Discussion Description: Students will watch three TED presentation videos that address tricks, myths, and common beliefs, which often have a significant impact on the lives of willing consumers. A goal of this discussion is to teach students to become more effective critical thinkers, and to better understand how research methods can address challenging and often misrepresented issues.

Discussion Instruction:

1. Watch the following TED presentation videos:

The Magic of the Placebo (Eric Mead)

https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_mead_the_magic_of_the_placebo

Homeopathy, Quackery, and Fraud (James Randi)

https://www.ted.com/talks/james_randi

2. In the first paragraph of the discussion post, students should describe what they found the most intellectually intriguing and perhaps even surprising about the videos.

3. In the next section of the discussion post, student should try their best to test a concept addressed in one of the videos using the following steps:

a. create a research question related to one of the topics the TED speakers addressed.

b. explain what your independent and dependent variable would be.

c. explain what extraneous variables could impact the study.

4. When responding to students this week, contribute to their research design by critically analyzing it and offering your advice.

NOTE: as always for every discussion and assignment, students must properly cite resources in-text and in a “References” list.