From Kenny Biddle (Skeptical Help Bar): “Grab a drink and strap on your Critical Thinking caps – we’re gonna learn some skills. Melanie is an assistant Professor of Biology and has developed a general-education science course which, instead of teaching science as a collection of facts to memorize, teaches students how to evaluate the evidence for claims to determine how we know something and to recognize the characteristics of good science by evaluating bad science, pseudoscience, and science denial. Her article, Teach Skills, Not Facts, appeared in the Jan/Feb 2022 issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine…and was amazing. Her follow up in the upcoming March/April issue is more awesomeness, and introduces a guide to evaluating claims, summarized by the acronym FLOATER – which stands for Falsifiability, Logic, Objectivity, Alternative explanations, Tentative, Evidence, and Replicability. Let’s drinking and learn!!!”
Note: After the break near the hour mark I had technology problems that unfortunately lasted for about 15 minutes. They do get resolved and we were able to move on with the conversation and questions, so consider skipping forward.