Toolkit Library/

Why do our brains love fake news?

In Principled Innovation, staying open to others’ beliefs requires critical thinking. Yet, some researchers believe that our brains are hard-wired for confirmation bias—the acceptance of information, true or false, on the basis that it confirms our beliefs. Myles Bess of PBS’ Above the Noise describes in this video how confirmation bias reinforces tribalism and some basic advice on avoiding this cognitive trap.

   Video

   5 minutes

   By: PBS

   Educator-prep | K-12 educators


Making connections:

Principled Innovation asks us to work with others and recognize the limits of our own knowledge so that we can better understand and tackle the complex issues our communities face.

More on this topic:

Book excerpt: how to close the critical thinking gap for all students

  Article

  12 minutes

  By: Colin Seale

Getting to know your students in a million words or less

  Video

  2 minutes

  By: Edutopia

Mapping systems

  Tool

  60 minutes

  By: Harvard Graduate School of Education

Introduction to Principled Innovation

  Video

  4 minutes

  By: Principled Innovation® (PI)

Unpacking the biases that shape our beliefs

  Video

  11 minutes

  By: Mike Hartmann, TEDx

Access our collection of +200 learning materials

PI toolkit library