Topic XVII. Pathological Science
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LEARNING GOALS
- B. CONCEPT ACQUISITION
- The boundaries demarcating science from non-science and distinguishing among the categories of pathological science, pseudo-science, fraudulent science, poorly-done science, and good science can often be difficult, with overlapping and fuzzy boundaries between categories.
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EXAMPLES
- Cautionary Quotes: Mistakes, Misconceptions, & Misunderstandings
- "I took a shot of apple cider vinegar for a Month and just overall felt like it started me on the right track in the morning." https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/i-took-a-shot-of-apple-cider-vinegar-for-a-month-and-i-won-t-stop
LEARNING GOALS
- C. CONCEPT APPLICATION
- Distinguish science from enterprises such as religion or (perhaps) astrology where the attempt is not to find descriptive adequacy but meaning in ordinary life.
- Identify cases of good science that gets the wrong answer, fraudulent science, pathological science, poorly-done science, and pseudo-science based on the above characteristics.
- Identify what is wrong in cases of fraudulent, pathological science, poorly-done, and pseudo-science.
CLASS ELEMENTS
- Homework
- Please read the article assigned to you based on your seating chart group (the seating chart for Week 9 is posted on the syllabus). These articles (from a variety of sciences) may be challenging to understand, but we encourage you to try to understand the main ideas from the articles and be prepared to discuss them in class on Wednesday. Please answer the following question for your homework: Based on Langmuir's criteria, do you think that the study conducted in the article you read would qualify as pathological science? In addition to a paragraph explanation summary of your thoughts, make sure to fill out and turn in the “Langmuir Scoresheet” as part of your assignment. [link]