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Scientific literacy and attitudes towards American space exploration among college undergraduates
Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Space Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spacepol
Scientific literacy and attitudes towards American space exploration among college undergraduates Summer B. Cook a, *, Marvin Druger b, c, Lori L. Ploutz-Snyder a,1 a
Department of Exercise Science, 820 Comstock Ave, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA c Department of Science Education, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA b
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 23 July 2010 Accepted 12 October 2010 Available online 23 January 2011
One hundred fifty-five college undergraduates from Syracuse University were surveyed to assess the relationship between their scientific literacy and attitudes to US space exploration. The students were divided into four sections based on majors: basic sciences (n ¼ 41), health sciences (n ¼ 29), political science (n ¼ 36) and other (n ¼ 49). As a whole the students had high scientific knowledge and overall support for human space exploration. There was a significant correlation (rho ¼ 0.33, P < 0.01) between the dependent variables, suggesting that those with the highest scientific literacy looked more favorably upon US space exploration. When evaluated by college major, significant correlations were evident for political science and health science majors only (P < 0.05). There were no differences in scientific literacy scores between males and females and among the various college majors (P > 0.05). Attitudes towards US space exploration varied by sex only, indicating that males were more supportive than females (P < 0.05). These data suggest that individuals with adequate scientific literacy tend to look more favorably upon space exploration. Further research should be done to assess these factors in other populations, as well as to develop strategies to improve scientific literacy and shape positive attitudes towards space exploration in the US population. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: American space exploration Scientific literacy Scientific knowledge
1. Introduction Advancements and discoveries in science and technology have earned the USA a reputation for being a powerful and prosperous nation. This is especially true when it comes to space exploration and NASA where the USA has been at the forefront and continues to lead the world. National support for space exploration is integral to continuing and expanding our nation’s commitment of public funding to achieve space exploration goals [1]. According to a 2008 Gallup Poll, 71% of the American public were supportive of the space program and felt the USA was doing a good job maintaining its leadership in space exploration [2]. While the American public generally like space science and say they are interested, many people are unaware of basic scientific facts and concepts [3,4]. Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order * Corresponding author. Department of Kinesiology, University of New Hampshire, 124 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824, USA. Tel.: þ1 603 862 0895; fax: þ1 603 862 0154. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.B. Cook), lori.ploutz-snyder-1@ nasa.gov (L.L. Ploutz-Snyder). 1 Present address: Universities Space Research Association, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, SK3, TX 77058, USA. Tel.: þ1 281 244 1122. 0265-9646/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2010.12.001
to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity [5]. An adequate understanding of basic scientific terms, concepts and facts, coupled with the ability to reason well about issues involving science and technology, are indicators of scientific literacy [6]. Low scientific literacy could result in the inability to formulate educated opinions about national public policy issues [7]. Previous survey data have indicated that Americans, especially the young, do not know enough about science, history, civics, geography and politics, and are not sufficiently interested in these domains of knowledge [8,9]. Interestingly, it has been reported that one of the single biggest factors affecting levels of scientific literacy among adults is the number of science courses taken in college [10], indicating a need for science education reform at the collegiate level. While Americans tend to look favorably upon space exploration [2], most are not familiar with the details, activities and objectives of NASA [4]. A 2006 survey reported that young adults (18e24 years) were generally disengaged from and not supportive of human space flight [11,12]. Only 29% of the respondents were interested in returning to the Moon, most were neutral (45%) and 23% were uninterested. The young adults’ most important concerns were jobs, the current ‘war on terror’, and personal relationships, while space exploration ranked near the bottom of their priorities.
S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
The young respondents were also opposed to human missions to Mars, but more than half of them supported robotic missions, such as the Mars rover [11]. One can question whether these unenthusiastic attitudes towards US space exploration are related to low levels of scientific literacy. The significance of examining the quantity and quality of scientific information young adults come into contact with is important as the general public plays a critical role in the decision-making process about many political issues. This generation of young adults will soon be the ones making policy decisions. Scientific knowledge and literacy are vital in the development and evaluation of public policies, particularly at NASA, as taxpayers are ultimately the ones who fund the space program. Since scientific knowledge and literacy are components in understanding space exploration, we sought to investigate the relationship between scientific literacy and attitudes towards US space exploration in college undergraduate students. We also compared scientific literacy and public attitudes towards space exploration of undergraduate science majors with political science and public policy majors, since these individuals may have a role in shaping the direction of US space exploration. We hypothesized that science majors would have greater scientific literacy and have more positive attitudes towards human space exploration than political science majors. 