My 11 year old spends 50% of his time with an anti-science and anti-vaccine family. Single parent me (in Ohio) doesn't have a lot of support when I've tried to help fight some of those thoughts he's been brainwashed with in the name of religion. I'm christian, but his other household is extremists. "You believe in science too much" and "cavemen never existed" are things he's said in the last year. He's a straight A very smart child, he's just been brainwashed and I want to try to help him before it gets worse.
What kinds of shows, books, documentaries can I expose him too to make him think more critically about some of these things so he understands science is real and vaccines work?
He does get into Veritasium on YouTube, so I feel like that's a step in the right direction for science and critical thinking.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Cheers
YouTube channels like Veritasium, Steve Mould, Kurzgesagt, SmarterEveryDay, or Hank Green are really good places to start. But you should also try to get him involved in hands-on things like science fairs, science clubs at school, visiting museums, etc.
The goal isn't necessarily to get him to think critically right off the bat, but instead get him excited to learn and curious about how the world works. Manage that and the rest will inevitably follow. Also, have patience and don't preach (not saying that you are, it's just something I have experience with), there is no faster way to kill excitement than to make someone feel like they are forced to do something.