Think Skeptically, Act Locally
March 3rd, 2008
50 things you can do to encourage critical thinking
I wrote this for Skeptic magazine five years ago. Since then it’s been given as a hand out at conferences and used as a starting point for thinking about ways to promote skepticism (looking at the world from a scientific point of view).
I’m re-printing it here (after receiving some criticism for not not making it widely available). I’m making this available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
I’ve also included a handy PDF version here: Think Skeptically, Act Locally.pdf
Having a skeptical mind is great. But if your idea of encouraging skeptical thinking is to argue with anybody you can find, you might not be using your critical reasoning abilities to their fullest potential. There are a lot of opportunities out there to help other people develop an understanding of science and an awareness of skepticism. Step outside your local skeptics group and explore some of the ways you can have a positive impact on your community.
The following are just a few ideas on how we can promote critical thinking. My thanks to the many people who’ve offered their input and examples of what they’ve done. This list could be much larger, but there’s enough here for anyone to find a way they can take action.
