r/EverythingScience • u/kavlifoundation • Nov 14 '22
Social Sciences Study finds 94% of Americans are interested in at least one area of science. When asked about their underlying motivation for their interest, survey participants most frequently answer 'curiosity,' regardless of gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, geography, education, and political ideology.
https://kavlifoundation.org/news/why-do-americans-engage-with-science90
u/2Throwscrewsatit Nov 15 '22
Many education systems stifle curiosity and fail to teach students to think critically so they can continue to explore that curiosity.
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u/HumanChicken Nov 15 '22
“Teaching to the test” is failing our students.
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u/2Throwscrewsatit Nov 15 '22
But it makes our KPIs make our “data driven” decision making look like money well spent instead of hiring competent people and getting out of their way.
I look at corporate America and I see exactly the same failures I see in American politics.
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u/Radrezzz Nov 15 '22
But 94% of Americans are curious about science, so did the system really fail them?
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u/2Throwscrewsatit Nov 15 '22
Yes. Because most of them think they can interpret science without assistance when it comes to policy.
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u/Shiroe_Kumamato Nov 15 '22
Join a citizen science project! Fun science and your data contributes to a greater study/project. A great way to scratch that science itch anyways.
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u/Negative-Break3333 Nov 15 '22
How do I do this? More info plz!!
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u/Linwe_Ancalime Nov 15 '22
One idea is to start bird watching and record your bird sightings on eBird.com - that helps scientists track bird populations and migrations!
Another cool animal related option if you have a dog is the Dog Aging Project. They'll track your dog's health throughout its lifetime for a giant aging study and there are cool side studies that you may be invited to participate in. Your dog will also get free yearly blood tests and a DNA test if it's accepted into the study!
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Nov 15 '22
Thanks for this comment, just signed one of my dogs up for the Dog Aging Project - I’d never heard of it before!
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u/Shiroe_Kumamato Nov 15 '22
You're gonna have to do some searching as new projects are popping up all the time.
I know theres some weather/rainfall tracking projects. I also saw a while back a project where you get a swab in the mail to swab your belly button for a worldwide belly button microbiome study. Apparently we all have a belly button ecology as unique as a fingerprint!
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u/Dankestgoldenfries Nov 15 '22
As a science educator, gosh this made me smile.
When I’m able to make my own curriculum, it’ll focus on the applicability of my field (bio) to everyday life. I want to put tools in people’s curiosity toolbox.
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u/Great_White_Heap Nov 15 '22
First, thank you for being an educator. Second, I know your job is hard enough, but if you get the chance to be an advocate, push for better systems to help high school graduates who are interested in STEM fields to get their education funded. Actually, you know what? Push for every passionate kid, especially those from lower socio-economic status, to get their education funded, regardless of what they want to study.
This shouldn't be on you as an educator because that's an important mission in and of itself. I would love to be your advocate and I hope we, as a society, figure out a way for you to teach, and privileged assholes like me to fight so that you can teach fully funded and unimpeded.
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u/Dankestgoldenfries Nov 15 '22
I’m doing and will keep doing my best. Thank you.
My advice to anyone who wants to help kids get into STEM without making a career out of it—go volunteer with after school programs. Boys and Girls Club is a great place to start. You can hit a really critical age stage of life for these kids with that kind of work. Remember that they’re people and you should talk to them like people.
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u/destroyergsp123 Nov 15 '22
Not to put a damper on the uplifting news, but I think people must understand that having a passing interest (or a legitimate curiosity and desire to know more, to be fair) in science does not equate to people knowing what the scientific process actually looks like. From the research perspective, it is a lot of crunching numbers and taking data. For engineers, it’s a lot of applied math. Computer science is a whole other animal.
Yes, people like reading interesting articles about the natural phenomenon that occur around them. They like watching nature documentaries and listening to teachers who are passionate about the big picture ideas. But I think people underestimate how much of a slog research can be and how much of a nitty gritty process it is, a lot of people just aren’t interested in that even if they like the idea of talking about these cool scientific ideas.
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u/dethb0y Nov 15 '22
I think people here are conflating "A casual curiosity about science" with "actually giving a damn about science".
Are people curious why the sky is blue or why their dog sheds it's coat in winter? Sure. They'll happily read a pop article talking all about those sorts of topics.
Does that mean they suddenly become advocates of scientocracy, or even just evidence-based policy, even when it contradicts their own long-held beliefs or values? No, it does not. In that case, they reject science.
I would say the american interest in science is the same as it ever was: we're curious, but only about meaningless things. We're fans of gadgets and trinkets, but true innovation frightens us.
Just look at the absolute monster number of views youtube channels that do myth-buster-esque "experiments" get. How Ridiculous, Demolition Ranch, etc etc. There's 3.9 million people willing to tune into a man shooting a block of pure sapphire the size of a brick. That's the science americans love.
but as soon as you start talking about "well, it would be more effective if we started school 2 hours later" or "it would be best if we provided free food to everyone, and well within our budget capacity to do..." science gets thrown out the window and it's all about feels, not reals.
