Socratic Grilling

Published: March 7, 2020, 2:49 p.m.

b'

https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/03/06/socratic-grilling/

\\xa0

Imagine an kid in school first hearing about germ theory. The conversation might go something like this:

Teacher:\\xa0Many diseases like the common cold are spread by germs, when one infected person contacts another.

Student:\\xa0But I got a cold a few weeks ago, and I never touch anyone except my family members. And none of them were sick.

Teacher:\\xa0You don\\u2019t need to actually touch someone. Sometimes it can spread through mucus droplets in the air.

Student:\\xa0And one time I was camping in the woods for a month, and then I got a cold, even though I hadn\\u2019t been around anybody.

Teacher:\\xa0If it was spring, you might have gotten allergies. Allergies can feel a lot like a cold, but they aren\\u2019t spread by germs.

Student:\\xa0It was fall.

'