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My Critical Thinking Lesson and the aftermath

TwoShanks

Thinker
T
Joined
Jul 14, 2003
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227
On Thursday I decided to digress from the current topic of study with my Year 10 Set 2 class and did a lesson on critical thinking.

The lesson involved several demonstrations - I gave out identical horoscopes (thanks to Athon) and revealed them to be the same after getting ratings of 8 or 9 out of 10, did a "psychic" trick (again thanks to Athon), and showed them the ideomotor effect using a pendulum. The other demonstrations were about homeopathy. I bought some homeopathic sleeping pills and took one every two minutes for the hour of the lesson, after explaining what homeopathy involves and why this should not be done by pupils. I also showed them how to make a homeopathic remedy using food colouring in a 6C solution.

The response to the lesson was generally very enthusiastic, we discussed the placebo effect and the class enjoyed the demonstrations. One girl became very angry, since her mother is "studying homeopathy", and claimed that I "don't know what I'm talking about".

The following day I was informed that the girl's mother had phoned to complain on several grounds. Pleasantly enough she accepted that as a science teacher I would be against homeopathy and had no problem with me demonstrating this. However, she claimed that pupils in the class may think that I had shown it was acceptable to take huge amounts of any pills with no effect. Additionally she was "concerned that time was being spent on irrelevant topics" rather than on Electricity in the Home. She had also been told by her daughter that I had said I would bring a ouija board to class, which is patently nonsense.

Yesterday the class asked if we could do something similiar today, so I told them that we were going back to the Electricity topic because of complaints about the lesson. Several of them were very disappointed, saying that they liked the lesson because it was about things they could use rather than things most of them would never need to know.

I thought the lesson was quite successful, but due to complaints I've been told not to do it again.
 
"Complaints" plural?

Was it just the woo-woo homeopath who complained, or were there other complaints? If it's just one woo-woo and you got told not to do it again then your school administrators are invertebrates.

The complaint about you giving students the idea it was okay to take a bottle of pills is just hilarious.
 
Is a "year 10 class" a high school junior level? What does "set 2" mean?
It sounds that you don't enjoy academic freedom where you teach if one wooish complaint can get your administrator to tell you what you can't teach.
What if you had answered a question about UFOs by saying they were unidentified, but that there was no evidence that they were alien spaceships. If a parent who was convinced they had been abducted and probed complained, would you be reprimanded?
 
Jeff Corey said:
Is a "year 10 class" a high school junior level? What does "set 2" mean?
It sounds that you don't enjoy academic freedom where you teach if one wooish complaint can get your administrator to tell you what you can't teach.
What if you had answered a question about UFOs by saying they were unidentified, but that there was no evidence that they were alien spaceships. If a parent who was convinced they had been abducted and probed complained, would you be reprimanded?
Click to expand...

What is this "freedom" you refer to?
 
TwoShanks said:
Several of them were very disappointed, saying that they liked the lesson because it was about things they could use rather than things most of them would never need to know.
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So why do you think the homoeopath didn't like it? ;)
 
Wow, that sounds like a great lesson, TwoShanks. I'm sorry that you caught some flak for it. A pity that you've been asked not to do it again.

--Terry.
 
TwoShanks said:
However, she claimed that pupils in the class may think that I had shown it was acceptable to take huge amounts of any pills with no effect.
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OK, this is possibly a valid criticism. So don't do the bit with the pills again, but what other objections were there?

Additionally she was "concerned that time was being spent on irrelevant topics" rather than on Electricity in the Home.
Click to expand...
Critical thinking is not irrelevant to ther study of science. In fact it's vitally important. One of the major problems with science teaching is a tendency to teach science as a series of facts rather than teaching how to think about the facts and draw conclusions. If they can't think properly they can't do science.

She had also been told by her daughter that I had said I would bring a ouija board to class, which is patently nonsense.
Click to expand...
And she finishes off with a false complaint!


I've been told not to do it again.
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I agree with Kevin_Lowe. Your administrators are pathetically spineless.
 
I sounds like a great lesson, but I'm not surprised by the pills complaint. You're teaching them that its okay to ignore the advice printed on a label if you think it's wrong. That could have nasty consquences for kids who don't know how evaluate mediacal advice for themselves. I think one of the first lessons for critical thinkers is to always be aware that you could be wrong.
 
You could play the battle of the complaints. If the students who wanted to learn more could convince their parents to call and complain that you should be allowed and or encouraged to teach this stuff the administrators might be forced to change their stance.

