Psychologist, Author, Skeptic
For this Friday’s activity you are going to build a little scale for weighing evidence. I call it a “skept-o-meter.” One of the key concepts in critical thinking is understanding … Continue Reading Critical Thinking Activity: Building a Skept-o-Meter
Help children learn critical thinking with this fun card-sorting activity.
At the age of 9 Emily Rosa became a superstar in the scientific community for her science fair project. She deserved it too, because it was such an amazing project … Continue Reading Pseudoscience Experiment: Testing Therapeutic Touch
Want to teach kids critical thinking and scientific skepticism? Try a pseudoscience experiment!
Do you know the legendary story of how James Randi debunked the famous faith healer Peter Popoff? If you don’t then stay tuned and watch this video. You’ll also learn more about the Beyond Belief characters Reverend Twinkle and Uncle Freeman.
Do you ever see faces in clouds? Or trees? Or in just about anything? Guess what, there is a name for that: Pareidolia (don’t worry, you’ll learn how to pronounce it in the video).
In Beyond Belief: The Adventure Begins the heroes of the book search for clues at the McMinnville UFO festival. But is the festival real? Watch the video to find out!
How do horoscopes work? Why do psychics seem to know about people? What does psychologist Bertram Forer have in common with P.T. Barnum? You will find out the answers to these questions in this video!
In this video, the author of the Beyond Belief book series explains this very important psychology concept in a way kids can understand.
Did you know that if you pick a random person and ask them about their beliefs that they are more likely to believe in hauntings than the Big Bang? Or evolution? Or many of the other foundational theories of science? It’s true! And it turns out that believing in weird (but harmless) things puts you at risk for believing more harmful kinds of misinformation. In this video a child psychologist explains this idea in a way that kids can understand.
What is that feeling you have when you find out that you are wrong about something important?
Now when you read the Beyond Belief books you will find little spyglass icons and inside each one will be a QR code. Scan the code and it will take … Continue Reading We are adding videos to the book series!
If you haven’t heard of Kenny Biddle or his show “The Skeptical Help Bar” then you have to check it out. Kenny is a former ghost hunter turned debunker and … Continue Reading I was interviewed on the Skeptical Help Bar!
Ok so I’m not going to lie: I haven’t finished this book yet. But this book is so good that I don’t want to wait to tell you to go … Continue Reading How Minds Change: A book review
One of the very best things about writing kids books is reading the letters that kids send me. Of course these days the “letters” are mostly emails from parents and … Continue Reading A Kid Investigator Takes on Bigfoot
Adam the Ape by Wolfgang Wambach When I was a kid in the 80s (yes I’m that old), I was obsessed with a TV show called BJ and the Bear. … Continue Reading Adam the Ape: A book review
How would you feel if I told you that one of your beliefs is wrong? Not just any belief, a belief that is core to your identity. And what if … Continue Reading UFOs, Psychics, and The End of the World: The Weird Story of Cognitive Dissonance