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One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
Re: One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
There is a thought that the parents are the ones to be blamed. A 5-7 year old kid can't know it just by himself; he can get all of the information about the world from his relatives.
"Fair means that everybody gets what they need. And the only way to get that is to make it happen yourself."
Since I adore cats, I might write something strange or unusual in my comment.Cats are awesome!!! ^_^
Re: One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
In fairness, the survey only asked 2,200 people, which is hardly indicative of 'all Americans.' It's a bit like trying to extrapolate the Universe from a piece of fairy cake (a la Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy....)
In fairness, the survey only asked 2,200 people, which is hardly indicative of 'all Americans.' It's a bit like trying to extrapolate the Universe from a piece of fairy cake (a la Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy....)
It depends on how the participants in the survey was chosen. (Sorry can't get the link to load right now and I can't remember if they told how they were chosen or not). But if the participants were chosen so they were statistically representative of the American populace, then 2200 are more than enough to make a generalisation. There will of course be some error margin, but if this was done properly it shouldn't be more than +/- 2,5% to +/-5%.
Warning:The above post may contain traces of sarcasm.
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"Why is every object we don't understand always called a thing?" (McCoy. Star Trek: The Moive Picture)
In fairness, the survey only asked 2,200 people, which is hardly indicative of 'all Americans.' It's a bit like trying to extrapolate the Universe from a piece of fairy cake (a la Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy....)
Yeah I was thinking the same thing.
This can't be true for the population as a whole. Even a lot of the most adamant creationists believe the earth revolves around the sun.
Although, the findings are published on a government website, so I'd hope they used good sampling methods. It could be true. Yikes.
Re: One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
People want Americans to be stupid, both in an out of the US itself. ESPECIALLY, hipsters who think its edgy to hate the US but hang out and reap all the benefits from living here....you can make a survey say anything.
Re: One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
The results are even worse when people are asked why we have seasons...
Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.
Re: One in Four Americans Do Not Know Earth Circles Sun
Ok, I've had some time to go through the actual source material for this article. I still haven't read the whole thing, but I've gone through some of the stats and highlights. Here are my thoughts.
Basically, I think the original article linked in this post is off. According to the other results of the study:
-interest in science is actually -higher- in the US than it is in other countries
-The majority of the population visits institutions like zoos, aquariums, or museums, though attendance is dropping and people are more likely to go if they're in higher income brackets.
-general scientific knowledge in the US is on par with Europe, meaning that 1/4 of Europeans may also
-Most people have respect for scientists
-More Americans believe that climate change is due to manmade causes than people from other countries.
There were negative views visible in the survey as well, but from the data collected, it seems that most Americans have a positive view of scientific ideas and are doing better in that area than people in Europe.
But, the biggest thing I took from browsing through the data (which I still have to go through in detail...it's really long), is that, while the headline states that 1 in 4 Americans don't know the earth revolves around the sun, the actual statistic is that 74% answered the following question correctly: Does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth" (note: this question does not ask if respondents believe that the sun revolves around the earth, and I think that matters). In comparison, 66% of European respondents answered it correctly. That's right, more Americans answered the question correctly than Europeans. The European data were collected in a different year (2005), but they're still recent enough to make the data between the two countries comparable. I'm really curious why the Telegraph is pointing fingers at the fact that 1 in 4 Americans can't answer that question correctly when 1 in 3 in Europe failed to do so. Did the reporter even read the data?
Does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth"
Something else to keep in mind is how the question is asked. Some people are bad written test takers and others people suck at answering things verbally. Also, if this was one of a long list of questions, by that point, how much attention are people paying?
I haven't had the time to look into it, but I've seen this sort of thing before.
Something else to keep in mind is how the question is asked. Some people are bad written test takers and others people suck at answering things verbally. Also, if this was one of a long list of questions, by that point, how much attention are people paying?
I haven't had the time to look into it, but I've seen this sort of thing before.
Yes.
Also, some of the other answers changed when questions were asked differently. For example, when people were asked if they believed humans evolved from another species, 48% answered "yes." But when they were asked the same question preceded by "according to the theory of evolution," 72% answered "yes." Part of that could be people stating the theory of evolution rather than their own beliefs, but it does make a difference. Other answers changed as well when they were preceded by specific theories or scientific professions. Some (probably not all) of the respondents probably lacked confidence in their own answers, and some may have misunderstood the question.
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