"The Worst ideas in Science"
This project involved creating a lecture on ‘The Worst Ideas
in Science’ and was supervised by Dr Bill Proud and Dr Lisa-Jardine Wright. The
lecture is aimed at students at GCSE level or just below but is also suitable
for a general audience.
The main aims of the lecture are to show how theories can be
disregarded or modified as new evidence comes to light. It also conveys that
scientists could be wrong or even manage to convince themselves that they have
confirmation of their hypothesis when their results are in fact inconclusive or
absent. The lecture includes examples such as the development of the atomic
model (demonstrated using edible models) and “phenomena” such as N-rays, as
well as discussion of alchemy and the different proposed models of the solar
system. The examples that were suitable for the talk were so numerous that
Michael Conterio expanded his talk to two 50-minute lectures. Throughout the
lectures various concepts are demonstrated using props including a bouncy ball,
a laser pen and foil covered pieces of wood.
A question sheet is provided to students attending the
lectures and the project hopes to leave them intrigued about science and
“feeling that science was interesting, and quite different from the image of it
all being boring maths done by stuffy old men in white coats”.
Contact details: Michael Conterio, mjc209@cam.ac.uk
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