Check this out. The full report, Science and the Educated American: A Core Component of Liberal Education, may be downloaded free of charge at http://www.amacad.org/publications/scienceSLAC.aspx
Chapter 7 features the insights of SciCheer collaborator and friend, Professor James Trefil. He worked with me and the 76ers cheerleaders on the Brain Makeover, our very earliest attempt to help increase adult science literacy. We’re craaaaaazy. Test your own level of science literacy by taking the fun, brief Brain Makeover quiz.

This new report shows promising gains in U.S. adult science literacy. (We’re 2nd only to Sweden.) So why do students rank so low in international comparisons? One theory, according to Professor John Miller (author of the report), “America is the only major country that requires almost all its college and university students to complete a full year of science. So the scientific literacy of U.S. adults is relatively high compared to the general adult populations of other developed nations.”
Still, while approximately 44 percent of American adults can define DNA correctly, “only 20 percent can define the meaning of a stem cell.” How can we weigh in on these matters if we don’t understand what a stem cell is?
——
University of Michigan
US public’s knowledge of science: Getting better but a long way to go

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Amid concerns about the lagging math and science performance of American children, American adults are actually scoring higher than they did 20 years ago on a widely used index of civic scientific literacy, according to a University of Michigan researcher.
In 1988, just 10 percent of U.S. adults had sufficient understanding of basic scientific ideas to be able to read the Tuesday Science section of The New York Times, according to Jon Miller, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR). By 2008, 28 percent of adults scored high enough to understand scientific ideas at that level.
Despite the improvement, the American public has a long way to go, says Miller, who contributed to the latest publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Science and the Educated American.
“America’s democracy depends on having a larger number of scientifically literate citizens,” said Miller, who directs the ISR International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy and has pioneered methods of assessing comparative levels of scientific understanding over time. “Today’s political agenda includes debates over global climate change, embryonic stem cells, future energy sources, and the possibility of a viral pandemic. And as the twenty-first century progresses, scientific issues are only likely to become more prominent features of the political landscape.”
In fact, America is the only major country that requires almost all its college and university students to complete a full year of science, Miller points out. So the scientific literacy of U.S. adults is relatively high compared to the general adult populations of other developed nations. But given the on-going changes in many fields of science, most adults will learn most of their information about science after they leave formal schooling.
To track changes in scientific literacy over time, Miller developed sets of durable, core questions that assess understanding of basic scientific constructs in several areas. These areas include understanding of simple probability statements, the relationship of atoms, molecules, and electrons, of the universe and solar system, and the life sciences, where public confusion is greatest. With funding from a variety of sources, including the National Science Foundation, he surveyed national samples of the U.S. adult population in 1988, 1999 and 2008 to assess levels of what he calls “civic scientific literacy.”
Only 37 percent of American adults accepted the concept of biological evolution in 2008, Miller reports, and the level of acceptance has declined over the last twenty years. Approximately 44 percent of American adults can define DNA correctly, but only 20 percent can define the meaning of a stem cell.
While 85 percent of adults recognize that all plants and animals have DNA, only 27 percent of Americans think that more than half of human genes are identical to those of mice.
“Looking to the future, we must increase the proportion of scientifically literate adults in our society,” Miller said. “Scientific literacy is not a cure or an antidote in and of itself. It is, however, a prerequisite for preserving a society that values science and is able to sustain its democratic values and traditions.”

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A copy of Science and the Educated American: A Core Component of Liberal Education, may be downloaded free of charge at http://www.amacad.org/publications/scienceSLAC.aspx

We’re on a roll, team! Two years ago this month, ScienceCheerleader.com launched with three goals:

1) help increase adult science literacy (see Brain Makeover). [Check!]

2) raise the ranks of citizen scientists and create a shared space for researchers and the public to socialize and work together. (see ScienceForCitizens.net) [Check!]

3) open doors to public participation in science policy (see this breaking news item) [Check!]

Thursday’s ground-breaking announcement in Washington, D.C. marked an important milestone for us (we accomplished the third goal); but, more importantly, it has already started to alter thinking in Washington, D.C. and within the science community.

Two years ago, some folks thought I was “misguided,” “naive,” “nuts,” to push for this level of public participation in science. (It’s one thing to ask someone to help count fireflies or monitor water quality, but to suggest people might add value to critical science policy discussions sometimes drew reactions of shock and horror.)

In two short years, the reactions have changed considerably. On Thursday,  when we issued a report on how to build a 21st century technology assessment mechanism, and announced the formation of a network that will put the report into action, the response was incredible. From Beth Noveck at the White House, to representatives from the EPA and other government agencies as well as universities, museums–and, yes, even scientists–the reception was remarkably warm if not enthusiastic.

Here’s a virtual toast to everyone who helped make this happen. Now rest up because we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.

Posts have been less frequent because I’ve been prepping for the ScienceOnline 2010 conference in North Carolina where I’ll be speaking on the topics of Science in the Media (with Dr. Kiki); Adult Science Literacy; and Citizen Science.