2. Methods Flyers were posted on the campus of Syracuse University and emails were sent to undergraduate students in specified majors inviting them to participate in an online anonymous survey that evaluated their scientific knowledge and their attitudes towards US space travel. This study was approved by the Syracuse University Institutional Review Board and data were collected between October 2008 and January 2009. The instruments used in this study consisted of two previously used surveys [2,7] as well as several demographic questions. The present study was internet-based, using a nonprobability sample of volunteers. The online survey was broken up into three sections: demographics, scientific literacy and attitudes towards American space exploration. A combination of open-ended and closed-ended (true/false, yes/no or Likert-scale) questions was employed in the study. To address our question about comparing the scientific literacy and public attitudes towards space exploration between science majors and political science/public policy majors, we specifically advertised this study to those students. Students who reported as majors of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, Biochemistry and Pre-Med were classified as science majors. Participants who declared as majors of Policy Studies, Political Philosophy, Political Science, Public Administration, Public Affairs and Citizenship, American Studies, Economics, or International Relations were categorized as political science majors. Several students from other majors also completed the study and they were further classified into categories of health sciences (Exercise Science, Health, Physical Education and Nutrition) or other (Psychology, Fine and Performing Arts, Education, undecided). To assess scientific literacy, 14 questions from a previous survey by Miller, Thomas and Durant were used [7]. The various questions and responses from the American public have previously been reported in the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators Poll for 2001, 2004 and 2006 [6] (see Appendix). The questions covered several aspects of science and did not focus solely on space exploration knowledge. They assessed factual scientific knowledge, as well as concepts of probability, experimental design and the scientific method. Correct answers were tallied and subjects were given an overall scientific literacy score
49
ranging from 0 to 14, with a score of 14 indicating that all questions were answered correctly. Public attitudes towards space exploration were evaluated using questions from the 2008 Gallup Poll [2]. After this study was conducted, the Constellation Program which was set to take effect in 2015, was cancelled by President Obama. As a result, specific questions regarding the Constellation Program (Appendix questions 2, 4, 6 and 7) may not be pertinent now, but nonetheless, they were analyzed for gender and major differences. An important variable to assess support for space exploration was obtained from the question “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” Descriptive statistics were reported as means standard deviation. Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between the scientific literacy score and support for space exploration question. The ManneWhitney test compared scientific literacy and questions regarding space exploration between males and females while the KruskaleWallis test was used to compare responses between the students’ majors. Significance was set at 0.05 and SPSS 16.0 was used for the statistical analysis. 3. Results Of the 179 students who accessed the survey website, 155 surveys were adequately completed and able to be included in the analysis. The subjects consisted of 99 females and 56 males aged 20.0 1.6 yr. More than half (53%) of the sample in this study selfreported themselves as having very little or not much knowledge about NASA, while 33% reported knowing a lot or something about NASA. From the study sample there were 41 science majors, 36 political science majors, 29 health science majors and 49 students classified as other majors. The average number of correct responses on the scientific literacy portion of the study was 12.5 1.5 (out of a maximum of 14) and there were no differences between the genders or the major of the students (P > 0.05) (Table 1). The most incorrect responses were given for the statement “Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria”, with only 78% reporting this statement as false. Seventy-nine percent of the sample agreed with the currently accepted view that “The universe began with a huge explosion” and just 80% responded correctly that “It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl”. Almost all subjects (97%) knew that “The center of the Earth is very hot”. The average response to the question “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” was 3.2 on a Likert Scale, with one indicating ‘strongly disagree’ and four indicating ‘strongly agree’. Males were more likely to strongly agree with the statement than females (3.4 0.7 vs. 3.0 0.7; P ¼ 0.001) (Fig. 1). There were no differences in the response to this
Table 1 Average scientific literacy (maximum score ¼ 14) and support for human space exploration (Question 3) by college major. Ratings for Question 3 were: 1 ¼ Strongly disagree, 2 ¼ Disagree, 3 ¼ Agree, 4 ¼ Strongly agree. Data is displayed as mean standard deviation. Major
N
Scientific literacy score
Science Political science Health science Other Total
41 36 29 49 155
13.0 12.4 12.1 12.2 12.5
1.3 2.0 1.8 1.9 1.8
Support for human space exploration 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.2
0.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7
50
S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
question between college major (P > 0.05). When students were asked to rate how good a job the USA was doing in various national issues ‘maintaining its leadership in space exploration’ fared best while ‘handling the war on terrorism’ was rated the poorest (P < 0.0001, Fig. 2). On the question “To what extent do you believe America’s space program inspires young people to consider an education in science, technology, math or engineering fields?” the students rated this between some and very little (2.8 0.9) and this response was consistent between males and females and the various college majors (P > 0.05). In the questions related to budgetary issues (Appendix questions 2 and 7) males were more supportive and more willing to increase funding to NASA than females (P < 0.05) and there were no differences between college majors (P > 0.05). Most of the sample was not concerned that China could become the new leader in space exploration or take the lead over the USA and this was consistent among males and females and the college majors (P > 0.05). The majority of the participants was somewhat concerned (43%) or not very concerned (38%) that the USA would not have direct access to the Space Station during the transition to the Constellation Program. A direct and significant relationship was observed between scientific literacy and support for human space flight (Spearman rho ¼ 0.33, P < 0.01) when all subjects were assessed together. When the relationship was evaluated among the various college majors, no relationship between scientific literacy and support for human space flight was observed for the science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.024, P ¼ 0.88) and the other majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.258, P ¼ 0.78). Significant relationships were noted for political science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.44, P ¼ 0.01) and health science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.66, P < 0.01). 4. Discussion We sought to determine if there was a relationship between scientific literacy and attitudes towards US space exploration among college undergraduates and to see if college major had any effect on these variables. Our data demonstrate that those students with high scientific literacy also had more favorable attitudes towards human space exploration (Question 3, Appendix B). We hypothesized that science majors would have higher scientific literacy and be more supportive of human space exploration than political science majors but, contrary to this, we found that all majors had similar levels of scientific literacy and there was 80
Percen t
60
40
20
0
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Fig. 1. Survey responses evaluating support for American space flight exploration by gender on the question “To what extent do you agree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” Black bars denote males and gray hashed bars denote females. *denotes significant difference between males and females (P < 0.05).
