60% of 10-year-olds, thought Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire

[Eoin666]

Quite funny if it wasn't so pathetic.......


One in 10 children thinks the Queen invented the telephone, a survey of children's science knowledge suggests.

Others gave credit for the invention to Charles Darwin and Noel Edmonds.

One in 20 of the 1,000 pupils polled thought Star Wars character Luke Skywalker or Richard Branson had been the first to set foot on the Moon.

Some 60% of nine- and 10-year-olds thought Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire, the survey for science campaign Birmingham Science City found.

Despite these misconceptions, more children want to win a Nobel prize for science than the X Factor.

The survey of primary and secondary school children in the UK suggests there is some confusion about key scientific achievements.

Just under a half of boys (49%) correctly pinned down gravity as Newton's ground-breaking discovery, compared with 76% of girls.

Just over a third of boys said Newton discovered fire, while the remaining 16% either said he invented the internet, or discovered the solar system or America.

Eight out of 10 boys correctly identified Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone, compared with 69% of girls.

Dr Pam Waddell from Birmingham Science City said: "While some of these findings will raise a smile, it suggests that school children aren't tuned into our scientific heroes in the same way that they might be to sporting or music legends."

She suggested it was clear that primary school children had a real interest in science.

"In fact, nearly 70% of nine and 10-year-olds would like to be famous for winning a Nobel Prize in science, yet this drops to only 33% among 11 to 15-year-olds.

"It appears children are losing an interest in science at secondary school, so more needs to be done to excite teenagers about the subject and rekindle some of their early childhood aspirations," she added.

The poll was carried out online with a panel of 1,000 UK children in early March by OnePoll.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8565258.stm

[Hollis]

Newton invented the Fig Newton, named after himself. Maybe fig newtons are not popular in the UK.

In the states, 10 year olds would be in 5th grade. Things don't start happening later.

[Steelersfan413]

That's acceptable with me. My 14 year old sister didn't know who our first president was... SMH

[2495]

Newton invented the Fig Newton, named after himself. Maybe fig newtons are not popular in the UK.


Fig Rolls HOLLiS! they are a damn national treasure this side of the Pond.




In the states, 10 year olds would be in 5th grade. Things don't start happening later.

At 10 I wouldn't expect them all to know about Gravity and who discovered it. Hardly a pressing fact is it? not like Gravity is going anywhere soon.

[Confuse]

it ok, 60% of 20 years won't know either...ahh the public school system, at least they will learn how to roll a blunt aka. joint aka. weed and pimp some hoes ... I weep for the future

[Steelersfan413]

it ok, 60% of 20 years won't know either...ahh the public school system, at least they will learn how to roll a blunt aka. joint aka. weed and pimp some hoes ... I weep for the future

Ain't nothing wrong with public school holmes..

[G-AWZT]

"Reality" TV, and current music are known by 100% of our teens and early 20 somethings. That will help our nation be numba 1 strong.

[Steelersfan413]

"Reality" TV, and current music are known by 100% of our teens and early 20 somethings. That will help our nation be numba 1 strong.

Reality TV is the epitome of stupidity.

[3rdMillhouse]

A bright future for England I see.

[LineDoggie]

Our kids are likely just as Bad......

[skyeye]

Maybe if they weren’t learning how to roll a condom on a cucumber, or how be multicultural drones, they'd have time for history, math and science. And that goes for both sides of the pond.

[3rdMillhouse]

But who am I to kid myself, our brats are far worse. Most of them at 10 don't even have basic math and portuguese skills.

[CMNot]

Knowing who invented the telephone will really secure ones future.

When I was 10 all I was interested in seeing and knowing was whether Jerry Rice would run in three dozen TDs for the 49ers that week or who clamouring to see Rush knock in a hat-trick at Anfield.

[muck]

60% of 10-year-olds, thought Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire Actually I would have expected an outcome far worse than that. We may live in the era of information, but in fact most people are just as ill-informed as the people of the middle ages were.

