Being Wrong

[azurelunatic]

From one of my infrequent Facebook comments.

I have long thought that there should be a 3rd-grade-ish class on Being Wrong.

My vague lesson plan for it involves giving students outdated literature, having them read it, and having them summarize it to the class. After all of them have done this, the new material on the same subject is introduced, with a "What you just looked at was the pinnacle of scientific knowledge from $DATE. Since then, the following has been discovered: ___" - with the idea that if you are given incorrect or incomplete information, this is Not Your Fault, but one of the first steps after trying to understand something is seeing if there's any more recent information that changes things. And that it takes a while for new information to get spread around. Perhaps with a game involving human-to-human transmission of information, with information represented by marbles or something.

The aim of the lesson would be to help the students lessen their ego-involvement with being found wrong, encourage them with pride in productive effort, and reward them for searching for updated information.

Comments

[ilyena_sylph]

I ♥ your brain.

Lots.

[azurelunatic]

It follows from Asimov's principles of science education, to teach the history of science to put everything in its historical perspective and to get the student used to the idea that science is a process rather than fixed facts, and with further knowledge the commonly held conceptions are challenged and replaced.

Teaching this early would entirely possibly change human society.

[ilyena_sylph]

Oh yeah. It very well might.

What would you start with, though, to avoid winding up with hysterical parents of third-graders ranting to your superior about "that $atheist teaching my child that $HolyBook is wrong!!!", though?

-- Serious question, btw, since a lot of western science came out of natural philosophy came out of monastic study.

[azurelunatic]

I might go with something like chameleons living on air, ostriches with their heads in the sand -- hilarious biological fantasy that can be disproved with just plain careful ethology.

[ilyena_sylph]

Oooh! *grins*

That makes sense! And ought to avoid the thorny mess I was staring at longingly.

[jd]

Although with examples like those (or perhaps any, now that I think of it. rather depends on both the parents and the kid) you'll fairly often run into the one precocious child who's already heard the real explanation and inadvertently ruins the exercise.

[cadenzamuse]

Hmm, you know what? I got the history of science from the time I was a wee lass, and particularly in all my biology classes from middle school on, and I don't think just teaching the history of science is enough. The most common reaction (this was mine as well) is "Why are we learning this stuff if we know it's not true any more?"

So I honestly don't imagine teaching it earlier would change anything.

Teaching it differently, however... Which is why I think your class is a good idea, as the living process of research and the changing understanding of concepts in science is really fun. I *got* it once I started working in a research lab at the age of 19. But not before then.