critical thinking

Many times throughout the school year, our entire staff gather for prayer. We gather for prayer at the beginning of the year to ask God for a safe and healthy school year. We gather each morning to ask God to watch over us during the day, and keep us from …

A new law went into effect on Monday in Mississippi that would allow religion to enter public schools without fear of reprisal. This law is known as the “Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013,” and it is effective beginning with the 2013-2014 school year. While it backs up a …

Sometimes, when faced with seeming absurdity, there turns out to be a lot more than meets the eye. Many of you are probably familiar with the video below, which has been making the rounds in the skeptical blogosphere and was snarkily summarized by Will on Skepchick. If you have not …

Because clearly the best time to get involved with something fun and distracting is when you are racing to finish a conference paper on a very tight deadline, today I finally got around to starting Eliezer Yudkowsky’s “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.” I remember first hearing about it …

Good morning, teachers and learners! Have you started your summer sessions yet? Are you taking a break from school for the summer? Even if you are, don’t take a break from learning and reading. In Deals With 10 Public Universities, Coursera Bids for Role in Credit Courses – The MOOC …

I’m a nuts-and-bolts skeptic, which influences the kind of skeptical lessons I bring into my classrooms. I’m always looking for new ideas and other ways of presenting skepticism and critical thinking to students. I’ve been meaning to start reviewing skeptical curricular materials here at the School of Doubt, so why …

Once, I had a freshman in one of my English classes. The kid was big, and kind of awkward, with dark curly hair and glasses. Socially, the other kids tolerated him, but he wasn’t popular or anything. He would yell out comments on a daily basis and would often ramble …

As some of you may or may not be aware, most PhD students outside the discipline of Education are never required to take any classes in paedagogy in order to “learn” how to teach at the university level, or indeed at any other. Rather, it’s kind of magically expected that …

I love my job. I really do. I’d been waiting for a job at this prestigious suburban school since I first began my teaching career. My old job, where I toiled for eight years, wasn’t really satisfactory in many different ways. The department – and, to be honest, all of …

Hello and welcome to School of Doubt, the newest sister site in the Skepchick network! I’m Alasdair and I’m the site’s admin. It’s my pleasure to welcome you and to explain a little about what’s going to be happening here. School of Doubt is dedicated to the discussion of skepticism …