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critical thinking in the
classroom Philosophy 28 Spring 2002 |
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Instructor: |
Tim Black |
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My office: |
Music Building, Room 112 |
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My office hours: |
MWF, TTh, Other hours by appointment |
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My office phone: |
559.278.4940 |
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My e-mail address: |
I invite you to visit me during my office hours and to talk with me via telephone and e-mail. I always welcome your comments and questions, and I am exceptionally happy to talk with you about the course material or about other philosophical or administrative matters.
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Department office: |
Music Building, Room 102, M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. |
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Department phone: |
559.278.2621 |
Catalog Description of the
Course: Open only to Liberal Studies
majors. Principles and methods of good reasoning, including: identifying
arguments, developing deductive/inductive reasoning skills, assessing
observation/testimony reports; common fallacies; applications to K-8 teaching.
(Students completing Phil 28 cannot get credit for Phil 25 or Phil 45.
Prerequisite or corequisite: EHD 50.)
Aims of the Course: At the successful completion of this course, students
should be able to
1.
identify an
argument as such,
2.
identify an
argument’s premise(s) and conclusion,
3.
identify
deductive arguments as such,
4.
identify
inductive arguments as such,
5.
identify and
explain some common fallacies in reasoning,
6.
determine whether
an inference is valid or invalid, strong or weak,
7.
determine whether
we should accept the premises of a given argument,
8.
determine whether
an argument is good or bad,
9.
identify and
clarify terms that are vague or ambiguous,
10.
formulate and
defend a strong, clear and well structured argument,
11.
design a plan for
teaching a K-8 lesson into which is integrated certain lessons about critical
thinking. (The plan should include information about the lesson’s objective,
about its design, about the implementation of that design, about any materials
and/or media you might use, and about how you will evaluate the students’ success.)
General Education: This course satisfies the General Education
requirement for Foundation in Area A3. To be enrolled in this class, you must
have passed, or you must now be enrolled in, EHD 50.
Required Text: Bassham, Greg; William Irvin; Henry Nardone;
and James M. Wallace. Critical Thinking:
A Student’s Introduction.
Attendance and Participation: Since you are responsible for any and all material
presented in class, regular attendance is essential to doing well in this
course. Furthermore, critical thinking
and logic are akin to, say, chemistry in that they are activities and not simply sets of purported facts. So just as you cannot develop your abilities
as a chemist without doing some work in the lab, you cannot develop your
ability to think critically without practice.
And practicing means, among other things, discussing certain issues and
diligently grappling with problems both in class and outside of class. Doing this can benefit you in a number of ways:
it will help you to gain a deeper understanding of the sometimes fairly
difficult material and will thus help you to perform better on the
assignments. Both class attendance and
participation are therefore quite essential to doing well in this course. I subscribe to and will enforce the
University’s policy on student absences as stated on page 44 of the California
State University, Fresno 2001-2002 General Catalog.
Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability, please identify yourself to
me and to the University so that we can reasonably accommodate your learning
and the preparation and evaluation of the work that you must do for this
course. Please contact Services for
Students with Disabilities, Henry Madden Library, Room 1049, 559.278.2811.
Other Concerns: If you think that you might need help with writing,
time management, note-taking skills, test anxiety, and the like, please contact
either me or the Learning Resource Center, Lab School, Room 137, 559.278.3052.
Visit the LRC’s website by clicking here. You might
also take advantage of the English Writing Center, which is located in the
Education Building, Rooms 184 and 186.
If you need help with logic, I’ve listed some on-line critical thinking
and logic tutorials here. (For links to a few fun sites, click here.)
