Australia’s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)

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Australia’s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)
OP - March 11, 2014, 09:37 PM

Found a link to this while reading something about religious indoctrination in Australian public schools. The study is a couple of years old now, but the results are still astonishing:

Australia’s Scientific Illiteracy

Quote
A study of the public’s understanding of science has revealed how little many Australians know about the basics.

The Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies and the Australian Academy of Science polled 1515 people in July (2010).

Among their findings were:

• almost one-third believed that humans and dinosaurs coexisted;

• one-quarter did not think that humans were influencing the evolution of other species;

• 39% did not know that it takes a year for the Earth to orbit the Sun.

<snip>

Not surprisingly, having spent more years in education improves the likelihood that people would answer correctly, but it is not a panacea. Only 72% of those with a university education knew that the Earth takes 1 year to orbit the Sun.

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Australia?s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)
Reply #1 - March 16, 2014, 05:57 PM

I'm surprised, these numbers reflect rather poorly on the Australian education system. I don't know much of Australia but I would presume the first statistic is due to high percentage of religious folk.
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Australia?s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)
Reply #2 - March 16, 2014, 06:28 PM

39% didn’t know that it takes a year for the earth to orbit the sun?!

WTactualF?!
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Australia?s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)
Reply #3 - March 16, 2014, 09:35 PM

Yeah I was surprised by those figures too. The dinosaurs thing is more likely related to pure ignorance (Jurassic Park is true, etc) than to religion. YEC's are pretty rare over here, in my experience. It's always a surprise when I encounter one. They're definitely not mainstream.

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Australia?s Scientific Illiteracy (2010 study)
Reply #4 - March 17, 2014, 01:29 PM

Well, I'm studying the British Syllabus and there is a lot of memorization and very little thinking involved. It's all about marks and writing down what the examiner requires. It's a shame really. The A-Levels and GCSE's have also been totally watered down compared to the past. I'm not surprised if it is the same elsewhere.
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