Climate Change / Global Warming Science Demonstrations, Activities and Labs Avoiding Flawed, Problem Science Demonstrations -- Greenhouse Effect in a Bottle; Heating Carbon Dioxide vs. Air; Example of Faulty Demos: As seen on BBC TV Newsnight-- "Putting the science of global warming to the test"
Hands-on Science		Avoiding Flawed Demos > Greenhouse Effect > Problem Examples > BBC TV

Avoiding Flawed Demonstrations: Greenhouse Effect Intro/Index Faulty Demos Errors, Misconceptions Testing, Lab Results Scientifically Strong Resources Rebuttals Acknowledgements Contact This web portal is a resource within America's online library for Education & Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics:

Index and Introduction (Special section's home page) Overview of Flawed Demo Examples Menu of the individual examples: Analysis and testing of flawed demo designs Being most heavily promoted: Need -- National Energy Education Development     Keystone Center Prominent demos:     CLEAN     Bill Nye & Al Gore    On BBC TV    AMNH -- American Museum of Natural History Many examples currently on-line:    Spin on That   PBS's Nova Capturing Carbon    Pico Tech     CIRES         Flawed demos of this variety have been carefully reviewed, tested and analyzed by other reputable scientists: Lueddecke et.al. Common errors with these relatively rare variations: Using other heat trapping (greenhouse) gases    Sunlight as the energy source variations BBC Newsnight: "Putting the science of global warming to the test" [Demo starts at 1:48, ends at 4:12] Very worthwhile video, especially to listen to comments made by members of the public. For example, the man at the beginning expressing that he is skeptical in believing in something that he can't see. Is he off base? Should not scientists and educators address that? Is it bad, or unintelligent, when people want to see the evidence themselves? Science regularly makes the invisible visible, the difficult to measure measuable. Science can produce quality science demonstrations, but outside of a few areas of the United States, the public never sees them. Is not the ability to produce evidence a central characteristic of science's power? Host does open video stating this is segment represents a "very unscientific experiment". Yet, the demo is centerpiece. It is possible to do demos scientifically. There are great demos that address each of the factual questions raised by people in the video Science Explained: Greenhouse effect in a bottle [BBC News webpage focusing on the demo.] on Youtube [same video] Presenter: Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a respected space scientist in Britain. AGU Blog entry about the demo --4 July 2010 Developer, sponsor-promoter: EADS Astrium (The parent company, EADS is based in the Netherlands. Astrium in an aerospace manufacturer.) Introduction and Index >>  Faulty demonstrations being heavily promoted -- over a dozen examples << Errors and misconceptions commonly found in flawed demonstrations Testing the demos, mistakes revealed -- lab & field results from scientists and hundreds of students & teachers Scientifically strong demonstrations engaging millions. Powerful, fun, dramatic, unforgettable. Resources & Further Background Encouraging rebuttal: welcoming sponsor-promoters to defend if demos are scientifically valid. Testing the evidence for everyone to see, experience for themselves -- that's what has made science demonstrations so very powerful in history Acknowledgements, Thank You's            Contact

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