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The Almost-But-Not-Quite "Final" Schedule for SkeptiCamp NYC 2012

The actual sequence of events at any SkeptiCamp is subject to change based on the needs and interests of its attendees. The following is the schedule we will start with. But, be aware that it could change around a lot.

This schedule was last updated and enhanced on 12/3/2012.

Starts	Ends	Session Host	Title	Description	Category
9:30 AM	10:10 AM	Doors Open! Schmooze with your fellow attendees while we set up the place.
10:10 AM	10:30 AM	Opening Ceremonies and Other Stuff
10:30 AM	10:55 AM	Marc Barnhill	Can Skepticism Be Taught?	Educational programs centered around "critical thinking" abound, with logic and skepticism increasingly finding their way into the teaching of a diverse range of subjects. But recent research and scholarship have called into question the "transferability" of these skills. Can skepticism be taught? Do workshops, seminars, podcasts and blogs help spread the skeptical approach to existence -- or do they reinforce existing cognitive biases and make matters worse? Are we all doomed?	Education
10:55 AM	11:25 AM	Bill Chapman	Teaching Engineering in K-12	When I was in K-12, technical education consisted almost entirely on math & science. Even in university, there can be a dearth of teaching anyone how things work. I feel that more teaching of technology in K-12 would lead to more motivated students, and, indirectly, a better grasp of science and math as an end result.
11:25 AM	11:35 AM	Short Break #1
11:35 AM	12:00 PM	Gregory Lopez	Effective Altruism	Want to make the world a better place? If your answer is 'yes,' then great! But wanting to do good is only half the battle. How do you know whether or not you're actually doing good in the end? And how can you do the most good? The burgeoning field of effective altruism, which has roots in the rationalist community, sets out to answer these questions. This presentation will introduce you to some of the core ideas of effective altruism and some of the organizations involved in the movement.	Community
12:00 PM	12:25 PM	Daniel Korostyshevsky	Crowdsourcing Discovery: Making Science Truly Open	Funding for basic scientific research has been wrought with problems for years. Now, the model for getting funding for science is finally changing. I will talk about why changing the model of funding science is important and I will also introduce our crowd funding project for a truly open science endeavor.
12:25 PM	12:30 PM	M Hans Liebert	Music Performance #1	(followed by Group Photo of all attendees!)	Food & Fun
12:30 PM	1:50 PM	Lunch Break!
1:50 PM	1:55 PM	M Hans Liebert	Music Performance #2
1:55 PM	2:25 PM	Brian Gregory	Space Robots	A high-level description of my experiences working for the "other" NASA robot research group.	Applied Skepticism
2:25 PM	2:50 PM	Anna Chernyshenko	Let's Get Skeptical on Shoes	Why do most shoes not resemble human feet? What do shoes that do not resemble feet do to us? How can we fix this?
2:50 PM	3:00 PM	Short Break #2
3:00 PM	3:25 PM	Amy Frushour Kelly	Critical Thinking and Parenthood: How Skepticism Saved My Special Needs Kid From Certain Death!	Parents of Special Needs Children are uniquely vulnerable to quack medical and alternative remedies. Amy will describe her own experience in trying to find accurate health information on the internet, and suggest easy fixes to help SN parents separate good treatments from bad.
3:25 PM	3:50 PM	Reed Esau	The Journeyman Skeptic	Why you may not be the skeptic that you think you are, and what you can do about it.
3:50 PM	4:00 PM	Short Break #3
4:00 PM	4:25 PM	Christopher Brown	Skepticism & Curiosity: The Critical Connection	An argument for the idea that Skepticism and Curiosity are two integral parts of the critical thinking mind. Based on personal anecdote, non peer reviewed experiences and unplanned, impromptu experimentation.	Last Minute Stuff
4:25 PM	4:50 PM	Michael Rosch	TBA
4:50 PM	5:15 PM	Mitchell S. Lampert	TBA	(We might take a break before I go, depending on how timing works out.)
5:15 PM	5:50 PM	TBA	TBA
5:50 PM	6:00 PM	Closing Ceremonies and Cleaning Up After Ourselves

Note: The categories aren't very important.