Poll: 1 in 4 Americans unaware the Earth circles the Sun

[davidn3600]

Chicago (AFP) - Americans are enthusiastic about the promise of science but lack basic knowledge of it, with one in four unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun, said a poll out Friday.

The survey included more than 2,200 people in the United States and was conducted by the National Science Foundation.

Nine questions about physical and biological science were on the quiz, and the average score -- 6.5 correct -- was barely a passing grade.

Just 74 percent of respondents knew that the Earth revolved around the Sun, according to the results released at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.

http://news.yahoo.com/1-4-americans-unaware-earth-circles-sun-172238500.html;_ylt=AwrSbmxRgf9SgicAplNXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzOGMxdmw0BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1NNRTQwMV8x

[Neoma]

1. I don't find that surprising.

I also find that sad that it's not surprising...

[Coyotl]

95. Given the source, neither do I.

I don't know if I believe the poll, but I'm not surprised Americans are ignorant.

[jsr]

2. Hey, it's progress. It was 1 in 5 in 2005:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/science/30profile.html
Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

[Andy823]

3. They must be

Last edited Sat Feb 15, 2014, 12:08 PM - Edit history (1)

The teapublican party base, the ones that listen to fox news, Rush, and Glen Beck!

[CatholicEdHead]

88. That is about the nationwide percentage

Of 25% hard core Republicans, home schooled evangelicals combined with the lower percentage of any given school grade.

[Igel]

89. How about we start with education as the premise?

And look to fill the ranks of that 25% first with high school drop outs, some of which are most assuredly going to be "Republicans, home schooled evangelicals."

Fewer dropouts than HS grads vote in national elections, but the last #s I saw had them slightly preferring (D) to (R), IIRC, so I'm guessing some of those are (D).

[RKP5637]

6. It's a lot of work keeping those light bulbs in the sky changed, hopefully LEDs will

make that easier!

[Sunlei]

8. Are you a kitty?

[oldhippie]

9. How old are you?

Just curious.

[brett_jv]

81. Now that you know the truth, to what/whom would you assign 'responsibility' for this?

From whence did the misunderstanding come from, would you say?

Just curious

[kentauros]

20. "That's no moon!"

All joking aside, don't let anyone make you feel bad for not knowing those things earlier. Not everyone knows what some of us take for granted, because their expertise doesn't even touch into the sciences, or they've never had any interest at all in science.

For example, I consider my past-wife an intelligent woman. And yet, she didn't know that space was a vacuum. She thought it was all air like our atmosphere. I helped her understand why that couldn't be, while silently thinking, "Thank you, Star Wars!" and any number of other movies and TV shows that gave us sound in space.

[kcr]

38. DU isn't living up to your expectations? n/t

[hrmjustin]

40. Hope your OP thread is good LG!

[arely staircase]

91. reading hidden threads is one of my favorite DU activities

It is probably the main reason I buy my membership star - so I can see them. This name removed business that denies me that joy is a bummer. Justin you need to do something about that.

[hrmjustin]

94. I wish I could but I don't have that kind of power.

It was from our repeat disruptor who won't go away.

[kentauros]

44. Nothing wrong with having an imagination.

You can write stuff like that and sell it

Just be thankful we don't use roundabouts heavily in this country! (If we did, I'd be forever lost! )

However, I do love maps enough to go to the Perry-Castañeda online map library just to pull up maps and look at the terrain, layout of roads, and so forth. Old maps especially draw in my interest. Don't expect too many people to even understand how to look at a map any more, thanks to GPS. I suspect a standard topographic map would make them think they were looking at abstract art

[SheilaT]

70. I think you may be right about

people no longer knowing how to read a map properly.

I had a GPS about a decade ago, and gave it away after I asked for a route between Kansas City and Tulsa, and it routed me via Wichita and Oklahoma City and would not delete that trip. A couple of months later, my brother, a more skilled user of GPS, got that trip deleted for me, then I was asking it for some sort of route in the northeast, where I was at the time, and it gave me something equally stupid. When I got back home I gave it away.

