Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Omkara]

It's time we take action!

I've been teaching an anti fan death lesson plan with great success.

I begin by showing the students this video on cellphone popcorn. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=V94shlqPlSI

Then, I have the students vote, telling them that we will test it, to see who believes it. Often, if I present it right, the majority believe it.

Then, I ask them about fan death. We vote on the reality of that, too.

Then, we talk a little bit about science, and how a good scientist will test something before arriving at any final conclusions.

I talk about knowledge being power. They understand this, as they have the same saying in Korean. I also ask them about freedom, if they like freedom. I then ask them about mind control, and express that it is not magic. It is control of information. I ask them about sources of information. . .TV, Internet, etc., point out that we live in an information rich world. . .but that knowledge and information are not the same.

Then, we do the test. Of course it doesn't work.

"Why," I ask, "Does someone want you to believe this?" The answer: they want your money. An earphone company put the video clip out.

Then, I ask them why they believe in fan death. They tell me: News. . .etc.

So, I show them this: http://koreabeat.com/?p=184 (If that doesn't work, try this one: http://news.kbs.co.kr/article/science/200707/20070730/1399775.html )

It is a Korean clip where the actually TEST the theory. Of course, it turns out fan death is false.

The point? It shows me, were I an evil foreign business, that Koreans trust their information sources too well. I can easily scam them by controlling the information they get. This is therefore dangerous.

It is important to compliment this lesson with examples of credulous westerners. I give them the example of the black cat, how black cats were thought to cause the Black Death in Europe, but, in fact, the cats were helping to solve the problem: Rats! People today are still afraid of black cats. . .and you can see one always on Halloween, next to a witch. . .

[huck]

http://apps.facebook.com/youtubebox/video.asp?uvid=3412425


A tutorial on Fan Death..

[Mr. BlackCat]

I for one can attest to the discrimination of black cats! It is my dream that one day, there will be a black cat in the White House.

[pkang0202]

That is a very good lesson. It has the students try and answer the question themselves while giving them all the information.

[Omkara]

There is one more proposition I like to show them.

"Heavy objects fall faster than light ones."

I ask them if this is true. Most again say yes. I agree that, when we think about it, it makes sense.

So, to repeat the pattern, we do a simple test. We take two things, like a lock and a piece of chalk, and drop them. They fall at the same rate.

So, the proposition is false.

I tell them that for thousands of years no body bothered to even test this simple proposition until Galileo. Everyone thought it was true.

It made sense. It was false.

Science, I tell them, asks one simple--and I stress simple--question: Is it true? They answer this with a test.

I also tell them that, where there is no science, there is superstition. It is an interesting topic. . .

[xeno439]

[Omkara]

I think you are spot on with this one.

Missionaries come before the businessmen, right?

Nevertheless, the lesson can be taught from a neutral position with respect to religion.

[ED209]

Do you have a co-teacher? Mine would be all over me for misunderstanding Korean culture with this.

But anyway, great idea for a lesson. I love to use magic tricks(plenty on youtube) then see if I can convince them it is real magic. When I tell them it's not they have to figure it out.

The list of myths and pseudo-science in western society goes way beyond fan-death; homoeopathy, alcohol kills brain cells(I'm still collecting results on my own experiment), dowsing(could try and recreate one of Randi tests for the classroom), astrology, lemming suicides, electro sensitivity, water powered cars, autism linked to vaccines ...

[Omkara]

I have co-teachers. I haven't done the plan with all of them. But, those with whom I have have been fine with it.

The intent of the lesson is to teach the kids an important lesson, not to mock the culture. If that is in your spirit, they should be fine.

What helps this plan is that the video about fan death is done by koreans.

Again, by showing how our culture has similar examples, that helps.

Having evidence is priceless.

[Omkara]

You may also point out that the popcorn video has more than four million hits. Most of those people (many of whom hit several times) have fallen for it.

There is another clip which shows how the original was staged.

Funny, after I'd posted this this morning, I got that video forwarded to me by a friend of mine who is a PhD student. She wrote that we should by earphones to protect ourselves!

[Omkara]

[Captain Corea]

[I_Am_The_Kiwi]

you should post the lesson plan to everyone can do it and show the next generation the stupidity of their elders....or maybe use it as a punishment for bad kids...in the room closed with the fan on for 10 mins...mu hahah

[Horangi Munshin]

I did a lesson about medical myths last week but just included fan death as a quick question at the end. The rest were all western. Getting cold causes th flue etc. 1 out of 3 students believed in fan death.

[Omkara]

Interesting. Among my students, more than 2/3 of them believed in fan death. A few rolled their eyes and voted that it wasn't real.