When we had a media specialist visit our class, she presented information about the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octobpus. The website is pretty convincing. If you were not skeptical enough, you run the risk of donating money to save this poor creature from certain extinction. The lesson is obvious - pay attention.
I was reminded of Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World. In it, he explores many topics, ranging widely from crop circles, alien abductions, faulty scientific conclusions and fairy tales. One specific element resonated with me. In it, he presents his famous Fine Art of Baloney Detection. In it, he presents a set of tools students (and non-students) can use to assess the validity of claims. If you suspect something isn't right, chances are...there's something odd going on. I highly recommend the book to anyone.
It is my stated mission of teaching career to corrupt America's youth with science. By this, I mean to equip students with the tools to think critically about things they're told and to come to informed decisions.
Also...I'm obsessed with Carl Sagan...
Your blog is boring.
ReplyDeleteAt least it is in comparison to the few pages of Carl Sagan's book I just read on Amazon. That's a really cool book that is going on my things-to-read-after-grad-school list.
Kara's point about teaching kids to be skeptical about what they read on the internet (and perhaps by extension, what they're told, what they see on TV, what they hear on the news, etc.) was very much appreciated. It's just as important in my field, politics, as in science. (On a different note, we really need more scientists and science literate people in politics.)
Being able to look at things critically and being curious enough to look at all, is incredibly empowering. I can't wait to meet your students, after the corruption.
Thanks! I always enjoy receiving such positive feedback which is then refuted in the next line. Carl Sagan is amazing and you really should read it.
DeleteI agree with Shannon, not with the fact that your blog is boring, but that I love the idea of corrupting students with science. Developing the skills it takes to be critical in science but also in politics and information they receive from the media.
DeleteI am excited to read Carl Sagan's book!
Yay for Carl Sagan and baloney detection! The best lessons in school are the meta-lessons, the ones that carry forward. My favorite activity at [that one place we worked at] was the one I used to introduce the scientific method (the one about sound traveling through a gas and a solid), not just because it was a fun activity, but because it introduced the idea of asking questions and testing systematically.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing about the results of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octupus (spelled without a b, by the way - double-check your spelling!)
Speling is overated. Besides, if you had an octopus (spelled with an "o", by the way) the month before November, it would be an "octobpus", right?
DeleteI like your idea of corrupting America's children with Science..obviously it would be better if it were French but still. I think that is the attitude we need to have to be successful in teaching. There has to be a group somewhere about doing something like this. I feel like you should be in charge of it as well. Or maybe a Science department at a school has that as a way to get students interested.
ReplyDeleteI think the main idea for corrupting with science - we're taught to automatically assume that what we're told is correct from a very early age. What I seek to do with this specifically is to get students asking VERY critical questions about all of their assumptions. I think you could do this well in French pretty easily. What "assumptions" do students have about French culture? Many people will readily claim that "French people are rude" or "French people are snobby" and not be able to cite a single reason for their belief. Culturally, we have many stereotypes that are completely unfounded, in much the same way that our assumptions about how the world works are equally lacking actual rational thought.
DeleteI'm not sure my last sentence there qualifies as a sentence, by the way...a bit run-on.