LiliCon 2026 is the third annual meeting of the Lilienfeld Alliance. It is an interdisciplinary gathering of those who teach critical thinking in higher education. Community partners in this work with an interest in this topic are invited to join. We are especially interested in refutation as a teaching strategy. By “refutation” we mean the practice of investigating common sense, pseudoscience, scams, conspiracy theories (and more) to explore how critical thinking can be used to identify false claims. This is an opportunity to explore the pedagogy of critical thinking, to discuss how we teach, what false beliefs we tackle and why, and what strategies we use to assess the effectiveness of our teaching.
May 26-28, 2026
California State University, Fresno
Opening Plenary (Tues 5/26, 3-4pm)
Stuart Vyse (Behavioral Scientist, Independent Scholar)
Changing Beliefs by Not Changing Them
Today, the culture is awash in false and irrational ideas, and chances are good that our students have adopted many of them. As tempting as it is to push students to interrogate their beliefs, it may be more productive to set their personal beliefs aside and concentrate our efforts on the beginning stages of belief formation. Stuart Vyse will offer some thoughts on the professor’s role in helping students learn where their ideas come from.
Boost Critical Thinking with Strange Mysteries
Stephen Hupp (Psychology; Southern Illinois Univ & Committee for Skeptical Inquiry)
Investigations into strange mysteries (such as how tarot cards really work) provide opportunities to teach about the same logical fallacies and cognitive biases that negatively influence thinking about other profoundly important topics. By starting with strange mysteries (instead of politically charged topics) teachers have the potential to engage a wider range of students. Relatedly, this presentation will highlight a few key moments in the 50-year history of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Autopsy of Astrology
Carlos Orsi (Journalist)
Astrology is the oldest of the pseudosciences. The art of astrology has entered a veritable three-thousand-year arms race against both the developing tools of critical thinking and the growing understanding of our cognitive shortcomings. An overview of this process can be a powerful aid to teaching rational skepticism with a refutational approach.
Refutational Approach to Critical Thinking: Legacy of Scott Lilienfeld
Raymond Hall (Physics, Fresno State)
Modern Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines?
Jevin West (Information Science, Univ of Washington)
Humans no longer have a monopoly on bullshit. Our information environment has been transformed as LLMs have stormed into every domain of our lives, producing convincing but sometimes misleading content at scale. In this teaching demonstration, we will walk through 2-3 modules from Bullshit Machines, a new course at the University of Washington. The goal of the course is to foreground critical thinking, in an age where students, faculty, and the public are often turning over the thinking part to the machines.
Scrambling to Keep Up: Teaching Media Literacy Values in 2026
Molly Dugan (Journalism/Communication, Sacramento State)
In a world where facts are up for debate and you can find an AI generated video to prove any theory, teaching media literacy across disciplines is more important than ever. Compounding these challenges is our students’ overconfidence in their own media literacy. This presentation will include survey data about student attitudes about media literacy, and will provide practical ideas to incorporate values-based media literacy instruction in the classroom and teach students to more thoughtfully examine their own media consumption.
What Makes a True Science Class?
Stuart Firestein (Biology, Columbia Univ) & Natalia Pasternak (Public Affairs, Columbia Univ)
We recently proposed a new science course titled “Science For Future Leaders” focused on developing skills in understanding evidence, rationality, bias, risk and probability, role of science in a democracy, cause v. correlation. While generally applauded, the Committee on Science Instruction, consisting of science faculty, initially felt that it was not ‘sufficiently scientific’ to fulfill the requirements for a Core science course. This raises the question of why scientists and science educators do not consider science literacy and science communication to be critical skills in scientific practice.
Skepticamp Comes to the University
Rodney Schmaltz (Psychology, MacEwan Univ)
SkeptiCamp is a public event where speakers give short presentations on topics related to scientific skepticism. This presentation describes how SkeptiCamp was incorporated into a university course. Students developed short presentations on pseudoscientific and paranormal claims and delivered them to a live public audience, communicating their conclusions in language a general audience could follow. I will cover the rationale for the assignment and how to adapt it for other courses. The format serves as a useful model for instructors who want students to engage directly with pseudoscientific claims and build stronger science communication skills.
Creating a Discipline-Specific Refutational Critical Thinking Course: Lessons Learned
Kathleen D. Dyer (Human Development and Family Science, Fresno State)
Many refutational critical thinking courses are cross-disciplinary despite evidence that critical thinking skills are stubbornly domain-specific. I describe a few lessons learned in the process of creating a discipline-specific course in Human Development and Family Science.
