GS 201 Scientific Skepticism - Someone is Wrong on the Internet

The goal of this course is to explore scientific skepticism from a variety of angles. We will examine controversial scientific topics such as evolution, climate change, vaccine safety, GMOs, and alternative medicine. The foundations of scientific skepticism including psychology, social science, logical fallacies, philosophy of science, media, statistics, criticism of science and the history of science and skepticism will provide a framework. Information literacy, science communication, and debate skills will be developed throughout.

Credits

4

General Education Requirements

Sci/Math/CS Non-Lab

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Investigate claims and evaluate the trustworthiness of sources including identification of red flags, interpreting relevant background, and discriminating reliable information from mis- and dis-information

2. Construct, analyze, and critique arguments and scientific reasoning, and effective communication strategies, specifically identification of logical fallacies, misleading graphs and statistics, and weak arguments

3. Differentiate science from pseudoscience and bad science by understanding key features of scientific methods, recognizing hallmarks of pseudoscience, and evaluating claims for scientific validity

4. Distinguish between healthy skepticism and denialism in the evaluation of scientific claims. Understand tradeoffs between risks and benefits in societally relevant science

5. Engage in respectful, informed, and strategic discussions about scientific issues, demonstrating intellectual honesty, openness to differing views, and effective communication skills

6. Reflect on and identify cognitive biases, social milieu, assumptions, and framing in self and others to improve critical thinking and intellectual humility and self-awareness

7. Apply principles of scientific methods to evaluate experimental designs, communicate scientific findings, and identify scientific consensus