a widespread support for space exploration. This could be considered a positive finding because in general the subjects in this study were supportive of US space exploration and the future policy makers and scientists seemed to be in agreement on the issues addressed. Additionally, they are at similar levels of scientific literacy, suggesting that they have the same capacities to understand scientific and public policy issues regarding science and technology [7], thus allowing them to form well considered opinions. Interestingly, we observed no relationship between scientific literacy and support for human space exploration among science majors but these variables were strongly related in the political science and health science majors, suggesting that in these individuals scientific literacy is important when it comes to opinions related to space exploration. The questions used in the present study to assess scientific literacy were the same as those used in previous national surveys reported in the 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators [6]. It appears that our sample had higher scientific literacy levels than the American public based on the number of correct responses to the questions. When our sample was compared to the age group of 18e24 year olds in the 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators, the results are more in accordance and this probably results from the subjects recently being exposed to this information in high school or even college. The 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators [6] suggest that there are gender differences in scientific literacy and several previous researchers have reported that males outperform females on scientific achievement tests [13,14]. Our study in college undergraduates does not support gender differences in scientific literacy. This could be due to our sample comprised students at a 4year university having actively sought out science majors. The results of our survey assessing support for US space exploration are similar to those of the national Gallup Poll reported in 2008 [2]. Overall, most of the American public and our sample were supportive of the space program and felt that the USA was doing a good job of maintaining its leadership in space exploration. Of the several domestic issues facing the USA at the time this survey was administered (the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, post-Hurricane Katrina, the rising costs of healthcare, the 2008 presidential elections, etc.) the progress in space exploration was looked upon most favorably. In the 2008 Gallup Poll, 52% of Americans stated they would support increasing NASA’s budget from 0.6% to 1% of the federal budget with 43% willing to support a rise in their taxes [2]. It was also indicated that college-educated adults tended to be more optimistic and supportive of space exploration and, in turn, were more willing to agree to increase the funding for NASA [2,3]. Before the cancellation of the Constellation Program, our study found that 72% of the college undergraduates supported giving NASA a larger share of the federal budget and 46% of the sample was willing to experience a rise in their taxes. We, as well as others [11,15], have observed gender differences in the amount of support for US space exploration. The discrepancies between males and females seemed to arise from budget issues, as males were overall more supportive of human space exploration than females and therefore were more willing to support a rise in their taxes to fund future space missions. Opposition to space exploration, regardless of gender, has usually been explained by budget issues, in which individuals express priority for other programs such as healthcare, education, childcare and defense [15]. In some instances it has been shown that Americans have little conception of the amount of funding available to NASA as they seem to believe that NASA receives an abundance of federal funding. Launius [4] reported that the American public estimates NASA’s share of the federal budget to be 20%, while it is actually less than 1%. While this point was made
S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
Handling the war on terrorism
51
Handling national disasters
Very good job Good job Not a very good job Very poor job
Addressing healthcare needs of the nation
Maintaining leadership in space exploration
Fig. 2. Percent of students rating that the U.S. is doing a very good job, a good job, not a very good job or a very poor job in current domestic issues the nation is facing.
obvious in the instruments utilized in this study, it is possible that some of the subjects could not conceptualize how small this portion is compared with other portions of the federal budget. For example, defense and healthcare receive 28.5 and 20.2% of the federal budget, respectively [16]. Further research into the funding issues of US space exploration is needed, such as determining the origin of the NASA budget misconceptions and the sources of gender differences. The finding in this study that most undergraduate students know very little about NASA is of concern. While the public believes that NASA does inspire young people to consider an education in science, math, or engineering fields [2], most of the students in the present study do not agree. Changing this perception would not only increase support for US space exploration, but it could also improve scientific literacy among the American public. Several studies have recommended that NASA do more to promote the space program to young people [3,4,12,15,17e19]. Generating interest in children could be achieved by incorporating space science education into elementary and secondary education as well as increasing and improving community outreach programs [17,19]. Finarelli et al. [15] recommend that individuals 18e24 years old be the primary targets for space science marketing, since they are the ones that do not see space exploration as relevant to them and they currently tend not to vote, yet they will carry the tax burden of funding long-term space programs. They recommend that NASA, along with other involved government agencies, disseminate positive and more detailed information about future missions and programs and promote this through avenues familiar to this generation, such as the internet and television. In summary, the present study found that, while college undergraduates claim to know little about US space exploration, they tend to have positive attitudes regarding NASA. Their scientific literacy levels and public support for space exploration are related and this is most evident in political science and health science majors. It may be that the better educated one is about space
science, the more likely he or she is to become an informed citizen who participates in public discourse and is therefore more optimistic and supportive of space science [3]. This could be evaluated in future studies using surveys specific to knowledge of space exploration and NASA. More research should be conducted regarding support for US space exploration and scientific literacy among this generation as they are the future taxpayers, voters and decision makers on space policy. Appendix A. Scientific knowledge and literacy survey
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
13.
