Skeptic 1 Public

Required Evidence

Badge Overview

Expectations

You can :

Critique how a popular science story summarizes research.

What is brought from the cited research into the story?

Research Question?
Hypothesis?
Methods?
Results?
Conclusion?

What value is added to the story by this research?

Does the cited research help the reader better understand a scientific phenomenon?
Does the cited research help lend credibility to the claims made in the story?

Does the story provide enough information about the cited research to help the reader better understand a scientific phenomenon?

Why Earn This Badge?

News media, whether through TV, radio, blogs, or print, is constantly sharing breakthroughs in science. These stories, however, are often misleading and misrepresent the science, causing serious social and political repercussions. Watch this video excerpt from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight to get a sense of the problem:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8YR7slQhXZYMDhrVkQxcFFlQUU/view?usp=sharing
As part of being a literate world citizen you need to be able to view these stories with a skeptical eye and understand the science behind the headlines to make educated and valid judgements about the issues at hand.