The critical approach to pseudosciences as a didactic exercise: homeopathy and successive dilutions

Abstract

Three teaching activities are proposed. They range in complexity, and thus are adequate for implementation in classrooms and laboratories ranging from secondary education to university level. The leitmotiv for all three activities are series dilutions and the concepts of substance quantity, mol and concentration. Transversally, this is used to point out the pseudoscientific fraud of homeopathy, which in recent years is alarmingly popular. An important benefit of a basic understanding of chemical concepts is the ability to detect this kind of hocus-pocus.