University of Alberta launches free online science literacy course

Link to news article here.

I love to see this, but as I'm making a case in an article I'm putting together, we are failing to approach civic education in a way that protects people from being influenced by bad-faith interpretations of events, or outright fake news.

To paraphrase Neil DeGrasse Tyson responding to one teacher who said they never saw Flat Earth stuff taught in schools, "It's not what they are taught but how their minds are prepared to receive information" after they leave school.

Flat Earth theory doesn't necessarily have a political implication, but together with COVID denialism and the obvious co-opting of QAnon by Trump supporters, there are deep and awful implications for individuals and their families.

And they all vote.

I'm interested if other places offer something like this course?

Submitted November 01, 2020 at 08:03AM by civicsfactor https://ift.tt/3mUe1yj