Confidently Wrong: Accuracy and Confidence in Judging Common Science Myths Among Students and Young Adults— A Baseline Survey

Confidently Wrong is a descriptive baseline survey of how accurately, and how confidently, students and young adults judge familiar science myths. Twenty true/false statements across biology, physics, mathematics, and space and general science were given to a convenience sample of 27 respondents, mostly JEE/NEET repeaters and first-year college students. Mean accuracy was 66.5%, above chance, but it ranged from 25.9% for the Edison light-bulb myth to 92.6% on the best items. Of 181 wrong answers, 138 (76.2%) were given with confidence of 4 or 5. The paper reports its limitations openly and proposes a pre/post study of a short "check before you believe" lesson. Keywords: science misinformation, scientific misconceptions, myth belief, confidence calibration, science literacy, survey