Welcome to Part 10 of my 20 part series “Better Know a Speaker.” Today’s speaker: Tom Foss, the fighting Foss!

Contrary to popular belief, Tom Foss is not a ghost. The genesis of this pernicious myth can be found in his complete inability to manifest at Gen Con in 2009, and has only gained traction by his continued failure to appear at meetings and FUNdraisers for Skepchicamp, or even the gatherings of his local skeptic group. In truth, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this: Tom is a first-year science teacher in northwest Illinois, and consequently he spends far too much of his time planning lessons and grading. Tom currently teaches high school Biology and Physics, and he makes a particular effort to include explicit instruction in critical thinking and the process of science in his lessons. His students were consulted as to Tom’s corporeal state, but their responses were dismissed due to obvious bias and wishful thinking. Tom occasionally blogs about skeptical and scientific topics at Dubito Ergo Sum, though his terribly infrequent entries there are perhaps the biggest single contributor to the rumors of his demise.

During his meager and brief experience as an educator, Tom has argued with creationists, answered e-mail forwards with links to Snopes, and fielded more student questions about 2012 than he can count. These encounters with woo serve as the foundation for his presentation on Skepticism and Teaching. Those who are still skeptical about Tom’s consistently-maintained humanity are encouraged to bring their PKE meters and test the claims first-hand.

Tom can also often be found in the comments at Skeptico, laying down the smack on woos big and small with his patent-pending supremely long, detailed comments.

Tom’s presentation is titled “Skepticism and Teaching,” which will (presumably) focus on how he incorporates critical thinking into his lesson plans. It could actually be a placeholder title for a talk about blue whale husbandry; he hasn’t elaborated for me. I kind of hope it’s the latter.

Check back here soon for further adventures in knowing speakers better!

–Speaker Conjurer Don

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