Do you know more about science and technology than the average American?

[mia]

Take our 13-question quiz to test your knowledge of scientific concepts. Then see how you did in comparison with the 1,006 randomly sampled adults asked the same questions in a national poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and Smithsonian magazine.

The analysis of the findings from the poll can be found in the full report. (No peeking! If you are going to take the quiz, do it first before reading the analysis.)

http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/

[NMDemDist2]

1. You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%.

aced it

[FreakinDJ]

29. Me too - it wasn't that difficult

should have timed it

[Agschmid]

41. Me too!

[pscot]

2. It would be hard not to

100%

[GeorgeGist]

3. Most people don't know what's in the air they're breathing!

13/13

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. I don't understand the DU fashion of proving superior knowledge to everyone else. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. that's not the point.

[FreakinDJ]

32. Go post that quizz on FR and see what happens

purely for scientific value

:LMAO:

[demwing]

52. I hear you

It's fun to test knowledge, but not to imply people who score less than perfect are inferior.

[idwiyo]

5. I am seriosly scared. Those questions are basic stuff I would expect a 10 yo child to know.

[Brother Buzz]

7. I don't disagree

Try this one, it's a little tougher challenge but it's a much better measurement of your general science knowledge.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/Composing-about-78-percent-of-the-air-at-sea-level-what-is-the-most-common-gas-in-the-Earth-s-atmosphere

[Demonaut]

16. much harder

[Brother Buzz]

18. LOL, you got humbled too?

[whttevrr]

27. Oh come on...

Who doesn't know that Mendel cultivated about 29,000 pea plants, in an experimental garden on the grounds of his monastery in what is today Austria. He observed that inherited traits remained intact through generations, the founding principle of genetics.

[whttevrr]

28. I couldn't go any further than that question.

For some reason I had to click multiple times to get to the next slowly loading page...

ooh shiny...


be right back.

[Brother Buzz]

37. I'm hip to the Monk pea dude

It was that RNA chemistry that smoked me.

There's hope for this world; my soon-to-be-a-Bruin son aced the test with a perfect score

[NMDemDist2]

40. i got that one ok

the measurements were my downfall

[Demonaut]

64. I knew that one..some were much harder

[dsc]

36. yeah I did about what I thought I would on such a quiz

I was a few questions above average which is where I should fall in science.

[WCGreen]

38. Sadly, my Liberal arts electives were Accounting so I could make a living outside of a

coffee shop...

[mnhtnbb]

42. Ouch. Almost half of the ones I got wrong, I was considering the correct answer.

In other words, go with your gut.

So many of the ones I got wrong I would have answered correctly when I was in college--taking
physics, chemistry, biology. Use it or lose it!

[wandy]

43. Agreed tougher, but I learned something...........

I learned how dependent I have become on the net in day to day life.
If I didn't know the answer their was an almost instinctual desire to google it.
Even more surprising was that I wanted to "look it up" before I was "given" the answer.

I may have become a Borg.

[etherealtruth]

50. That was fun, thank you!

That was an actual quiz of basic scientific knowledge

[idwiyo]

53. Much better. 4 wrong.

[orpupilofnature57]

54. A little tougher I geuss, I got 1 wrong on the first test

I got a 43% on the second .

[jimlup]

58. 48 out of 50

I missed "thunderlizard" and "nimbus" clouds.

[wickerwoman]

67. Ha ha

Never took science after high school but as a classics major I rocked this one out. 70% (was looking for the excited running back and forth smiley that doesn't seem to exist anymore or that possibly I just imagined so will have to settle for the constipated cyclops )

[mrs_p]

17. I wouldn't expect a ten year old

to know a drug study design, and if they did, I would want them to get out and play more.

[dsc]

21. but take that one out

and you still would have the 10 year old doing better than 85% of respondents, which is pretty scary.

[onehandle]

6. 13 out of 13. nt

[RevStPatrick]

8. Apparently, I know everything about science.

13 for 13.

That was actually embarrassingly easy...

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. question 14 - did humans ride on the backs of dinosaurs?

[RevStPatrick]

39. Of they did!

There's even photographic evidence:

[mick063]

9. 13 of 13

Relatively easy test.

Multiple choice tests are not the best way to test true knowledge in my opinion. Just my opinion. I could be proven wrong.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. got 2 wrong . i always fail the question about what gas makes up most of the atmosphere

Should read up on it

[NuclearDem]

14. Nitrogen, 78% of the atmosphere.

[La Cucaracha]

24. That's the only one I missed.

I chose hydrogen. Doh!

[wickerwoman]

66. Yeah, I only missed the gas one too.

I think we should get some bonus points for know it's not oxygen though.

