Science Ideas Questionnaire

Welcome to the Science Ideas Questionnaire. Please take a few moments to answer all questions in each of the four sections below. Thank you for your time and participation.

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I. Please rate the following items on the scale to the right:

	strongly agree	agree	neutral	disagree	strongly disagree
1. I dread mathematics class
2. Working on mathematics problems makes me tense
3. Mathematics is easier for me than it is for most people
4. I just cannot understand mathematics
5. If I need to learn new mathematics for my job, it will be easy for me
6. The desire to avoid mathematics is affecting my career choice
7. If I need to learn new scientific information for my job, it will be easy for me.
8. I enjoy tasks that involve generating new solutions to problems.
9. I think I have learned a lot in my previous science classes.
10. I like reading scientific magazines or books.
	strongly agree	agree	neutral	disagree	strongly disagree
11. I enjoy working on science projects, activities, or exercises.
12. I find science to be closely related to everyday life situation or experiences.
13. Understanding the concepts in science is much more important to me than the grade I get.
14. The desire to avoid science is affecting my career choice.
15. When learning a new scientific concept I sometimes wonder if I can get through the complexity and finally understand it.
16. The fact that there are different theories to explain the same phenomenon makes learning science difficult.
17. When I study science it is hard for me to sort out conflicting arguments and facts.
18. There are some science concepts that I will never understand no matter how hard I try.
19. Learning science, in general, is boring to me.
	strongly agree	agree	neutral	disagree	strongly disagree
20. In my science classes I mainly study things that I think will be on tests or assignments.
21. I don't expect to use many of the concepts covered in science classes, except recalling them for exams.
22. The credibility of scientific theories often comes from their ability to show relationships among phenomena that had seemed unrelated.
23. Science is an accumulated body of factual information.
24. In finding answers to one set of questions about how the world works, scientists unearth new questions, ones that could not have been formulated earlier.
25. The logic of scientific method is the same in all fields of science.
26. Good scientific theories often simplify our picture of the world by organizing a large number of facts into a pattern that is easy to remember and navigate.
27. What is called scientific knowledge, in any particular domain, is just the consensus among self-appointed experts in that domain.
28. When scientific theories change, the facts or observations that seem most important to explain may also change.

II. How likely would you be to pursue each of these careers?

	now seriously considering	likely	perhaps	unlikely	never
29. Politician
30. Business Executive
31. Computer Scientist
32. Artist
33. Environmental Analyst
34. Doctor
35. Chemist/Physicist
36. Lawyer
	now seriously considering	likely	perhaps	unlikely	never
37. Elementary Teacher
38. Psychologist
39. Sociologist
40. Biologist
41. Engineer
42. Historian
43. Architect
44. Journalist/Writer

III. Please think about your career choices after college. Don't focus on your first post-college job, rather, think about plausible or hoped-for careers, which could occupy you for a number of years. As you think about the positive and negative aspects such careers, how important to you is each of the following goals?

	Extremely Important	Quite Important	Somewhat Important	Not at all Important
45. Understanding some of nature's beautiful and complex patterns
46. Having some chance to achieve lasting recognition for my work
47. Contributing to the achievement of a fair and just society
48. Working for world peace
49. Contributing to protection of the environment
50. Conquering disease and alleviating suffering
51. Being recognized and highly respected because of my position
52. Having the chance to make a lot of money
53. Being independent and self-sufficient
	Extremely Important	Quite Important	Somewhat Important	Not at all Important
54. Being in a field where it is generally easy to find a good job
55. Having substantial opportunity to be creative and original
56. Having interesting problems to solve in my job
57. Avoiding intensive use of mathematics
58. Working primarily with things, rather than with people
59. Spending substantial time working quietly by myself
60. Avoiding intensive writing demands
61. Making intensive use of mathematics
62. Engaging intensively in writing

IV. For each of the following multiple choice questions, choose the one answer you believe to be the most correct.

63. A certain uncommon disease is known to be the correct diagnosis in about 5% of all women who present a particular set of symptoms. There is a simple test for this disease. It gives positive results in almost every case where the testee is actually suffering from the disease; but it also gives positive results in about 1 out of 10 testees who do not have the disease.

Your current patient has the symptoms in question and has a positive test result. What is the probability that she has the disease?

	about 10%
	about 35%
	about 65%
	about 85%

64. Suppose that the effects of two different enrichment procedures for teaching elementary mathematics are evaluated. Enrichment (1) produces an observed average improvement of 0.3 grade level on standard tests, and this result is statistically significant at the .001 level. Enrichment (2) produces an observed average improvement of 0.6 grade level and this is statistically significant at the .05 level.

Consider the following two questions:

Which finding is more likely to be replicated, in a new study that is similar to the original study?

Which enrichment is more promising for follow-up?

	Enrichment (1) is both more likely to be replicated and more promising
	Enrichment (2) is both more likely to be replicated and more promising
	Enrichment (1) is more likely to be replicated but (2) is more promising
	Enrichment (2) is more likely to be replicated but (1) is more promising

65. Three astronauts are floating free outside their orbiting capsule. Two of them decide to play catch using the third as a ball. All the astronauts weigh about the same amount on Earth, and are about equally strong. How long will the game last?

