The Young Skeptics Program is sponsored by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), publisher of Skeptical Inquirer Magazine.

The Young Skeptics Program aims to develop and foster an understanding of the world through inquiry-based learning. We provide material to complement and enhance existing science and educational programs. This supplemental material focusses on subject matter that falls within the realms of pseudoscience and the paranormal, ideal subjects on which to turn the searchlight of skeptical thinking. We show how to employ the tools of creative and critical scientific inquiry, and we encourage the development of a set of thinking skills that can be used to help us to understand the ideas, claims and phenomena we encounter in our lives. In other words, skills that help to make sense of the world around us. The program offers content and activities for all ages, for students, educators and parents, for community groups and for other science outlets.

The goals of the Young Skeptics Program are:

• To ask questions, be skeptical and take nothing on face value.
• To encourage inquiry-based learning and critical thinking.
• To show how to deal with evidence how to recognise it, collect it, figure out its value, and act on it.
• To show how to navigate the minefield of ideas, claims and phenomena, we encounter in daily life.
• To nurture a sense of curiosity and wonder at the universe we inhabit.
• To provide guidance in who to ask, where to go, how to get involved.
• To encourage the young to keep the flame burning.
• To show how much fun we can all have, young and old, doing these things.

Young Skeptics was launched in January 2001 as a web-based program. For the past year the program has been evolving online through the guidance of professionals in science and education. It has involved the active participation of skeptics and science-enthusiasts throughout the world.

We now hope to move beyond the confines of cyberspace and take our materials and resources to all available outlets in society. CSICOP's educational initiatives, with our enthusiastic participation, will spearhead programs that serve to improve scientific literacy within our communities, promote critical thinking for all, and enrich the lives of everyone involved.

Please take a moment to visit the other areas on the Young Skeptics Web Site and see the developments underway. We encourage your comments and suggestions on how we might improve the program and welcome your participation in all areas.

Please contact us with any questions and comments.