In 2014, the National Science Foundation released findings1 that show approximately 25% of Americans did not correctly answer a survey question asking whether Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun goes around Earth. This result was presented in the media as a sign of Americans' lack of science literacy and some people found the results worthy of mockery. I began to wonder whether this question and similar questions are appropriate for assessing the public's understanding of science.
References
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2015
American Association of Physics Teachers
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