Evaluation: Your final grade in the course will be based on the
following:
|
Exam 1 |
Wednesday, 13 February 2002 |
12% |
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Exam 2 |
Monday, 11 March 2002 |
13% |
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Exam 3 |
Friday, 22 March 2002 |
13% |
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Final Exam |
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15% |
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Four (4) In-Class Group
Assignments |
4% each, for a total of … |
16% |
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Four (4) Newspaper
Assignments |
4% each, for a total of … |
16% |
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Presentation |
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15% |
Grades: Letter grades are assigned according to the following
system: 100-90% = A; 89-80% = B; 79-70% = C; 69-60% = D; 59-0% = F. If your final grade falls just short of some higher
grade, the quality of your verbal participation will be considered as grounds
for improving your final grade. I
strongly encourage your verbal participation, which can come in lectures, in
office hours, by phone, or by e-mail.
Cheating and Plagiarism: I consider academic dishonesty a very serious
issue. If you are unclear about what
constitutes academic dishonesty or about the possible repercussions of and
penalties for acts of academic dishonesty, please consult page 36 of the Fall
2001 Schedule of Courses or page 486 of the California State University, Fresno
2001-2002 General Catalog. Moreover, I
subscribe to and will enforce the Policies and Regulations of California State
University, Fresno as they are stated on pages 483-486 of its 2001-2002 General
Catalog.
Exams: The exams are designed to determine whether you have
mastered the course material. There will
be four exams during the semester, and each exam will consist of questions and
problems similar to those you work for homework. (So completing the homework exercises is crucial to doing well on the exams.)
- Exam 1 will cover Chapters 1 and 2, that is, the
material we discuss from 23 January to 11 February.
- Exam 2 will cover Chapters 3 and 4, that is, the
material we discuss from 15 February to 4 March.
- Exam 3 will cover Chapters 5 and 6, that is, the
material we discuss from 8 March to 20 March.
- Exam 4 will cover Chapters 8, 9 and 11, that is,
the material we discuss from 3 April to 15 May.
I will not allow you to use books
or notes of any sort during the exams. You
may take a make-up exam only if either (a) you have received, prior to the
scheduled date of the exam, my permission to do so or (b) you miss the exam due
to a documented medical or family emergency. I will grade your exams on the
basis of the accuracy, completeness and reasonableness of your answers.
In-Class Group Assignments: After our discussion of almost every chapter, you will
complete a group assignment in class.
For each of these assignments, you’ll explain how you might integrate
certain ideas regarding critical thinking into a typical K-8 lesson plan. For example, an in-class group assignment
might ask you to develop ways of integrating ideas about avoiding vague
language into a science lesson plan. You
will complete these assignments by filling in worksheets that I provide. I will not accept late submissions of your
in-class group assignments. I will grade your assignments on the basis of
completeness, reasonableness and potential effectiveness of your
suggestions. (NB: Unless you have
mastered the material discussed in class, you will not be able to integrate
that material into any lesson plan whatsoever.
So completing the homework exercises is crucial to doing well on the in-class group assignments.)
Newspaper Assignments: At four points during the semester, I will distribute
copies of a newspaper or magazine article.
Typically, these articles will report on issues that arise in or around
education. For each newspaper
assignment, you will identify the argument in the distributed article, say
whether you think that argument is a good one or a bad one, say why you think that it’s good or bad,
and, finally, respond to questions about the article that might arise as you
teach your students (for example, I might have you respond to questions such as
the following: “Would you favor this program for your school? Why, or why
not?”, “How might you use the tools provided by critical thinking in convincing
parents that this idea is good (or bad)?”, “How might you use the tools
provided by critical thinking in resolving the conflict reported in the
article?”). You will complete these
assignments by filling in worksheets that I provide. I will not accept late submissions of your
newspaper assignments. I will grade
your assignments on the basis of accuracy, completeness and reasonableness of
your responses, and on the basis of the completeness, reasonableness and
potential effectiveness of your suggestions.
(NB: Unless you have mastered the material discussed in class, you will
not be able to identify and evaluate the arguments found in the distributed
articles, nor will you be able to respond to the further questions about the
article. So completing the homework exercises
is crucial to doing well on the
newspaper assignments.)