Maps are wonderful. I use maps a lot. I will browse through maps the way I might browse through a book on embroidery, or a cookbook, daydreaming and planning trips. It does help to be highly visual to read maps.

[TheKentuckian]

80. The GPS, I think had a strong launch point because many already couldn't or struggled with reading

maps. Many people thought it was "crazy" that I could just use an Atlas and head out to parts unknown. Now I'm sure matters may be worse but I think the heyday had long past, if there really was one.

[Nitram]

82. I've always found it hard to read a map while I was driving.

Lov having the GPS speak to me and re-route when I take a wrong turn. I'm actually very good with maps, both street and topological.

[SheilaT]

83. I actually can see the value in a GPS, even though

I'm content not using one, just as I'm content with a dumb phone. And I also get it that not everyone can look at a map and have what they're seeing make sense to them, depending on how their brain is organized. But people who don't have a deficit that way, ought to be able to read a map even if they prefer a GPS.

[TheKentuckian]

103. Oh, I'll use one now, sometimes to save on having to buy a map.

I probably prefer to have both.

[kentauros]

87. Knowing how to read a map can make learning the local geography fun,

not to mention being useful for other things, such as determining any future tendency for flooding. Most people probably wouldn't have much use for a topo map, but it is nice to be able to see terrain at a glance, such as steep grades, shallows, and so forth.

I've never owned a GPS device, so I have to wonder if you can make a route similar to how you can do it on Google Maps. That is, after you've inputed your starting and destination addresses, you can then grab and drag all the various vertices to create the route you want to take. The directions and distances on the side also change with your changes to the map. I've seen cyclists using that feature to determine good (and safe) biking routes, too.

If GPS devices don't work that way, then either they need to design them to do so, or someone has to work out a hack to allow you to work around the generic "shortest possible route" that it seems they all default to.

Take a look at the Perry-Castenada library link I gave. You may not leave it for a while

[SidDithers]

39. ...

Sid

[Nanjing to Seoul]

43. It doesn't help when idiot singers like Rihanna sing dumbass lyrics like "Shine Bright Like a

Diamond," and my former students in the US argue with me that diamonds reflect, not shine.

Also, the use of commas has all but died too. There is a difference between "Let's eat, Grandpa" and "Let's eat Grandpa."

[kentauros]

47. And the txtng mentality

won't accept instruction, either. I wonder how many people I know online also wonder why I tend to spell out even standard acronyms...

[Nanjing to Seoul]

49. I vomited every time I got "idk" as an answer

I wanted to write "INS" as in "I'm Not Surprised."

[kentauros]

52. Maybe you should!

In fact, just shorten ever single word to its first letter. When they are confused, just say you're speaking in their language at an advanced level

[raven mad]

93. May I borrow the "ins"?

I know JUST who to use it on - and it's a relative of mine!

[Nanjing to Seoul]

100. Enjoy

[Le Taz Hot]

61. Not long ago I got asked why I

spell everything out when I'm texting. My response: "Because I'm literate." They weren't amused.

[kentauros]

65. Ha!

That's about what I'd say, too

[SheilaT]

71. Among the reasons I won't text is

because it would actually take me longer to remember and use the abbreviations than to type out in full, as I'm doing now. Plus, much of the time I have no idea what the acronym actually refers to. Happens a lot here on DU.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

99. That's why I use the voice chat option on WeChat and QQ. No more typing

[msanthrope]

5. I bet the same 1 in 4 can't identify Uranus. And have trouble wiping theirs. nt

[RKP5637]

7. Isn't that the same as a black hole?

[ileus]

10. 4yo's shouldn't answer the phone.

[Control-Z]

12. How is this even possible?

Did they survey 3 year olds?

[Xithras]

50. It's likely a combination of things.

Religious beliefs. Learning disabilities. Families that do not educate their children. Immigrants coming from nations where science education is poor to nonexistent. People who think that it's fun to screw with phone surveyors.

I once knew a woman who believed, quite fervently, that satellites and space travel were a scam because "gravity would just make everything crash to Earth". I tried explaining simple orbital mechanics to her, but she wouldn't have any of it. It wasn't coincidental that the woman also had very severe dyslexia, grew up in an era where learning disabilities like that were generally ignored, was functionally illiterate because of it, and permanently dropped out of school in junior high.

