Talking about science is a lot harder than it should be. We talk all the time about things we don’t fully understand: the polar vortex, how footballs can get underinflated during games, why the Kardashians still get so much attention. We’re not experts in these areas, but we’re happy to weigh in with theories and opinions. But when it comes to scientific topics, both scientists and lay people hide behind the excuse that the general public in this country simply doesn’t have the education to process such complex information. More
Tag Index / Showing 1 - 5 of 5 results for “Pew Research Center”
Pew Survey: Internet of Things Offers Promise, but Concerns Linger
Your houseplant emails you when it wants to be watered. Your baby's diaper texts you when it needs changing. And your refrigerator sends you a shopping list the second you set foot in a grocery store. But when you walk to the ice cream aisle and grab a tub of mint chocolate chip, the shirt monitoring your heart rate tells you you'd better put it back. This is the future that awaits us, as the Internet of Things encompasses more and more of our everyday lives. And it's bound to be here within the next 10 years, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. More
Tomorrow’s Sci-Fi Tech Excites Us … and Scares Us
For all the technological change Americans have witnessed in recent decades, from space travel to smartphones, we know much more is coming. And we’re only happy about some of it. A study by the Pew Research Center released last week finds that while Americans are generally optimistic about science and technology in the long term, we’re more pessimistic about it in the short term. The report culled data from a survey of 1,001 adults, with questions that attempted to get at the heart of attitudes toward closer-term advances—like bioengineering and robotics—and longer-term possibilities like space colonization and teleportation. More
Teachers Say No to “LOL” and “YOLO” in Student Writing
Technology is not necessarily helping students become better writers, a new study has found. Although technology in the classroom has made students better collaborators, a Pew Research Center study has found that teachers are worried about students using informal texting language and improper citations, the Washington Post reports. While tools like tablets, Google Docs, and blogs have allowed students to more easily work together, nearly 70 percent of teachers think digital tools also make students more likely to “take shortcuts and put less effort into their writing.” More
Schools Let Students Bring Their Own Devices, Then Struggle to Keep Up
Walk through one of the high schools in the Katy Independent School District in Texas and you’ll see students staring at cell phones, headphones in their ears and fingers on their keypads. On every table in the lunchroom is a mobile or wireless device. Peek into a classroom and you’ll find students using laptops, tablets, and smartphones to research assignments. Last year, for the first time, all K-12 Katy students were allowed to bring their own devices to school, and the move was a predictable hit, says Lenny Schad, chief technology officer of the district. More
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