Critical Thinking

Like many people in Florida, I (the designer of this course) believed that love bugs (those pesky insects that suddenly appear in droves twice a year) were the result of a University of Florida scientific experiment gone wrong because I heard that rumor from so many Florida residents. When I first heard that this “scientific fact” was false, I denied it and tried to hold onto my prior belief (after all, I had heard it from so many people and I had spread the rumor myself – so I couldn’t possibly be wrong). I even discounted a UF website that claimed that it was an urban legend, believing that it was a cover-up attempt by UF. I finally abandoned my belief that love bugs were genetically engineered by UF scientists, after extensively researching the origin of love bugs in the scientific literature (by the way, they simply migrated to Florida from Mexico).

Think back to a time when you were faced with a similar situation. That is, you were faced with evidence against a certain “scientific fact” that you thought was true and believed in. Describe the situation, and then answer the following questions:

1. How did you react to/ feel about this contrary evidence? (Did you try to find reasons why you should ignore the contrary evidence and continue to hold onto your belief?)

2. Given what you learned about critical thinking in this module (“Critical Thinking involves questioning our beliefs even when it makes us uncomfortable”) – what will you do the next time you are faced with evidence against your belief(s)?

……………….Answer Preview……………

How did you react to/ feel about this contrary evidence? (Did you try to find reasons why you should ignore the contrary evidence and continue to hold onto your belief?)

After reading this story, I recalled different scientific facts which I was hearing about when I was young concerning different planets. The main reason for this is because many people rumored that there were some people living in diverse planets such as Jupiter and Pluto. The issue of those people living in the planets rooted in my mind and this made me to view things different and it came to the extent of involving my parents to live earth and go to some planets like Pluto. My parents understood that I was young and they..

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