I suggest there are some tried-and-true ways to find truth.

Practicing truth finding is one, whatever actual method you use. Getting kids to practice truth-finding skills should probably also be fun and not too hard to begin with.

Any game they like that develops reasoning ability would seem to qualify. Twenty questions, battleship, clue, even go fish, require thinking to discover some kind of truth.

Participation in activities in the world that reward truth finding should help. School newspapers that teach the who, what, why, where, when, and how make sense. Anything that teaches research to find original sources and to read them carefully sounds like a good idea.

Some exposure to logic, especially exposure to the concept of logical fallacies, through things like debate or critical thinking couldn't hurt. Experiences that teach the value of maintaining doubt, even after coming to any number of tentative conclusions or interim truths, would serve well.

We could encourage learning the history of discoveries to illustrate how often we can be wrong before we are right, the value of perseverance, the challenges - even dangers - of being right in environments that do not necessarily welcome being right, and the roles of observation, serendipity and creativity.

Maybe steer some of those homework assignments a bit? Try a dinner table challenge or two?

Thoughts?

Thanks.