Encourage Critical Thinking with Daily Bellringer Exercises

Classroom Bellringers These short videos are designed to encourage critical thinking about the process of science, information, and personal biases. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Are you a critical thinker?

And we are here to help you teach this to your students with 54 simple daily bellringer exercises. Everyone thinks. And everyone thinks they re good at thinking. But good thinking is hard, and it doesn t come naturally. It s a skill that has to be learned and practiced. Our brains are adapted to keep us alive by making quick decisions to avoid predators and by forming strong emotional bonds with members of our tribes. Trusting that your brain inherently knows how to reason is a recipe for being misled. And it doesn t matter how smart or educated you are:No one can fool us better than we can. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

If you are looking for longer lessons to introduce students to ideas like healthy skepticicm, misinformation, and pseudoscience, try Generation Skeptics. A blue eye with a magnifying glass All of our lessons come with lesson plans, rubrics, and other materials. Description automatically generated We are here to make teaching skeptical thinking as seamless as possible for you.

Bellringer # 1 Thinking Is Power: An Introduction 1. Why is knowledge not enough? 2. Do you use social media? 3. Have you ever heard somebody say something that seemed untrue? 4. Do you know how to find credible information? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #2 What is skepticism? 1. When encountering new information, especially something that confirms my existing beliefs, do I automatically accept it, or do I take steps to verify its accuracy? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #3 A child s perspective on teaching critical thinking 1. Are you willing to admit your brain can be fooled and you can learn how to think better? 2. Why or why not? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #4 8 Characteristics of Critical Thinkers 1. What are the 8 characteristics of critical thinking? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated (hint: new e-------)

Bellringer #5 What s the most important lesson when learning critical thinking? 1. How does the scientific method reduce our personal biases? (Hint: control groups, sample size) A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #6 Part 1: This isn t about elephants 1. How does emotion affect a belief? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #7 Part 2: This is (mostly) about elephants 1. Can facts change? 2. If so, what causes a fact to change? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated (hint: new e-------)

Bellringer # 8 Critical thinking training wheels: From witches to climate change 1. Give another example of critical thinking training wheels? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #9 You re wrong about something 1. Can you think of something you were wrong about? Explain. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #10 Are your beliefs true? Use these 6 questions to find out! Answer the 6 questions in the video. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #11 Why we fall for misinformation 1. What are the 3 major reasons why we fall for misinformation. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #12 Protect yourself from misinformation 1. When are 3 things that make you more likely to fall for misinformation? 2. How do you protect yourself from misinformation? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #13 STOP!: What s on your social media feed and why? 1. How do algorithms affect what you see on social media? 2. Did you know that this was happening? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #14 What is a filter bubble? 1. With a partner, discuss what kinds of stories or photos pop on your social media platforms. How are they similar or different? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #15 Lateral Searching 1. How do you do a lateral search? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #16 Fact checking for kids: Is the teletubbies conspiracy theory true? 1. What are the steps for fact-checking? 2. What is looking laterally ? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #17 Pseudoscience and Science Denial: Two sides of the same coin 1. Lower standard of evidence-__________ 2. Impossibly high standards of evidence- _______________ 3. How does what we want to believe play a role in science denial and pseudoscience. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #18 Why include pseudoscience in a science classroom? 1. Have these explanations of pseudoscience made you a better consumer of information? How? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #19 Why homeopathy is pseudoscience 1. What is the idea behind homeopathy? 2. Did you know this? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #20 Do you need to detox? Watch this video to find out! 1. What is a detox? 2. What is our body s built-in system? 3. Why is detox a pseudoscience? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #21 Can you spot the pseudoscience red flags in this satirical advertisement? 1. Can you spot any red flags? 2. Check out Bellringer #44 to spot the red flags. 3. If you want to get better at this, try this lesson, How To Sell Pseudoscience or read this article, How To Sell Pseudoscience. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #22 Protect yourself from the false hope of pseudoscience with skepticism 1. How does hope play a role in your acceptance of pseudoscience? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #23 Do you know the difference between facts and opinions? 1. What is an example of one of your opinions? 2. Why is this not a fact? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #24 Facts don t care about our feelings 1. When presented with new information that contradicts something you thought you knew, how do your initial feelings (confusion, frustration, defensiveness) impact your ability to objectively evaluate the new information? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #25 Why isn t it worked for me reliable evidence? 1. What are some of the alternative explanations for Julie s headache going away. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #26 Why don t facts change minds? And what to try instead? 1. Choose a belief. What is it? 2. Turn to a partner and practice the process in this video. 3. Remember, be kind to your partner and honest with yourself. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #27 Want a simple (if not easy) way to improve your thinking? 1. Choose another belief you have. 2. Put your confidence on a scale from 1-10. 3. Avoid overconfidence. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #28 The feeling of certainty (and uncertainty) 1. Compare how you felt about the statements before and after the narrator explained the exercise. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #29 Beware the overconfidence cycle 1. What is confirmation bias? 2. What is the problem with being overconfident? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #30 Critical thinking and deferring to experts 1. Name a topic you are not an expert in. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #31 Evaluating expertise 1. Why should we rely on experts? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #32 Science and the Puzzle of Reality 1. Do you need a puzzle to be complete to know what the image is? 2. Can science give us answers even if it s not complete? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #33 7 misconceptions about science 1. Choose one misconception and explain it. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #34 What do scientists mean by hypothesis, theory, law, fact, and consensus? 1. Define hypothesis, theory, law, and consensus. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #35 When it s a scientific theory, it s not just a theory 1. Use the word theory as it used in daily life. 2. Give an example of a scientific theory. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #36 How can we know something if no one was there to see it? 1. Consider a detective touring a house where a burglary has taken place. What are some of the things the detective can observe to help determine how the burglary happened? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #37 Should you trust your intuition? 1. Put the rider/elephant analogy into your own words. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #38 What s the real lesson of the dress ? 1. What color is the dress? 2. Find a partner who does not agree. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated The dress in a photo from Caitlin McNeill s Tumblr site

Bellringer #39 How humans and cats sense the world 1. Name one difference between how humans and cats perceive the world. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #40 Patternicity, apophenia, and the naked man orchid 1. How often do people find themselves relating to their horoscopes, even if the predictions are vague? 2. How does this relate to this video? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #41 3 steps to more productive arguing 1. What three things can you do to have a productive argument. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #42 The trap of conspiratorial thinking 1. What are some of the characteristics of conspiratorial thinking? A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #43 What is the availability heuristic and how can it lead us astray? 1. Excessive media coverage can cause us to fall for the availability heuristic. Name another example of a tragedy often covered in the media. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #44 Survivorship bias, high rise syndrome, and annoying my cat Dmitri 1. If you look at several billionaires in business, you might begin to think the formula to becoming a high-power CEO begins with being a college dropout. How does this viewpoint fail to consider all the individuals who dropped out and weren t successful. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #45 On souls, farts, and falsifiability 1. Make a statement that is unfalsifiable. For example, there is an invisible, super quiet unicorn living behind my sofa. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated

Bellringer #46 Yes, even facts change 1. Are you surprised that facts can change? 2. Explain how facts being changeable actually makes science stronger. A blue eye with a magnifying glass Description automatically generated