I doubt that any of the reasons above, or any of the countless other possibilities, individually add more than 1-2% to the statistics, but when you lump the possibilities together the aggregate percentages could get quite large.

[Nitram]

84. Young earthers and evangelicals.

[Downwinder]

13. FLASH: 1 in 4 Americans believe the world revolves around them.

[LuvNewcastle]

23. Yep.

[NRaleighLiberal]

54. too low! [phone] n/t

[Coyotl]

14. I'm surprised 74% know the earth orbits the sun.

It's not like the actors on television discuss this stuff

[enlightenment]

15. That's the answer - we need

a sit-com featuring Galileo and Copernicus.

A reality show: "The Scientist" - a respected scientist chooses a new lab assistant from group of up and coming post-docs.

A talent show: "The PI Factor" . . .

[kentauros]

24. Pigs! In! Spaaaaaaaaaaaace!

[Coyotl]

29. Too bad The Big Bang didn't talk about this

or everyone would know

[SheilaT]

72. That's actually a brilliant idea!

So long as they always got the science correct, everything else could be -- would be thanks to Hollywood -- as ridiculous as needed.

As for the Pi Factor show, my younger son has at least 125 digits of Pi memorized (no where near a record, I know) and got a standing ovation at his school's talent show for reciting it.

[enlightenment]

101. Wow.

I'm lucky if I can remember the fourth digit of Pi - my vocabulary is great, but numbers elude me.

I think the sitcom would be a hoot, actually. The science would need to be correct, but reduced to a level of simplicity that could be incorporated into a comedy (totally do-able). I had a brief and fleeting vision of an opening scene with Galileo peering through his telescope . . . into a neighboring house. Copernicus walks in (or someone else) - cue obvious joke about heavenly bodies.

[SheilaT]

102. Yes!

The Simpsons show actually incorporates a lot of math, and I'm currently reading The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh. Several of the writers have serious degrees in math, physics, and computer science; all have bachelor degrees from Harvard, the Masters and PhD degrees include Harvard, Princeton, and UC Berkeley. Which means very smart people who can also do comedy, so it's more than possible.

I've tried watching The Big Bang, and while it can be rather amusing, the laugh track makes me totally crazy. It is, of course, focussed on the comedy aspect of science and math geeks trying to get along with normal people, and so it's the relationships that are the source of the comedy. What you've suggested would make the science, and the comedy possibilities therein, the center of the shows. I'd probably watch them.

[Dawson Leery]

16. 1 in 4 Americans believe Sarah Palin should be President.

[L0oniX]

17. ...and 100% of those are repukes.

[Cal33]

18. And most of this 25% are probably high school graduates. Some years ago I read that

when given a globe with the continents and nations on it, but without any names, 18%
of high school seniors couldn't point out where the USA was.

We Americans are proud of the percentage of high school graduates that we have. I
think this is possible only at the expense of having very low standards, as compared
to other countries. GWB'S having "no child left behind" simply means passing everybody
on to the next grade. Nobody flunks. Everybody graduates. Of course, there is an
unpleasant side to this.

[Octafish]

19. At one time, 7 out of 10 believed Saddam Hussein was behind 9-11.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-09-06-poll-iraq_x.htm

They were wrong because the pretzeldent lied.

[Enthusiast]

77. "pretzeldent"

[Seeking Serenity]

21. Bad headline

The Earth doesn't "circle" around the sun. It revolves around the sun in an ellipse, not a circle.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. Actually, both are true. The sun DOES revolve around the earth, AND the earth revolves around

sun. Some guy who flunked math proved that it was merely a matter of perspective. In a relativistic universe, both are true.
His name was albert . . . eisenstein, heissenberg, essen, EINSTEIN. That's the one!

