Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Of ten questions that have been repeated since early 2011, the fraction
of respondents holding that global warming is happening or of concern
increased in every single survey.
Note the contrast between the trends on global warming and the
background of little change in overall scientifi c literacy. For the eleven
questions that have been asked since 1992 in the survey illustrated in
Figure 41, the average ratio of correct answers has been virtually un-
changed.
4
UNDERSTANDING MISUNDERSTANDING
Teachers need to deal with misconceptions every day in the class-
room. Most entering students do not know how unemployment is mea-
sured or what the Federal Reserve does. But they have open minds.
They read their textbooks, go to class, and fi re questions at me. After a
semester of studying, they know the answers to these questions and
much more.
When I grade exams and fi nd that a student does not know what
the Fed does, I want to understand why. Similarly, we need to know
why people hold incorrect scientifi c views. The source of public views
about evolution has been carefully studied. The International Social
Survey Program asked respondents from thirty countries whether hu-
mans “evolved from older animal species.” The United States had the
highest percentage responding that humans did not evolve from older
species (54 percent), followed by the Philippines, Poland, and Latvia,
while Japan had the lowest rejection of evolution (10 percent).
Studies of the determinants of scientifi c views fi nd different fac-
most items that did not confl ict with values. Religion was highly sig-
nifi cant for evolution: 29 percent of those with strong religious views
(holding that the Bible is the literal word of God) held evolution to be
correct, while 79 percent of those who held that the Bible is an ancient
book of fables held evolution to be correct.
Politics is sometimes associated with scientifi c views and sometimes
not. It is defi nitely associated with beliefs about evolution. Among lib-
erals, 68 percent believed that humans evolved from older animal spe-
