As described in this article, a video game called EdeavorOTC received FDA clearance as an ADHD treatment in August of 2024. You can find the game here. The assertions made about the game’s effects on ADHD should provide your students with a good opportunity for honing their critical thinking skills.
This article from the UK’s Daily Mail provides an example of a rather questionable stress reduction device as well as an excellent opportunity for your students to think critically about assertions that are likely to carry extra weight because of their association with an international celebrity, Meghan Markle.
A recent JAMA study, found here describes a strong correlation between hearing loss and dementia in older adults. A commentator interpreted this correlation to mean that people should do all they can to mitigate hearing loss as soon as it appears so as to reduce the risk of developing dementia. You may want to use this study, and particularly the commentator’s assertion as an example of how easy it is to over-interpret the meaning of a correlation.
An article found here describes a study of middle-aged and older adults showing that men who have nightmares at least once a week are significantly more likely than other men to develop dementia. This correlation did not reach statistical significance for women. Speculating on the basis for this association, the researchers suggest that when dementia is in its undetectable early stages, it creates negative emotions that may be expressed as depression while awake and as nightmares while asleep. They hypothesize that medication that can reduce nightmares might also help to slow cognitive decline. Is the association between nightmares and development of dementia causal or correlational? If the latter, what third factor(s) might be responsible for it and why did it only appear in men? The study on which this article is based provides a good example of research methods whose interpretation depends on critical thinking about correlation and causation. It should provide a useful target for classroom discussion as well as a topic for student writing assignments aimed at promoting critical thinking.
This chapter emphasizes the importance of helping students to think critically, including by alerting them to these ten warning signs of pseudoscientific assertions:
Lack of falsifiability and overuse of ad hoc hypotheses
Lack of self-correction
Emphasis on confirmation
Evasion of peer review
Overreliance on testimonial and anecdotal evidence
Absence of connectivity
Extraordinary claims
Ad antequitem fallacy (an appeal to tradition as an argument for validity)
Use of hypertechnical language
Absence of boundary conditions
Source: Lilienfeld, S. O., Ammirati, R., & David, M. (2012). Distinguishing science from pseudoscience in school psychology: Science and scientific thinking as safeguards against human error. Journal of School Psychology, 50(1), 7-36.
