The race gap in science knowledge
*With so much emphasis on STEM and STEM education, this might look as of it’s belaboring the obvious. This study serves as a good baseline of Latino workforce, understanding of science concepts and Latino STEM occupations. There’s important infomratin here that needs to be read and shared. VL
By Monica Amderson, Pew Research Center
There is a significant gap in knowledge about scientific concepts along racial and ethnic lines in the U.S., according to a new Pew Research Center reportreleased last week.
[pullquote][tweet_dis]According to a 2013 U.S. Census Bureau report, Hispanics, who make up 15% of the overall labor force, held 7% of jobs related to STEM fields[/tweet_dis].[/pullquote]When asked a series of 12 science-related questions, whites, on average, fared better than blacks or Hispanics. While the average number of questions whites answer correctly is 8.4, for Hispanics that number is lower – 7.1 – and drops to 5.9 for blacks. (There were not enough Asian respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis.)
Our latest findings are consistent with previous Pew Research surveys and with data from the General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. These differences tend to span multiple scientific disciplines, from life and earth sciences to physics and energy-related questions.
But why is this? Research suggests there might be several factors at play, and they often are interconnected. Educational attainment – such as the different shares of blacks and whites to have college degrees – may be one. Another issue might relate to the underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workforce. And access to science information may also play a role in how well people cultivate an understanding of the subject.
Click HERE to read the full story.
[Photo by Jeremy Wilburn/Flickr]
