Crash Course Scientific Thinking Preview

Science is everywhere, and you’re interacting with it all the time.

In school, sure, but also in the news, on your “for you” page,

around your dinner table, and right here on YouTube.

That’s a good thing – science is one of the coolest things our species

has going for it.

Right up there with art, literature, and bidets.

But when it’s coming at us all the time,

from all kinds of places, it can be hard to make sense of it.

Much like a bidet.

These days, we’re bombarded by news stories about science.

Our feeds are full of everything from nutrition to climate change.

On top of that, our own brains are hardwired to deceive us.

We all have cognitive biases that, when left unchecked,

can make it even harder to know

if something is supported by evidence

or not.

But “science” isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a unique way of uncovering knowledge

that’s dynamic,

communal, and self-correcting.

And it’s one of the best ways we have of understanding what’s actually going

on around here.

Thinking scientifically helps us push past biases

and agendas and clickbait-y headlines toward the elusive,

capital-T truth.

Hi, I’m Hank Green.

I started making YouTube videos in 2007 with my brother, John.

Now I’m a go-to internet science guy,

having produced and hosted literally thousands of videos and podcasts all across the internet.

I also co-founded Complexly, which produces this show, Crash Course,

as well as SciShow, and nearly a dozen other educational YouTube channels.

In 7 episodes, Crash Course Scientific Thinking will explore the foundational principles

that underlie scientific thought.

We’ll pull back the curtain on peer review,

take a magnifying glass to scientific sources, unpack big ideas like consensus,

and consider how what we know about the world grows and changes over time.

And we’ll explore scientific experiments, processes,

and discoveries to figure out how science has impacted our lives.

By the end, you’ll be able to think more critically about… basically everything,

from your science textbooks, to the news on your feed,

to that guy who keeps yelling at you about science on TikTok.

We’ll learn how to sift through information, wherever it comes from,

to inch ourselves closer to a nuanced, shared, scientific understanding of the world.

And you’ll walk away a more savvy consumer of science information.

So join us here next time, when we will ask a big question:

Can we trust our own brains?

This episode of Crash Course Scientific Thinking was produced in partnership with HHMI BioInteractive,

bringing real science stories to thousands of high school and undergrad life science classrooms.

If you’re a teacher,

visit their website for resources

that explore the topics we discussed in the video today.

Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Scientific Thinking,

which was filmed in Missoula, Montana,

and was made with the help of all these nice people.

If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever,

you can join our community on Patreon.