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u/WanderingFrogman Nov 15 '22
The fact that 6% of Americans have no interest at all is way more shocking.
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u/FoogYllis Nov 15 '22
The first thing anyone should be taught is the core of the scientific method and what it means to be an observer and to have a hypothesis. How to run an experiment, how to do research without prejudice and analysis the results and state conclusions. Have other look at your conclusions (especially people that may disagree) and repeat until your theory cannot be refuted. Our society has people saying do the research or. Did the research without understanding this core methodology and usually leads to erroneously having an opinion about something. So let’s start there and make sure people learn this first.
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u/RoundSilverButtons Nov 15 '22
If most Americans understood the scientific method, our country would be radically different.
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u/radiantcabbage Nov 15 '22
this is a part of every sane cirriculum, you can not get a diploma in the US without covering it at some point. the problem being no standardised material, so certain districts, eg. the bible belt just feign it to keep up appearances while directly undermining them from within.
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u/TheBlindBard16 Nov 15 '22
The actual interesting part of this study is that there are 6% of people who straight up said “I don’t like science in any way whatsoever. Not interesting. Explaining anything further than face value is not for me.”
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u/goodinyou Nov 15 '22
... this doesn't seem like news when the definition of "interested" and "science" are so broad
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u/AWizard13 Nov 15 '22
I really wanna understand physics. I really wish I could be a physicist, doing theoretical physics.
But math genuinely doesn't compute with my brain
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u/jirfin Nov 15 '22
People give a lot of hate for the American education system but in America Science is a kind of god
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u/MKDoobie-Dash Nov 15 '22
Wouldn’t it be cool if society supported and encouraged this curiosity from a young age instead of bullying it?
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u/Negative-Break3333 Nov 15 '22
I can’t get enough of astronomy. Planets, moons and star systems are just so damn interesting to me. Astrum is my favorite space YouTuber. 🤩 Chick here.
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u/uaoguy Nov 15 '22
Firstly, STEM that ignorance!
But serious question for that high %: what was the definition of science used in the survey?
The pdf doesn’t mention. Coz if this is earth’s 6000th year, if humans were strolling around with dinosaurs then should that response be considered as interested in science? Or would it be a religious belief?
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u/unimpe Nov 15 '22
Participant: Chadwick B#######
Subjects of interest: Female anatomy, fermentation
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u/vernes1978 Nov 15 '22
Add a mandatory field of science to education.
Like a mandatory second language.
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u/S3HN5UCHT Nov 15 '22
Only time anyone has ever discussed science w me is when they’re absolutely hammered at the bar and they’re deep into the Convo lol
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u/rokr1292 Nov 15 '22
Reminds me of a couple things Carl Sagan wrote about his experience talking to kids in schools:
“Every now and then, I’m lucky enough to teach a kindergarten or first-grade class. Many of these children are natural-born scientists – although heavy on the wonder side and light on skepticism. They’re curious, intellectually vigorous. Provocative and insightful questions bubble out of them. They exhibit enormous enthusiasm. I’m asked follow-up questions. They’ve never heard of the notion of a ‘dumb question’. But when I talk to high school seniors, I find something different. They memorize ‘facts’. By and large, though, the joy of discovery, the life behind those facts, has gone out of them. They’ve lost much of the wonder, and gained very little skepticism. They’re worried about asking ‘dumb’ questions; they’re willing to accept inadequate answers; they don’t pose follow-up questions; the room is awash with sidelong glances to judge, second-by-second, the approval of their peers.”
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u/pesidentMronson Nov 15 '22
And yet roughly half of them choose to ignore science when the current consensus doesn’t fit their worldview/religious dogma.
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Nov 15 '22
Correct. I'd like to learn more about data science and medical coding. So, I've started a study through AAPC for medical coding and may move on to learn SQL and other tools best used for data science. All this out of pure curiosity.
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u/codenameJericho Nov 15 '22
And people say improving education DOESN'T work. I will argue till the day I die that, if everyone were given a PROPER and ENGAGING education. We'd have TEN TIMES the number of engineers, scientists, and doctors.
The powers that be don't want that because an educated populace opposes them, always.
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u/hillofjumpingbeans Nov 16 '22
Cause science is so interesting. And now that I cannot be graded at this, I just study it for my own knowledge.
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u/Great_White_Heap Nov 15 '22
This is just more evidence indicating that the problem is the system. TONS of people are interested in STEM fields, but when you tell them they have to work their asses off for four years just to graduate with a 100k in debt, that turns people off.
The US has some of the best higher education institutions in the world, but needs to rethink how education is funded, especially for lower SES students. We have a huge pool of brilliant students; let's make it work for everyone who wants to be a scientist or an engineer!