Dubious Adoption Data

Maybe numbers don’t lie, but they can certainly be folded, spindled, turned inside out and refashioned to support a different conclusion. In this lesson, students will analyze a graph from the New York City Administration for Children’s Services showing a significant increase in New York City adoptions after ACS was founded. They’ll see how the statistics were manipulated to show these results, and will learn to keep an open mind about statistical proofs and to analyze for themselves the numbers they encounter.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 1: Us and Them

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners — most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in analytical thinking, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and non-analytically. In this lesson, students explore some of the irrational ways in which humans think, and learn to recognize and overcome the habits of mind that can get in the way of good reasoning. Here we focus on the ways that people define themselves and others — how we develop our personal and group identities, how we treat people whose identities are similar or different, and how this affects our perceptions and our ability to reason.

Everything You Know Is Wrong 2: Beliefs and Behavior

Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners — most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in reasoning skills, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and non-analytically. This is the second of two lessons focusing on the instincts and habits of mind that keep us from thinking logically. In the first one, we looked at how people define themselves, alone and in groups, and how this affects behavior. This time around, we will focus on how people reconcile their beliefs with the world around them, even when the evidence doesn’t seem to agree with those beliefs.

Hillary Clinton’s Record, Through the Looking Glass

Sometimes advertising is easy. Flash up a picture of Osama bin Laden and you’ve got viewers who are ready to be angry. Flash a picture of Osama bin Laden next to a picture of Hillary Clinton and you’ve got…well, you’ve got an ad sponsored by John Spencer, a 2006 Republican senatorial candidate from New York. Spencer’s ad stated that Sen. Clinton opposed the USA Patriot Act and controversial National Security Agency wiretaps, which the ad claims were vital in stopping a terrorist plot to blow up airliners going from Britain to the United States in 2006. Students will use Clinton’s actual voting record to assess the accuracy of Spencer’s claims.

Hoodia Hoodoo

Many of us have wished we could magically shed a few pounds. So it’s no surprise that "miracle" weight-loss products rake in millions of dollars – especially when their advertisements sandwich (so to speak) endorsements by leading news organizations between pictures of impossibly ripped bodies. It’s also no surprise that the products rarely live up to their billing. This lesson assesses misleading claims for a weight-loss product called Hoodia that is advertised heavily on the Internet and elsewhere. Students will dig beneath the hype to find the single scientific study on which the marketing is based and analyze whether it can support the claims.

Listerine: Miracle Liquid or Product in Search of a Purpose?

Everyone knows that Listerine kills the germs that cause bad breath. You probably assumed that meant that Listerine would cure bad breath. But it doesn’t. Nor does it cure dandruff. Or prevent colds. Or eliminate the need for flossing. That, of course, hasn’t kept the makers of Listerine from making all of those claims. This lesson examines misleading (and even outright false) advertisements for Listerine, a well-known household product. Students will locate and analyze several alternative sources of information about Listerine’s claims and weigh their credibility.

PETA Pressure

Persuading an audience requires intensive research and scrupulous fact-checking – or, you could just figure out what your audience wants to hear and tell them that. Politicians, advertisers and others with something to sell choose words and images that will appeal to their target audience, enticing them to accept claims unquestioningly. Some of these manipulators, like the animal activism site peta2.com, focus their attentions on teenagers and young adults. In this lesson, students won't check peta2's factual accuracy, but will learn to spot their manipulative tactics and why they should be skeptical about them.

Survey Says...

Can 50 million Elvis fans be wrong? We often rely on polls and surveys to take the temperature of the population — how better to find out what people think than to ask them? But depending on how the polls are constructed and conducted, we might end up with misleading answers. This lesson examines two polls that asked Iraqis about the quality of life in their country, one which showed an alarmingly negative outlook and one a more positive assessment. Students will look at the conclusions offered by the organizations that sponsored the polls and their methodologies. They will also conduct their own survey and see how poll results can be skewed by how, when, where, of whom and by whom the questions are asked.

The Credibility Challenge: In Search of Authority on the Internet

The Internet can be a rich and valuable source of information – and an even richer source of misinformation. Sorting out the valuable claims from the worthless ones is tricky, since at first glance a Web site written by an expert can look a lot like one written by your next-door neighbor. This lesson offers students background and practice in determining authority on the Internet – how to tell whether an author has expertise or not, and whether you’re getting the straight story.