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Join Us for Our Next Webinar Featuring Bertha Vazquez Education Director at The Center for Inquiry

Don't Believe Everything You Believe

Thursday October 10, 2024

8:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. CT, 6:00 p.m. MT, 5:00 p.m. PT

We all think we are good at thinking, but we are not. We all fall victim to logical fallacies and other mental shortcuts that may have kept our earliest hominid ancestors alive but do a disservice with the mountains of information now at our fingertips. Just like our human backs and knees aren't perfect, our minds have flaws, too. The first step is humility; don't believe everything you believe.

The presentation starts with a little science appreciation and quickly moves on to the overwhelming amount of information we each see on a daily basis. It then discusses the difference between the different types of misinformation and some steps to protect ourselves from all of it. At the end, I introduce our programs and mention the possibility of more guest speakers. 

Presenter: Bertha Vazquez

Bertha Vazquez is a retired science teacher who taught middle school for 34 years in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She is the education director at The Center for Inquiry, an international nonprofit organization that promotes reason and science.

Her multi-faceted approach to teaching climate science has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Earth magazine, and in a book and film series by Lynne Cherry titled, Empowering Young Voices for the Planet. She is the editor and contributing author of the book, On Teaching Evolution, published in 2021.

Ms. Vazquez has also worked in several translation projects, including the translation of Maria Jinich’s book into English, A Brief History of Four Billion Years of Evolution: Understanding Darwin. She was honored with the 2023 Friend of Darwin Award by the National Center for Science Education.

A regular speaker at skeptical and humanist conferences, Bertha is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and an occasional contributor to The Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

TO SIGN UP FOR THIS WEBINAR CLICK HERE

The presentation will be recorded and placed on the NMLSTA website https://nmlsta.wildapricot.org/ where it will be available for members.

2024-2025 Webinar Schedule

September 19, 2024

Katy Garvy & Jesse Nolan:   MySciLife

October 10, 2024

            Bertha Vazquez:     Don't Believe Everything You Believe

 November 7, 2024

            Sina Kirk:     Infiniscope      

 

December 5, 2024

            Melanie Trecek-King:    Mental Immunity Project

 

January 23, 2025

Virginia Andrews:     Dimensions of Success: classroom observation system for middle school science and engineering classrooms        

 

February TBD, 2025

            Cynthia Crockett:     Writing psychometrically "good" multiple choice assessment questions

March 26-29, 2025

NSTA National Conference in Philadelphia

 

April 10, 2025

Kenneth Huff  & Nicole Sjoblom:     "LabXchange’s Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Science Education (RDEISE) Project.

The presentations will be recorded and placed on the NMLSTA website where it will be available for members.

To access the recordings of previous webinars, click on the "Members-Only" link  in the header strip.