This quiz was mentioned over on BadAstronomy a couple of days ago. It’s…stupidly easy. I don’t know anything about the place offering it, beyond ‘they didn’t ask me for contact information’, so I’m going to pretend it’s not relevant.
I answered all the questions correctly, and it’s so easy that I don’t understand why anyone else could possibly get anything wrong. Yet, Females, on average, answered fewer questions correctly than males, and people of my age group didn’t do quite as well as the next age group up.
These are all basic, obvious questions. Hell, most of them, you can get the answer just by having watched a lot of crappy TV — and I’m not even talking about the Science Channel. What the hell is the problem here?
Then again, it could’ve been worse. The numbers could’ve been lower. And I think they probably would be if it weren’t for the fact that some people were probably driven away by the word ‘science’….
Nevermind. That doesn’t make things better.
That’s pretty sad. I took it and scored the same – I think you’d have to like, be living in a cave somewhere not to get those questions.
Part of the issue with the skewed demographic has to do with the way girls are raised in the states (and likely elsewhere). If I remember the commercial right, by 12 years old, most girls have lost interest in science. It’s not really their fault. Despite all the progresses our society has made towards equality, there is still a cultural tendency to push women away from science and math, and in to the more socially acceptable fields (which, at least, includes business now). My sister knows this first hand as her boyfriend’s daughter is – at 14 – an aspiring vacuous slut. Worse yet, her family and school actually encourage it. I guess sluts are a major export of Oklahoma.
Oh, and I got all 12 right too. Of course as a card carrying scientist I damn well better have.
I got all of them right, as well. Thanks for ruining my moment. I was totally going to celebrate with a dance of some sort.
Sluts and oranges are the biggest export crop Florida has. I’m so glad I went to school in Massachusetts.
12/12 correct for me, as well.