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Skepticism in the Classroom Curriculum Materials

C'mon Articulett, you need to be in that class with me. We can be bad students together! (Teachers make the worst students--we know all the tricks.) Anyway, it should be good. And I'm hoping to come away with some ideas for classroom activities.

When I got back from TAM4, I *had* to show my students my "bootlegged" video clips of Richard Wiseman's backward lyrics and magic square. They loved it. And I made them tell me how Randi levitated Ed Lu. Great stuff just from clips taken with my digicam. The students put together a full page of skepticism for the student newspaper and did a really nice job of it.

I still need to get a legal copy of that gorilla basketball film, and make some actual lessons from the Wiseman/Randi clips I used last year. All in due course, I suppose.

Oh, and I've been running http://phyz.org in one form or another since 1996. It's been pretty smooth until I got up the nerve to share my critical thinking lessons with the JREF Forum. Probably messed up as many things in the past few weeks as I have in the previous 10 years. But hey, the world spins madly on...
 
phyz said:
C'mon Articulett, you need to be in that class with me. We can be bad students together! (Teachers make the worst students--we know all the tricks.) Anyway, it should be good. And I'm hoping to come away with some ideas for classroom activities.

When I got back from TAM4, I *had* to show my students my "bootlegged" video clips of Richard Wiseman's backward lyrics and magic square. They loved it. And I made them tell me how Randi levitated Ed Lu. Great stuff just from clips taken with my digicam. The students put together a full page of skepticism for the student newspaper and did a really nice job of it.

I still need to get a legal copy of that gorilla basketball film, and make some actual lessons from the Wiseman/Randi clips I used last year. All in due course, I suppose.

Oh, and I've been running http://phyz.org in one form or another since 1996. It's been pretty smooth until I got up the nerve to share my critical thinking lessons with the JREF Forum. Probably messed up as many things in the past few weeks as I have in the previous 10 years. But hey, the world spins madly on...
Click to expand...

They have that gorilla video at the Fleet museum in San Diego--I'm usually pretty good at finding bootlegged stuff--but I can't find that. But I use a Randi tape that I purchased...And there are some really good optical illusions on line:

http://www.johnsadowski.com/big_spanish_castle.php

I was thinking of having the kids make a video like the gorilla video for other classes. (Damn, I wish I would have had a teacher like me :)). Kylie Sturgess is a forum member in Australia who won an award for teaching critical thinking to her English students, and her essay is posted at the Australian Skeptics society--

Yes, I will be a bad student with you. I will teach you how to make origami cranes that move their wings in a pterodactyl manner.
 
articulett said:
They have that gorilla video at the Fleet museum in San Diego--I'm usually pretty good at finding bootlegged stuff--but I can't find that.

(Damn, I wish I would have had a teacher like me :)).

Yes, I will be a bad student with you. I will teach you how to make origami cranes that move their wings in a pterodactyl manner.
Click to expand...

The producers of the gorilla basketball clip are tres protective of their intellectual property, and I tend to respect that kind of thing (especially since I've gotten involved with publishing and hope people don't boot my stuff too much). Then again, I give a tonne of my own stuff away for free, so what's their problem?

Every once in a while, I will--with a straight face--tell my students, "...yeah, my physics teacher wasn't nearly as good as yours..." and move along. Takes them a coupla seconds to put it together.

Whoa. Can we start with jumping frogs? I won't mention the origami book I saw at Tower before they closed down. It should have been filed in the adult section, if you take my meaning. Oops. Looks like I did mention it.
 
articulett said:
But such people never apologize or have self effacing humor nor do they contribute much--though they seem to think themselves to be superior to most other skeptics. I think they are pretty well known on the forum--but, as the article noted, they are the least likely to conclude that the article is about them. If they come to TAM, they appear to be in the minority.
Click to expand...
Your signature is subtle. This post is not.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=2243474#post2243474

I'm guessing it was cathartic. But probably not any more effective.
 
phyz said:
C'mon Articulett, you need to be in that class with me. We can be bad students together! (Teachers make the worst students--we know all the tricks.) Anyway, it should be good. And I'm hoping to come away with some ideas for classroom activities.

When I got back from TAM4, I *had* to show my students my "bootlegged" video clips of Richard Wiseman's backward lyrics and magic square. They loved it. And I made them tell me how Randi levitated Ed Lu. Great stuff just from clips taken with my digicam. The students put together a full page of skepticism for the student newspaper and did a really nice job of it.

