Last night on the 10 o’clock news, there was brief discussion about how 1 of every 4 Americans inaccurately believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth.
It is the Earth that revolves around the Sun.
This morning I sought out the National Science Foundation (NSF) survey that polled ~2,200 people to determine this.
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What I found: dozens of news articles that relay the same information, about how 1 in 4 Americans are wrong about the relationship between the Earth and Sun.
I dug a little deeper and saw that the data was pretty much the same in 2006 and 2012 as it is now in 2014 (pg 7-23). In the appendix of the recent report there is a chart that shows the results for 12 surveys going as far back as 1988.
Question 3a: Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?
Back in 2012, 74% of the 2,256 people surveyed answer this question correctly. Between 1988 and 2012, the percentage or right answers has fluctuated between 71% and 76%.
If you look at the data for other countries (2012 listing of 2010 survey results), you would see that more of the surveyed South Koreans (86%) and fewer of the surveyed Europeans (66%) answered this question correctly.
These surveys are part of the NSF’s analysis of Science and Engineering Indicators. Specifically, the 2012 survey now being discussed via news outlets nationwide is part of the study’s Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding chapter (7).
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The purpose of the Science and Engineering Indicators study is to provide factual data on US and international scientific and engineering
The data [compiled as part of the study] are “indicators.” Indicators are quantitative representations that might reasonably be thought to provide summary information bearing on the scope, quality, and vitality of the science and engineering enterprise.
The question about the Earth-Sun relationship is part of a larger 9-question survey that is meant to gauge the public’s general understanding of scientific terms and concepts. In this regard it is the trend and pattern that is important.
The study has found that “the public’s level of factual knowledge about science has not changed much over the past two decades.”
You can also look at a breakdown of how male and female survey respondents answered questions. In 2012, 75% of surveyed men correctly answered the physical science questions, and 61% of surveyed women correctly answered them. 59% of men and 62% of women answered the biological science question correctly.
In regard to understanding experiments, only 1/3 (34%) of Americans were able to answer a question about how to best test a drug.
Only about 20% of surveyed Americans understand the scientific method.
What’s the point of all of this?
To be frank, I really just wanted to highlight that, while 1 in 4 Americans inaccurately think that the Sun revolves around the Earth, this has not changed since the late 1980’s.
Even with the internet, smartphones, and boundless heaps of information at our fingertips, the trend has not changed over the years. There are a lot of people who are still unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I would be surprised if most of the authors and producers pumping out all these news stories about how “1 in 4 Americans don’t know the Earth goes around the Sun” looked into or understand the purpose of survey. A quick google search for 1 in 4 Americans Earth Sun turns up dozens upon dozens of articles that all source either the same AFP news release or other news outlets.
What further irks me is that there are now international articles mocking Americans’ lack of scientific knowledge and understanding. Meanwhile, past surveys have not been all too kind to other countries and continents, so a lot of the assumptions being made are unfair.
Long story short, while 1 in 4 Americans are incorrect in thinking the Sun revolves around the Earth, more than 9 in 10 news reporters, writers, and producers seem to lack even the most basic investigative research skills to look beyond the surface of the press releases they are relaying almost word-for-word.
Sigh. The news media industry really bugs me sometimes.
2014 Science and Engineering Indicators (NSF, webpage)
Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding (Chapter 7, NSF PDF)
1988 – 2012 Survey Results (NSF PDF)
Survey Results for Various Countries (NSF, webpage)
Earlier Survey Results for Various Countries (NSF, PDF)
There is a lot of interesting and easy-to-digest information in these publications, so go ahead and take a look if you have a chance.
Michael Quinlan
The fact that 1 in 4 Americans think the sun revolves around the earth is sad. Just as sad is that since the late 80’s we haven’t been able to improve upon these numbers.
The media doesn’t care about the purpose of the survey – all they care about is the attention-grabbing headlines they can generate from it.
Noah
While part of that 1 in 4 is easily attributed to ignorance of the facts, another part could be contributed to those who believe the sun revolves around the Earth, and thus, as a matter of faith, their minds cannot be changed.
Alan S. Blue
Also quite plausible:
25% of people don’t give a darn about surveys and say whatever comes to mind first to make it end.
There’s a laundry list of ways people are approached to take surveys, and quite a few of them are annoying.
You’ll note that when people plan to actually -do- something based on the results, (as opposed to just taking the results straight to the media to gin up hype and thus -money-) there’s a boatload of examination to decide which results to prune before even starting to think about what your results mean.
Rick
That’s very interesting because it seems like I meet people all the time that thinks the earth revolves around them.
Art Cunningham
I haven’t read the citing studies, but wouldn’t the true number who actually don’t know be, sadly, higher? Assuming there is a decent portion of those who simply guessed (including those with straight apathy) vs. those who genuinely thought it incorrectly. If we break it down further, I would say it would have to be higher to those who “guessed” it correctly.
Don
Please tell me that your’e going to stick to tool reviews and not delve into areas of politics, fuzzy science religion etc etc. There are lots of blogs and stuff out there for that. I come here for info on tools.
