Article: Instructional Practices
The Truth Box Experiment
Free the Inquiry
Martha’s
Recommendation
This innovative and engaging classroom activity asks students to determine what's in a box they cannot open, teaching a memorable lesson about cognition and intellectual humility.
In real life, when you’re trying to figure out the truth about something interesting, rarely do you get to simply “open the box” or ask an authority figure (a sort of god) to tell you for real what’s in the box. Whether you’re trying to understand a complex phenomenon in physics or trying to ascertain what is causing a patient’s symptoms, you don’t get to just cut to the answer. There’s no “back of the book” answer key in most of life. And even when you think you have the right answer, you may be wrong.
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