Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

June 17, 2006

Scientific Illiteracy

Scientific Illiteracy and the Partisan Takeover of Biology by Liza Gross, Public Library of Science:

Since 1979, the proportion of scientifically literate adults has doubled—to a paltry 17%. The rest are not savvy enough to understand the science section of The New York Times or other science media pitched at a similar level. As disgracefully low as the rate of adult scientific literacy in the United States may be, Miller found even lower rates in Canada, Europe, and Japan—a result he attributes primarily to lower university enrollments.

While the 17% figure does not amaze me I am surprised that the scientific literacy has doubled since 1979.

A comparison of science education achievement: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (TIMSS), Average science scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country (2003), top 13 shown below:

Country	Average score
Singapore	578
Taiwan	571
South Korea	558
Hong Kong	556
Estonia	552
Japan	552
Hungary	543
Netherlands	536
USA	527
Australia	527
Sweden	524
Slovenia	520
New Zealand	520
International Average	473

In 1988, just 26% of adults in a national survey knew that antibiotics do not kill both viruses and bacteria. By 2005, 54% knew that antibiotics kill only bacteria—an increase that Miller attributes to informal learning through a variety of sources.

Good news.

The era of nonpartisan science is gone, says Miller, who urges scientists and science educators to learn the rules of this new game and get behind moderate Republicans as well as Democrats to protect the practice and teaching of sound science.

I disagree that the era of nonpartisan science is gone. Extremist often gain an inordinate amount of media and political attention. But overall most people realise science is the driving force behind economic gains that they want to see continue. The challenge is making sure the fairly boring task of investing in basic research, basic science education encouraging engineering innovation, etc. don’t get overlooked as spicier topics get attention.

There really isn’t much question scientific and engineering breakthroughs will continue to provide huge economic benefit to humanity; the question is where those advances will be made. I believe the USA will continue to be home to many of those innovations however that global share will decrease as others, especially Asia, are responsible for an increasing share. I believe, increasing scientific literacy of the country (for the USA or any others) will lead to that country increasing their share of global scientific and engineering advances and gain that country economic benefits.

by curiouscat Tags: Economics, Education, Engineering, K-12, Science
Permalink to: Scientific Illiteracy Trackback: http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2006/06/17/scientific-illiteracy/trackback/

2 Responses to “Scientific Illiteracy”

Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Blog Archive » Primary Science Education in China and the USA Says:
July 19th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
[...] Some things are not that complicated. If you choose not to put in the work to study and learn you are less likely to be equally prepared. The USA can make excuses for poor performance compared to other countries or can decide that we don’t really want to try and be as successful (say aim for about 40th place among counties for level of primary science education). It seems to me the more honest assessment right now is we don’t want to put in the effort that other countries do. That is a choice that seems to have been made, and while I think it is a mistake, that doesn’t mean the USA can’t still make it - I know that might surprise you that an option I disagree with might be chosen [...]
CuriousCat » Singapore Supporting Science Researchers Says:
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
“Singaporean officials had a bold proposition for their Indonesian counterparts at a top-level meeting on March 18th: why not let us “manage” one of your islands?”