New CAST Paper Explores Strategies to Prevent Invasive Plant Species
Through our network of experts, CAST prides itself in assembling, interpreting, and communicating credible, balanced, science-based information. Additionally, we understand the importance of knowing how to effectively analyze and evaluate information from other sources. Doing your own research on the “research” you are receiving from the internet is extremely important.
A recent blog by Jason Riis, a cognitive psychologist, spells out the framework for critical thinking that can be used to assess and develop these articles in the classroom, in media, or in any forum for public disclosure. The framework he provides draws on key principles from society’s thinking institutions (such as the scientific method) and builds on insights from behavioral science that have shown extensive deficiencies in human critical thinking tendencies.
Riis suggests that effective critical thinking involve these three types of activities:
Riis expresses why this matters to science: “We live in an era where this is staggering public skepticism about science. I believe that the standards of critical thinking about science in the media should be higher than they are. That means we need to talk about what critical thinking is, and call out venues or authors who hurt rather than help that mission. I am suggesting that all forms of media need to engage in careful critical thinking.”
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