[Niall]

100% of 10 year olds surveyed were telling porkie-pies. You seriously can't think that 10 year olds were all telling the truth cos I sure as hell would have said Luke Skywalker first set foot on the moon! Plus what child hasn't seen Star Wars?

[The Investigator]

I noticed in that article it said that out of the boys only 49% answered correct and 76% of the girls answered correct. I noticed in public schools in Canada teachers would put more time and effort into the girls. Not in all cases but in most. They seemed to let us boys do whatever we wanted.

However I am not living in the UK and the public school experience is most likely different. All I know is my little Nephew could've answered all those questions correctly.

[CG51]

http://www.walletpop.com/mortgages/worst-performing-public-schools

We spend so much money on education in this country and we get little return on the investment. No wonder we seek students from overseas in areas of science and mathematics. But hey, at least our kids know how to put a rubber on a banana.

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

I doubt most of my class at 10 could have done better as history was not really pushed until ages around 10 + and that was 32 years ago.

[G-AWZT]

Well it isn't just kids to be fair. A friend of mine since the third grade still doesn't have an atlas in his house and he's 41. There isn't an ounce of wanting to know where places are in the world apparently.
Yeah he could use a computer but there's something to picking up a book and leafing through it's pages. Nobody reads anymore.

[Cabalabro]

I am rather surprised that 10 years old children knew anything about Isaac Newton. This is a rather stupid study. Ok you got the results but maybe you should compare them with others. I mean who knows maybe those children are smarter than those in the rest of the world..

[Eoin666]

I think 10yrs old is too young to be worrying too much about kid's science/history/gen knowledge, children aren't getting a a chance to be children anymore.

At 10 all I thought was 'is it home time yet', playing footy by having to break into the local footy pitch/park (we lived on a hill, not good for the goaly fetching the ball!), and 'what time is tea, mom'.

Still how many 10yr olds in this country 'play' outside nowadays, those that do hang around on street corners, and the rest are on their playstation

[wotsnext]

Not a great sample is it?...........1000 FFS.

[TheGaffer]

Richard Branson may 1 day set foot on the moon, So its not too bad.

[Austra]

Haha. Least here I wouldn't have had a clue who those people were when I was then and I certaintly didn't give a **** either. I was more interested in cartoons and footy. Ask most kids from any country and they won't know either. You know what I'll do. I will get a bunch of 10 year olds at school tomorrow and ask them if they know.

[LineDoggie]

Well it isn't just kids to be fair. A friend of mine since the third grade still doesn't have an atlas in his house and he's 41. There isn't an ounce of wanting to know where places are in the world apparently.
Yeah he could use a computer but there's something to picking up a book and leafing through it's pages. Nobody reads anymore.Does he have a Computer? I dont have an Atlas (gave it to the nephew) but if I need to verify a Location, a surf away......

[KoTeMoRe]

Newton invented the Fig Newton, named after himself. Maybe fig newtons are not popular in the UK.

In the states, 10 year olds would be in 5th grade. Things don't start happening later.

Running shoes, he invented them too, in Colorado along with his friend Bao Bao (who was responsible for the whole sewing process).

[Uglymug]

Why would a child give a sh*t? I'm sure the children of the past took turds that were bigger than their interest in Isaac Newton, or any other Sir. I'm sure a 10-14 year old could utilize that excellent knowledge in their search for a first job, chasing girls, or learning to masturbate. Oh yeah, especially that last one, if it's a girl (or an early-developed curious boy, if that's your thing), Sir Newton is gonna help there. A picture being obviously necessary, if they have a fetish for older James May look-a-likes.

