Kalyx Bowler
Daily Assignments
Read the Clever Hans story. There are several good free articles — the Wikipedia article is actually solid, and there are short videos. Read or watch at least two different accounts so you get the full picture.
Explain what was actually happening with Clever Hans and what it tells us about evaluating claims. This is the month’s core media literacy piece — take it seriously. How did a horse fool scientists, journalists, and crowds? What does that say about how easily we see what we want to see?
The Clever Hans effect is still a problem in science today. Look up “experimenter expectancy effect” or “observer-expectancy effect.” Can you find a modern example where researchers accidentally influenced their results? Claude is good for this.