[Fumesucker]

37. Actually neither is technically true

The Earth and the Sun orbit a common center of gravity, which happens to be inside the Sun.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

73. Pshaw. Gravity's but a theory. Like evolution and creationism.

[Edim]

69. Both are not true.

Stellar annual parallax is the evidence that it's the Earth that revolves, not the Sun. Actually, stellar parallax is so small (as to be unobservable until the 19th century) that it was used as a scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. They couldn't imagine the Stars being so far away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_parallax

[ChairmanAgnostic]

74. They aren't. It's one big crystal ball around our good flat earth, and has pretty

lights painted on it. These are pulled by a giant turtle (who was named Josh by the Flying Spaghetti Monster) each evening.

[whopis01]

79. Velocities are relative - but acceleration is not

The sun imposes an acceleration on the earth that causes the earth to orbit the sun - but the earth certainly does not impose an acceleration on the sun to make it revolve around the earth.

In reality, they both revolve around the center of gravity of the system of course, but that point lies within the sun.

[Nitram]

85. Thanks whopis...

...for pointing that out. I started to and thought better of it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Most of these things I learned by the time I was 12.

This stuff is fifth grade science! What's going on in the schools any more? Are they teaching this stuff (maybe not, in some of the more retrograde areas of the South), or are the kids not paying attention? Or what? Poor Galileo must be spinning in his grave.

[Silent3]

28. Oh, I expect that a lot of kids at least receive this kind of information once or twice...

...but if they care at all, they care only enough to retain such information for the next quiz/test/homework assignment, and then it's quickly forgotten.

[Silent3]

25. On a similar note, some stunning anatomical ignorance...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8092930.stm



Yes, people had a hard time picking out where their heart was from these options.

[pintobean]

34. Below the sig line.

[durablend]

46. Oh I can tell you where their brain is located

"D" is the closest option you have to it...

[Turbineguy]

26. Education

in ignorance. The Fox News/GOP dream.

[Faygo Kid]

27. We're doomed, but we already knew that.

I'm getting old, and glad of it. Climate change alone will doom this planet, but the profound ignorance of the American people guarantee this nation's demise - for the time left, we will devolve into a gated community of the 1 percent and everyone else scrambling to stay alive. The Citizens United decision guarantees it.

[kairos12]

31. The climate change we need is one of the political persuasion.

[edhopper]

33. But nearly 8 and 10

believe in angels.
A country of dunces.

[Swede Atlanta]

35. Not surprising........

Our society does not place any value on knowledge. We do not consider mastering a basic "liberal" education a requirement to being a valuable citizen.

The fact that nearly 50% of Americans do not believe in evolution is telling.

When you combine the impact of fundamental Christianity and the lack of value placed on knowledge and intellectual curiosity, you have a dumb population.

[Nitram]

86. You'd be surprised how many "educated" people

Actually believe all facts are relative and there is no such thing as knowledge or hard facts. Some of those are liberal New Agers and the rest are religious fundamentalists.

[Ron Obvious]

36. Also

Think of how many of the 75% who got the right answer merely guessed correctly.

[Buenaventura]

41. Oh! I was pretty sure that the earth

revolved around justin bieber - that's what i read in the newspaper!

[DeSwiss]

42. K&R

- A house divided against itself cannot plan.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

63. +1 for the Vonnegut quote.

[Nevernose]

45. I had a student this week

I had a high school student this week -- 18 years old, ostensibly of normal intelligence -- who didn't understand how page numbers work.

The reading I gave her went from page 24 to 48. It was stapled on the right side instead of the left. She came to me and said, "I like the book, but is it one of those books where it jumps around from time period to time period? Because on age 48, Winston and Julia are sleeping together, but on page 24 he doesn't even know her. And why do the page numbers in this book go backwards? Normally the page numbers in a book get smaller, but in this one, the page numbers get smaller."

She wasn't making a joke; she wasn't messing with me. She was totally serious.

So, no, I don't find it shocking that one-fourth of Americans don't grasp that whole Earth/Sun relationship.

[d_r]

48. sounds like they did a pretty good job sampling

About the percentage with IQ below 90

[RoccoR5955]

51. It's called, "The Flat Earth Society," and they are, in part

running the country.

[Bluzmann57]

53. My five year old doesn't really get it

So maybe the people who don't know that the earth revolves around the sun are on the same intelligence level as my five year old. Except I am trying to explain it to my five year old and she seems to be at least trying to grasp the idea.