I still need to get a legal copy of that gorilla basketball film, and make some actual lessons from the Wiseman/Randi clips I used last year. All in due course, I suppose.

Oh, and I've been running http://phyz.org in one form or another since 1996. It's been pretty smooth until I got up the nerve to share my critical thinking lessons with the JREF Forum. Probably messed up as many things in the past few weeks as I have in the previous 10 years. But hey, the world spins madly on...
Click to expand...

Don't steal people's material, just email them and ask if you can use it.
 
tkingdoll said:
Don't steal people's material, just email them and ask if you can use it.
Click to expand...
I don't think I'm stealing anything, actually. A certain latitude is granted to educators under "fair use." I purchase the DVDs of TAM every year. At worst, I suppose I could be accused of jumping the gun. I show clips in class after returning from TAM. The same material comes out on DVD months later.

Do you imagine that anyone involved with TAM would object? Where's my offense, Teek?
 
tkingdoll said:
Don't steal people's material, just email them and ask if you can use it.
Click to expand...
Better yet, perform the magic square trick yourself. It's ridiculously easy to do, yet it makes you look like a mathematical genius. With a little practice, you can perform it faster and better than Wiseman did.

For those who want to know how to do it, drop me a PM.
 
phyz said:
I don't think I'm stealing anything, actually. A certain latitude is granted to educators under "fair use." I purchase the DVDs of TAM every year. At worst, I suppose I could be accused of jumping the gun. I show clips in class after returning from TAM. The same material comes out on DVD months later.

Do you imagine that anyone involved with TAM would object? Where's my offense, Teek?
Click to expand...

It's not illegal, I dare say, but it's hardly polite, especially as I'm sure you'd have no problem getting permission. Although as it was a private performance and the material is not in the public domain for free, you might be on slightly dodgy ground, particularly as the material does come out on DVD so there is a commercial interest to protect. But, regardless, it's just common courtesy to ask someone if you can use their material, let alone video footage of them using it.

However, the gorilla video is a different matter, you might even have to pay to use it, I think the owner is pretty strict about it.
 
tkingdoll said:
the gorilla video is a different matter, you might even have to pay to use it, I think the owner is pretty strict about it.
Click to expand...
Which is why I don't use the gorilla basketball clip. I do hope to purchase the DVD and be able to use it at that point.

Your point about securing permissions is well taken. But there's also something to be said for the teachable moment when you get back to class and students want to know where you were and what you did, and you're still buzzed from TAM.

So you're right, but I'm not wrong.
 
phyz said:
Your point about securing permissions is well taken. But there's also something to be said for the teachable moment when you get back to class and students want to know where you were and what you did, and you're still buzzed from TAM.

So you're right, but I'm not wrong.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right, the buzz is more important than anything. That's why when I go the cinema I record the movie on my phone, so I can show people when I get back home.
 
Like I said, I've been creating, using, and modifying lessons in skepticism and critical thinking.

Various lessons include presentations, video clips, worksheets, and weblinks. They can all be found here:

http://homepage.mac.com/phyzman/skepticism/

Current lessons include
- Wiseman's Three-color Mind Control
- Dead Psychic's Sketch
- Football Clairvoyant
- Angel at the State Fair
- Columbia Explosion Photos
- Chicago's Most Haunted

I created these resources because I wanted to use resources like these in the classroom. If there are more such resources out there, please let me know. My high school science students gobble these up and have less patience for woo than I do.

In the meantime, please send feedback on the page and the lessons contained therein.

Enjoy!
 
phyz said:
Like I said, I've been creating, using, and modifying lessons in skepticism and critical thinking.

Various lessons include presentations, video clips, worksheets, and weblinks. They can all be found here:

http://homepage.mac.com/phyzman/skepticism/

Current lessons include
- Wiseman's Three-color Mind Control
- Dead Psychic's Sketch
- Football Clairvoyant
- Angel at the State Fair
- Columbia Explosion Photos
- Chicago's Most Haunted

I created these resources because I wanted to use resources like these in the classroom. If there are more such resources out there, please let me know. My high school science students gobble these up and have less patience for woo than I do.