[KoTeMoRe]

Really? Are you telling me that it is useless for a child to be culturally and intellectually aware? No beacause the fact is that my son, had his fair share of intellectual "beatings" along with a poor excuse of a mom that still thinks just like your rant. Had it been for her he'd still be learning to use pen and paper. All this while we both are holders of uni degrees and fancy ourselves as intellectuals. My point is that kids (boys especially) need to be awaken as early as possible to science, culture and that beyond the pathetic $h!t that is being disguised as education (out of the classroom). I'm all for human interaction and skills but for christ sake, I'd take your average egg head over any dom Juan when $hit hits the fan.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

I think by 10 a lot of kids really should know this stuff. If they can be expected to absorb abstract concepts like global warming and all the other garbage that's crammed down their necks, they can learn what Sir Isaac Newton was up to.

BTW Eoin666, your avatar is 100% win.

[Uglymug]

Really? Are you telling me that it is useless for a child to be culturally and intellectually aware? No beacause the fact is that my son, had his fair share of intellectual "beatings" along with a poor excuse of a mom that still thinks just like your rant. Had it been for her he'd still be learning to use pen and paper. All this while we both are holders of uni degrees and fancy ourselves as intellectuals. My point is that kids (boys especially) need to be awaken as early as possible to science, culture and that beyond the pathetic $h!t that is being disguised as education (out of the classroom). I'm all for human interaction and skills but for christ sake, I'd take your average egg head over any dom Juan when $hit hits the fan.

Hoorah, you have a Uni degree. I do as well, we are now super superior to other non-intellectual types (that was totally not dripping with sarcasm). If you think reaching out to a kid early and teaching him about Isaac Newton and other significant contributors to science or culture, great. I disagree however, I'll use myself as an example, although, not as a reason to prove you wrong, but rather just to illustrate my point. I resembled a retarded ape holding a banana (without the hair) during my years in Primary and Highschool (Junior High or something in America), I failed everything, and maybe through pure coincidence so did my brother. When I pulled my head out of my arse, and discovered that there was indeed, more interesting stuff out there when placed in comparison to my professional make-yourself-look-like-a-d*ckhead skills, then my acaedemic skills along with my attention span began to blossom.

Wouldn't make a difference if I knew about some nerd that discovered fire, or if Luke Skywalker walked on the moon. If you got your child to learn about some British geek with long hair, that's awesome. For me however, it matters little about the interests of the current generation of 10-14 year olds. As long they arn't into firing bow and arrows in crowds, or into self-discovery about golden showers, fisting or any other German national sports, it's A-OK with me.

On another note, I have no idea why you brought up the introduction of multicultural teachings and whatnot, since it clearly wasn't mentioned in my post, although I agree with you. In fact, I fantasise about eating bowls of onions and beans and doing one giant collective fart inside the mouths of the hardworking learner-makers of schools that teach this nonsense. Why, coincidentally just the other day, my niece called me a hyphenated Australian. Sly little smartarse, maybe I'll punish her by making her read about Isaac Newton..

[KoTeMoRe]

To uglymug...hum well to start with, sonny is a bit of a looker. Second, in no case I was trying to put myself above the crowd. it was meant as an example on how two similarly educated adults could have different POV on life and its priorities. I was merely having a go at my ex-wife instead of you. Third, a 10y old who knows the name of Isaac Newton but links it with the discovery of fire, is not "normal", he's just a moron and likely his parents are as well, regardless of their Curriculum. I'm not American, and I do not come from a Western background. If I'm that adamant into learning them kids the right way, is beacause we in the former CommBloc, lost a an entire generation (sometimes physically) to this whole "let-em-blossom-free" way of thinking. Furthermore when I moved to Belgium, the learning stadarts were different. More knowledge, less focus. That along with the necesseray drills to frimly acquire a sound comprehension of the said knowledge that were missing, expose me to the fact, we're not getting it right. So we got kids that could probably hack Iran's defense system, but unlikely to invade it because they don't know where (or what) the fvck Iran is! All that because they're to busy finding ways to gain access to Mary Rottencrotch's sugar nest...