The center of the Earth is very hot. All radioactivity is man-made. Lasers work by focusing sound waves. Electrons are smaller than atoms. The universe began with a huge explosion. The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the sun go around the Earth? How long does it take for the Earth to go around the sun? It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria. Human beings, as we know them today developed from earlier species of animals. A doctor tells a couple that their genetic makeup means that they’ve got one in four chances of having a child with an inherited illness. Does this mean that if their first child has the illness, the next three will not? A doctor tells a couple that their genetic makeup means that they’ve got one in four chances of having a child with an inherited illness. Does this mean that each one of the couple’s children will have the same risk of suffering from an illness?
TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE
FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE TRUE
FALSE FALSE
YES
NO
YES
NO
(continued on next page)
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S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
(continued) 14.
Two scientists want to know if a certain drug is effective against high blood pressure. The first scientist wants to give the drug to 1000 people with high blood pressure and see how many of them experience lower blood pressure levels. The second scientist wants to give the drug to 500 people with high blood pressure and not give the drug to another 500 people with high blood pressure, and see how many in both groups experience lower blood pressure levels. Which is the better way to test this drug?
Appendix B. American space exploration survey 1. In your opinion, how good a job is the U.S. doing in the following areas? (Very good job, A good job, Not a very good job, A very poor job) Handling the war on terrorism. Handling national disasters, such as floods, global warming, etc. Maintaining its leadership in space exploration. Addressing the healthcare needs of the nation. 2. Since the announcement in 2004 of America’s new plan for humans to return to the moon and prepare for expeditions to Mars, the budget for NASA has been held at one-sixth of one percent of the total federal budget, lower than the 1% NASA originally requested in 2006. One percent would be approximately $58 per year for the average citizen. To what extent would you support increasing NASA’s budget to 1% of the federal budget? (Strongly support it, Support it, Oppose it, Strongly Oppose it) 3. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight? (Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree) 4. Both China and the U.S. have announced plans to send astronauts to the moon. China has announced plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2017 and the U.S. has announced plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2018, a year later. To what extent, if any, are you concerned that China would become the new leader in space exploration or take the lead over the U.S.? (Very concerned, Somewhat concerned, Not very concerned, Not concerned at all) 5. To what extent do you believe America’s space program inspires young people to consider an education in science, technology, math, or engineering fields? (A great deal, Some, Very little, Not much at all) 6. As you may know the U.S. space shuttles will retire in 2010. The first launch of the Constellation Program is scheduled for 2015,
leaving a five-year gap between 2010, the space shuttle’s last scheduled mission, and the first schedule launch of the Constellation Program. During the five-year period, America will need to access the International Space Station through the Russian Space Agency who would ferry crew members to the Station. How concerned are you that the U.S. will not have direct access to the Space Station during these five years? (Very concerned, Somewhat concerned, Not very concerned, Not concerned at all) 7. This five-year gap in American space travel would principally be caused by a lack of money in NASA’s budget. How willing are you to support an increase in taxes if the money was to go to NASA to help close this five-year budget deficit? (Very willing, Somewhat willing, Not too willing, Not willing at all)
References [1] Miller JD. Is there public support for space exploration. Environ 1984;26(5): 25e35. [2] The Gallup Organization. Coalition for space exploration: american support for space exploration is strong, www.spacecoalition.com; 2008. [3] Smith HA. In: Challenges in affecting US attitudes towards space science. Advances in space research: Proceedings of the COSPAR-2000 Warsaw Symposium on the public understanding of space science; 2000. [4] Launius RD. Public opinion polls and perceptions of US human spaceflight. Space Pol 2003;19:163e75. [5] Miller JD. The measurement of civic scientific literacy. Pub Understand Sci 1998;7:203e23. [6] National Science Board. Science & engineering indicatorse2008. Arlington VA: National Science Foundation; 2008. Report No.: NSB 08e01. [7] Miller J. Civic scientific literacy in Europe and the United States. World Assoc Pub Opinion Res, http://www.arcsfoundation.org/Pittsburgh/jmiller.pdf; 2006. [8] Gravois J. Condemed to repeat it. Chron Higher Ed 2006;53:A21. [9] Bauerlein M. A very long disengagement. Chron Higher Ed 2006;52:B6. [10] Miller JD. Civic scientific literacy: a necessity in the 21st century. FAS Pub Int Rep 2002;55:3e6. [11] Dittmar ML. Engaging the 18e25 generation: educational outreach, interactive technologies, and space. AIAA Space; 2006. [12] Brown F. Space agencies and public outreachemust try harder. Space Pol 2007;23:1e2. [13] Blosser PE. Procedures to increase the entry of women in science-related careers. ERIC Sci Math Env Educ 1990;1:1e8. [14] Grigg WS, Lauko MA, Brockway DM. The nation’s report card: science; 2005. [15] Finarelli P, Pryke I. Building and maintaining the constituency for long-term space exploration. Space Pol 2007;23:13e9. [16] Anonymous. National priorities project, http://www.nationalpriorities.org; 2009. [17] Jones H, Yeoman K, Cockell C. A pilot survey of attitudes to space sciences and exploration among british school children. Space Pol 2007;23:20e3. [18] Ottavianelli G, Good M. Space education: a step forward. Space Pol 2002; 18:117e27. [19] Joyce S, Ferguson C, Weinstein P. Public support for mars missions: the importance of informing the next generation. Acta Astronaut 2009;64:718e23.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Space Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/spacepol
Scientific literacy and attitudes towards American space exploration among college undergraduates Summer B. Cook a, *, Marvin Druger b, c, Lori L. Ploutz-Snyder a,1 a
Department of Exercise Science, 820 Comstock Ave, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA c Department of Science Education, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA b
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 23 July 2010 Accepted 12 October 2010 Available online 23 January 2011
