Post by rmarks1 on Apr 5, 2014 14:57:52 GMT -5
By stressing the importance of critical thinking and reasoned skepticism, groups like the New England Skeptical Society, the James Randi Educational Foundation, and the Center for Skeptical Inquiry constantly battle these forces of nonsense, but their labor all too often falls on deaf ears. It’s time to take the problem of pseudoscience into the heart of American learning: public schools and universities.
Right now, our education system doesn’t appear to be abating pseudoscientific belief. A survey published in 2011 of over 11,000 undergraduates conducted over a 22-year period revealed that nonscientific ways of thinking are surprisingly resistant to formal instruction.
“There was only a modest decline in pseudoscientific beliefs following an undergraduate degree, even for students who had taken two or three science courses,” psychologists Rodney Schmaltz and Scott Lilienfeld said of the results.
In a new perspective published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, Schmaltz and Lilienfeld detail a plan to better instruct students on how to differentiate scientific fact from scientific fiction. And somewhat ironically, it involves introducing pseudoscience into the classroom....
According to Schmaltz and Lilienfeld, there are 7 clear signs that show something to be pseudoscientific:
1. The use of psychobabble – words that sound scientific and professional but are used incorrectly, or in a misleading manner.
2. A substantial reliance on anecdotal evidence.
3. Extraordinary claims in the absence of extraordinary evidence.
4. Claims which cannot be proven false.
5. Claims that counter established scientific fact.
6. Absence of adequate peer review.
7. Claims that are repeated despite being refuted.
They recommend incorporating examples of pseudoscience into lectures and contrasting them with legitimate, groundbreaking scientific findings. These examples can be tailored to different classes. For example, in physics classes, instructors can discuss QuantumMAN, a website where people can pay to download digital “medicine” that can supposedly be transferred from a remote quantum computer directly to the buyer’s brain. (Yes, that’s a real website.) Or in psychology classes, professors can expound upon psychics and the tricks they use to fool people....
Teachers must stress the refutation of pseudoscientific claims more than the claims, themselves. Otherwise, their worthy efforts to instill critical thinking could backfire. Prior research has shown that repeating myths on public fliers, even with the intention of dispelling them, can actually perpetuate misinformation.
www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2014/04/04/time-to-bring-pseudoscience-into-science-class/
Right now, our education system doesn’t appear to be abating pseudoscientific belief. A survey published in 2011 of over 11,000 undergraduates conducted over a 22-year period revealed that nonscientific ways of thinking are surprisingly resistant to formal instruction.
“There was only a modest decline in pseudoscientific beliefs following an undergraduate degree, even for students who had taken two or three science courses,” psychologists Rodney Schmaltz and Scott Lilienfeld said of the results.
In a new perspective published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, Schmaltz and Lilienfeld detail a plan to better instruct students on how to differentiate scientific fact from scientific fiction. And somewhat ironically, it involves introducing pseudoscience into the classroom....
According to Schmaltz and Lilienfeld, there are 7 clear signs that show something to be pseudoscientific:
1. The use of psychobabble – words that sound scientific and professional but are used incorrectly, or in a misleading manner.
2. A substantial reliance on anecdotal evidence.
3. Extraordinary claims in the absence of extraordinary evidence.
4. Claims which cannot be proven false.
5. Claims that counter established scientific fact.
6. Absence of adequate peer review.
7. Claims that are repeated despite being refuted.
They recommend incorporating examples of pseudoscience into lectures and contrasting them with legitimate, groundbreaking scientific findings. These examples can be tailored to different classes. For example, in physics classes, instructors can discuss QuantumMAN, a website where people can pay to download digital “medicine” that can supposedly be transferred from a remote quantum computer directly to the buyer’s brain. (Yes, that’s a real website.) Or in psychology classes, professors can expound upon psychics and the tricks they use to fool people....
Teachers must stress the refutation of pseudoscientific claims more than the claims, themselves. Otherwise, their worthy efforts to instill critical thinking could backfire. Prior research has shown that repeating myths on public fliers, even with the intention of dispelling them, can actually perpetuate misinformation.
www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2014/04/04/time-to-bring-pseudoscience-into-science-class/
Bob