Stuart
Don’t worry, I don’t plan on digressing like this too often. And there definitely won’t be fuzzy science, religion, or politics. In yesterday’s post about pro-USA vs. anti-import, I did not intend for the comments section to veer towards discussion about taxes and child labor.
I had strong tool-related points originally weaved into the post, but it made everything kind of heavy and complex, so I stripped them out before publishing.
jesse
I suppose from the average person’s perspective it doesn’t really matter anyway. The sun appears to revolve around the earth in a predictable manner, and that’s sufficient.
But its me!
As a scientist (of sorts) in my day job, I would hope the questions were properly designed. Yes, US citizens are woefully uneducated when it comes to science, but I find it hard to believe 25% really, truly believe this. This is the 21st century, right?
Of course, the amount of scientific disinformation (is this fuzzy science?) in the media is downright scary at times, so what do I know.
matt
So You are saying my X wife is not the center of the universe??
Crist
3 out of 4 Americans Know that the Earth Revolves Around the Sun… the question is, which one of them is a truly american 🙂
SteveR
Stuart–It would be interesting to do a follow-up of those same people (10-20 years later) to determine if they still hold the view that the Sun revolves around Earth. I know it’s a generic survey, but the part of the country that think (believes?) this “fact” may do so for religious reasons. It may also be a result of a poor education. What were the ages of the people surveyed? What were the levels of education they possessed? What kinds of jobs did they have? Did more males than females believe this? Did they even understand the question? Without knowing the answers to these (and many other) questions, it’s difficult to put much creedence in the result. There’s a reason why science is involved in preparing surveys, and how those questions are set up and asked by the poll taker. And some people, when asked, knowingly provide a false answer just to skew the results.
Stuart
The survey is part of the General Social Survey, and interviewers have to go through training. I don’t think this survey is administered in the same way as a part timer at the mall is interested in whether I like the idea of mint-flavored diet Sierra Mist.
There is a very large PDF document at http://publicdata.norc.org/GSS/DOCUMENTS/BOOK/GSS_Codebook.pdf, which discusses surveys from 1972 through 2012.
On page 1737 (1747 of the PDF), it says that 707 people answered correctly, 203 answered incorrectly, 84 didn’t know, 8 didn’t answer, and 972 weren’t applicable. The 707 people that were answered correctly were then asked how long the Earth goes around the sun, with 525 knowing the answer to be one year.
It doesn’t look like the 972 “not applicable” respondents answered the “EARTHSUN” question at all.
There could have been other data, as the NSF says the sample size for the question was 2,256 in 2012.
Mac
Some of the comments are pretty funny.
Assume the survey was done well/correctly. But, one of the best books I ever had to read in college was How to Lie with Statistics (or something like that, it’s been a while). But it was/is great.
It seems like on the surface we, Americans, are in the middle of the pack.
Doesn’t surprise me in the least… I think it was the great american thinker Carlin who said, think about how stupid the average man is… now remember, half the population is even worse than that!
Garrick
In fact 100% of the respondents are correct. The earth goes around the sun more than the sun goes around the earth, because the sun has more mass. But the earth has some pull on the sun as well.
Just like the USA goes around Canada, but not nearly as much as Canada revolves around the USA.
Here’s neat fact: Because the USA has 10 times more people than Canada, the USA is 100 times bigger to a Canadian, than Canada is to an American.
Stuart
Not quite. The question wasn’t about gravity, but relative motion from the perspective of an external observer. Looking at the solar system from above, the Earth unquestionably revolves around the Sun.
And a 16-ounce steak is 33.3% larger than a 12-ounce steak, while a 12-ounce steak is only 25% smaller than a 16-ounce steak. =P
Bob dobalina
“Looking at the solar system from above”? Above what, exactly?
Come on. What’s “above”? There is no “correct” vantage point or true north in the galaxy.
Stuart
Any arbitrary location in space above, below, or otherwise perpendicular to the orbital plane.
Benjamin
This relies on the assumption that your location above, below, or otherwise perpendicular to the orbital plane is fixed with relation to the sun rather than the earth. Any point in space fixed relative to the earth will show the sun revolving around earth. This is why I think this question is technically inaccurate. From different vantage points, the sun revolves around the earth just as much as the earth revolves around the sun. The key difference between geocentricity and heliocentricity is whether the REST of the solar system revolves around the earth or sun.
Stuart
This doesn’t rely on any assumptions.
Early mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers – observers on Earth – were able to determine that the Earth revolves around the Sun without the need for space travel.
The question quite simply is designed to gauge people’s scientific factual awareness.
You can argue that the question is technically inaccurate, but how many of the people who answered the question incorrectly are really aware that the Earth revolves around the Sun and merely misunderstood their question?
From the perspective of a human being not standing on top of a mountain, the Earth appears flat. Does that mean it is flat? Absolutely not. Does that mean the question “is the Earth round or flat” is improper to ask? No.
I love to philosophize, but this is a moot argument.
You can argue that the Sun appears to revolve around the Earth, but once you start looking at solar positions over time, geocentricity models fall apart. And that’s just looking at the Sun and Earth without considering the motions of other extraterrestrial stellar bodies.
