Humans are born to create theories about the world -- unfortunately, we're often wrong and our intuitive theories keep us from understanding science and the world as it really is.

Andrew Shtulman is a cognitive developmental psychologist who studies conceptual development and conceptual change, particularly as they relate to science education, and does this work at Occidental College, where he is currently a professor of psychology.

He has also written a book, Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong

Andrew joins Greg in this episode to talk about conceptual development, intuitive theories, anti science folks, and the subconscious act of suppression.

Episode Quotes:

Perceptual inputs as a learning tool:

The only way that you can really wrap your mind around a parabolic path is to let go of impetus. It's a fiction, it doesn't exist, that the way an object falls is a function of its velocity in combination with gravity. And that's it. There's no force acting on the object other than gravity. There has to be some additional intellectual work that goes on, in addition to these kinds of firsthand experiences, to make the firsthand experiences meaningful.

Should educators be trying to sidestep these intuitive beliefs, or create a bridge from these intuitive beliefs to the scientific understanding?:

The problem is just that you can't have an orthodoxy about the matter where you say science is all intuitive. We just have to show how it's intuitive. Or vice versa, science is all counter-intuitive. We have to break students of their pre instructional ideas and teach them a whole new set of ideas. The mapping is piecemeal and you have to figure it out as a scientist doing experiments, which mappings work and which mappings don't work.

Why city kids are at a disadvantage compared to rural kids:

The human species is moving towards the cities and away from rural areas. And that means contact with nature is going to be rarer. And that kind of contact has educational benefits. It enriches our folk theories of biology or provides a database upon which our theories can be built. That's going to be absent if your only experience with nature is through a television screen or at the zoo.

Show Links:

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Occidental College
• Andrew Shtulman on Linkedin
• Andrew Shtulman on Twitter

His work:

• Andrew Shtulman on Google Scholar
• Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong