Test Your Knowledge of Science With This Quiz

 
Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Francis Bacon and Johannes Kepler | Image: Goose friend

I'm sure that the vast majority of people reading this would answer in the affirmative if asked whether they could pass a short quiz consisting of basic science questions. Some might even say they would get a perfect score. 

This science quiz by the Pew Research Center will put your knowledge to the test. Take the quiz and then give their link page a read; it has a full analysis of how Americans scored, what demographics fared best, etc. Via Gizmodo 


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I missed two: water boiling at 212 is so ingrained that I didn't know there was any other answer. And I don't recall ever learning about how lenses work. But years of sound editing by computer helped with the volume question! Those are the three most people missed.
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Got the magnifying glass one wrong. I think if the correct answer extended the lines a little further, I would have remembered it correctly.
Nitpick: One of the questions was about a pseudoscience.
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How the questions and answers are worded is a little tricky, and could explain some of the errors.

I feel OK with my answers, because refraction, etc. was never a strong suit for me, so the fact that that I got the magnifying glass one wrong is a fair reflection (hah) of my weakness there.
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Some of the questions are also a bit wooly, to say the least. For example, the one about which element is needed for nuclear power. It's easy to guess which answer they want, but there are a number of alternatives. Perhaps it's the wording...
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Some of the questions aren't really even science. History of science can sometimes serve a pedagogical purpose, the end goal of science education is rarely to make you memorize people's names. Other questions, like defining a light-year, is by far not the most useful or relevant science topic as far as helping people.

How to read a graph on the other hand, is quite useful and important. I've seen some very well taught low level science courses that aren't really trying to get students to memorize facts, even if they are discussed, but instead trying to teach how to read science material and visuals.
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