In the meantime, please send feedback on the page and the lessons contained therein.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

I've done better than that...
 
tkingdoll said:
I've done better than that...
Click to expand...
Yes you have. Congratulations!

Now...

If you can do better than the resources I posted, kindly share them with us. Considering my limited skills, creating better materials shouldn't be such a challenge. Anyway, we eagerly await the opportunity to review your work.
 
phyz said:
Yes you have. Congratulations!

Now...

If you can do better than the resources I posted, kindly share them with us. Considering my limited skills, creating better materials shouldn't be such a challenge. Anyway, we eagerly await the opportunity to review your work.
Click to expand...

I'm not a teacher, why on earth would I create teaching aids? But, start with the UK Skeptics chiropractic factsheet if you want an example of my projects. I do plenty to further critical thinking in the community, including fundraising for this very forum. However, I don't start threads boasting about my bootlegging skills and the brilliant example I'm setting to students with them.

I fail to see what my work has to do with you filming talks without the knowledge or permission of the speaker, though. Perhaps you are trying to distract the discussion away from that?
 
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articulett said:
They have that gorilla video at the Fleet museum in San Diego
Click to expand...
I love the Fleet Science Museum. The spinning disk optical illusion that makes the wall move is freaky. Last Spring my GF and I spent four months building a tornado machine like the one they have. I'm working on a second one now.
 
tkingdoll said:
Perhaps you are trying to distract the discussion away from that?
Click to expand...
Actually, I was doing my best to keep the thread related to the original post.

You seem obsessed with the thought that my students come away from the post-TAM clip presos with the singular thought that, "Wow, our teacher totally bootlegged this intellectual property from an academic conference, so now I'm going to camcord a movie at a theater and sell it to make money!"

Let me put your fears to rest. I know my students well enough to know that out of 100 different thoughts they might have after the presos, that isn't any of them. Not even close. And as far as the students know (or care), I have piles of signed, dated, notarized permission forms on file.

One reaction they did have was to write a full page spread on skepticism and Randi's $1M for the school newspaper. A whole page! And yet no mention of the possible copyright infringement. Perhaps it speaks poorly of them that this issue was nowhere on their radar.

I'd pay a dollar for every TAM speaker you could get to show shock or dismay at the news that someone in the audience of several hundred was capturing the event and showing it to schoolchildren. But you should give me a dime for each one whose reaction runs counter to that.

Bragging? Boasting? Are you commenting on this thread? The only bragging I found was the comment "I've done better than that..." But that was your comment. If you saw something you thought was me bragging or boasting, please identify it. All I did was offer curriculum materials to educators free of charge.

I'm not sure what I did to offend you to such disproportionate magnitude, but you're clearly resistant to any attempt at tact on my part. Perhaps the best place for me is on your ignore list lest I unwittingly offend you a second time.
 
phyz said:
Actually, I was doing my best to keep the thread related to the original post.

You seem obsessed with the thought that my students come away from the post-TAM clip presos with the singular thought that, "Wow, our teacher totally bootlegged this intellectual property from an academic conference, so now I'm going to camcord a movie at a theater and sell it to make money!"

Let me put your fears to rest. I know my students well enough to know that out of 100 different thoughts they might have after the presos, that isn't any of them. Not even close. And as far as the students know (or care), I have piles of signed, dated, notarized permission forms on file.

One reaction they did have was to write a full page spread on skepticism and Randi's $1M for the school newspaper. A whole page! And yet no mention of the possible copyright infringement. Perhaps it speaks poorly of them that this issue was nowhere on their radar.

I'd pay a dollar for every TAM speaker you could get to show shock or dismay at the news that someone in the audience of several hundred was capturing the event and showing it to schoolchildren. But you should give me a dime for each one whose reaction runs counter to that.

Bragging? Boasting? Are you commenting on this thread? The only bragging I found was the comment "I've done better than that..." But that was your comment. If you saw something you thought was me bragging or boasting, please identify it. All I did was offer curriculum materials to educators free of charge.

I'm not sure what I did to offend you to such disproportionate magnitude, but you're clearly resistant to any attempt at tact on my part. Perhaps the best place for me is on your ignore list lest I unwittingly offend you a second time.
Click to expand...

If you really want to know, I will PM you. I'm not personally offended, but I do vehemently believe it is not OK to film speakers without their knowledge and then use the footage without permission, for any reason at all.
 
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