Critical Thinking

The ancient greek philosopher Socrates is quoted as saying, "the unexamined life is not worth living". What does that statement mean? You will have a chance to decipher the enigma as part of this week's discussion post. This week, we will be discussing the importance of critical thinking (in general, as part of communication and in writing). An outline for today's class can be found below.

Critical Thinking

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Provide a general definition of the term"critical thinking"
2. Explain and exemplify various terms associated with critical thinking
3. Explain the importance of thinking critically
4. Develop a strategy for improving their critical thinking skills

I. Warm-Up

How are you? How are things? How was your weekend? What's new? How are your other classes? Are you getting excited for the end of the semester? Any plans? Any questions from this class? 

II. Vocabulary Quiz

Any questions? Speak now or forever hold your peace! 

III. Critical Thinking Discussion

Using the almighty GROUP RANDOMIZER you will be divided into groups of three. Once in your groups, you will be tasked with discussing the questions about critical thinking found here. After, we will discuss these ideas with a PowerPoint presentation. 

IV. Critical Thinking Reading

Now, let's explore the concept a little deeper. We will do this using a "jig-saw" reading activity. The steps for the activity are as follows...

Step One: You will be given a number between 1-3. Based on your number, you will read one section of an article on critical thinking. The sections can be found below: 

1. Critical Thinking Reading - Part One
2. Critical Thinking Reading - Part Two
3. Critical Thinking Reading - Part Three

Step Two: You will get into groups of five (everyone with the same number) and discuss what you consider to be the major points of your section using this organizer.

Step Three: Now you will get into groups of three with one '1', one '2' and one '3'. Each 'topic expert' will present the major points of his/her section to the other group members who will take notes. 

Step Four: Finally, you will get into new groups of three and come up with answers to the comprehension questions found here. Once everyone has finished, we will discuss the answers as a class. 

V. Critical Thinking Practice

 Depending on how much time we have left, here are a few (short) activities designed to help develop your critical thinking skills.

1. Fact or Opinion?
2. Logical Fallacies: Missing Premise and Hasty Generalizations (practice)

Homework

1). Writing a Letter: The writing assignment for this week is a letter. I think the concept of a letter should be pretty familiar to you all by now. Just in case it is not, I have attached an example. There are also some critical thinking questions about how question to approach this assignment. You need to answer these questions as well. Please submit your work by Friday, December 12th, 2014 at 11:55pm. 

2). Discussion Post: There is a new discussion posting related to critical thinking due by Friday, December 12th, 2014 at 11:55pm. 

3). Final Vocabulary Quiz of 2014!!!! Oh my goodness! The last quiz! But there's a catch! It's cumulative! So you better start studying now!!! The word list can be found here (among other places). 

4). Sign-up for the "Holiday Potluck" (last day of class) here.