Idea: Fun skeptical topics to debate

[P.J. Denyer]

I clicked - because of a recent career goal: I want to teach children how to argue effectively. Might as well, eh? So I was interested in topics.

Here's a suggestion for a topic, "Fringe theories that contradict science claim that they are legitimate because some scientific theories have overturned the then prevalent scientific consensus. Is this a legitimate argument?'

I don't know what age group you're looking at, but I think this could potentially be an interesting topic and draw in a lot of powerful skeptical tools such as understanding the difference between personal conviction and objective evidence, arguments from authority (whether, and when, they are or are not valid), how today's consensus was arrived at, how that differed in the past, etc, etc.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Have a few kids toss a coin ten times, take the highest number of heads and the lowest number of heads then have the group discuss the proposition that this shows that A is better at tossing a coin than B.

 

[curious cat]

Dogs see humans as other dogs. Dogs really have only two ways of viewing something: another dog or food. If they can't love it, hate it or eat it, it doesn't exist.

Did you ever had a dog?

 

[Spektator]

Resolved: The Internet is making the human race dumber.