One hundred fifty-five college undergraduates from Syracuse University were surveyed to assess the relationship between their scientific literacy and attitudes to US space exploration. The students were divided into four sections based on majors: basic sciences (n ¼ 41), health sciences (n ¼ 29), political science (n ¼ 36) and other (n ¼ 49). As a whole the students had high scientific knowledge and overall support for human space exploration. There was a significant correlation (rho ¼ 0.33, P < 0.01) between the dependent variables, suggesting that those with the highest scientific literacy looked more favorably upon US space exploration. When evaluated by college major, significant correlations were evident for political science and health science majors only (P < 0.05). There were no differences in scientific literacy scores between males and females and among the various college majors (P > 0.05). Attitudes towards US space exploration varied by sex only, indicating that males were more supportive than females (P < 0.05). These data suggest that individuals with adequate scientific literacy tend to look more favorably upon space exploration. Further research should be done to assess these factors in other populations, as well as to develop strategies to improve scientific literacy and shape positive attitudes towards space exploration in the US population. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: American space exploration Scientific literacy Scientific knowledge
1. Introduction Advancements and discoveries in science and technology have earned the USA a reputation for being a powerful and prosperous nation. This is especially true when it comes to space exploration and NASA where the USA has been at the forefront and continues to lead the world. National support for space exploration is integral to continuing and expanding our nation’s commitment of public funding to achieve space exploration goals [1]. According to a 2008 Gallup Poll, 71% of the American public were supportive of the space program and felt the USA was doing a good job maintaining its leadership in space exploration [2]. While the American public generally like space science and say they are interested, many people are unaware of basic scientific facts and concepts [3,4]. Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order * Corresponding author. Department of Kinesiology, University of New Hampshire, 124 Main Street, Durham, NH 03824, USA. Tel.: þ1 603 862 0895; fax: þ1 603 862 0154. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.B. Cook), lori.ploutz-snyder-1@ nasa.gov (L.L. Ploutz-Snyder). 1 Present address: Universities Space Research Association, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, SK3, TX 77058, USA. Tel.: þ1 281 244 1122. 0265-9646/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2010.12.001
to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity [5]. An adequate understanding of basic scientific terms, concepts and facts, coupled with the ability to reason well about issues involving science and technology, are indicators of scientific literacy [6]. Low scientific literacy could result in the inability to formulate educated opinions about national public policy issues [7]. Previous survey data have indicated that Americans, especially the young, do not know enough about science, history, civics, geography and politics, and are not sufficiently interested in these domains of knowledge [8,9]. Interestingly, it has been reported that one of the single biggest factors affecting levels of scientific literacy among adults is the number of science courses taken in college [10], indicating a need for science education reform at the collegiate level. While Americans tend to look favorably upon space exploration [2], most are not familiar with the details, activities and objectives of NASA [4]. A 2006 survey reported that young adults (18e24 years) were generally disengaged from and not supportive of human space flight [11,12]. Only 29% of the respondents were interested in returning to the Moon, most were neutral (45%) and 23% were uninterested. The young adults’ most important concerns were jobs, the current ‘war on terror’, and personal relationships, while space exploration ranked near the bottom of their priorities.
S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
The young respondents were also opposed to human missions to Mars, but more than half of them supported robotic missions, such as the Mars rover [11]. One can question whether these unenthusiastic attitudes towards US space exploration are related to low levels of scientific literacy. The significance of examining the quantity and quality of scientific information young adults come into contact with is important as the general public plays a critical role in the decision-making process about many political issues. This generation of young adults will soon be the ones making policy decisions. Scientific knowledge and literacy are vital in the development and evaluation of public policies, particularly at NASA, as taxpayers are ultimately the ones who fund the space program. Since scientific knowledge and literacy are components in understanding space exploration, we sought to investigate the relationship between scientific literacy and attitudes towards US space exploration in college undergraduate students. We also compared scientific literacy and public attitudes towards space exploration of undergraduate science majors with political science and public policy majors, since these individuals may have a role in shaping the direction of US space exploration. We hypothesized that science majors would have greater scientific literacy and have more positive attitudes towards human space exploration than political science majors. 2. Methods Flyers were posted on the campus of Syracuse University and emails were sent to undergraduate students in specified majors inviting them to participate in an online anonymous survey that evaluated their scientific knowledge and their attitudes towards US space travel. This study was approved by the Syracuse University Institutional Review Board and data were collected between October 2008 and January 2009. The instruments used in this study consisted of two previously used surveys [2,7] as well as several demographic questions. The present study was internet-based, using a nonprobability sample of volunteers. The online survey was broken up into three sections: demographics, scientific literacy and attitudes towards American space exploration. A combination of open-ended and closed-ended (true/false, yes/no or Likert-scale) questions was employed in the study. To address our question about comparing the scientific literacy and public attitudes towards space exploration between science majors and political science/public policy majors, we specifically advertised this study to those students. Students who reported as majors of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, Biochemistry and Pre-Med were classified as science majors. Participants who declared as majors of Policy Studies, Political Philosophy, Political Science, Public Administration, Public Affairs and Citizenship, American Studies, Economics, or International Relations were categorized as political science majors. Several students from other majors also completed the study and they were further classified into categories of health sciences (Exercise Science, Health, Physical Education and Nutrition) or other (Psychology, Fine and Performing Arts, Education, undecided). To assess scientific literacy, 14 questions from a previous survey by Miller, Thomas and Durant were used [7]. The various questions and responses from the American public have previously been reported in the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators Poll for 2001, 2004 and 2006 [6] (see Appendix). The questions covered several aspects of science and did not focus solely on space exploration knowledge. They assessed factual scientific knowledge, as well as concepts of probability, experimental design and the scientific method. Correct answers were tallied and subjects were given an overall scientific literacy score
