So, for Easter, our son got a DVD of the cartoon "Stanley" from one of his grandparents. I had never heard of it before, but after the little guy got bored playing with his blocks this morning we put it on, and I'm kind of impressed!
They just had an episode about Spring. It started with the kids watching some t.v. coverage of Groundhog's day. They get all excited because, since the Groundhog "said so" they think that Spring is going to show up immediately.
That's when the cartoon mom steps in and said "Actually, Groundhog's day is a legend - legends are something that people like to believe, but aren't necessarily true." She then takes them all outside and shows them how to look for empirical evidence (they didn't call it that, but still) as to when Spring will actually arrive. They called themselves Spring "detectives" and looked for "clues".
I thought it was pretty cool! Getting kids to look for real-world evidence, instead of putting their faith in Legends and "just because" thinking. Thanks, Stanley!
Sounds cool, I will have to check that out!
Interesting I think I'll have a look too.
Is this the character?
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.wikia.com%2Fpbjotter%2Fimages%2F8%2F86%2FStanley_-_Stanley_Loved_Animals%2C_Even_as_a_Baby.jpg&hash=843d313613b0dc5b9157303f8f2b9448dd53b247)
Yeah, that's him!
Sounds good to me as well. I have no idea how well it will work in practice, but, it seems to me that trying to teach critical thinking is a good idea.
I will try that with the grandson, Cap'n B, if I can get a copy over here.