Mythbusters Mythbusters: Movie Myths Colombo et.al.: Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths Levitt & Dubner: Introduction: The Hidden Side Of Everything

American Experience Mythbusters Mythbusters –Highly Successful Discovery Channel Cable Television Show –Many Untested “Myths” Are Held To Be “True” Because We’ve Heard Them So Often (They Must Be True!) –Mythbusters Team Develops Theories, Derives Hypotheses, & Tests Them –Methods: TheoryHypothesis VariablesExperiment Group RelationshipControl Group RationaleReport Results Group Tests Theory That Person Can Be Lifted By Balloons ( !) On The Letterman Show

American Experience Mythbusters Mythbusters Example: Temple of Doom Test –Theory: Soft Supports Can Reduce Speed –Independent Variable: Soft Supports –Dependent Variable: Rate Of Speed –Relationship: Negative (As A Vehicle’s Level Of Wind Resistance Increases, Its Fuel Efficiency Decreases) –Testable Hypothesis Cloth Awnings Can Help A Person –Reduce Their Speed (Dependent Variable 1) –Survive A Jump Or Fall From A Building (Dependent Variable 2). Temple-of-Doom-movie-poster.html

American Experience Mythbusters Testable Hypothesis: –Test Hypothesis With Buster With Measures Of G-Force (Damage/Sur- vivability) Draw A Similar Graph With The Second Dependent Variable (Survivability) With Human Being Y AXIS (DEPENDENT VARIABLE) X A X I S (Independent Variable) RATE OF SPEED NUMBEROFAWNINGSNUMBEROFAWNINGS 1 Awnings 2 Awnings 3 Awnings Lower Moderate Higher 0 Awnings

American Experience Mythbusters The Results Are In! –What Did The Tests Reveal? –Are There Any “Caveats” To The Test? –Does That Test Make You A Bigger Believer In Indiana Jones Movies? –Were The Tests Adequate? If Not, What Would Make The Tests Better? You Be The Mythbuster: Research Design For “Sword Cutting A Sword” –What Is The Theory? What Is The Hypothesis? –What Are The Independent And Dependent Variables? –What Factors Did They Control For? –What Is Their Relationship? Graph It On An X-Y Axis. –What Did The Mythbusters Find In Their Test Of Whether Or Not A Sword Can Cut Another Sword? –What Would You Test As A Mythbuster?

American Experience Mythbusters Purpose Of The Mythbuster Exercises –This Entire Course Will Be Full Of Relatively Untested “Myths” To Examine –The Goal Is To Evaluate Them, Not Necessarily Reject Them (Some Myths Will Have Some Support) –You Will Conduct Simple Examinations Of Hypotheses Derived From These Theories, Using Your Class Presentation Date To Report On The Findings. Gather Evidence Or Cite Relevant Material From Published Legitimate Sources

American Experience Freakonomics Prologue –How Is Levitt Different From Most Economists –What Is Economics, According To Levitt? Introduction –What Is The Freakonomics Approach About? –How Does The Freakonomics Approach Mirror…. Colombo et.al. Concept Of “Myth?” Our Analytical Approach To The American Experience?