[BainsBane]

12. I got 13 out of 13

and if I really know more about science than 93% of Americans, we're in a lot of trouble.

[dsc]

22. no kidding same here

If I am at the 93rd percentile in science knowledge, then we are in deep, deep, doodoo. The only question that was at all heard I will admit I knew from math, not science, but still, this was a really easy quiz.

[Igel]

33. We are.

A lot of high schoolers I know, if asked to simplify 5/10, will answer "2".

"So if my pizza is cut up into 10 pieces and I eat 5 of them, I'm left with 2 pizzas?"

"No!"

They don't know how to get from "I have 5 out of 10 left" to "5/10", and then from "5/10" to "1/2".

It's not how they've been taught. They haven't memorized the steps needed, in order, to solve the problem. Nobody's said if it's a 1-step, 2-step, or 3-step problem. And they're freaked out that they're not allowed to Google the answer on their smart phones. As one teacher put it, "We live in an age of smart phones and stupid people."

But if they did memorize the steps, it was for a test and as soon as the test was over they deemed it "not important for my long-term knowledge. It won't help me before this coming weekend, and that's way past 'long term' ... What were we saying? ... OMFG, I HAVEN'T SENT A TEXT FOR AT LEAST um ... A LOT OF SECONDS!"

[bemildred]

13. 13 of 13. nt

[Barack_America]

19. Wow. That was pretty sad.

Seeing what the average American scored on those questions...

No one should graduate high school without being able to answer all of them.

[Duer 157099]

20. Yes, unfortunately n/t

[mnhtnbb]

23. 11 out of 13. I guessed on the earth's atmosphere--guessed wrong--

and had to choose between nails rusting and water boiling. Chose wrong!

[whttevrr]

25. I chuckled when I read the antibiotics question and really wanted to select

The answer that said addiction would be a danger...

But I just couldn't do it...

[WCGreen]

26. Perfect Score....

[Ilsa]

30. 13 for 13! Let's hear it for old folks like me

In the +50 group! I'm in the 93%!

[last1standing]

31. How can only 31% of college graduates know that nitrogen makes up the majority of our atmosphere?

I graduated with an English major/Film Studies minor and know that.

[yawnmaster]

35. what use does that knowledge have in day to day work?...

for those in a non-scientific field (or scuba divers, etc.)

[last1standing]

45. I think that's a good argument for non-college grads.

But the point of a liberal arts education (i.e. undergrad) is supposed to be to introduce a variety of subjects in order to make a more rounded, educated individual.

In my opinion, this result (although non-scientific in itself) is a condemnation of the current higher educational system.

[demwing]

56. I can see why people might think

that oxygen was more abundant than nitrogen. We hear more about oxygen, so we think there's more of it in the air.

Even college graduates.

[yawnmaster]

61. I think your opinion is good. It is probably one of the indicators of success at higher ed.

There are quite a few people who aren't getting a higher education and sometimes I think those with the higher education are surprised that many people don't know what they might think is basic knowledge.

[Jamastiene]

48. Scuba divers have to think about Nitrogen Narcosis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_narcosis

[yawnmaster]

60. whoops...didn't make that clear. Scuba divers definitely do have to know gas proportions...

unless one is doing snuba or or something similar.

[ananda]

34. 12/13

I missed nitrogen for the atmospheric gas.

[JackRiddler]

44. Aw shit, I accidentally failed to answer one.

Grrr! How can people not be getting perfect scores on this joke of a test!

[Common Sense Party]

46. I am a science moron.

It scares me that since I got a 13, 93% of people did WORSE than me. I am on of the least science-literate people I know.

[Common Sense Party]

47. Women didn't do too well on this quiz.

Something is wrong here.

[etherealtruth]

49. 13 out of 13; however, the quiz asked questions ....

... that middle schooler's should know

[dipsydoodle]

57. Exactly.

All that's needed to answer all 13 correctly is a good memory.

[cantbeserious]

51. 100 Percent Correct

eom

[redstatebluegirl]

55. 13 of 13 this scares me

I am hardly a science geek, these seemed like simple questions that any high school grad should be able to answer. Granted I graduated a LONG time ago.... Where have we gone with our educational system..... Everybody gets an A everybody gets patted on the head... go figure

[CanonRay]

59. My dog could probably beat the average American

She's 14 and knows a lot of stuff...

[devils chaplain]

62. 13/13. Also, Nitrogen's feelings should be very hurt. n/t

[Benton D Struckcheon]

63. Missed the one on sunscreen. Crap. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

65. Indeed I do, apparently (nt)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

68. 12/13

You scored better than 85% of the public, below 7% and the same as 8%.

I missed the one on electrons being smaller than atoms, and I KNOW this one!

Phooey.