On Wednesday 26th November students studying Religious Studies and Philosophy in the King Edward VI Schools were invited by the University of Birmingham to attend an event entitled: ‘Knowledge in the Digital Age’. The pupils were privilege to three sessions aimed at developing their critical thinking skills, particularly what Dr Laura D’Olimpio called Critical Perspectivism.
In the first interactive talk time was dedicated to exploring potential biases that lie behind information shared on social media which culminated in pupils being able to create their own fake plot. This was facilitated by Professor Lisa Bortolotti. Secondly more time was spent exploring the concept of introduced by Dr D’Olimpio, before the final session delivered by Dr Sally Latham, an education lead from Wikimedia. Sally focused mainly on how they ensuring that Wikipedia remains accurate and becomes more inclusive. The afternoon was truly excellent and we would like to thank the Department of Theology and Religious Studies as well as the Department of Philosophy and the Department for Education at the University for working with the Foundation schools by organising this and other events (particularly Dr Lisa Bortolotti for her work in this area). We look forward to the next one later in the year.
Here is some feedback from the session from pupils at our schools:
Lordswood Girls:
‘The trip to UoB was a great experience as it allowed for me to be confident and engaged by giving responses to questions that were asked. It was really nice to see the range of answers and different students/schools that attended this lecture. I was impressed by how philosophy can be related to a wide range of topics and a career that can be achieved out of a philosophy degree’.
- Aliya yr12
‘Learning about the psychology behind a conspiracy theorist was thoroughly enjoyable and in fact exciting as it was something completely new to my knowledge. The talks were intriguing and I enjoyed the discussion time between each talk that allowed us to hear ranged perspectives on the topic of interest. Talking about social media and the impact of phones within one of the talks was, personally, what I believe to have been the most significant and enjoyable because of how relevant it is to us as young adults and teenagers, therefore making it fun to debate and discuss. Overall, all the talks were significant and memorable with the opportunity for great and helpful discussions which I appreciated massively.
- Nevaeh yr12
Aston:
I greatly enjoyed this educational trip and opportunity to see three very interesting and captivating programmes, my favourite easily being on critical perspectivism. It taught that no matter what kind of conversation you are having with someone, whether it is your friend of 8 years or some stranger online, everyone deserves their voice heard as a person and human, even if they are talking nonsense. The trip also taught some intriguing facts about learning new knowledge, to seek it ourselves or through trusted sources as compared to random people online, and even then, to keep searching for the truth, which is very relevant given the recent conflicts in Gaza and Sudan and the reporting around these issues.
- Mohammed 12T
5 of us went to UoB on Wednesday for an interactive lecture on knowledge in the digital age, split into three parts. The first part was about conspiracy theories - how they are formulated, how they catch on easily, and the reasons why people make them in the first place. The second part was the most enlightening to me - about how modern social media causes us to respond emotionlessly and how people in power are now putting limits on what children and adults have access to, but what should be happening is the education system teaching more about how to use social media properly, and we should respond compassionately and respectfully to things we see online. The third part was about the collection of Wiki (a collaboration of people working to create a place where knowledge is available to everyone and freely accessible) and the problems with AI and biases relating to it. All in all, it was very interesting, and I did come out of there with a few new insights to everyday things I'd never stopped to think about before.
- Darius 12H
