Sep212009
Take the science knowledge quiz
Filed under General by david brooks at 12:53 pm
The Pew Research Center has a science knowledge quiz online (here it is) - 12 questions, ranging from tectonic plates to antibiotics to astronomy. If you’re a GraniteGeek regular, you’d better get 100 on this pretty easy test, as did 10 percent of the 1,005 randomly samples adults who took it.*
The quiz is “part of a larger study of attitudes about science in the U.S.,” which you can read here. The study basically says people like science but don’t know much about it, while scientists are pissed that the media doesn’t report their news more accurately and the public doesn’t support their research more.
As a side note, I created a similar general-science-knowledge quiz years ago for the Telegraph’s science section, back when we had a science section, and one of the questions I wrote is the same. If you’ve taken the quiz, that question follows the double-asterisk.**
* Yes, I did. Whew!
** Which is bigger, an electron or an atom? I followed it up with some jokey versions: “Which is bigger, a quark or an lawyer’s heart? Which is longer, a nanosecond or a reporter’s attention span?”
September 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
My parents (both trained as geologists) and my husband (a physicist) and, well, myself (with a BS in Biology) would have to disown me if I got less than 12/12
So I'm glad I, too, am within that 10%.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Kinda scary that I, an Art History major, got 12/12. We are in trouble.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Quite a relief that even though at over 65 I'm supposedly in my decline, I got all 12 questions corrects. I guess I'll put off being committed to the old folks home for a little while.
Earle Rich
September 21st, 2009 at 4:17 pm
12/12 - That was way too easy, less than 12 of 12 would be embarrassing.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
12/12 ….Whoa! Top 10% as well
September 21st, 2009 at 10:08 pm
12/12 here too. The entire 10% are probably readers of Granit Geek. LOL
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:33 am
12/12 here to. Seemed pretty basic but then science/geography/history knowledge is pretty poor in the US.
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
yeah! even a stay-at-home-mom can get 100% on that test.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Ya it is nice message for science related. But kids learn science in an more easy way or by fun way.
check it out http://www.sciencescore.com