1 in 4 Americans Don't Know The Earth Orbits the Sun

[Feenix]

http://phys.org/news/2014-02-americans-unaware-earth-circles-sun.html

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.
Ten 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

America, you have a major problem when it comes to your education system.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ya it's a dang shame

 

[Boy Scout]

That's sad.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I always wonder how accurate these surveys are. Do people legitimately believe that or are they just being trolls and picking the dumbest answer?

 

[KevanG]

'Murica?

 

[Superwoman Prime]

When do we become stupid for taking these surveys at their word?

Look at wealy_darling's comments in the article. Very interesting.

 

[Schlosser85]

I'm dubious of these surveys.

Not that there aren't people ignorant enough not to know basic facts like that, but 1 in 4 sounds like a bit much. I hope.

 

[NickNitro]

How is this even possible.

 

[Figs]

I always wonder how accurate these surveys are. Do people legitimately believe that or are they just being trolls and picking the dumbest answer?

A lot of the time I don't trust surveys. It depends on how many took the survey. Roughly 2,200 people out of roughly 317 million, yeah I don't consider that an accurate view of Americans. I forgot how many people are in America and came across this census website. Kind of cool.

https://www.census.gov/popclock/

 

[jonathancrane]

'Murica?

Amurika.

As much as I do believe there is a considerably sized idiot mass in America, I doubt it is that large. I have many questions about the surveying process.

 

[Teelie]

These surveys are often dubious or poorly phrased and seem intent to get the worst and most ignorant looking results so when they publish them they can say "look how stupid people are."

 

[NickNitro]

A lot of the time I don't trust surveys. It depends on how many took the survey. Roughly 2,200 people out of roughly 317 million, yeah I don't consider that an accurate view of Americans. I forgot how many people are in America and came across this census website. Kind of cool.

https://www.census.gov/popclock/

And where the hell do they conduct this anyway? If they took 2,200 people from that Swamp People show...sure I get it....I can't believe they are going around to civilized society.

 

[Figs]

It reminds me when Jay Leno on the Tonight Show would go around asking questions to people on the street regarding history, science and other topics. They would edit the footage so only the clueless people would be shown, most of them couldn't answer questions that should be common knowledge.

 

[Erzengel]

Is there a link to those 10 questions. I'm curious.

 

[NickNitro]

Do these 2,200 people also still worship the sun? They pray every night, slaughtering goats for the Sun God that it would give them it's warmth and light for another day.

 

[KevanG]

It doesn't seem to show anywhere the exact questions asked. It could have been as simple as 'Does the Earth revolve around the Sun?' or more complicated like "Would you support the ban of dihydrogen monoxide which is a substance that has been known to have killed approximately 10 people a day in the USA alone?'

 

[Feenix]

When do we become stupid for taking these surveys at their word?

Look at wealy_darling's comments in the article. Very interesting.

A simple Google search will tell you that the NSF did indeed conduct this survey.

I'm usually quite skeptic about polls as well and 2200 is a small number for all of the US, but given the percentage of people who believe in creationism, the small percentage of science teachers who actually teach evolution, and the general standards of education in America, this result doesn't surprise me nor does it seem that far fetched.

 

[Erzengel]

Now is it technically 9 planets or 8 planets, what do they teach now?

I can still name all 50 states and I can place them on a map. I use to be able to know all the capitals.

 

[Dr.]

It doesn't seem to show anywhere the exact questions asked. It could have been as simple as 'Does the Earth revolve around the Sun?' or more complicated like "Would you support the ban of dihydrogen monoxide which is a substance that has been known to have killed approximately 10 people a day in the USA alone?'

The exact wording of the question was: “Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?”

74% of Americans sampled (in 2012) got the right answer (better than Europe and Japan ).

The complete report (pdf) is here: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf

 

[Charlie Boy]

The Earth revolves around Jesus.

 

[Pink Ranger]

It doesn't seem to show anywhere the exact questions asked. It could have been as simple as 'Does the Earth revolve around the Sun?' or more complicated like "Would you support the ban of dihydrogen monoxide which is a substance that has been known to have killed approximately 10 people a day in the USA alone?'

I can imagine the wording of the question being potentially confusing. Even the word "orbit" itself may not be well understood by the average layman, and if you surround it with a bunch of blanks, I can see why the correct answer percentage would drop.

 

[Shikamaru]

Well, that's just the world we live in. Nothing to be surprised about here.

EDIT: This reminds me of one of TJ Kirk's videos titled "1 in 3 Americans Deny Evolution! So What?!". I would link it but it has cussing.

 

[Feenix]

The exact wording of the question was: “Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?”

74% of Americans sampled (in 2012) got the right answer (better than Europe and Japan ).

The complete report (pdf) is here: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf

I've always wondered how worldwide polls and surveys are conducted. Simply translating the text may not be enough.

I remember discussing IQ tests in a class once and how culturally biased they can be. I wonder if surveys are the same.

 

[KevanG]

From what I've seen of many IQ tests, they tend to be more of a trivia test than intelligence. They usually have the maths, geography and such but at least a third would be trivia on either the country or current history.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

I once took an IQ test that used hand-eye coordination as a factor.