49
ranging from 0 to 14, with a score of 14 indicating that all questions were answered correctly. Public attitudes towards space exploration were evaluated using questions from the 2008 Gallup Poll [2]. After this study was conducted, the Constellation Program which was set to take effect in 2015, was cancelled by President Obama. As a result, specific questions regarding the Constellation Program (Appendix questions 2, 4, 6 and 7) may not be pertinent now, but nonetheless, they were analyzed for gender and major differences. An important variable to assess support for space exploration was obtained from the question “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” Descriptive statistics were reported as means standard deviation. Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between the scientific literacy score and support for space exploration question. The ManneWhitney test compared scientific literacy and questions regarding space exploration between males and females while the KruskaleWallis test was used to compare responses between the students’ majors. Significance was set at 0.05 and SPSS 16.0 was used for the statistical analysis. 3. Results Of the 179 students who accessed the survey website, 155 surveys were adequately completed and able to be included in the analysis. The subjects consisted of 99 females and 56 males aged 20.0 1.6 yr. More than half (53%) of the sample in this study selfreported themselves as having very little or not much knowledge about NASA, while 33% reported knowing a lot or something about NASA. From the study sample there were 41 science majors, 36 political science majors, 29 health science majors and 49 students classified as other majors. The average number of correct responses on the scientific literacy portion of the study was 12.5 1.5 (out of a maximum of 14) and there were no differences between the genders or the major of the students (P > 0.05) (Table 1). The most incorrect responses were given for the statement “Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria”, with only 78% reporting this statement as false. Seventy-nine percent of the sample agreed with the currently accepted view that “The universe began with a huge explosion” and just 80% responded correctly that “It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl”. Almost all subjects (97%) knew that “The center of the Earth is very hot”. The average response to the question “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” was 3.2 on a Likert Scale, with one indicating ‘strongly disagree’ and four indicating ‘strongly agree’. Males were more likely to strongly agree with the statement than females (3.4 0.7 vs. 3.0 0.7; P ¼ 0.001) (Fig. 1). There were no differences in the response to this
Table 1 Average scientific literacy (maximum score ¼ 14) and support for human space exploration (Question 3) by college major. Ratings for Question 3 were: 1 ¼ Strongly disagree, 2 ¼ Disagree, 3 ¼ Agree, 4 ¼ Strongly agree. Data is displayed as mean standard deviation. Major
N
Scientific literacy score
Science Political science Health science Other Total
41 36 29 49 155
13.0 12.4 12.1 12.2 12.5
1.3 2.0 1.8 1.9 1.8
Support for human space exploration 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.2
0.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7
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S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
question between college major (P > 0.05). When students were asked to rate how good a job the USA was doing in various national issues ‘maintaining its leadership in space exploration’ fared best while ‘handling the war on terrorism’ was rated the poorest (P < 0.0001, Fig. 2). On the question “To what extent do you believe America’s space program inspires young people to consider an education in science, technology, math or engineering fields?” the students rated this between some and very little (2.8 0.9) and this response was consistent between males and females and the various college majors (P > 0.05). In the questions related to budgetary issues (Appendix questions 2 and 7) males were more supportive and more willing to increase funding to NASA than females (P < 0.05) and there were no differences between college majors (P > 0.05). Most of the sample was not concerned that China could become the new leader in space exploration or take the lead over the USA and this was consistent among males and females and the college majors (P > 0.05). The majority of the participants was somewhat concerned (43%) or not very concerned (38%) that the USA would not have direct access to the Space Station during the transition to the Constellation Program. A direct and significant relationship was observed between scientific literacy and support for human space flight (Spearman rho ¼ 0.33, P < 0.01) when all subjects were assessed together. When the relationship was evaluated among the various college majors, no relationship between scientific literacy and support for human space flight was observed for the science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.024, P ¼ 0.88) and the other majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.258, P ¼ 0.78). Significant relationships were noted for political science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.44, P ¼ 0.01) and health science majors (Spearman rho ¼ 0.66, P < 0.01). 4. Discussion We sought to determine if there was a relationship between scientific literacy and attitudes towards US space exploration among college undergraduates and to see if college major had any effect on these variables. Our data demonstrate that those students with high scientific literacy also had more favorable attitudes towards human space exploration (Question 3, Appendix B). We hypothesized that science majors would have higher scientific literacy and be more supportive of human space exploration than political science majors but, contrary to this, we found that all majors had similar levels of scientific literacy and there was 80
Percen t
60
40
20
0
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Fig. 1. Survey responses evaluating support for American space flight exploration by gender on the question “To what extent do you agree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight?” Black bars denote males and gray hashed bars denote females. *denotes significant difference between males and females (P < 0.05).
