The Mercury News – Seth Borenstein
“When put to the test, Americans rate a solid if unspectacular C in science, a survey shows. In a basic quiz of a dozen random science questions, Americans got eight correct, according to an online survey of more than 3,200 adults by the Pew Research Center released Thursday. The questions ranged from what kind of waves are used in cell phones to interpreting a scatterplot graph. “This is one of those cases where you can look at it as a glass half-full or a glass half-empty,” said Pew associate director Cary Funk. She found it more interesting which questions Americans aced — the core is the hottest part of Earth — and which ones they bombed: water boils faster at higher altitudes. Rush Holt, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said while it’s crucial to understand how the general public grasps science, he’s not sure questions like those in the survey give the full picture.”(more)