Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [education]

Education is a process of imparting knowledge. It is typically associated with the formal, systematic process that includes schools and trained teachers, but also includes the informal "word-of-mouth" method where knowledge is imparted through the telling of stories and folk-tales.

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Does fast feedback result in greater expertise?

There are swathes of blogs and books promoting the notion that we should seek the quickest possible feedback to develop ours skill. The most prominent example I can think of comes from Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow (emphasis mine). The…
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Does attending a highly ranked high school in the US increase one's future success?

At the very least in the US it is widely believed that sending one's kids to a highly ranked high school is paramount, to the point where parents deliberately move to a better school district just to get access to a better school. But has it been…
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Does Alberta law require homeschooling parents to not teach that homosexuality is a sin?

This 2012 Patheos article claims Section 16 of Alberta's 2012 education act it forces parents not to teach that homosexuality is a sin as part of their official schooling, but I can't confirm it.
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Are scary fairy tales beneficial for children's psychological development?

There seems to be a popular claim amongst psychiatrists that scary, cruel and other ethically questionable traditional fairy tales are beneficial for the development of a child's mind. People promoting this theory often quote Bruno Bettelheim's The…
Skippy le Grand Gourou
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Is school homework beneficial?

I think it’s safe to say that conventional wisdom holds that homework is a helpful part of children’s school education. This conventional wisdom is challenged by the likes of Alfie Kohn who contend that there’s no evidence of the benefit of…
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Summer Mathematics Workbooks for Elementary and Middle School

There is a wide variety of summer mathematics workbooks available for students in elementary and middle school (see here). With summer coming up, these books seem to be available everywhere. Thus my questions are: Is there any evidence that suggests…
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Misconceptions about electric theory

Electric misconceptions This is a fairly big question, and is divided into three parts. One part is a separate question. The site lists several common misconceptions, and what the correct way of things really are, but doesn't list any references.…
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Are LGBT activists allowed to make gender education in Kindergartens in Germany?

There are various rumors about this, particularly in the previous East Block. The goal of the activists is supposed to educate a more tolerant view for the children already in the early childhood. Opponents argument mostly by the (constitutional)…
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Is generic creativity and critical thinking impossible to teach or assess?

In the article 'Growth mindset' just another platitude published by the Center for independent studies, the author makes the claim that Generic creativity or critical-thinking skills are practically impossible to teach or assess. Is this true?…
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What is Jacob Barnett predicted to win the Nobel prize for?

Jacob Barnett is a young prodigy that is currently pursuing a Master's degree in a quantum physics related field at the age of 15. A couple of months ago, I spotted a number of special interest stories on the internet claiming that he was a…
Asad Saeeduddin
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Are there no rules mandating disclosure of conflicts of interest for academic economists?

The documentary movie Inside Job is a polemical attack on and analysis of the policies and people who contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. It doesn't pretend to be a balanced view. Some of the most squirm-inducing and uncomfortable moments…
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Was phrenology taught in schools in Nazi Germany?

I was watching Europa Europa (1990). 66 minute into the film, there is a scene which depicts how German students were indoctrinated with phrenology – which is an abhorrent pseudoscience, in my opinion. Was phrenology taught in schools in Nazi…
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Will there be more than 11 million job openings related to Data Science in India by 2026?

This Career Outlook for Data Scientist article claims that analyst predict that there will be more than 11 million job openings by 2026 in the field of data science. Does this claim makes sense given the market conditions? Also article claims about…
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Has student enrollment in economic degrees fallen?

In his 2011 book "Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor Dethroned?", Steve Keen says: I am curious about the "falling student enrollments" claim. Is this true? I have struggled to find good information online. In many places one doesn't study…
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Was there a picture of Freud above a urinal at Washington University?

From New Yorker's "Why Freud Survies": Psychoanalysis was also taking a hit within the medical community. Studies suggesting that psychoanalysis had a low cure rate had been around for a while. But the realization that depression and anxiety can be…
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