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3 Science Literacy in Society and the World
Pages 47-72

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From page 47...
... . However, as discussed in this chapter, the available evidence on science literacy at the society level does not provide enough information to draw conclusions on whether these claims are justified.
From page 48...
... The aggregate perspective treats all participants in the national sample as individuals and their contribution to science literacy at the society level are represented by statistical means or variances. The second perspective, which the committee thinks has great potential value, focuses on social structures that likely contribute to science literacy, a broad category that could include (but is not limited to)
From page 49...
... questions regarding science knowledge and/or attitudes toward science. That said, the committee recognizes the limitations of these comparisons.
From page 50...
... 50 SCIENCE LITERACY TABLE 3-1 National Surveys of Public Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Science Country Survey Titles and Sponsors United States National Science Foundation Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, General Social Survey (GSS) , GSS Science and Technology Module Years Administered 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 Canada Ministry of Science and Technology; Public Survey of Science Culture in Canada Years Administered 1989, 2013 China China Association for Science and Technology, Chinese National Survey of Public Scientific Literacy; China Research Institute for Science Popularization Years Administered 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2010 European Union Eurobarometer Years Administered 1977, 1978, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2005 India National Council of Applied Economic Research Years Administered 2004 Japan National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Survey of Scientific Literacy Years Administered 1991, 2001, 2011 Malaysia Science and Technology Information Center, Survey of the Public's Awareness of Science and Technology Years Administered 2000, 2014 Russia Survey of Public Attitudes Toward Science and Technology in Russia Years Administered 2003 Korea Survey of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology–Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity Years Administered 2004, 2006, 2008 Argentina Red Iberoamericana de Indicadores de Ciencia y Tecnología Years Administered 2003 Brazil Brazilian National Research Foundation, Research Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil Years Administered 1987, 2003, 2006
From page 51...
... In 2014, a representative sample of adults in the United States correctly answered an average of 65 percent of the knowledge questions used for the trend scale.2 This score 2The questions used for the trend scale across years in the Science and Engineering Indicators include the nine factual knowledge questions described in Box 2-4 (see Chapter 2)
From page 52...
... (2004) Survey Information N 2130 2004 68,416 26,403 30,255 812 to 984 2653 2207 1000 Error margin ±2.5-3.3% ±2.2% ±2.71% ±3.1% Physical Science Questions The center of the 84 93 56 86 57 84 75 NA 87 Earth is very hot.
From page 53...
... European Union data includes Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, but does not include Bulgaria and Romania. NA indicates data not available or question not asked.
From page 54...
... As mentioned above, the committee recognizes the limitations of comparing questions asked in different survey administrations under different contexts, but is compelled to use the best data available. In 2011, the BBVA Foundation surveyed 10 European countries and the United States on a set of 22 knowledge questions that varied from those traditionally asked.3 The United States, on average, performed similarly to many of the European countries, and slightly above the European average.
From page 55...
... As noted in the introduction to this report, we focus on evidence pertaining to adults in order to remain consistent, as much of the research on public perceptions of science uses indicators of adult science knowledge (see Chapter 5)
From page 56...
... (European Commission, 2013; Council of Canadian Academies, 2014; World Values Survey, 2014)
From page 57...
... . TABLE 3-4 International Performance of 8th-grade Students on TIMSS and the Highest- and Lowest-performing Countries Lowest Achieving Highest Achieving Date Countries U.S.
From page 58...
... . " The committee inferred from these results that the mechanism by which science knowledge and general attitudes toward science are associated, whatever it may be, is likely very similar in all countries for which we have knowledge and attitude measures.
From page 59...
... will attend to science knowledge differently than those societies or countries with lower levels (Durant et al., 2000)
From page 60...
... There is some evidence that society-wide levels of educational attainment and economic development correlate with average scores on survey measures of science knowledge. There has also been some research examining variations in the relationship between knowledge and attitudes across different societies, but more work is needed to draw strong conclusions.
From page 61...
... Existing data on science knowledge, of the sort collected in the ongoing Science and Engineering Indicators project, offers limited insight. The subgroup differences in the Science and Engineering Indicators10 are available by age, gender, education level, and family income.
From page 62...
... The Pew study also found a gap in science knowledge between men and women, with men outperforming women on many questions, even when comparing men and women with similar levels of education. Notably, the questions on the Pew survey were primarily drawn from the physical sciences, an area in which men tend to fare better than women, as contrast to the biological sciences, an area in which women tend to answer more questions correctly (National Science Board, 2016)
From page 63...
... . Although the results of standardized science assessments in school settings may be an imperfect proxy for adult science literacy, researchers studying knowledge gaps for decades have observed in both cross-sectional and time-series research that people with higher levels of education and science knowledge are significantly more likely to acquire and understand science information from public sources, which suggests that differences in knowledge and interest are likely to expand rather than contract over lifespans (Viswanath and Finnegan, 1996; Southwell, 2013)
From page 64...
... In addition, the mean literacy scores of young adults in the United States varied quite substantially by educational attainment. These trends in foundational literacy are echoed in health literacy.
From page 65...
... Beyond High School (306) HALS Levels Level < 1 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 FIGURE 3-2a  Average Health Activities Literacy Scale (HALS)
From page 66...
... THE ROLE OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES IN SHAPING SCIENCE LITERACY Observed differences in science literacy (or at least in survey-based mea sures of science knowledge) lead quickly to more important questions: How do these differences arise, and what are their implications for society?
From page 67...
... points to the isolating effects of segregated social networks that link some people, but not others, to resources, information, and expertise. Other researchers have pointed to research on the differential access and use of informal science education resources, nearly all of which indicates that underserved minorities, low-SES, and other marginalized groups are less likely
From page 68...
... Much of the rhetoric around science literacy describes the obligations of citizens to participate in democratic governance. Although formal decisionmaking contexts like voting are the most obvious means of political participation, they are far from the only venues in which science may be relevant.
From page 69...
... . In view of these findings on adults' performance and the limitations of public opinion data, the committee concludes that the performance of the adult population in the United States on general science knowledge is similar to that of other countries for which there are data.
From page 70...
... The current evidence available simply does not allow one to make strong inferences about the relationship between average scores on common measures of science literacy and the putative consequences of enhanced science literacy, such as improved public health or more enlightened civic and political engagement. The large public opinion surveys in different countries also include measures of attitudes toward science.
From page 71...
... . Analysis of aggregated science knowledge measures could be used to analyze the variations in social structures as explanatory variables of the differences in national means and could be used to analyze subgroup differences in societies.


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