Science And Superstition (1947)

well that's a rabbit's foot bluey says the catcher but Alan seems to believe the rabbits would we'll bring him good luck well George the catcher thinks it's just a superstition well we'll soon see strike three you're out it looks like the rabbit's foot didn't help much time anyway but even the end of the playground period didn't end the argument between George and Alan they took the rabbit's foot up again with Miss Carr their teacher George says I told him it was no good a rabbit's foot is just a silly old superstition but Alan wouldn't give up it is not it's a fact says Alan this sort of thing could have gone on forever if Miss Carr hadn't decided to discuss this matter of superstitions and facts with the whole class what is the superstition anyway and what is a fact are all superstitions true or are just some of them true are any superstitions really true and what about facts miss Carr decided to start with the rabbit's foot idea George tells me he thinks this is a superstition how who thinks he can tell me a fact or something he believes is a fact yes Alan well last week when we talked about glass you said it was a nice conductor of the electricity I think that said isn't it we did talk about that and we can add that to our list now who else can give me another statement something he calls a superstition yes Marian a shadow when it comes out in the spring there'll be six weeks more cold weather yes that is a fairly common saying now we have two more statements to write miss Carr had no trouble getting a lot of statements to add to her list and by the next morning she had arranged the statements and a chart on the blackboard the class had mentioned eight items in all and from these they had chosen six statements for class discussion first there were the original rabbit's foot idea a rabbit's foot brings good luck next was an example of a fact glass is a nonconductor of electricity then if the groundhog sees his shadow on the 2nd of February there will be six more weeks of cold weather miss Carr asked George to hand out individual record sheets so everyone could study all the statements very thoughtfully somebody has suggested the statement a pint of milk weighs more than a pint of cream then there was the idea that hot water will freeze quicker than cold water and last on the list was water expands when it freezes miss Carr asked everyone to think about each statement and to check off each one on the list this would give each pupil a record showing I believe that statement I do not believe this one I'm doubtful about this and so on very quickly everyone completed the lists of the six statements the class had chosen and now Miss Carr could add up with the whole class thought about each statement from the rabbit's foot idea clear on down the line to the end these are the opinions of the whole class now that we've recorded our opinions I think we should investigate to find out whether or not our opinions are based on good reasons first how about a rabbit's foot we're carrying one bring good luck it seems to me there's one way to find out Alan yes miss would you hand out these rabbit's feet to ten students who would volunteer to carry them for a week now this is the first step in our experiment yes this will be an actual scientific experiment to find out if carrying a rabbit's foot will bring good luck to the ten volunteers like many experiments this one will extend over a period of time Miss Carr wrote the experiment on the board then George list of the students who will not carry rabbits feet and Allen list of those who will carry them for a whole week at the end of the week each student will report what happened meanwhile Marion wrote on the board the names of her group their job will be to look up weather reports to find out if the groundhog seeing his shadow really governs the weather they'll report next week to but some of the statements do not take so much time to investigate we can test this statement right away glass is a non conductor of electricity first Allen and Larry test their batteries and circuits it's all right the bulb lights up and if a metal rod is put in the circuit it lights again so we know that metal is a conductor of electricity but what about glass nothing happens no light now do you believe that glass is a non conductor of electricity there's no doubt about it now because our experiment proved that statement to be a fact while Allen put away the electricity experiment things miss car recorded the result now the students were basing these new opinions on evidence experiments and reasoning it wasn't just guesswork anymore a week later Marion and her group were ready with their report on the groundhog statement and while Marion was copying her records miss Cara called for individual reports on the rabbit's foot experiment Allen was first I was one of the tender carry a rabbit's foot I found a quarter last Saturday I call that good luck I didn't carry one and one is down one of the school poster contest dinner on Thursday I got the pretty little mark in history I guess that good luck and bad luck I did carry a rabbit's foot the only unusual thing that happened was that we this could be called good luck or Abed one by one all the pupils reported and what had happened to them during the week and they finally agreed that carrying a rabbit's foot doesn't really affect the daily events of their lives so their experiment proved the first statement to be just a superstition Marian would you like to give the report for your group now well we say the United States weather report the last 10 years for our state then we organized our materials and this is a good job of research for every Groundhog Day or February 2nd the weather was listed if it was fair the groundhog would have seen his shadow and if it was cloudy he couldn't have seen the shadow but shadow or not the temperature never varied more than two degrees from normal the groundhog had nothing to do with spring weather when we seek to answer our questions by observation and research and experimentation as we have been doing we are using the scientific method method is our most valuable weapon in the search for truth modern man uses the scientific method in research to help him base his opinions on facts for everything he can observe he tries to discover the natural cause in the search for truth scientists have invented apparatus to observe things that mankind never saw before in learning the truth about a rabbit's foot is a good luck charm we use the scientific method and right on down the list the use of the scientific method gave us the truth now why not use what we have learned to discover the truth about the last three statements does a pint of milk weigh more than a pint of cream try it at home for yourself here's another will hot water freeze quicker than cold water try it yourself don't be satisfied with just anybody's guess does water really expand when it freezes try this experiment yourself it's simple do you believe this is the right answer well it was Alan with his rabbit's foot who started us off from the search for and out of it he learned the scientific method and so did we how many believe this is the best way to try to understand the world we live in