a widespread support for space exploration. This could be considered a positive finding because in general the subjects in this study were supportive of US space exploration and the future policy makers and scientists seemed to be in agreement on the issues addressed. Additionally, they are at similar levels of scientific literacy, suggesting that they have the same capacities to understand scientific and public policy issues regarding science and technology [7], thus allowing them to form well considered opinions. Interestingly, we observed no relationship between scientific literacy and support for human space exploration among science majors but these variables were strongly related in the political science and health science majors, suggesting that in these individuals scientific literacy is important when it comes to opinions related to space exploration. The questions used in the present study to assess scientific literacy were the same as those used in previous national surveys reported in the 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators [6]. It appears that our sample had higher scientific literacy levels than the American public based on the number of correct responses to the questions. When our sample was compared to the age group of 18e24 year olds in the 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators, the results are more in accordance and this probably results from the subjects recently being exposed to this information in high school or even college. The 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators [6] suggest that there are gender differences in scientific literacy and several previous researchers have reported that males outperform females on scientific achievement tests [13,14]. Our study in college undergraduates does not support gender differences in scientific literacy. This could be due to our sample comprised students at a 4year university having actively sought out science majors. The results of our survey assessing support for US space exploration are similar to those of the national Gallup Poll reported in 2008 [2]. Overall, most of the American public and our sample were supportive of the space program and felt that the USA was doing a good job of maintaining its leadership in space exploration. Of the several domestic issues facing the USA at the time this survey was administered (the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, post-Hurricane Katrina, the rising costs of healthcare, the 2008 presidential elections, etc.) the progress in space exploration was looked upon most favorably. In the 2008 Gallup Poll, 52% of Americans stated they would support increasing NASA’s budget from 0.6% to 1% of the federal budget with 43% willing to support a rise in their taxes [2]. It was also indicated that college-educated adults tended to be more optimistic and supportive of space exploration and, in turn, were more willing to agree to increase the funding for NASA [2,3]. Before the cancellation of the Constellation Program, our study found that 72% of the college undergraduates supported giving NASA a larger share of the federal budget and 46% of the sample was willing to experience a rise in their taxes. We, as well as others [11,15], have observed gender differences in the amount of support for US space exploration. The discrepancies between males and females seemed to arise from budget issues, as males were overall more supportive of human space exploration than females and therefore were more willing to support a rise in their taxes to fund future space missions. Opposition to space exploration, regardless of gender, has usually been explained by budget issues, in which individuals express priority for other programs such as healthcare, education, childcare and defense [15]. In some instances it has been shown that Americans have little conception of the amount of funding available to NASA as they seem to believe that NASA receives an abundance of federal funding. Launius [4] reported that the American public estimates NASA’s share of the federal budget to be 20%, while it is actually less than 1%. While this point was made
S.B. Cook et al. / Space Policy 27 (2011) 48e52
Handling the war on terrorism
51
Handling national disasters
Very good job Good job Not a very good job Very poor job
Addressing healthcare needs of the nation
Maintaining leadership in space exploration
Fig. 2. Percent of students rating that the U.S. is doing a very good job, a good job, not a very good job or a very poor job in current domestic issues the nation is facing.
obvious in the instruments utilized in this study, it is possible that some of the subjects could not conceptualize how small this portion is compared with other portions of the federal budget. For example, defense and healthcare receive 28.5 and 20.2% of the federal budget, respectively [16]. Further research into the funding issues of US space exploration is needed, such as determining the origin of the NASA budget misconceptions and the sources of gender differences. The finding in this study that most undergraduate students know very little about NASA is of concern. While the public believes that NASA does inspire young people to consider an education in science, math, or engineering fields [2], most of the students in the present study do not agree. Changing this perception would not only increase support for US space exploration, but it could also improve scientific literacy among the American public. Several studies have recommended that NASA do more to promote the space program to young people [3,4,12,15,17e19]. Generating interest in children could be achieved by incorporating space science education into elementary and secondary education as well as increasing and improving community outreach programs [17,19]. Finarelli et al. [15] recommend that individuals 18e24 years old be the primary targets for space science marketing, since they are the ones that do not see space exploration as relevant to them and they currently tend not to vote, yet they will carry the tax burden of funding long-term space programs. They recommend that NASA, along with other involved government agencies, disseminate positive and more detailed information about future missions and programs and promote this through avenues familiar to this generation, such as the internet and television. In summary, the present study found that, while college undergraduates claim to know little about US space exploration, they tend to have positive attitudes regarding NASA. Their scientific literacy levels and public support for space exploration are related and this is most evident in political science and health science majors. It may be that the better educated one is about space
science, the more likely he or she is to become an informed citizen who participates in public discourse and is therefore more optimistic and supportive of space science [3]. This could be evaluated in future studies using surveys specific to knowledge of space exploration and NASA. More research should be conducted regarding support for US space exploration and scientific literacy among this generation as they are the future taxpayers, voters and decision makers on space policy. Appendix A. Scientific knowledge and literacy survey
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
13.