	It will be cut very short: the "ball" will fall toward the planet they are orbiting
	It will be cut very short: the two players will begin to separate rapidly, because momentum is conserved
	It will last longer than it would on Earth because the effort to overcome gravity in throwing the "ball" is so much
	It will last much longer than it would on Earth, because of relativistic time dilation

66. What is the main reason that the tropics are warmer than the polar regions year round?

	The equator is closer to the sun
	Tropical air is more humid and thus traps more heat than dry polar air
	Sunlight strikes the Earth more directly in the tropics, at more of an oblique angle in the polar regions
	Tropical rainforests are darker and absorb more sunlight than the bright snow-covered polar regions

67. Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum accounts for the largest outflow of energy emitted by the Earth to space?

	ultraviolet
	visible
	infrared
	microwave

68. A high C from an opera diva is capable of shattering a glass. A stereo manufacturer advertises the quality of his receiver/amplifier by demonstrating that a radio broadcast of the same aria, using his system, can also shatter the glass. Why, since the aria is being broadcast by the station anyway, doesn't the glass break even with the stereo turned off?

	Because the stereo amplifies the broadcast signal greatly
	Because the broadcast signal goes only to the antenna, and no farther, unless the stereo receiver is on
	Because radio broadcasts are designed to use only safe frequencies
	Because electromagnetic waves are broadcast, while the glass can only be shattered by acoustic waves

69. Two balloons that have the same weight and volume are filled with equal amounts of helium (which is less dense than air and, therefore, causes the balloon to "float"). One balloon is rigid and the other is free to expand or contract as the external pressure changes. Which balloon will rise higher when released?

	The non-rigid balloon will expand as air pressure decreases; thus it will displace a larger air volume, producing more buoyancy
	The non-rigid balloon will cool more as it rises; thus the rigid balloon, being warmer, will rise higher
	The rigid balloon will cool more as it rises; because it is cooler than the non-rigid one, it will not rise as high
	The rigid balloon will be subjected to constant forces and will continue to rise indefinitely, while the non-rigid one compensates and reaches an equilibrium height

70. Suppose you want an accurate measurement of a person's resting heart rate. Which is apt to be least accurate?

	Count beats for a 3 minute resting interval. Divide the total count by 3 to estimate beats per minute
	Count beats for just a 15-sec resting interval. Multiply the total count by 4 to estimate beats per minute
	Count beats for 3 separate one-minute resting intervals, at different times. Average the three counts to get the estimate
	Count beats for 12 separate 15-sec resting intervals, at different times. Average all 12 counts, and multiply by 4

71. Which is apt to be the most accurate?

	Count beats for a 3 minute resting interval. Divide the total count by 3 to estimate beats per minute
	Count beats for just a 15-sec resting interval. Multiply the total count by 4 to estimate beats per minute
	Count beats for 3 separate one-minute resting intervals, at different times. Average the three counts to get the estimate
	Count beats for 12 separate 15-sec resting intervals, at different times. Average all 12 counts, and multiply by 4

72. I once flew over Manhattan in a helicopter from Newark to Kennedy airports. To estimate how high we were flying, I held out my thumb (1/2" across) at 2 feet from my eye, and noticed that it just covered the full length of a taxicab on the street below. About how high were we flying?

	200 feet
	600 feet
	1200 feet
	2400 feet

73. Milk made radioactive by strontium 90 can be rendered both safe and nutritious by:

	high-temperature pasteurization
	waiting out the half-life of strontium 90
	precipitating the calcium and strontium from the milk
	none of the the above

74. The temperature at the center of the earth is:

	completely unknown
	very hot
	gradually increasing
	rapidly decreasing toward absolute zero

75. Antibiotics kill:

	viruses only
	bacteria only
	disease-producing bacteria only
	both bacteria and some viruses

76. The oxygen we breathe:

	is produced by plants
	was produced by ancient volcanoes, now dead
	is released from the deepest part of the ocean
	is mainly produced by natural electrolysis of water

77. Electrons:

	are found mainly in the nuclei of atoms
	have wavelengths similar to the radio waves used for FM transmission
	always move at the speed of light
	have mass much smaller than the mass of the lightest atoms

78. When there is a full moon in New York, residents of Sydney will, about 12 hours later, see:

	a new (dark or absent) Moon
	a full moon in the northern sky
	a full Moon in the southern sky
	a crescent moon overhead

79. The following represents a correct ordering by time of appearance on Earth, earliest to most recent:

	dinosaurs, plants, plankton, mammoths, hominids
	plankton, plants, dinosaurs, hominids, mammoths
	sharks, dinosaurs, Ice-Age cavemen, flowering plants
	bacteria, lizards, hominids, dinosaurs

80. Phases of the moon are caused by:

	changes in the shadow of the Earth on the moon, because of the relative motion of the Earth and moon
	changes in how much of the moon is illuminated by the sun, because of the relative motion of the moon and sun
	changes in the portion we can see of the illuminated half of the moon, because of changes the position of the Earth relative to the sun-moon axis
	clouds and other atmospheric phenomena on Earth

81. The following is a correct ordering, largest to smallest in mass:

	universe, galaxy, star, earth, moon
	star, galaxy, universe, earth, moon
	universe, galaxy, star, moon, earth
	universe, galaxy, earth, star, moon

82. The following is a correct ordering, largest to smallest in mass:

	proton, sugar molecule, carbon atom, HIV virus, muscle cell
	muscle cell, sugar molecule, carbon atom, HIV virus, proton
	muscle cell, carbon atom, proton, HIV virus, sugar molecule
	muscle cell, HIV virus, sugar molecule, carbon atom, proton

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