Scientific Literacy and its Correlates : Knowledge of Evolution, Genetics, and the Physical Sciences in UWEC Freshmen

Abstract

Rates of basic scientific literacy in adult America are low--in fact, they are lower than rates of scientific literacy in 32 European countries and Japan. Researchrs have identified education as a key positive correlate, and religiosity as a key negative correlate, of scientific literacy. However, no study has tracked the same individuals over time to determine whether undergoing a college education is followed by growth in scientific literacy and, if so, the degree to which incoming level of religiousity and exposure to science coursework moderate that growth. In this poster, we describe the results of Phase I of a planned longitudinal study of UWEC students' scientific literacy.