Science teachers have an obligation to instill critical thinking and skepticism in their students. If my students can calculate kinetic energy as (1/2)mv^2 but also buy a Power Balance bracelet or accept media reports of paranormal activity, I feel I have failed them.
So I insert explicit lessons in skepticism and critical thinking into the curriculum throughout the school year. My hope is that such lessons strengthen students' thinking skills I'm the classroom and (more importantly) beyond. I developed these activities for use with my own students.
P R O G R A M S
1. SECRETS OF THE PSYCHICS
Can psychics predict the future? Many people seem to think so. Others argue that, in most cases, so-called psychic experiences are really misinterpretations of events. In this episode of NOVA, magician and confirmed skeptic James Randi challenges viewers to weigh the evidence for and against the existence of psychic phenomena.
2. MERCHANTS OF DOUBT
A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.
This activity engages students as they watch a 14-minute video on a so-called
"Baloney Detection Kit" (YouTube v=aNSHZG9blQQ).
It's a structured implementation of Carl Sagan's quote, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and acts as a filter when students are confronted with claims.
4. THE FIRST MOON OFFICE
This activity compares the science of meteors and apparent weightlessness with how those phenomena are represented in a Federal Express television advertisement.
5. POWER BALANCE
Power Balance bracelets burst onto the scene a few years ago and enjoyed explosive success. There were "knock-offs," fakes, and the company gathered so much cash it bough the naming rights to sports and entertainment complex in Sacramento: what had been ARCO Arena became Power Balance Pavilion.
Here's the kind of video they used to promote the product. It seems to convincing!
Many media outlets were only too keen to promote this "miracle product". Australian TV news magazine, Today Tonight, for example:
Harder to find were the media reports skeptical of the snake oil. Kudos to Today Tonight for running this follow up.
The activity carefully and deliberately brings students through the claims and the tests of those claims.
Power Balance has since declared bankruptcy, but similar products (targeted toward baseball players) persist. There will always be such products, I hope my students do not buy them.
6. MAGNET BOYS
This activity allows students to consider several cases of so-called "magnet boys" that swarmed the Internet a few years ago.
[If the video links fail, just search "Magnet Boy")
The cases pose interesting questions, and magician and skeptic, James Randi, has an idea of what might be going on. He tests his theory on a what appears to be a Korean psychic game show.
7. CELLPHONE POPCORN
This activity has students observe and investigate a set of viral videos that took YouTube by storm a few years ago: ordinary people were using their cellphones to pop popcorn.
These videos lead students into a revealing investigation.
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