Title

Eric D. Carlson
Associate Professor of Physics

Skepticism, Pseudoscience,
and the Scientific Method

Date	Reading Assignment	Homework	Slides
Jan. 23	Randi, Chapter 1 Shermer, Chapter 1	Exercise 1	Introduction
Jan. 25	Shermer, Prologue They See Dead People . . .	(none)	Observations
Jan. 30	(none)	Homework 1 rough draft	Hypotheses
Feb. 1	“The Placebo Effect” “The Mysterious Placebo” “The Spin Doctors”	Homework 1 final draft in-class presentations	(none)
Feb. 6	Fake News from ZSR Library	Homework 2 rough draft	Designing Experiments
Feb. 8	“Reflections in a Curved Mirror,” Randi, Chapter 4	Homework 2 final draft in-class discussion	(none)
Feb. 13	(none)	Summary Homework 3	Recording Data
Feb. 15	Choose book for Book Report	Homework 3 in-class presentations	(none)
Feb. 20	Handout on Statistics	(none)	Analyzing The Data
Feb. 22	Huff, chapters 2, 3, and 4	Homework 4 rough draft	TBA
Feb. 27	TBA	Homework 4 final draft	TBA
Mar. 1	Study for Test		(none)
Mar. 13	(none)	(none)	Analyzing The Data 2
Mar. 15	(none)	Homework 5 data collection	Astrology
Mar. 20	Huff, chapters 1, 8, and 9	Homework 5 rough draft	Checking for Errors
Mar. 22	(none)	notes for Book Report Homework 5 final draft	ESP
Mar. 27	Shermer, chapters 4, 9, and 10 Randi, chapter 7	Homework 6 data collection	(none)
Mar. 29	(none)	Homework 6 rough draft	Reporting Results
Apr. 3	(none)	Homework 6 final draft	Moon Hoax Video
Apr. 5	“That's Entertainment: TV's UFO Coverup”	(none)	Alternative Hypotheses
Apr. 10	Moon Hoax Plus 10	Homework 7 planned	Science vs. Pseudoscience Creationism
Apr. 12	TBA	Homework 7 Presentations	(none)
Apr. 17	TBA	none?	Near Death Experiences
Apr. 19	Shermer, Chapters 3, 13, 14 “That's Entertainment . . .” handout	Book Report rough draft	S.H.C. Dowsing
Apr. 24	Randi Chapter 13	Homework 8 rough draft	(none)
Apr. 26	(none)	Homework 8 final draft in-class presentations	(none)
May 1	Shermer Chapter ? Handouts on cults	Book Report final draft	cults
May 5	Look at 2006 final	Final Exam, 2:00