Q&BA: "What's the best way to get kids into science and skepticism?"

In my weekly Q & BA live video chat session on Google+, I answer the question, "What's the best way to get kids into science and skepticism?".

I'm very happy to be starting up the Q&BA question-and-answer chats again. Google+ Hangouts have made it very easy to do them, so I hold a weekly session for an hour. I post the entire session, but also extract a few of the segments that can stand on their own.

Full Q&BA session: (Jan 22, 2012): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2gJq-SjB9Q

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• skepticism
• Q&BA
• kids

[TheTatmandu]

@ChuckVanDamme : No gravity is not a theory. It's a word used to describe an observed and predictable phenomenum. Jump off a high building onto concrete and the "theory" will kill you. Guaranteed. Sure we don't fully understand gravity today, but that doesn't mean that we won't and can not. Think about the flat earth, and days before electricity. Religion makes people uncurious and docile. They will accept anything fed to them in the name of religion. science and medicine saves lives.

[phatpat63]

What's the best way to get kids into science and skepticism?

Just show them some science, the awesome will do the rest.

[getvar]

A: let the system brainwash them

[boazamr]

@blobvision Yeah...I totally agree but there´s still one BIG problem I didn´t tell: My sister is a believer, and she´ll definetly kick my ass if I try to get them into skepticism. But I´m sure I´ll try to say something like that next time. Worth taking the risk.

[93tomb]

@TheTatmandu Of course gravity is a theory. A theory is something that describes an observed and predictable phenomenon. Gravity will never be proven in the mathematical sense, in that it is always a possibility that tiny, invisible, mischievious pixies pull on every atom in a grand charade of playful deceit. Its just not very likely.

[blobvision]

@boazamr But like he said, children are natural scientists. Use that to your advantage.

[blobvision]

@boazamr No, your task is not easy. I would have been honest and said that most people disagree with their teachers and challenged them to question what they've been taught. I would have also encouraged them to formulate their own opinions based on the evidence. Say you don't agree, because you have more influence than those poor excuses for teachers. Another thing is to ask what the teachers say, then pick apart the logic in those answers.

[Jahaison]

Move them out of the state of Indiana will cause them to be more skeptical.

[meloveoasis]

@TheTatmandu Actually, if you jump off a building gravity won't kill you. The shift in momentum between you and the ground will!

[KellyMichelleMH]

Good for him! He seems to "get it" ... how we learn, what we seek, and how to foster continual curiosity. And he eloquently encapsulates part of why I love science and have always been curious. My Mom encouraged the same idea: If I don't know, we'll find out together.

[coolman9999uk]

Rock falls faster because of air resistance

[martinbondesson]

I love how Phil always has some random objects lying around to help him demonstrate what he says or tries to explain :)