A Long-Term Study of Science Literacy and Attitudes Towards Science: Exploring Changes Among College Undergraduate and Public Understanding over Twenty-Two Years

Details A Long-Term Study of Science Literacy and Attitudes Towards Science: Exploring Changes Among College Undergraduate and Public Understanding over Twenty-Two Years A Long-Term Study of Science Literacy and Attitudes Towards Science: Exploring Changes Among College Undergraduate and Public Understanding over Twenty-Two Years

Jan 2012

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21913402b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #134.02

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Assessing science literacy has been an important goal of science educators and policy makers for many years. Various studies including international, school, and public comparisons have painted a bleak picture of science literacy in the United States. We are conducting a study focused on undergraduates’ science literacy using a database of over 10,000 student responses from a large research university collected over a twenty-two year period, between 1989 - 2011. Survey questions were derived from policy driven projects (e.g. NSF Science Indicators), some of which are still used in public assessments of science literacy. Analysis has shown that our university students outperform the public on almost all topics on the survey. Despite targeted university interventions and the rise of public access to knowledge, student science literacy scores have not changed over twenty-two years. Demographic variables explain less than 10% of the variance in students’ scores of which the number of university science courses completed is the best predictor. There is a small correlation between students’ beliefs in non-scientific phenomenon and lower science literacy scores but students’ beliefs about science and technology also explain little variance in their overall scores. We have also compared responses of scientists and students on the same questions about science. We will discuss implications of evaluating students’ scientific knowledge in a time when students have access to more resources than ever before, an important goal as we continue to work towards increasing students’ understanding of scientific concepts. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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