That's it...all in all it's a matter of personnal choice that unfortunately early teen agers aren't able to make on their own, so it's up to the parents to decide...

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire? It was Prometheus, I forget the year.

Newton invented the wheel. Idiots.

[seraosha]

Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire? It was Prometheus, I forget the year.

Newton invented the wheel. Idiots.

Fool.

He invented apples, true story.

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Fool.

He invented apples, true story.

I thought that was Eve?

[seraosha]

I thought that was Eve?

Damn...you are right.
Was this before or after the dinosaur races?

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Damn...you are right.
Was this before or after the dinosaur races?

They couldn't have dinosaur races. Ringo Starr and Dennis Quaid killed them.

There was a documentary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveman_%28film%29) on it.

[Hyde]

Well they are just 10 years old, cut them a break. They haven't had physics in school, yet, so they naturally don't have anything to attach to the names of great inventors as they don't know what these things are. Ask them again when they're 14 or 16, it will sure look different by then.

[G-AWZT]

It was Prometheus, I forget the year.

.


The year was 1927. News of it was overshadowed by Lindberg's crossing.

[West Texican]

These types of polls are not designed to enlighten anyone, they are designed to give the pollsters something to do.

[coltfan111]

Television game shows are designed to make you feel better about the random useless facts that are all that is left of your education.

[Derbedeu]

What a bunch of tards.

Everyone knows Newton invented gravity.

[Chiptox]

These types of polls are not designed to enlighten anyone, they are designed to give the pollsters something to do.
It's part of their running narrative that schools are awful. We all should be mad at the schools because they make kids stupid. Outrage. Protest. Riot. Arson. Murder. Strongly worded letter to follow. etc

They conveniently leave out that fact that children are monumentally stupid. Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy. These are not beings a smart person would accept as real but now we're supposed to be outraged because the same kids who believe one have a tough time grasping historic figures and science. Stupid poll is stupid.

[deagle]

what the hell is in their curriculm !?!!? lol

and by the way, Chuck Norris invented fire.

[Eoin666]

Sir Isaac Newton discovered fire? It was Prometheus, I forget the year.

Newton invented the wheel. Idiots.

Prometheus, didn't he do the first liver transplant

[HellToupee]

They conveniently leave out that fact that children are monumentally stupid. Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy. These are not beings a smart person would accept as real but now we're supposed to be outraged because the same kids who believe one have a tough time grasping historic figures and science. Stupid poll is stupid.

Smart people can still beleive in pretty stupid things fairytales etc :P

[Eoin666]

Smart people can still beleive in pretty stupid things fairytales etc :P

That's an open invitation to a discussion about any world religion then

[CouchCommando]

Not a great sample is it?...........1000 FFS.

^^ one of my pet peeves in threads about statistics. Start educating your self from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics FFS.

[Basillicus]

If someone asked me who Isaac Newton was when I was 10 years old I would have probably answered he's a NHL player or the black dude in Loveboat. Knowing who Newton is has very little to do with science anyway, and a 10-year-old can hardly really understand the scientifical concepts Newton introduced, so I don't know what's the point asking stuff like that from kids. Tells more about scientifical incompetence of the makers of such survey.

[Zombiefruit]

If someone asked me who Isaac Newton was when I was 10 years old I would have probably answered he's a NHL player or the black dude in Loveboat. Knowing who Newton is has very little to do with science anyway, and a 10-year-old can hardly really understand the scientifical concepts Newton introduced, so I don't know what's the point asking stuff like that from kids. Tells more about scientifical incompetence of the makers of such survey.

Ovbiously you are not very intelligent. Newton was arguably the smartest man that has ever lived. He created 3 fundamental laws that governed celestial and terrestial movement for over 300 years, and are still used. He created Calculus. His masterwork, Principia, is one of the most influential books ever written in science. To say that knowing who Isaac Newton was has little to do with science is absurd. Would you say that knowing NHL players has little to do with hockey? Is hockey simply the rules that govern the game?