[greiner3]

55. Here is the link to a PDF on the NSF site for the questions;

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf

It's 45 pages long and if you don't want to see a lot of 'stuff' related to the questions, they are located on page 23.

I got all 10 correct as my BS was in Biology and my hobby is in the physical sciences (I would have gotten a BS in Physics but I graduated college when I was 51 and the math was a decade or two too involved for me to do at that age).

I would post the questions and answers but I am not adept enough to copy and post a single page of a PDF, at least in this forum.

BTW, if you are so inclined to answer the questions, don't 'cheat' as there is no separator between the Q/As.

[whistler162]

56. Flash 2 in 4 DU'rs believe this poll!

Last edited Sat Feb 15, 2014, 02:15 PM - Edit history (1)

More like 3 out of 4. Geez... there are a lot of gullible people here. Those guys from Microsoft that call you to sell protection must be real happy when they get you on the phone!

[tclambert]

57. I thought all that Earth going around the Sun stuff was just another Al Gore hoax.

You know, like global warming or evolution or gravity. The Scientific Academic Complex perpetuates these myths in order to secure government funding. They can't get it from private sources, like oil companies, so they resort to propaganda to persuade soft-headed, anti-Christian, liberal politicians to support their so-called research. Did you know they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars studying the sex life of a worm?



(I learned my lesson. No matter how outrageous something is, someone will not get that it's sarcasm unless you tell them.)

PS. The "worm" I mentioned (screw-worm) was a parasite that cost the cattle industry billions until the research into the worm's reproductive habits led to a means of eliminating the parasite from the U.S. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3448588/

[penultimate]

58. Who and where are these people?

I've been exposed to some pretty ignorant people, but I don't think any of them were unaware that the Earth revolved around the sun... Then again, I never explicitly asked that question. I think I'm going to start doing that.

[greatauntoftriplets]

59. Ummmm, I thought that was pretty basic knowledge.

[Le Taz Hot]

60. So, the TeaKlanners are accounted for.

Explains people like Ted Cruz and the "No" union vote yesterday. Ignorant as fuck and damned proud of it!

[CanonRay]

62. Are these the same 1 out of 4 that think the Earth is 6000 years old?

I'd bet a lot of them are.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

64. The ignorance of Americans is the #1 National Security challenge, when rightly considered.

It, unfortunately, is the #1 challenge to humanity and to avoiding mass extinction of species.

[Vashta Nerada]

66. I can't believe people in this country are that stupid.

It's astonishing.

I don't think 2,200 people is enough to call this statistically significant, but it's very telling nonetheless.

[bkanderson76]

67. Believable....as 2 in 4 Americans are negligent in their thinking they can change the

sad state of affairs in America by VOTING.....

[heaven05]

68. doesn't surprise me

sad indeed.

[rustydog]

75. IT DOES NOT!! Now you're talking "science" again!

We'll just call up our favorite GOP clowns and they will submit legislation debunking such non-Christian unconstitutional nonsence!
Michelle Bleachman, Sarah Plain and stupid, Rank Paul, step forward!

[oldandhappy]

76. This is really sad.

What is happening in our schools? We know this by fourth grade. Zowie. I am really stunned.

[hrmjustin]

78. .

[arely staircase]

90. 100 percent of my fourth graders know this

OK There is that one kid. But seriously where do they find these idiots?

[raven mad]

92. It does? I thought it was flat and that "here there be dragons".........

(Please note that this was sarcasm...) recommended and bookmarked.

I'm not shocked to hear this and sad that I'm not more surprised.

[dsc]

96. The earth doesn't circle the sun

the orbit is an elliptical one.

[progressoid]

97. Elliptical?

What duz that mean? Are you talkin won of them ferign langwages?

[adavid]

98. We are in...

a state of decay. Talk about pouring old wine into new wine-skins.

[nadinbrzezinski]

104. The comments

[blackspade]

105. Thanks republican fundie douchebags

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

106. Dontcha know?

It revolves around Sarah Palin?