Skepticism in the Classroom: Lessons in Critical Thinking

by Dean Baird

Most lessons below were designed to work as quick drop-ins in a high school physics class. I'm sure they could work in many contexts and in many classrooms. They are not comprise year-long or semester-long critical thinking curricula. Rather they are important and worthwhile enrichments. These lessons stray from the pure academic content to help teach the skepticism and critical thinking that pervade the work of scientists. But they do so with accessible, everyday examples.

The lessons may be revised in the future. You are welcome to use them for classroom instruction and modify them as you see fit.

I also hope to add more lessons as more material materializes. If you know of any, send it my way. If you have more info on any of the stories I've already turned into lessons, don't keep it a secret! For now, enjoy!

QUICK LESSON TITLE	PRESENTATION	HANDOUT	MEDIA LINKS
Three-color Mind Control I saw Richard Wiseman perform this trick at The James Randi Educational Foundation's Amaz!ng Meeting 3.		Setup and Show Notes Word document PDF file	richardwiseman.com
Dead Psychic's Sketch of JonBenet's Killer The media frenzy over the confession of John Mark Karr spun out of control. Fast. This story stands in the long line of examples of local affiliate news being completely credulous.	The Psychic Sketch Interactive QuickTime Apple Keynote MS PowerPoint	Questions from the preso Word document PDF file	Joe Nickell's excellent article on this sham
Football Clairvoyant You get perefect, free tips from a clairvoyant all season long. Should you pay for his/her final prediction?	The Sure Bet? Interactive QuickTime Apple Keynote MS PowerPoint
Did an Angel Appear at the State Fair? Following up on a post from Bad Astronomy, I developed a quick lesson skewering the always-available, super-credulous local affiliate news. The Bad Astronomer added a follow-up post.	Angel of Carolina? Interactive QuickTime Apple Keynote MS PowerPoint	Questions from the preso Word document PDF file	News Item Xenophilia Reproduction
Columbia Explosion Photos from Space A colleague forwarded an email to me with images of a space shuttle in the process of exploding. The original author of the email tells readers the images are of the Columbia disaster 2/1/03 and are from an Israeli spy satellite. What could be more appealing than a heavy-handed hoax (seasoned with a touch of anti-Semitism) at the expense of our fallen astronauts?	Columbia Explosion? Interactive QuickTime Apple Keynote MS PowerPoint		Break the Chain Entry Snopes Entry Urban Legends Entry Truth or Fiction Entry
Chicago's Most Haunted Once again, a local affiliate aired a shockingly credulous story. This time, it's a haunted alley where ghosts apparently aren't getting enough attention. The accompanying worksheet was offered as an extra credit assignment for students interested in completing it.		Chicago's Most Haunted Word document PDF file	News Item

LESSON TITLE		HANDOUT	VIDEO LINKS
NOVA: Secrets of the Psychics James Randi investigates psychics and faith healers at home and abroad. The video has gone out of print. See it on YouTube (link to right). Running time: 60 min.		Video Question Set Student PDF file Teacher PDF file	YouTube

Links to keep you in touch and in balance. This list is by no means comprehensive. It's just a few sites I've found useful in my skeptical wanderings.

Dean's Phyz Website	James Randi Education Foundation	Bad Astronomy (my favorite blog)	Skeptic's Dictionary
The Blog of Phyz	Skepticality (my favorite podcast)	Snopes - Urban Legends - Truth or Fiction	Break The Chain

Updated October 2009.