Science and Superstition

it looks like the rabbit's foot didn't help much not that time anyway in the end of the playground period didn't end the argument between George and Allan they took the rabbit's foot up again with Miss Carr their teacher George says I told no good a rabbit's foot is just a silly old Superstition but Allan wouldn't give up what is a Superstition anyway and what is a f act are all superstitions true or are just some of them true now George tells me he thinks me a fact or something he believes is a fact yes Alan well last week when we talked about glass we said it was a nonconductor of electricity I think that's a fact isn't it ah 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 well there's a superstition about the ground 6 weeks more of cold weather yes that is a fairly common saying now we have two more statements to write no trouble getting a lot of statements to add to her list and by the next arranged the statements in 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 was 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 had 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 what 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 will carrying one bring good luck it seems to me there's one way to find out Alan yes Miss car will you H to 10 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 10 volunteers like many experiments this one will extend over a period of time Miss Carr wrote The Experiment listed the students who will not carry rabbit's feet and Allan listed those who will carry them for a whole week at the end of the week each student will report what happened meanwhile Marian 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 too but some of the statements do not take so much time to investigate we can can test this statement right away glass is a nonconductor of electricity first Allan and Larry test their batteries and circuit 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 nonconductor of electricity there's no doubt about it now because our experiment proved that statement to be a fact while Alan put away the electricity experiment things Miss Carr recorded the result now the students were basing these new opinions on evidence experiments guesswork anymore a week later Maran and her group were ready with their report on the groundhog statement and while Marian was copying her records Miss Carr called for IND individual reports on the rabbit's foot experiment Allan was first I was one of the 10 who carried a rabbit's foot I found a quarter last Saturday I call that I didn't carry one and wday I won the school poster contest and then Thursday I got a pretty low Mark in history I guess that's good luck and bad luck I did carry a rabbit's foot the only unusual thing that happened was that we moved from one apartment to another one by one all the pupils reported on 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 Maran would you like to give the report for your group now well we studied the United States weather report for the last 10 years for our state then we organized our material and this is a 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 his shadow but Shadow or not the temperature never varied more than 2° 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 the scientific 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 I never saw before in learning the truth about a rabbit's foot as 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 states 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 Allan with his rabbit's foot who started us off on the search for facts and out of it he learned the scientific method and so did we how many believe this is the world we live in [Music] and