Exciting news to add: I’ll be doing a soft launch of SciCheer’s sister site: ScienceForCitizens.net . It’s something my partner, Michael Gold, and I have been working on for a long time. Thanks to the generous support of Science House and help from our own Dr. John Ohab, the site is finally crystalizing! Known as “THE source for people who want to do science,” the site will serve as a Craigslist meets Match.com in the realm of citizen science. Interested in learning about or participating in research projects? We’ve got something for you (no degree? no worries! ). Looking to  find volunteers for your project? Just add it to our (soon-to-be extensive) database of projects.

Sign up to be notified when the site is live (Saturday morning) and consider joining us on Twitter (@sci4cits) and Facebook: Science For Citizens .

That’s right! These four Eagles cheerleaders are big fans of science (one’s even a math geek). This past week, I interviewed these brainy cheerleaders and we talked about what sparked their love of science…and much more.  Stay tuned for that video! (Thanks to the Eagles for making this possible.)

Come meet the Science Cheerleader team, see professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers as they dance and cheer on science, and get your hands dirty doing science with ScienceForCitizens.net activities!

At the USA Science and Engineering Festival
Festival Dates: 10/10/10 – 10/24/10
Expo on the National Mall: October 23 and 24, 2010

Larry Bock is THE reason this widely anticipated festival will take place. Building upon his success with the San Diego Science Festival, Bock’s current mission in life is to have science take over Washington, DC!

A little bit about Larry, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with on several occasions. He’s a successful serial entrepreneur who has founded, co-founded or financed the early stage growth of 40 companies in the life and physical sciences from inception to achieving an aggregate market capitalization of in excess of $30 Billion.   He and his wife have contributed $250,000 of their own money toward the Science Festival effort and he’s  working full-time on the Festival and is not drawing any compensation. His drive is inherent in his daughter, too. (Check out her clever website where she markets her handmade headbands.)

Here’s Bock’s vision for the U.S.A. Science and Engineering Festival:

The Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival will be the country’s first national science festival and will descend on the Washington, D.C. area in the Fall of 2010. The Festival promises to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States. The culmination of the Festival will be a two-day Expo in the nation’s capital that will give over 500 science & engineering organizations from all over the United States the opportunity to present themselves with a hands-on, fun science activity to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Will you be there when science takes over the National Mall? I will, in three exhibits. Come visit the Science Cheerleader team in the following exhibits (click here for current list of exhibitors–200 strong already!)

Brains and Beauty coexist. If you need proof, come see professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers as they dance and cheer on science!

Give Your Brain a Makeover (And Meet Cheerleaders!)
Come take the fun, online adult science literacy quiz (featuring the 76ers cheerleaders) and become a bonafide Science Literate! Meet the Science Cheerleader and widely acclaimed expert and author, Prof. Trefill. Plus, chat with professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers who will talk about ways they bridged these seemingly different worlds.

And activities from my soon-to-be-launched mega site, ScienceForCitizens.net , will be featured as well:

Get your hands dirty with science through ScienceforCitizens.net. Interactive demos of research projects you can join. From bugs to birds, kitchen chemistry to computer games, environmental monitoring to electronic music. Win a science trip!

I hope to see you at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in October, 2010.

What if the media covered baseball like it covers science?

Larry Husten, founder of CardioBrief.org , poses this question and presents some interesting scenarios following this line of thought. For example, the World Series would receive one article in each major paper– after the series ended–set in no context at all (a la the Nobel Prize).

Check out Husten’s piece.

You’ll see this sweet intro where he has this to say about Science Cheerleader’s Brain Makeover effort to increase adult science literacy and bring science to the public:

“Beneath the highly attractive surface here there’s something important going on. I don’t know if the Science Cheerleader can single-handedly reverse the course of scientific illiteracy, but she deserves all the cheers we can give her for at least giving it the old college try. (Thanks to USA Today reporter Rita Rubin for tweeting about this.)”

Yale’s official mascot (known as Handsome Dan XV11, or Sherman, if you live with him) was in Philly for the Yale v Penn game so I thought I’d help give him a science makeover with the help of Discover Magazine. He’s definitely an Ivy Leaguer. (Thanks, Keli, Churchill and Dana for your participation!)

See how Yale, Discover and the Templeton Foundation partnered up to explore this question: Does evolution explain human nature.

Thanks to ace reporter Nicole Brewer at CBS 3 in Philadelphia for putting this TV news feature together. In it, she talks about our efforts here on Science Cheerleader, to increase science literacy and raise the ranks of citizen scientists. GOOOOO Science! (Here’s a companion web feature.)

Part of the Brain Makeover, adult science literacy effort. People must fancy learning about the predictability of the universe (ok, Deidre’s easy on the eyes…there’s that, too).  Check it out.

Now THIS radio interview was fun. And, more importantly, the fact we’ve hit FOX national news, the Toronto Star , news media in Switzerland, Argentina and the U.K., and this hard rock station (WXRX) in the mid west, tells us we are accomplishing what we set out to do. Reach “real” people (outside the traditional science community) and turn them onto science!

The interview touches on the crisis of adult science literacy, efforts to push Congress and scientists to establish real dialogue with citizens, and plans to create a “Craigslist meets Match.com” for people who want to DO science (aka Citizen Scientists).

GOOOO Science.

Check out the 15 minute radio interview, here:

sciencecheerleadera