Morning Plenary (Wed 5/27)
Kevin Folta (Horticulture, University of Florida)
Disinformation Down on the Farm, Imperiling Sustainable Food and Farming
We live in a time of the safest, most abundant food supply in human history. However, social media is convinced that food is poison, that genetic innovation is toxic, and that farmers are agents of an international cabal that profit from harming public health. What are some of the popular myths around food and farming, what are the actual risks, and how do we effectively reach out to control the narrative about food, nutrition in an ecosystem selling detoxes, remedies and blatant disinformation?
An “Inside the Actor’s Studio” Interview (Wed 5/27) by Zoom
Elizabeth Loftus (Psychology, Criminology, Law; University of California Irvine)
Lessons From the Memory Wars for Teaching Rational Skepticism
We asked the internet to tell us what Elizabeth Loftus is known for? Here was the answer: Elizabeth Loftus is best known for her groundbreaking research on the malleability of human memory, especially the misinformation effect and the creation of false memories. Her work reshaped psychology and the legal system by showing how easily eyewitness testimony can be distorted. In a personal interview conducted by Rod Schmaltz she will answer questions about this influential work that has been so relevant to the skeptical community.
Outbreak! Fighting Viruses and Fake News with the FLICC Framework
Luiz Gustavo de Almeida (Social Work & Organizational Psych, University of Brasilia)
This demonstration presents "Outbreak!", a cooperative board game game designed to promote scientific literacy and critical thinking about misinformation during infectious disease outbreaks. The game integrates basic epidemiological concepts with the FLICC framework (Fake experts, Logical fallacies, Impossible expectations, Cherry picking, and Conspiracy theories) to help participants recognize common techniques used in science denial. This demonstration illustrates how tabletop games can be used as interactive tools for teaching critical thinking about misinformation in the context of infectious diseases.
Logical Fallacy Bingo: Game-Based Learning for Critical Thinking
Alexander Howard (Communication; California State Univ Northridge)
This teaching presentation introduces Logical Fallacy Bingo as an interactive pedagogical strategy to assist in critical thinking, public discourse, and debate. Learning to identify and apply logical fallacies can help individuals refute fallacious claims and become more astute critical thinkers. This activity also encourages students to justify their work in addition to identifying the fallacies.
Teaching How (Why and When) to Think Critically
David Kyle Johnson (Philosophy; Kings College Pennsylvania)
Professors at my college expressed concern to me that their introduction to science course, entitled NSCI 100: The Scientific Endeavor, was not having the desired effect on their students—especially on their ability to evaluate scientific evidence and recognize and reject pseudoscience. In response, I wrote a book that accomplishes the course’s desired goals by teaching methods championed by Lilienfeld Alliance: explicit instruction in the tools of rational skepticism, a refutational approach to controversial claims, and a focus on evaluating evidence before forming conclusions. This presentation will overview my forthcoming book (How (Why and When) to Think Scientifically), its exercises, the course I taught using them, and the research I conducted to determine its efficacy.
Behold the Power of Wikipedia
Susan Gerbic (Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia)
Susan Gerbic will explain that Wikipedia is no longer the Wild Wild West we were led to believe. Her organization, Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) is the most powerful and important crowd-sourced project happening now in the fight against misinformation ... in her opinion. Audience members will walk away from her talk believing this also.
Yes or No Credibility: Nuanced Discussions of Wikipedia in Higher Education
Ginny Barnes (Library Science; Fresno State)
Wikipedia may be the most common way students authentically engage in research outside of the classroom, yet it is often the first information source to be discredited by instructors. This presentation will provide a librarian’s perspective on teaching information literacy with Wikipedia to discuss students’ understanding of credibility and constructions of authority. It will conclude with an example assignment that uses Wikipedia to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the research process; create a research product with high impact and visibility; and address gaps in representation of marginalized and oppressed groups.
Afternoon Plenary (Wed 5/27)
David Dunning (Psychology, University of Michigan)
The Tricky Art of Knowing When You Really Don’t Know
Philosophers, educators, and business consultants agree that the most valuable knowledge you can have is knowing where your knowledge ends, and where advice or more research is needed. So how can you make the edges of your circle of competence more visible to yourself before you race over them?
Approaches to Critical Thinking in Higher Education
Christina Macias (Human Development & Family Science; Fresno State)
A qualitative analysis of critical thinking course descriptions and learning objectives in the California State University system identifies six different approaches to critical thinking: philosophical, scientific, psychological, critical theory, information literacy, and rhetorical.