Remember that most administrative types are spineless and will aquiesse to the majority regardless of what is right or wrong.
 
Mojo said:
Critical thinking is not irrelevant to ther study of science. In fact it's vitally important. One of the major problems with science teaching is a tendency to teach science as a series of facts rather than teaching how to think about the facts and draw conclusions. If they can't think properly they can't do science.
Click to expand...

You are way understating the case.
 
Hey TwoShanks we need more teachers like you! Those kids are lucky to have a teacher who understands the importance of critical thinking. You'd think it should be the norm, but alas, I fear it's the exception.

Is there any way you can continue with this type of lesson, despite the one complaint? Perhaps a mediation session with the complainant and your school pricipal to see if an arrangement can be made? You promise not to take a whole bucket of homoeopathic pills but you will discuss the science aspects (or lack thereof) of homoeopathy. Hell, why not get her in to do her own presentation to the class, teach the kids how to make homoeopathic 'medicine' and engage the students in a discussion. It seems like you've got a bright bunch, and you've already exposed them to the ridiculousness of homoeopathy, so they might end up teaching her what a load of bunk it is.

Year 10 kids are pretty smart. When they see her take a drop of something and dilute it a bajillion times... actually... scrap that whole idea. It's not fair on the daughter.

Still, I hope you can give your class more of these lessons. At the very least, point them to the JREF site!
 
Screw that homeopathic quack. If she doesn't like reality being taught in a science class, so what?! Tell her that when she can demonstrate taht homeopathy really works, you'll change your mind.
 
Shrinker said:
I sounds like a great lesson, but I'm not surprised by the pills complaint. You're teaching them that its okay to ignore the advice printed on a label if you think it's wrong. That could have nasty consquences for kids who don't know how evaluate mediacal advice for themselves. I think one of the first lessons for critical thinkers is to always be aware that you could be wrong.
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I have to disagree forcefully with you.

It's a powerful demonstration of the uselessness of homeopathy precisely because everyone including children understands that taking a lot of sleeping pills can be very dangerous.

There are things you can be wrong about, but the effectiveness of homeopathy is not one of those things. You might as well worry about Thor smiting you.

If you want to absolutely bend over backwards to placate the idiots, you can simply give the usual "don't try this at home" disclaimer. Science teachers regularly demonstrate dangerous things.
 
Agreed.

Hmmmmmmm.

Any way magnetism could be worked into that 'Electronics' section? Teach the kids what magnets can and cannot do?

Seems like a good time.

Yeah, most school admins ARE spineless because they hate being sued. Let's put the blame where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of the parents.

There's a million ways a experiment can be made 'different' while teaching the same thing. Persevere, my friend!

Good Work, BTW.
 
Kevin_Lowe said:
I have to disagree forcefully with you.

It's a powerful demonstration of the uselessness of homeopathy precisely because everyone including children understands that taking a lot of sleeping pills can be very dangerous.

There are things you can be wrong about, but the effectiveness of homeopathy is not one of those things. You might as well worry about Thor smiting you.

If you want to absolutely bend over backwards to placate the idiots, you can simply give the usual "don't try this at home" disclaimer. Science teachers regularly demonstrate dangerous things.
Click to expand...

My point is that the first thing a potential critical thinker needs to understand is the possibility he/she might be wrong. Guzzling a bottle of pills is not compatible with that outlook. To me, that says, 'I'm 100% right about this.'

A classroom experiement, bit of logical thinking, and the word of a single authority figure should not be enough to form an absolute concrete opinion, especially for kids who might not have all the facts. After all, without a good guiding influence you can use those things to conclude that Global Warming is a myth, man never went to the moon, the holocaust never happened.

Using dramatic stunts to teach kids homeopathy doesn't work is okay, but teaching them the ability to critically assess their own conclusions is much more important. IMO...
 
I've mentioned this before. Re: the sleeping pill taking - according to homeopaths, taking less of one of their preparations increases the effectiveness. So if you'd accidentally swallowed a homeopathic sleeping pill, logically the way to reduce its effect would be to swallow a hole lot more. The reason you don't fall asleep or die may well be because it's just sugar pills or pure water but the homeopaths will claim that it's doing *exactly* what it should when taken in excess - nothing. And nothing, of course, has no bad side effects.

How is this a good example of anything?
 
I think the pill taking thing is ok, provided that the kids learn to actually look at the label for ingredient content first. I suspect there are alot of drugs out there that actually have a substantial amount of active ingredients that are homeopathic by name only.
 
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