One of the most powerful claim testers we have at our disposal in search of the truth is evidence. It’s hard to ignore the kind of facts that you can see and verify. That’s why evidence is so strongly tied to belief. In this episode, we’ll take a look at the evidence behind the Big Bang theory and put it to the test.
Driving Question: How does evidence help us decide what to believe?
- If you’ve ever watched a lawyer make their case before a jury, you understand the power of evidence. The fate of the accused often rests on the evidence presented before the jury. When all else fails, we rely on evidence when making up our mind about what to believe. It’s often considered the strongest of the claim testers. Why is that? What makes evidence so much more compelling than intuition or logic?
Word of the Day: Evidence
- Knowledge on which to base belief; that which constitutes proof of something.
Lesson
- Go to Khan Academy and try out the activity Claim Testing: The Big Bang. You will be presented with four claims about the Universe. It’s your job to use the claim testers to determine if you think each statement is true or false. Most importantly, think about which of the claim testers helped you decide what to believe!
Historian’s Journal Prompt
- Think of a question that you have about COVID-19 and go find some evidence to figure out what is true and what’s not.
- For example, we know handwashing is important, but there is a lot of information out there to sift through: How long? How often? Use soap? Does hand sanitizer work? Will warm weather stop the spread? How fast does it spread? Go investigate!
