About Thinking Is Power

Knowledge may be power, but there’s simply too much to know. Plus, we carry access to nearly all of humanity’s knowledge in our pockets. In today’s information (and misinformation) age, what’s more important is the ability to find reliable information and use it to draw reasonable conclusions.

The point is, knowledge isn’t enough. We also need better thinking.

Thinking Is Power (TIP) is based on an award-winning general-education science course designed to teach students critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills. Since its launch in 2021, TIP’s content has been featured in a range of publications (such as Skeptical Inquirer and Skeptical Science), translated into several different languages by international organizations/publications (such as Italy’s CICAP, France’s Citizen4Science, and Poland’s Nauka o Klimacie), and used by dozens of educational institutions globally.

Follow TIP on FaceBook, X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for a daily(ish) dose of critical thinking, and visit the Media Page to watch/listen to podcasts and video interviews.

Special thanks to Wendy Cook for designing Tip, Thinking Is Power’s adorable logo.

About Me

Melanie Trecek-King is an Associate Professor of Biology at Massasoit Community College, where she teaches a general-education science course designed to equip students with empowering critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills. An active speaker and consultant, Trecek-King loves to share her “teach skills, not facts” approach with other science educators and to help organizations meet their goals through better thinking. Trecek-King is also the Education Director for the Mental Immunity Project and CIRCE (Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative), which aim to advance and apply the science of mental immunity to inoculate minds against misinformation.

Trecek-King has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry and a Master of Arts in Ecology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she studied prairie ecology, succession, the role of fire in ecosystems, and conservation biology. She is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, whose founders included Carl Sagan, Issac Asimov, B.F. Skinner, Philip J Klass, Ray Hyman, and James Randi. Other notable CSI fellows are Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ann Druyan and Steven Pinker.

In addition to her love of science, Trecek-King is a mezzo soprano and a certified Choral Groupie, and has sung with some of the world’s greatest conductors and composers, including her amazing husband Dr. Anthony Trecek-King.

Expectations and Rules

The TIP community is welcoming to all voices, and everyone is encouraged to participate by asking and responding to questions. 

When engaging in dialogue on this site, please keep the following in mind:

None of us are perfect, and all of us are trying to improve.
Our goal should not be to be right, but to get it right.

As such, please adhere to the following:

Treat others with kindness and respect.
Assume good intentions, and be forgiving.
Use a professional tone.
No personal attacks or name-calling.
Avoid emotive, inflammatory, and hyperbolic language.
Be curious and open to changing your mind.