The Skeptical Studies Curriculum Resource Center is a comprehensive, free repository of resources for teaching students how to think skeptically. This Center contains a selection of books, reading lists, course syllabi, in-class exercises, PowerPoint presentations, student projects, papers, and videos that you may download and use in your own classes. Lessons in these resources include:
-
what science is, how it differs from pseudoscience, and why it matters
-
the scientific method and how to use it to investigate and conduct skeptical analyses of extraordinary claims
-
how to construct effective arguments and rhetorical strategies
-
how to effectively use presentations and papers to present an argument
-
reason, logic, and skeptical analysis
-
the psychology of belief
-
how ideas are presented within academia
-
how peer review works
-
and much more…
In this, the final lecture of his Chapman University Skepticism 101 course, Dr. Michael Shermer pulls back to take a bigger picture look at what science and reason have done for humanity in the realm of moral progress. Watch The Moral Arc: How Thinking Like a Scientist Makes the World More Moral.
Tags:
age of reason,
better angels,
death penalty,
enlightenment,
enlightenment humanism,
freedom,
gay rights,
human rights,
justice,
Moral Arc,
moral progress,
morality,
murder,
nuclear deterrence,
nuclear weapons,
same-sex marriage,
science and reason,
scientific revolution,
self-control,
skepticism 101 lectures,
terrorism,
truth,
violence
In this lecture Dr. Michael Shermer addresses one of the deepest questions of all: what is truth? How do we know what is true, untrue, or uncertain?
Tags:
Bayesian reasoning,
correlation and causation,
love,
miracles,
post-truth,
principle of proportionality,
rational irrationalities,
skepticism,
skepticism 101 lectures,
subjective/objective truths,
theory of causality,
truth
In this lecture, Dr. Michael Shermer addresses the growing crisis of free speech in college and culture at large, triggered as it was by the title lecture, which he was tasked to deliver to students at California State University, Fullerton, after a campus paroxysm erupted over Taco Tuesday.
Tags:
censorship,
civil liberty,
constitution,
deplatforming,
diversity,
feminism,
First Amendment rights,
free speech,
freedom,
freedom of inquiry,
government censorship,
hate speech,
microaggressions,
Milo Yiannopoulos,
private censorship,
rights,
safe spaces,
skepticism 101 lectures,
trigger warnings,
victimhood,
virtue signalling
In this lecture, Dr. Michael Shermer presents descriptions of skepticism and science and how they work, along with a discussion of the difference between science and pseudoscience, and some very practical applications of how to test claims and evaluate evidence.
Dr. Michael Shermer continues the discussion of evolution and creationism, focusing on the history of the creationism movement and the four stages it has gone through.
In this lecture on Evolution and Creationism (Part 1), Dr. Michael Shermer takes viewers to the Galápagos Islands to retrace Darwin’s footsteps and show that, in fact, Darwin did not discover natural selection when he was there in September of 1835. He worked out his theory when he returned home, and Shermer shows exactly how Darwin did that, along with the story of the theory’s co-discoverer, Alfred Russel Wallace.
Tags:
Alfred Russel Wallace,
belief,
Charles Darwin,
creationism,
evolution,
Galápagos Islands,
mythology,
natural selection,
origin of species,
religion,
science,
skepticism 101 lectures
In this lecture on Holocaust Denial, Dr. Shermer employs the methods of science to history, showing how we can determine truth about the past.
Tags:
anti-Semitism,
Auschwitz,
concentration camps,
convergence of evidence,
extermination of Jews,
free speech,
genocide,
historical revisionism,
history,
Hitler,
holocaust denial,
Holocaust Revisionism,
Nazi Germany,
Nazism,
pseudohistory,
skepticism 101 lectures
In his lecture on Pathways to Evil (Part 2), Dr. Michael Shermer fleshes out the themes of Part 1 by exploring how the dials controlling our inner demons and better angels can be dialed up or down depending on circumstances and conditions. Are we all good apples but occasionally bad barrels turn good apples rotten, or do we all harbor the capacity to turn bad?