I have first hand knowledge that 10 year-olds CAN understand Newton's work. It doesn't mean that they need to understand calculus.

Knowledge of our species' history is incredibly important. Children need to understand what led to our understanding of this world, so that they can logically examine phenomena instead of taking the word of teachers or parents.

[Basillicus]

Ovbiously you are not very intelligent. Newton was arguably the smartest man that has ever lived. He created 3 fundamental laws that governed celestial and terrestial movement for over 300 years, and are still used. He created Calculus. His masterwork, Principia, is one of the most influential books ever written in science. To say that knowing who Isaac Newton was has little to do with science is absurd. Would you say that knowing NHL players has little to do with hockey? Is hockey simply the rules that govern the game?

Interesting comparison to ice hockey which isn't working too well for you. Knowing NHL players certainly doesn't make you a better ice hockey player. You need to know the rules and practice a lot, then maybe one day you can be one of the players rather than one of the fat guys sitting in the bench drinking beer and yelling profanities to the referee. Same thing with science. Education should give kids ability to do and understand science, not to quote trivia from history books.


Knowledge of our species' history is incredibly important. Children need to understand what led to our understanding of this world, so that they can logically examine phenomena instead of taking the word of teachers or parents.

Knowledge of history is important, but that is something that will be covered on the history classes. Science classes should focus to science. Otherwise the situation is just like you say, students have to rely on teachers and books and cannot do the calculations themselves.

[KoTeMoRe]

Newton did not create these laws...they existed, he simply gave a theoretical hypothesis that could render them useful and their effects predictable. Again he did not create, he emmited certain hypothesis.

Anyway...

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Newton did not create these laws...they existed, he simply gave a theoretical hypothesis that could render them useful and their effects predictable. Again he did not create, he emmited certain hypothesis.

Anyway...

XII. INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

ISAACUS NEWTONUS: QUEM IMMORTALEM TESTANTUR TEMPUS, NATURA, COELUM: MORTALEM HOC MARMOR FATETUR.

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

ALEXANDER POPE

[Zombiefruit]

Interesting comparison to ice hockey which isn't working too well for you. Knowing NHL players certainly doesn't make you a better ice hockey player. You need to know the rules and practice a lot, then maybe one day you can be one of the players rather than one of the fat guys sitting in the bench drinking beer and yelling profanities to the referee. Same thing with science. Education should give kids ability to do and understand science, not to quote trivia from history books.



Knowledge of history is important, but that is something that will be covered on the history classes. Science classes should focus to science. Otherwise the situation is just like you say, students have to rely on teachers and books and cannot do the calculations themselves.

I never said it would make you a better hockey player. I said that is would be absurd to say that knowing the players had nothing to do with hockey. Knowing Newton's contributions to science should be taught as part of the scientific curriculum, because it teaches students the background of the science they learn today.


Newton did not create these laws...they existed, he simply gave a theoretical hypothesis that could render them useful and their effects predictable. Again he did not create, he emmited certain hypothesis.

Anyway...

I knew someone would try to be a smartass and nitpick the phrasing. Newton created those laws. The phenomena they describe have always existed. The law is the actual statement and symbolization of that phenomena.

[Lemonz]

wow u guys are almost as dumb as the kids here in the U.S lol

[KoTeMoRe]

It's not a fecking law...it's an hypothesis...le'mme inr'oduce yah to the concept of falsiabilty in science. He did not created that law. Observing and describing something is not creating it...conceptualisation called...

[Zombiefruit]

It's not a fecking law...it's an hypothesis...le'mme inr'oduce yah to the concept of falsiabilty in science. He did not created that law. Observing and describing something is not creating it...conceptualisation called...

No. An hypothesis is a predicted outcome of an experiment, i.e. sand will not dissolve in water.

The law is the statement itself. The law describes a phenomena.