Who Should Teach Critical Thinking?
Guilherme Guzzo (Biology; Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Museum of Natural Sciences, Brazil)
We explore the question: “Who should teach critical thinking?” We argue that the ideal instructor must transcend basic pedagogical skills to actively embody the character of a critical thinker. Specifically, this involves embracing epistemological fallibilism and modeling intellectual virtues in the classroom.
Bayesian Statistics: The Most Important Thing You’ve Never Heard of But Use on a Daily Basis
Chris Labos (Medicine / Epidemiology; McGill University)
Carl Sagan said “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” But how do we decide HOW extraordinary the evidence needs to be? When is the evidence good enough? Bayesian statistics gives us a mathematical framework to quantify how much evidence is needed to prove or disprove a claim. Even if you aren’t a statistician, understanding Bayes' theorem is critical to being critical and underpins the entire scientific process.
Classroom Bias Demos: What Has Worked? What Hasn’t?
Casey Smith (Philosophy; San Jose State Univ)
When I teach critical thinking I start with getting as much of the class as I can to experience falling victim to the error that we're covering. I will demonstrate a couple of the techniques that I use, outline a few more, and review some lessons I’ve learned.
Morning Plenary (Thurs 5/28)
Jeff Schlegelmilch (Climate Science, Columbia University)
Oracles, Activism and Mis-Aligned Incentives - The Perils and Promise of Academia In the Face of Extreme Events
The field of science is often taught as deterministic, capable of producing all of the answers we need if we just study hard enough. But most real-world dilemmas are at the intersection of many different scientific disciplines, and also include spiritual and historical valuations that are not easily quantified. Current models of research and higher education tend to further incentivize silos, and disincentivize interdisciplinary work. This session will reflect on challenges in addressing issues with climate change and disaster resilience under current scientific paradigms, while also highlighting efforts to create a more trans-disciplinary approach to integrate science into policy and practice.
Teaching Scientific Skepticism in Sensation and Perception
Nicole Anderson (Psychology; MacEwan University)
Psychology is uniquely positioned to foster critical thinking in post-secondary education because of its emphasis on scientific reasoning and evidence evaluation. Students must learn to analyze research methods, evaluate experimental design, and distinguish strong evidence from compelling but unsupported claims. This approach is especially effective in sensation and perception, the study of how physical stimuli are detected and transduced into perceptual experience. In this presentation, I present several classroom examples and illustrate how I lead students through the logical evaluation of perceptual claims using established sensory principles and empirical evidence.
Supporting Student Research Across Disciplines
Sarah McDaniel (Library Science; Fresno State)
In the 2023/2024 academic year the Provost’s Information Literacy Assessment Task Force evaluated a sample of 150 student research papers from students' General Education e-Portfolios. In sharing this work, we hope to share findings of our information literacy assessment, as well as preliminary analysis of best practices, participant feedback, and deliverables including research assignments and librarian collaborations. These findings will guide the development of future workshops that provide opportunities for writing experts, librarians, and faculty across the disciplines to share knowledge and develop more effective research assignments that facilitate development of information literacy skills as a foundation for success in many professional contexts, as well as a critical element of lifelong learning.
Posters
Endorsement of Learning Styles by Institutions of Higher Education
Wasayef Ghanam, Alma Pablo-Ortega, Kimberly Salinas, Christina Macias, and Kathleen D. Dyer
A Procedure to Evaluate Arguments
Claude Gratton
Understanding Emotional Pathways to Misinformation Belief
DJ Crossland, Rodney Schmaltz, David Watson, & Dawson VonStein
Critical Thinking General Education Classes in the California State University
Tyler Woolrich, Deanna Vu, Nena Cammon, Elena Ramos, Wasayef Ghanam, Alma Pablo-Ortega, Kimberly Salinas, Christina Macies, & Kathleen D. Dyer
Conference Registration
Cost of Registration
$200 early bird (thru 3/31/2026)
$250 standard registration
$100 student registration (current college or grad school)
Registration includes:
Coffee / tea / water during meetings
Reception and formal dinner on Tuesday 5/26
Lunch and dinner on Wednesday 5/27
Lunch on Thursday 5/28
Guests:
$60 Guest Pass for the dinners on Tues 5/26 and Wed 5/27.
~ Register Now: https://lilienfeldalliance.ticketbud.com/lilicon-2026 ~
Accommodations
Hyatt House at Campus Point
Please use this link to get the LiliCon 2026 group rate.
Group Code: G-LCON
(This hotel is in the same complex as the conference meeting space.)