Chapter 12 page 278
PROBLEM #1b
The topic to change is elementary school students’ beliefs about students. Students may believe that
pollution doesn’t really harm anyone or anything.
Do the following activities in class.
- Hold class discussion to assess preconceptions.
- Class reads a newspaper article about the harmful effects of pollution. Then there is class
discussion. - The teacher shows videos and slides showing people and animals affected by pollution. The class
discusses these. - The teacher invites a guest speaker to speak on pollution and its effects. This is again followed by
class discussion. - The class takes a trip to a polluted lake/river.
- The class discusses what was observed.
MY ANSWER:
A. Foster a general commitment to making beliefs consistent with evidence. These lessons have
none of this.
B. Teach students about the principles of reasoning that they need to know to evaluate evidence
properly. None of this, either.
C. Present a clear explanation of a plausible alternative theory. This is pretty strong. The
newspaper article, the videos, and the slides are likely to present a clear and plausible new theory about the
harmful effects of pollution. However, although the lesson plan should spell out in much more detail what
these articles, videos, and tapes will present. Otherwise, it’s impossible to know whether the explanation is
clear and plausible.
D. Provide lots of convincing evidence. The only evidence is the trip to the polluted lake or river.
This could be powerful evidence, but the lesson doesn’t tell any details of what the students will observe at
the lake or river or how this will serve as credible, unambiguous evidence. There is only one piece of
evidence.
E. Promote deep processing. The class discussions probably accomplish this.
Overall, this is a poor lesson plan. It lacks detail and lacks some key steps. However, because most
elementary school students probably are already sympathetic to the idea that pollution is harmful, the
lessons may promote belief in the new theory—but only because most students probably aren’t against the
theory that pollution is harmful in the first place.
PROBLEM #1c
In the first lesson we would begin with a discussion of evidence and beliefs. I would ask the children if
they could think of a time when they believed something that turned out to be not true. I would ask how
they found out it wasn’t true. Did someone show them evidence? Why did they change their belief? Etc. I
would try to get them to realize that sometimes we must discard or change a belief if the evidence warrants.
We would also talk about what kinds of evidence should persuade us to change our belief. Not all evidence
is equal. It has to evaluated based on things like its source, method of collection, etc.
In the next lesson we would discuss research methods of data collection and analysis. I would teach
students the skills to conduct their own research. We would talk about the different kinds of research—
correlational, experimental, and natural—and the strengths and weaknesses of each. We then would begin
talking about our research topic. I would take a vote to see how the students felt and ask them their reasons