Comment by lhommealenvers on Teaching rationality to kids? · 2017-08-03T09:05:53.883Z · LW · GW

I have two kids (a 7yo boy and a 6yo girl) and I am facing this question as they are beginning to be able to read.

The Socratic method is a nice way to start helping kids answer questions themselves but it requires focus and practice (practice mostly on the teacher side to be able to ask the right questions), and 7-year-old children don't focus a lot of time.

The HPMOR approach suggested in other comments seems good to me but it can be generalized a little : little boys and girls enjoy fictional stories more than real stories, so you have to show them stories where the hero wins with the power of reason (as for the whole the power of reason and science, depends on age but I believe it has to wait a little more in my case). If anyone knows such stories that work for 7-year-olds, please throw them at me. (yes, some ancient and middle-age tales are somewhat in this category, but so little of them are)