Teaching the Laws of Logic and Scientific Method

The scientific method is being taught in my son’s science class. The beauty of home-schooling is that I get to relearn all of those wonderful things that one forgets the farther one lives from Graduation. The science project is about submarines. We have been attempting to work through what it is we need to do to have a good science project.

While watching Myth Busters last night we discovered how applicable education is. The program had all of the essentials. The “problem” or “question” being, “Do cars get better gas mileage with the windows up and the air-conditioning on or with the windows down and air-conditioning off.

Information was then gathered and a hypothesis formed. Adam said windows up and Jamie said windows down.

The hypothesis was tested and data was recorded and analyzed. My son and I realized that there were too many variables. They were using two cars. Even though they were the same kind of car, eliminating to one constant car would give more reliable evidence for the hypothesis. This they did not do. They also used a computer instead of actually driving the distance. “So, according to the computer, it's better to use A/C with windows up.”

“This was too quick and easy for TV, so they decided to stage a seven hour marathon, race-til-you're-empty duel, with Jamie driving an SUV with A/C on and Adam driving an SUV with windows down.”

It turns out that actually driving the cars gave the opposite conclusion.

The show was a great real life lesson of the scientific method.

Another show that my son and I watched was Get Smart

This is a show that teaches the Laws of Logic in the most comical way. In the episode Hoo Done It? There is one scene that has Steven just chuckling. A murder has occurred. There were two cigarettes burning in the ashtray. That means there were two smokers in the room. But the Asian detective gets Smart to conclude that there may have been up to 50 nonsmokers in the room with the two smokers when the murder was committed. When they turned their backs, two other detectives picked up their cigarettes on their way out of the room.

The Laws of Logic are indispensable along with sound reason and sound assumptions. Having good Cable shows seems to be a great way to see these things in action.

:-)