This episode originally aired on February 21, 2024.
Bertha Vasquez spent most of her career in the classroom teaching science to middle schoolers in Miami-Dade County. She spent 34 years in the classroom before retiring from teaching last year. She’s a passionate advocate for the scientific method and the many ways it’s made life better for humanity. And she’s a strong believer in skepticism when it comes to understanding the world around us, especially when extraordinary claims are made — like we see more and more these days thanks to the power of social media and the internet.
Since retiring, Ms. Vasquez has taken on the role of Director of Education at the The Center for Inquiry, and Director of its Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science. The CFI’s roots go back to the 1970s when Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, and other critical thinkers began seeing the need to mitigate growing belief in pseudoscience and paranormal claims using rational means and methods.
Part of her work includes leading the CFI's educational program, called Generation Skeptics, that works to address the challenges of teaching young people to think skeptically about all of the information swirling around them on social media and other outlets.
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