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Old 06-18-2002, 07:48 AM   #41
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100%, which is kind of sad. I dont consider myself to be especially science literate, but some of the percentages on how many got those questions right is disheartening.
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Old 06-18-2002, 12:56 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally posted by RufusAtticus:
<strong>

That just proves that you aren't a True Christian. </strong>
<img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

=======

I answered them all correctly. They seemed pretty simple.

I do take issue with how they present the statistics. It would seem more appropriate to show what the average overall score was rather than the individual questions.

It may be that 20% of those tested answer all the questions correctly. 70% answer 8 of the 9 questions correctly. And the remaining 10% answer 7 or less correctly. Leaving an overall scoring average of perhaps 90%. Just giving us the percentage of correct answers to each specific question does not allow us to determine the population's understanding of science.
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Old 06-18-2002, 03:58 PM   #43
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Quote:
Originally posted by Hans:
<strong>
It may be that 20% of those tested answer all the questions correctly. 70% answer 8 of the 9 questions correctly. And the remaining 10% answer 7 or less correctly. Leaving an overall scoring average of perhaps 90%. Just giving us the percentage of correct answers to each specific question does not allow us to determine the population's understanding of science.</strong>
No, especially because the chances are that about 25% of those who didn't know on any given question got the right answer.

I wasn't very impressed with the presentation, especially since it was JavaScript - on a site with pop-up ads.
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Old 06-18-2002, 04:19 PM   #44
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100%
but I wasn't sure of number eight. All the others I was pretty sure about.

I didn't see a number 10, how come the hall monitors get an extra question?
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Old 06-18-2002, 04:41 PM   #45
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100%

I guess it is a relief. I almost flunked biology in College because of my disinterest of memorizing Latin terms or protein names.
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Old 06-18-2002, 05:35 PM   #46
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Originally posted by seebs:
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You might like to read the Sherlock Holmes stories, in which Holmes makes this same point, and much more clearly than you... on the other hand, he was a cokehead, so I'm not sure how seriously I take him. </strong>
That was when he had been in his business of consulting detective only a short time. In later days he had learned the error of his ways and was a fount of `useless' knowledge.
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Old 06-18-2002, 05:54 PM   #47
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No, especially because the chances are that about 25% of those who didn't know on any given question got the right answer.
Good point!!
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Old 06-18-2002, 06:13 PM   #48
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I also passed with 100% correct. It said that 36% of students did as well. Is that just American students or were European students included. I know that a similar but more advanced study, two years ago showed that in math and science, involved 18 industrialised nations. I read that the US students finished 18th in that group of 18.

I am not slagging you who are Americans, but I have read in our local papers, articles about poor academic standards in US schools. US university post-graduate programs in science and math are unable to fill their position with US applicant and must import college graduates from Europe and Asia. Also I have heard that American companies working in science research cannot find qualified applicants to fill their job needs and also they must import Ph.D. and Masters Degree holders from Europe and Asia.

Although my country, the UK, once bemoaned our "Brain Drain" to the US, now we consider that we are a major exporter of brains to the US.

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Old 06-19-2002, 06:32 AM   #49
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Originally posted by fando:
<strong>

Yes it is. The Sun appears larger at the equator than near the poles. Simple fact of geometry: You're slightly closer to the Sun at the equator than at the poles. However, the size difference due to our elliptical orbit is much greater. So #7 actually had 2 correct answers, but it takes some thinking to realize that.

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: fando ]</strong>
At noon you're right. At sundown on the equator one pole is closer to the sun and one further away (than the point on the equator at sundown). And then there's the effect of the moon - since the earth and the moon orbit their centre of mass, a noontime observer on the equator is closer to the sun at full moon than at new moon. The use of January and July certainly points only to the effect of the earth's elliptical orbit, however.
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Old 06-19-2002, 06:40 AM   #50
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I only got 67%. I guess I'm more like Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG1.
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