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Turns out Canadians are very highly ranked when it comes to public knowledge about science according to a new expert panel.
On Thursday the Council of Canadian Academies released the report that found Canadians excel in public science knowledge, attitudes and engagement. It’s not all good news though as researchers determined there is room for improvement in some areas, such as skills development.
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“Overall, our 14-member expert panel found that Canadians perform well across a range of science culture indicators,” said Dr. Arthur Carty, Chair of the Expert Panel. “It is important that we continue to strive for a society that looks to science to inform decisions and to broaden our world view.”
The survey looked at 2,000 Canadians and does not include recommendations but rather provides evidence and insights for policy makers and others looks to strengthen science culture. Key findings include that Canadians have positive attitudes towards science and technology and low levels of reservations about science compared to other countries.
Canadians rank first out of 17 countries when it comes to reservations about science. Canada also ranks ninth out of 17 in terms of attitudes regarding the promise of science. A total of 93 per cent of Canadians surveyed report being moderately or very interested in scientific discoveries and technological developments. Canada ranked first out of 33 countries on this measure.
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Consistent with other countries, survey respondents who were: younger; male; highly educated; and/or had high incomes levels had a greater interest in science. Canada ranks first on a science literacy index among countries with similar available data, though this ranking should be viewed with caution as science literacy has been increasing over time in most countries and data for other countries is less recent.
Despite Canada’s strong performance internationally, more than half of Canadians surveyed still lack the level of science knowledge needed to understand current public debates about issues involving science and technology.
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