Now this is neat and well worth supporting, you can download FREE lesson plans from the JREF to enable you to teach critical thinking and scientific inquiry. There are basically four NEW options as follows:
- Pareidolia: Do You See What You Think You See?
- Illusions: Our Visual System
- Cognition: Are You Rational?
- Power Balance: Sports Enhancement, or Placebo?
These are downloadable lesson plans for use in high school and junior high school science and psychology classes that use topics in pseudoscience and the paranormal to teach critical thinking, skepticism, and scientific inquiry. Each lesson is designed to expose students to concepts identified in the National Science Content Standards and AAAS science literacy benchmarks.
These free lesson plans for teachers (and parents) are additions to JREF’s growing catalogue of grade-specific standards-focused resources including lesson plans, activity guides, multimedia materials, and more. JREF’s aim with these free resources is to inspire an investigative spirit in the next generation of critical thinkers, providing the intellectual toolkit needed to navigate a life full of difficult decisions, confusing information, and conflicting claims.
You can pop on over to their site to grab it, they have a good diversity (a total of 8 so far). Yes yes, I know, I’ve only listed four above, so lets make this clear, the above are four NEW offerings that have been added to what they already had available.
If you are an educator, why not pop on over and check it all out … ah but to make it a bit easier (via a bit of cut and paste), here are the details of their four new offerings …
Teachers can contact [email protected] for a free printed classroom kit for any of the eight topics available so far, and to get more information on ways to incorporate JREF’s critical thinking materials into their classrooms.
Pareidolia: Do You See What You Think You See?
Teacher Edition [PDF] | Student Edition [PDF]
This lesson explores the development of human perception and the tendency for human beings to perceive meaningful patterns in ambiguous stimuli. The lesson is designed to prompt students to critically examine their own memories and views of events in a way that promotes open-minded inquiry of current knowledge. Open-mindedness, in terms of one’s ability to accept that current knowledge may be inaccurate, has been shown to be a key component of good reasoning. Additionally, this material exposes students to several specific extraordinary claims and encourages them to consider alternative explanations for evidence and phenomena related to those claims. Discussion questions prompt application to other areas of inquiry.
Grade level and time commitment: The text in this module was written for students in Grade Seven and above. Teachers are encouraged to modify the exercises for use in lower grades. The time required to complete this module will vary with depth of instruction and specific assignments given.
National Science Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, Science as Inquiry, Science in Personal and Social Perspectives History and Nature of Science
AAAS Science Literacy Benchmarks: The Scientific Worldview, Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Enterprise
Illusions: Our Visual System
Teacher Edition [PDF] | Student Edition [PDF]
This lesson explores the development of human perception and a few of the ways in which this development leads to incorrect interpretations of visual information. The lesson is designed to prompt students to consider the implications of misperception and to critically examine their own views of images and events in a way that promotes open-minded inquiry of current knowledge. Open-mindedness, in terms of one’s ability to accept that current knowledge may be inaccurate, has been shown to be a key component of good reasoning.
Grade level and time commitment: The text in this lesson was written for students in Grade Seven and above. Teachers are encouraged to modify the exercises for use in lower grades. The time required to complete this module will vary with depth of instruction and specific assignments given.
National Science Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, Science as Inquiry, Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
AAAS Science Literacy Benchmarks: The Scientific Worldview Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Enterprise
Cognition: Are You Rational?
Teacher Edition [PDF] | Student Edition [PDF]
This lesson explores some of the many errors that human beings are prone to make when evaluating information and making decisions. It discusses explanations for those errors, which are consistent with the scientific literature of the field. The lesson is designed to prompt students to consider the implications of errors in thinking and to critically examine their own views of images and events in a way that promotes open-minded inquiry of current knowledge. Open-mindedness, in terms of one’s ability to accept that current knowledge may be inaccurate, has been shown to be a key component of good reasoning.
Grade level and time commitment: The text in this lesson was written for students in Grade Nine and above. Teachers are encouraged to modify the exercises for use in lower grades. The time required to complete this module will vary with depth of instruction and specific assignments given.
National Science Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, Science as Inquiry, Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
AAAS Science Literacy Benchmarks: The Scientific Worldview Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Enterprise
Power Balance: Sports Enhancement, or Placebo?
Teacher Edition [PDF] | Student Edition [PDF]
This lesson explores the claims made by one brand of sports enhancement products. It discusses the evidence presented by the distributors of the products as well as user testimonials. It also provides instructions in proper scientific testing of the claims. The lesson is designed to prompt students to consider to critically examine the evidence in a way that promotes open-minded inquiry.
Grade level and time commitment: The exercises in this module are appropriate for Grades Eight and above. The time required to complete this module will vary with depth of instruction and specific assignments given.
National Science Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, Science as Inquiry, Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
AAAS Science Literacy Benchmarks: The Scientific Worldview, Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Enterprise