The center of the Earth is very hot. All radioactivity is man-made. Lasers work by focusing sound waves. Electrons are smaller than atoms. The universe began with a huge explosion. The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the sun go around the Earth? How long does it take for the Earth to go around the sun? It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria. Human beings, as we know them today developed from earlier species of animals. A doctor tells a couple that their genetic makeup means that they’ve got one in four chances of having a child with an inherited illness. Does this mean that if their first child has the illness, the next three will not? A doctor tells a couple that their genetic makeup means that they’ve got one in four chances of having a child with an inherited illness. Does this mean that each one of the couple’s children will have the same risk of suffering from an illness?
TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE
FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE TRUE
FALSE FALSE
YES
NO
YES
NO
(continued on next page)
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(continued) 14.
Two scientists want to know if a certain drug is effective against high blood pressure. The first scientist wants to give the drug to 1000 people with high blood pressure and see how many of them experience lower blood pressure levels. The second scientist wants to give the drug to 500 people with high blood pressure and not give the drug to another 500 people with high blood pressure, and see how many in both groups experience lower blood pressure levels. Which is the better way to test this drug?
Appendix B. American space exploration survey 1. In your opinion, how good a job is the U.S. doing in the following areas? (Very good job, A good job, Not a very good job, A very poor job) Handling the war on terrorism. Handling national disasters, such as floods, global warming, etc. Maintaining its leadership in space exploration. Addressing the healthcare needs of the nation. 2. Since the announcement in 2004 of America’s new plan for humans to return to the moon and prepare for expeditions to Mars, the budget for NASA has been held at one-sixth of one percent of the total federal budget, lower than the 1% NASA originally requested in 2006. One percent would be approximately $58 per year for the average citizen. To what extent would you support increasing NASA’s budget to 1% of the federal budget? (Strongly support it, Support it, Oppose it, Strongly Oppose it) 3. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the scientific, technical and other benefits of space exploration are worth the risks of human space flight? (Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree) 4. Both China and the U.S. have announced plans to send astronauts to the moon. China has announced plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2017 and the U.S. has announced plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2018, a year later. To what extent, if any, are you concerned that China would become the new leader in space exploration or take the lead over the U.S.? (Very concerned, Somewhat concerned, Not very concerned, Not concerned at all) 5. To what extent do you believe America’s space program inspires young people to consider an education in science, technology, math, or engineering fields? (A great deal, Some, Very little, Not much at all) 6. As you may know the U.S. space shuttles will retire in 2010. The first launch of the Constellation Program is scheduled for 2015,
leaving a five-year gap between 2010, the space shuttle’s last scheduled mission, and the first schedule launch of the Constellation Program. During the five-year period, America will need to access the International Space Station through the Russian Space Agency who would ferry crew members to the Station. How concerned are you that the U.S. will not have direct access to the Space Station during these five years? (Very concerned, Somewhat concerned, Not very concerned, Not concerned at all) 7. This five-year gap in American space travel would principally be caused by a lack of money in NASA’s budget. How willing are you to support an increase in taxes if the money was to go to NASA to help close this five-year budget deficit? (Very willing, Somewhat willing, Not too willing, Not willing at all)
References [1] Miller JD. Is there public support for space exploration. Environ 1984;26(5): 25e35. [2] The Gallup Organization. Coalition for space exploration: american support for space exploration is strong, www.spacecoalition.com; 2008. [3] Smith HA. In: Challenges in affecting US attitudes towards space science. Advances in space research: Proceedings of the COSPAR-2000 Warsaw Symposium on the public understanding of space science; 2000. [4] Launius RD. Public opinion polls and perceptions of US human spaceflight. Space Pol 2003;19:163e75. [5] Miller JD. The measurement of civic scientific literacy. Pub Understand Sci 1998;7:203e23. [6] National Science Board. Science & engineering indicatorse2008. Arlington VA: National Science Foundation; 2008. Report No.: NSB 08e01. [7] Miller J. Civic scientific literacy in Europe and the United States. World Assoc Pub Opinion Res, http://www.arcsfoundation.org/Pittsburgh/jmiller.pdf; 2006. [8] Gravois J. Condemed to repeat it. Chron Higher Ed 2006;53:A21. [9] Bauerlein M. A very long disengagement. Chron Higher Ed 2006;52:B6. [10] Miller JD. Civic scientific literacy: a necessity in the 21st century. FAS Pub Int Rep 2002;55:3e6. [11] Dittmar ML. Engaging the 18e25 generation: educational outreach, interactive technologies, and space. AIAA Space; 2006. [12] Brown F. Space agencies and public outreachemust try harder. Space Pol 2007;23:1e2. [13] Blosser PE. Procedures to increase the entry of women in science-related careers. ERIC Sci Math Env Educ 1990;1:1e8. [14] Grigg WS, Lauko MA, Brockway DM. The nation’s report card: science; 2005. [15] Finarelli P, Pryke I. Building and maintaining the constituency for long-term space exploration. Space Pol 2007;23:13e9. [16] Anonymous. National priorities project, http://www.nationalpriorities.org; 2009. [17] Jones H, Yeoman K, Cockell C. A pilot survey of attitudes to space sciences and exploration among british school children. Space Pol 2007;23:20e3. [18] Ottavianelli G, Good M. Space education: a step forward. Space Pol 2002; 18:117e27. [19] Joyce S, Ferguson C, Weinstein P. Public support for mars missions: the importance of informing the next generation. Acta Astronaut 2009;64:718e23.