The kids are back in school: hurrah! They will be bringing home assignments that require parental help: uh-oh!

Get your rusty post-summer brain in gear with a free online course from edX on “The Science of Everyday Thinking”.

This 12-week course promises to provide you with the tools for critical, independent thinking through principles of cognitive science; you will learn about concepts like analytical thinking, how placebos work, why people engage in superstitious thinking and what drives people to make irrational choices.

By the end of the course you will, ostensibly, understand the scientific method and how to apply it in everyday life.

One of the more useful aspects of the course appears to be in weeks eight and nine where pseudoscience, exaggerated health claims, and the attraction to “natural” over medically sound cures are discussed.

This is a course we should all consider taking.

http://bit.ly/2cDeJQZ