Inquiring-mind Science: How Franklin Discovered Lightning Was Electricity

Many of us know the story of Franklin flying a kite in a storm, but few know the lessons for scientific thinking behind it. (Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to learn this privately or in a small group.)

That Franklin flew a kite in a storm to see if lightning was electricity is a cool story, but does not teach us much about how science works or about how you can learn things in the world beyond that.

So we are missing a valuable lesson about how science and reason work, so we are missing a valuable lesson about how to think in the future in college, at work, in making health decisions, in understanding the technology around us, and in life.

So let’s learn. Let’s go through the reasoning Franklin went through so you can learn to better think logically, better solve some problems that come up in life, do better in your future career, do science better, and better understand science.

We will study the thought process Franklin went through by reading his notes, discussing them, learning why they are logical and scientific, and discussing his experiment.

Specifically, we will learn a bit about how logical induction (generalization) works, how to do it well, and how to prepare for experiments (of any sort: scientific, or everyday “experiences”). Time permitting, we’ll try the “Franklin process” on a few other things. And, time permitting, we will think about how we can use the same process in other areas of our lives and in our futures.

So be prepared to listen to some lecture, read some, discuss some, think some, and take some notes. We will dig deep.

Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to learn this privately or in a small group.