Seasons and the sun’s apparent shift in the sky can only be attributed to the Earth’s rotation and 1-year revolutions around the Sun.
joe
I’m always wondering why the news media need to remind people about commonsense things. Like when tornado season comes around here…or when the rain season comes around….this happens every year…why do they need a reminder all of the time throws me off.
Another thing that I’ve noticed is people are not even educated about catching/spreading the flu virus. Time and time again I hear them say is the cold and hot that gets you sick, when in reality is the virus finding it’s way inside the body via air or direct contact.
For some reason I see a correlation with “quantity over quality”…think about it 🙂
Javier
Actually if you are talking about a observer it is all relative to the point of observation. In physics class they teach that motion is all a mater of relativity. This means if the observer is on earth the sun and the moon do appear to revolve around the earth. If the observer is elsewhere like outside of the solar system then it appears it revolves around the sun.
You can express mathematically and explain the movement of the sun around the earth. It is just easier to express is a barycentric (larger mass based center) than geocentric( earth based center)
Now if your observer is at the center of the galaxy then they appear to revolve around each other and the center of the milky way.
Long story short both answers are correct. It is just a poorly survey question designed to try and make the american public look dumb.
Keep in mind some people taking that survey maybe a joker like me.
Stuart
It is NOT a poorly composed survey question designed to try to make the American people look dumb. The survey is part of a much larger social survey, with data used by the NSF and many other organizations to provide guidance with significant matters.
To an observer on Earth, the planet appears to be completely flat, but we know that it is round. To an observer on Earth under certain conditions*, it could appear that the Sun revolves around the Earth, but we also know this to be equally untrue.
*In the span of one day, okay, maybe it could appear that the Sun revolves around the Earth. But over time the model falls apart. Not to mention how the motions of the other planets cannot be described as in rotation around Earth.
To an observer at the center of the galaxy, if they could see our solar system, the Earth would still revolve around the Sun, and the Sun would move along its galactic trajectory with the rotation of the galaxy. The Sun would still not appear to be in rotation around the Earth.
It can be useful to consider the Earth’s motion from different frames of reference, but it is still incorrect to say that the Sun revolves around the Earth.
There is ONE correct answer to the question.
Javier
Keep in mind I carefully worded my response. I did not mention the other planets. I only mentioned the moon and the sun. The original question does not mention the planets.
It refers back to relativity of the observer. Relative to the observer on earth the Sun revolves around the earth once a year with the earth spinning with a period of a day. However you cannot say the same for the planets motion with respect to earth. Now if the question referred to the planets there would be one answer.
Again, the original question does not mention the planets. This is why it is poorly worded and both answers are correct.
PS with respect to the observer at the center of the galaxy: Since the earth mass (as well as the other planets) has has a gravitational pull on the sun over a very long period of time the sun will appear to wobble with respect to the center of the galaxy. This wobble is what I was referring to when to the observer they are revolving around each other. This wobble is how they are discovering new planets around other suns.
Stuart
That is incorrect.
The geocentric model, which (incorrectly) says the Sun revolves around the Earth with the period of one day, precludes the concept that the Earth rotates about its axis with the period of one day. The two concepts are mutually exclusive.
Copernicus and others who developed and honed the heliocentric model of the solar system, were observers on Earth.
Wobble and mutual rotation are two different things. Wobble is one of several ways new planets are being discovered, but there are quite a few limitations. Wobble perturbations are only discernable for very massive planets that are in very close orbits around their suns. This is why few (if any) Earth-sized planets have been discovered thus far, because they have exert minute gravitational forces on the stars they orbit.
Rich
There is so much to say here about this:
– You could discuss the validity of surveys, how they are worded, arranged, and set up to skew answers one way or the other. In the political world there are full time positions that just do that to influence the results to better their client.
– You could discuss the battle on science that is currently going on in this country. (I personally stay away from this when the discussion is not entirely focused on that specific topic as it strays into religious grounds and that can stir up a lot of trouble but look at the recent news on Bill Nye events as an example.)
– You could talk about the current system of education in the country from elementary, high school, collage. You could even talk about the level of access to higher education and it’s link to “for profit” institutes or you could swing the conversation to the financial impact of achieving a higher education and how economic class effects the level of education you have access to.
– You could discuss the degradation of hard work ethos in today’s society and how less Americans seek out science fields.
– You could even argue that the culture today frowns upon reading more then 140 characters at a time is worth while ( 😉 )
– You could discuss the roll of “news” media that exists today and the fact that the “news” divisions are all compromised by either their mega-corporate owners, advertising dollars which keeps them from offending anyone, and general lack of investigative reporting due to cutbacks.
There is so many ways to approach this report that it could take up a significant part of your time.
Hang Fire
As a news junkie, parroting of wire news bugs me as well, particularly when it is edited down to something nonsensical or even opposite of the original news story. It happens all the time so I make it a habit, at least on stories I find interesting, to find 3, 4 or 5 different outlets for the same story, or better yet, track down the local news source or original paper for the story. In the end I always find oversimplifications in the wire re-hashes that border (or surpass) the definition of fabrification.