Teaches Scientific Thinking and Communication

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Meet your new instructor: world-renowned astrophysicist, Emmy-nominated host, author, and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson. Neil welcomes you and discusses the importance of scientific thinking and communication.

What You Know Is Not as Important as How You Think

The frontier of science is a messy place. Neil takes you through the process of understanding the frontier’s landscape and explains the roles of hypothesis and theory in determining objective truths.

The Frontier of Science

When we use the scientific method in the quest for objective truths, nature is the judge and jury. Neil shares some remarkable astrophysical examples of how this method plays out in real life and in our vast universe.

The Scientific Method

Asking questions is a tried-and-true component of scientific thinking. Neil talks about the processes behind informed skepticism as well as how to evaluate incoming scientific data.

Be a Skeptic: Ask Questions

If you are human, then you are susceptible to cognitive bias. Neil defines some of the most common cognitive biases and reveals how our need to feel special may be getting in the way of our search for objective truths.

Cognitive Bias

Cultural biases and assumptions affect how we treat one another, but they may be harder to spot than we think. Neil provides examples of conscious and unconscious cultural biases and explains how to avoid them.

Beware of Cultural Bias

Every personal system of belief contains identifiable biases that impact the ability to think scientifically. Neil talks about two of these biases and how inner beliefs can have a significant societal and scientific impact.

Our Systems of Belief 

Neil explores one of his favorite subjects: scientific measurement. He distinguishes precision from accuracy and offers examples to illuminate the approximations that are inherent in any measurement.

Scientific Measurement: Calculating the Incalculable

Communicating objective truths convincingly is just as important as using methods of scientific thinking to find them. Neil shares his personal reason for this belief and some of his favorite tools of communication.

Communication: It’s Not Enough to Be Right

To properly prepare for an audience, you need to get detailed information about whom you’re speaking to. Neil discusses how to consider demographics and how that influences his message.

Preparing for Your Audience

Knowing what drives your audience can set you up for communication success. Neil reviews some of the key “tool belt items” he uses when speaking to groups.

Communication Tactics

Stoking curiosity is an essential component of effective communication. Neil demonstrates how to make the strategic delivery of information a powerful tool in your communication arsenal.

Inspire Curiosity in Your Audience

Neil presents his case for why scientific thinking and effective communication strategies are necessary for the progress of society—and why everything he's discussed is just the beginning of what's important to consider.

The Future of Our World

Neil deGrasse Tyson Teaches Scientific Thinking and Communication

It's not about what you know

How do we know what we don't know?

There's no answer key

How does the truth become the truth?

Being right isn't enough

Paper is the best preparation

Ask the idiot some questions

Curiosity is your greatest asset

Is there anything beyond the truth?

Humor

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