Token Skeptic In Berlin – World Skeptics Congress In May, 2012

I’ll be in Berlin from May 18th-20th, presenting at the 6th World Skeptics Congress! Check out the official site to see all the news and events, and I’ll post more about my adventures at the Token Skeptic at FreeThought Blogs.

My presentation is on Friday, May 18th: WHY CAN’T A TEACHER BE MORE LIKE A SCIENTIST? – PSEUDOSCIENCE IN EDUCATION:

As a part of the accountability movement, schools are increasingly expected to provide interventions that provide measurable improvements in learning outcomes and are based on sound scientific research. In addition, families are easily lured by “miracle cures” for conditions like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Asperger’s and other learning difficulties.

However, despite the best intentions of educational providers, commercial programs which claim to improve pedagogical practices or promote efficient learning in an almost miraculous manner can be misleading at best and costly pseudoscience at worst. Educators and stakeholders in the education of children should be encouraged to become informed consumers of research and to avoid supporting and/or implementing programming for which there is neither a credible theoretical nor a sound research basis.