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As has been recently pointed out, training students involves more than teaching them algorithmic problem-solving (1): a primary purpose in general chemistry should be to emphasize critical thinking (2). This must go beyond the classroom because students are constantly being bombarded with incomplete information in the media, especially where science is involved. Newspaper reporters tend to be politically sophisticated and well grounded in current events; unfortunately their knowledge of science often leaves a lot to be desired. The resulting errors are not always obvious, and it is important training for students to be able to find these errors and correct them.
We present here examples of various kinds of chemical misinformation culled from newspapers and magazines, with appropriate questions.2 The answers to the questions are grouped at the end. The excerpts vary from the comic to the tragic; some are conceptual errors, others involve serious quantitative mistakes.
See Letter re: this article.
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