CONTRIBUTORS


Finding truth in a post-truth world


This month, Education Today contributor and Chair of The Learn2Think Foundation FELICIA JACKSON looks at the world of fake news, and thinks about how we can help our children sift fact from fiction.


If 2016 taught us anything, it’s that people will seemingly believe anything as long as it’s said loud enough, and by someone they want to believe. That puts a huge responsibility on teachers and parents today as they must help children learn how to differentiate between evidence-based fact, opinion and bias and give them the tools to assess information for themselves. In a world where the line between fact and fiction seems to be fading fast, that’s a demanding challenge. In the UK, a key pro-BREXIT argument was the return of £350m a week sent on the EU to the NHS – yet there were no details of what the funds were for, nor how they would be repurposed. Even the UK’s Statistics Authority described the claim as misleading, but that seemed to make little difference.


This appeal to emotion has been strongly replicated in the 2017 White House. We’ve had Trump accusing the independent press of creating fake news, Sean Spicer presenting ‘alternative facts’ in a White House briefing, and press secretary Kellyanne Conway talking about the Bowling Green Massacre as a justification for the US travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries – an event that never occurred but that reportedly now around half of Trump supporters believe to have taken place.


We need to think about our children immersed in these conflicting and opposing views from a range of information sources, and how it will affect their ability to understand knowledge and truth. These could be construed as deeply philosophical questions however on a day-to- day basis, what children really need to know is how to identify that an alternative fact is not a ‘fact’ but rather n , no matter how inelegant the term, a lie.


Children often believe what they’re told by a parent, teacher or peer, and I’ve have one child correct me on the details of the Big Bang theory as he’d seen a programme describing how the Earth was made from rocks colliding and, as it was on the Discovery Channel, it must be true. That truth, of course, meant that nothing else could be true too.


We have a duty to help our children learn how to identify what is true and what that means, what to believe, which information to trust and how to assess what they’re told – how to become well informed, flexibly minded decision makers. As Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield says, “Philosophy can help children have the courage to ask why something has authority, or why someone is right. This in turn helps protect them from indoctrination. Philosophy is about giving people the tools to run their own lives.”


At the Learn2Think Foundation we are making the assessment of truth the core subject of this year’s November celebration of the UN International Day for Tolerance. And practical help for teachers to achieve this is what we’ll provide, with lesson plans across the curriculum showing children how to move up the truth ladder, by finding facts, exploring perspectives and identifying bias. If your school would be interested in taking part, you can sign up at www.toleranceday.org.


www.toleranceday.org 12 www.education-today.co.uk March 2017


Simple Physics done cheaply!


With school funding currently making the headlines, Education Today contributor KIRSTY BERTENSHAW looks this month at ways you can teach physics without breaking the bank!


The schools funding crisis is often in the news, so it’s no surprise that schools lack equipment for teaching science. The good news is, you don’t need specialist equipment to teach most concepts! Here are some ideas for simple physics experiments.


Heat transfer


Conduction bars are expensive, but not necessary. The simplest conduction experiment is placing different materials in a beaker of hot water, and observing which ones get hot first by touching them. In schools this is strips of metal, glass stirring rods, wood splints etc. You can use household equipment instead. Metal spoons are usually stainless steel, plastic spoons provide an excellent comparison, lolly sticks (from the craft box) and thermometers for the glass analogue. Thermometers are available from as little as £1.50 each from school suppliers - look online for the best deal. You can also fold aluminium foil into stick shapes to compare steel and aluminium, or look out for copper cooking utensils in charity shops.


Convection tubes are glass tubes in the shape of an outline of a square, used with potassium permanganate to show convection currents. The tubes are expensive and delicate, and potassium permanganate is hazardous (see CLEAPSS). Instead, use clear jugs with freshly boiled hot water and place 3 ml of food colouring in the bottom of the jug, on one side, using a pipette. You can then observe the food colouring spreading through the water. Videos can then be used to show the traditional experiment to classes.


To view a convection current easily, cut a small rough circle out of foil. Then cut the circle into a thin spiral shape (not too long - experiment with different sizes), attach string or wool to the centre point and suspend over a heater or radiator. The foil spirals will spin as the convection current pushes past!


Radiation of heat energy can be shown without an expensive (or leaky) Leslie cube. Instead, cover cups or beakers with black paper, white paper or foil, then fill with hot water. You can measure the temperature over time inside the cup, AND the temperature of the outside of the cup, identifying which feels hotter for first (best emitter) or for longer (worst emitter). Caution - beware of scalds with hot water.


Friction


Friction tools are often in short supply in schools, but you can make your own! Keep any strong cardboard boxes you might have, or ask at your local shops for any they have. Cut the lengths of cardboard to the same length - 1 metre or 50 centimetre lengths make any calculations, such as speed, much easier. Keep the boards uniform in size to ensure a fair test. For some smooth boards, wrap one length of cardboard in Clingfilm - keep it as smooth as possible, as wrinkles will affect results. This is a much safer analogue for the traditional glass, and cheaper than thick plastic. Now wrap one length of cardboard in aluminium foil, shiny side up. Again, keep it wrinkle free.


For rough boards, use an old towel and stretch it over the length of cardboard. Secure the edges with bulldog clips. Alternatively, use old lengths of carpet or rug, especially if you have free samples from carpet suppliers.


Now stick sandpaper over the length of another board – you can usually buy a packet in a pound shop.


You can also use bare cardboard, spare laminate flooring pieces, or stick on tiles like the ones you find in pound shops.


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