Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: student debates on pseudoscience



Ben,

I would like to suggest the web pages at
http://physics.uwstout.edu/stoutsci/ for resources on using pseudoscience
as a teaching tool. You can also find about 83 suggested teaching
strategies to get students to use the scientific method to examine unusual
claims at the web page http://physics.uwstout.edu/stoutsci/teach_strat.htm.

I would like to comment on the value of incorporating topics of
pseudoscience into a conceptual physics course at a community college. (I
tried to do this yesterday but the web-based email utility fouled up my
message.) I do believe it is valuable to help students develop critical
thinking and a healthy skepticism by examining pseudoscience or unusual
claims in the science classroom. Particularly for a science course for
non-science majors. Paul Hurd from Stanford University has stated "There
is plenty of time after high school for scientists-to-be to learn the
minute facts of science...(what they need are skills) to distinguish
evidence from propaganda, probability from certainty, rational beliefs from
superstitions, data from assertions, science from folklore, theory from
dogma." (ref. Scientific American, October 1999, "The False Crisis in
Science Education") This statement is directed at high school students but
it is also pertinent for non-science majors in a conceptual physics
course. What better way to accomplish these goals than to analyze
pseudoscience.

This past semester I asked my Introduction to Geology students if
science could be used to support or refute an interesting
superstition. The superstition was "It is claimed that the Hawaiian
Goddess Pele curses, with bad luck, all tourists that take home volcanic
rocks from the National Park." A small yet significant number of students
thought science could not evaluate such a claim. Only one or two could
suggest a reasonably good experiment to evaluate the claim. A very good
discussion follows when I ask students if the mere suggestion of it being a
superstition is disrespectful to the native Hawaiian culture. ;)

Alan

At 04:33 PM 12/23/2002 -0800, you wrote:
On Mon, 23 Dec 2002 16:17:37 -0500 Larry Cartwright
<exit60@CABLESPEED.COM> writes:
> Ben Crowell wrote:
> >
> > I'm teaching a conceptual physics course at a
> > community college, and would like to have my students
> > debate each other on issues related to pseudoscience.
>
> When you have time, I would be interested in hearing your reason(s)
> for wanting to do this project. Given all the good physics concepts
> they could be exploring, why use precious classtime to explore
> not-physics?

> Larry Cartwright <exit60@cablespeed.com>

I agree 100% with Larry. Is there any opposition out there???

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where our struggling physics students need the time to learn Physics
...
and our really good students need even more time for learning Physics.)

Alan Scott
103G Science Wing
Department of Physics
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Menomonie, WI 54751

Office Phone: (715)232-2401
FAX: (715)232-1437
-----------------------------
Personal Web Page
http://physics.uwstout.edu/staff/scott/
Geology Home Page
http://physics.uwstout.edu/geo/
Stout Science Program Home Page
http://physics.uwstout.edu/stoutsci/