Tags:
civilization,
compliance and obedience,
conformity,
dehumanization,
deindividuation,
diffusion of responsibility,
evil,
genocide,
ideology,
Milgram's Shock Experiment,
morality,
murder,
Nazi gradualism,
pluralistic ignorance,
skepticism 101 lectures,
Zimbardo's Prison Experiment
In his Skepticism 101 lecture on Pathways to Evil (Part 1), Dr. Michael Shermer considers the nature of evil in his attempt to answer the question of how you can get normal civilized, educated, and intelligent people to commit murder and even genocide.
Tags:
altruism,
civilization,
evil,
genocide,
Hitler,
homicide,
morality,
murder,
reciprocity,
revenge,
skepticism 101 lectures
Dr. Michael Shermer examines the claims about the Bermuda Triangle using the tools of skepticism, science, and rationality to reveal that there is no mystery to explain.
Dr. Michael Shermer explains how we arrived at the Left-Right spectrum, both historically and evolutionarily, and the numerous metaphors used to wrap our minds around such complex systems as politics and economics.
Tags:
authority,
climate change,
cognitive bias,
conservatism,
fairness,
gun control,
ingroup loyalty,
left vs right,
liberalism,
moral dilemmas,
political bias,
politics,
reciprocity,
skepticism 101 lectures
Dr. Michael Shermer distinguishes between two questions: (1) Are extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs) out there somewhere in the cosmos? and (2) Have aliens come here? Evidence for both questions is considered in the larger context of why the issue so compels us to answer it almost religiously.
Tags:
aliens,
Area 51,
burden of proof,
conspiracy theories,
Drake Equation,
extraterrestrial intelligences,
Fermi Paradox,
government cover-ups,
mythology,
Roswell,
SETI,
skepticism,
skepticism 101 lectures,
sleep paralysis
Dr. Michael Shermer considers the characteristics of cults, how they differ from sects, religions, and myths, the role that myths and religions play in culture and people’s lives, and what Scientologists really believe.
Dr. Michael Shermer reviews the many ways that our attempts to understand the truth about the world are derailed by cognitive biases, including the anchoring bias, the representative bias, the availability bias, the confirmation bias, the hindsight bias, the self-serving bias, and even the bias bias.
Tags:
9/11,
anchoring bias,
availability bias,
cognitive bias,
critical thinking,
eyewitness testimony,
fallacies,
hindsight bias,
inattentional blindness,
memory,
self-serving bias,
skepticism 101 lectures
Dr. Michael Shermer explains the difference between conspiracies and conspiracy theories, who is more likely to believe which conspiracy theories, the social, political, cultural, and psychological conditions in which conspiracy theories flourish, real conspiracies, and who really killed JFK.
For a class project, a pair of 11th grade physics students created an infographic inspired by Michael Shermer’s Baloney Detection Kit.
The James Randi Educational Foundation has produced a superb 10-part video lecture series in which Harriet Hall, M.D., contrasts science-based medicine with so-called “complementary and alternative” methods. The topics include: What is CAM?; acupuncture; chiropractic; energy medicine; homeopathy; miscellaneous “alternatives”; naturopathy and herbal medicines; pitfalls in research; science based medicine vs. evidence-based medicine; science-based medicine in the media and politics. The lectures range from 32 to 45 minutes. A companion course guide is also available.
In this video — the sixth in our witty and satirical “Skeptic
Presents” series, Michael Shermer interviews Pope Francis.
In this video — the fifth in our series of videos that promote science and critical thinking through the use of humor, wit, and satire — we present a Con Academy mini course in the techniques of New Age Spiritual Gurutry.
In this video — the fourth in our series of videos that promote science and critical thinking through the use of humor, wit, and satire — we present a fun and informative look at the principles of Skepticism.
NEXT →
