Chapter 12 page 274
- Provide lots of convincing evidence. (Convincing evidence is both credible and unambiguous.)
One or two pieces of evidence never convinces a skeptic. Many, many pieces of evidence are likely to be
needed. And the evidence should be, as the Brewer and Chinn article discusses, both as credible as possible
and as unambiguous as possible. Remember that credible data have as many as possible of these
characteristics:
a. Use credible sources.
b. Use accepted research methods.
c. Replicate studies.
d. Use direct observation.
e. Use data that are already believed.
I cannot emphasize enough that one or two pieces of data are usually NOT enough to promote belief
change. You will need multiple pieces of evidence in most cases.
EXAMPLE. The teacher includes the following piece of evidences:
--a videotape of two studies that have been done showing that psychic researchers make no better
predictions than nonpsychics.
--an article from a magazine that presents a study similar to the two above.
--an article in which a formerly acclaimed psychic detective has now admitted that he used various tricks
and reveals what those tricks were.
--a class experiment in which students first learn how to make vague predictions and then make predictions
about a local robbery. When the robbery suspect is caught, they find that their predictions are about as
accurate as the typical predictions of psychics. - Promote deep processing. Don’t just give students things to read if you want them to change their
minds about something. You have to have them think actively about the issue—by participating in
discussions, by writing about the issue, and so forth.
EXAMPLE. Extended discussions are held over each piece of evidence. At the end of the unit,
students write a position paper. Any position is acceptable, but it must be argued by persuasive evidence.
More examples:
Here are two more examples.
a. You are a member of the human resources division in a large, growing technology firm. Most of the
employees of the firm are computer programmers. About two thirds are Americans and the other two
thirds legal immigrants. There has always been a tendency in this firm for some factionalization
among the Americans and legal immigrants. Recently the management has become aware of a serious
rift in the firm. A large number of the American programmers believe that the legal immigrants are
less productive and less willing to work hard and achieve group goals. Based on the data available,
the management believes the American programmers’ belief to be false. The management also
believes that this false belief is a difference is harmful to corporate morale and productivity. Your job
is to devise a plan to change the belief of the American programmers.
b. You are a 5th-grade teacher, and you know that most of your students think that heavy objects fall
faster than light objects. You want to show your students that they are mistaken. Develop a lesson
plan that will do the trick.