of stars and planets can influence human behavior? - So clearly, astrology is a wrong answer - that's fair, no?

-ERD50

 

[samclem]

I also say one of their answers was incorrect (but I chose it, got 12/12, as it was the 'best' answer) - spoiler alert - I'll put the comment in white text, highlight it with a mouse-drag to read it:

Yes, I agree. I had to guess at what they meant to say on that one, too. But, to be charitable, I reasoned that
[spoiler-alert]

. . . by "amplitude" they could mean "amplitude of pressure", and reading it that way makes it work. It was the "least-bad" answer[/spoiler-alert]

 

[Tadpole]

I think that 12/12 stat is from retired-early types. 12 here also.

 

[NW-Bound]

12/12. And that puts me at the top 6% of the public. Hah!

But everybody knows how to work a smartphone now. That's more important, is it not?

Regarding the pick on one question, I look up the dictionary definition of the word they use, and it says

[spoiler-alert]
Amplitude: the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium.

An electrical wave can have an amplitude, or an optical wave, or a radio wave. It does not have to be a physical motion displacement.

[/spoiler-alert]

Hence, I do not see a problem with their choice of word.

 

[CoolChange]

12/12 here too for a bit of a science geek with a knack for multiple guess tests.

 

[Bikerdude]

I also assumed the notes on cooking directions would have sunk in to the general public.

I also say one of their answers was incorrect (but I chose it, got 12/12, as it was the 'best' answer) - spoiler alert - I'll put the comment in white text, highlight it with a mouse-drag to read it:

[spoiler-alert]

A sound wave really doesn't have 'amplitude' or 'height' - it has peaks and troughs of pressure differences. Now, if you graph them, you could refer to the 'height' or 'amplitude' on the graph, but the sound wave itself does not have these things. Waves in water have amplitude, but not sound waves.

[/spoiler-alert]

In some ways, that was better than some other 'science' tests I've seen, which were mostly memory/history tests. This had some of that, I'd prefer to see questions that test understanding of science (like the boiling point one).

-ERD50

Well, it's certainly true when viewed on a oscilloscope.

 

[JoeWras]

BZZZZT!
Sorry, but astrology has nothing to do with science. What was that doing in there?

You may not have taken the quiz. I said "astrology question" casually. ERD50 explained it better. This, by the way, is my #1 pet peeve about science, so I was glad to see it included, and frankly surprised the wrong answer wasn't picked more often.

And brau... being a master of the brew, I'm 100% confident you'd get the boiling point question.

 

[Walt34]

11/12, I missed the magnifying glass one - should have known better but I was on a roll.

 

[Katsmeow]

I was 11/12 (actual score was 10/12 but I had selected the correct answer then failed to enter it). I was shocked since it is a long time since I took a science course and I always tell my husband that science might as well be magic to me. The question I actually missed was on the magnifying class. I had known that at one time, but that time was long ago.

 

[aja8888]

12 of 12 right and I am a Mechanical Engineer.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

12 of 12 right. Former English teacher here, and quite surprised.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Car-Guy]

12 for 12 here. I was 100% sure on all of them except the one on boiling water in LA and Denver. I was pretty sure on that one too, but not 100%. Pretty simple test to be honest but fun.

 

[HFWR]

12/12

Pretty easy, but I watch the Science channel!

 

[MRG]

12 of 12.

 

[Car-Guy]

I asked the DW to take the test too.

She scored 10 out of 12. I know she missed the boiling water question which now gives me some interesting insight as to why dinner doesn't always come out the way she plans.

 

[Koolau]

12 for 12, but if I had missed one, I would have handed in my Little Orphan Science Guy decoder ring.

I could only see what High Schoolers got from the 18-29 demographic, but it didn't look too impressive. If most folks don't get at least 11 for 12, I think our K-12 needs vast improvement. Just my opinion, of course. I see similar trends in the fields of politics (huge numbers of people don't know who the Vice President is.), Geography (many folks don't know which oceans bound the USA), Literature (most probably don't know who William Shakespeare was.), US History (Many can not identify the combatants nor have a rough idea of when the US Civil War was fought.), etc.

I fear for this nation for many reasons. It's my humble opinion that we are letting our kids down when it comes to education. Again, just an opinion as YMMV.

Dang, I am grumpy today!

 

[LauAnn]

10 of 12 for me. I missed the boiling water and sound wave questions.

 

[stepford]

Am I the only one who looked at question 7 and thought, "What about metamaterials?"