[FreedomProtector]

If a student learns to presume that one knows the cause of circumstantial evidence before examining it, and a student does not learn how to contrast the rules of evidence, examine the weight or preponderance of evidence, and determine the relevancy of evidence on grounds of prejudice (pre–judging) or one presuppositions................ How will a student ever learn to how to study claims about "UFO studies, Crop Circles, the difference between ascorbic acid and Vitamin C, alien anal probes, cattle mutilations, ESP, communication with the dead, and so forth?" for themselves?

[js1138]

You are going to have to be more specific. Magazines like The Skeptic have science education units in every issue that do exactly what you are asking. In every issue they take a subject like crop circles, outline the history, discuss the evidence for and against, provide bibliographies.

This is just one magazine. there are many.

The textbooks I have seen do some of this also. It's pretty hard to cover every loony idea in a single book, but they do teach how science works and how we got to where we are.

I'm sorry if you missed this in your schooling. It was part of my science education, starting in seventh grade.

[Quix]

Well put, imho.

[atlaw]

How will a student ever learn to how to study claims about "UFO studies, Crop Circles, the difference between ascorbic acid and Vitamin C, alien anal probes, cattle mutilations, ESP, communication with the dead, and so forth?" for themselves?

By learning (1) how to read, (2) how to use a library, and (3) the basics of widely accepted scientific knowledge. And by mastering (3), the student will have a firm grasp of the information necessary to individually critique claims of "crop circles, alien anal probes, communication with the dead, and so forth."

Or would you have teachers simultaneously introduce such topics as "equals" alongside currently accepted scientific knowledge?