Presentation: Each student must give a presentation. For the presentation, you must develop a
typical K-8 lesson plan that integrates an idea regarding critical thinking and
that clearly demonstrates how you would convey that idea while teaching the K-8
lesson. (For a sample lesson plan, click
here.)
o
I suggest that
you develop your lesson plan in stages.
In completing the in-class group assignments, you will develop ideas for
integrating critical thinking into a typical K-8 lesson plan. These ideas might provide the foundation for
your presentation’s lesson plan. Next,
since you will be accustomed to talking with others about your ideas, you might
discuss ideas about your lesson plan with your classmates and with me. Listen to our ideas, and use those ideas to
try to improve your lesson plan. And
after you make adjustments, let others see what you’ve done in order to determine
whether those adjustments make for a better lesson plan.
The lesson plan that you
develop should include (a) information about the objective of the lesson, which
will, of course, include objectives relating to critical thinking, (b)
information about the design of the lesson, (c) information about how you will
implement that design in order to achieve your objectives, (d) information
about how you might use certain materials and/or media in implementing the
design, and (e) how you will evaluate the students’ success. (To help you as you develop your lesson
plans, you might check out the web site at this address: http://www.criticalthinking.org/K12/k12class/trc.html,
or one of the other websites I’ve listed here.)
During your presentation, which should last for about
fifteen minutes, you should do two things.
First, you should demonstrate how you might teach according to the
lesson plan you’ve developed. Second,
you should let the class know how your teaching in that way is designed to
convey certain ideas about critical thinking.
I will grade your presentations according to how effectively and clearly
you do both of these things. I will allow you to make a late presentation
only if either (a) you have received, prior to the scheduled date of the
presentation, my permission to do so or (b) you miss the presentation due to a
documented medical or family emergency.
After all is said and done, you will submit a copy of
your lesson plan to me. It should be 3-4
pages (or app. 1500 words) in length. It
must be typewritten or computer
processed in standard, 12-point type, double-spaced, and with one-inch
margins. I will not accept late
submissions of your lesson plans.
For help, you may see my A Guide to Writing
Philosophy Papers or some other writing
guide. I will grade your lesson plans according to the following criteria:
- Your lesson plan must be complete, that is, it
must include all of the
information in (a)-(e) above, and it must provide this information so as
to clearly demonstrate how you might convey certain ideas about critical
thinking in a typical K-8 setting.
- Your lesson plan must be well organized, that is,
its sections must be arranged in an orderly way with helpful headings and
clear transitions.
- Your lesson plan must be well written, that is,
clear, readable, succinct, grammatically sound, and free from spelling and
typographical errors.
Schedule:
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Topic |
Reading |
Assignment |
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23 January |
Course introduction |
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25 January |
Chapter 1: Introduction to Critical Thinking |
pp. 1-8 |
Exercise 1.1 |
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28 January |
Chapter 1 (cont’d) |
pp. 8-14 |
Exercise 1.2 |
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30 January |
Chapter 1 (cont’d) |
pp. 14-24 |
Exercises 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 |
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1 February |
In-Class Groups |
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4 February |
Chapter 2: Recognizing Arguments |
pp. 25-27 |
Exercise 2.1 |
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6 February |
Chapter 2 (cont’d) |
pp. 29-33 |
Exercise 2.2 |
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8 February |
Chapter 2 (cont’d) |
pp. 38-44, 50-51 |
Exercises 2.3, 2.4 |
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11 February |
In-Class Groups |
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13 February |
Exam 1 |
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15 February |
Chapter 3: Basic Logical Concepts |
pp. 52-55 |
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18 February |
President’s Day
Holiday |
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20 February |
Chapter 3 (cont’d) |
pp. 55-62 |
Exercise 3.1 |
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22 February |
Chapter 3 (cont’d) |
pp. 62-72 |
Exercise 3.2 |
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25 February |
Chapter 3 (cont’d) |
pp. 74-78 |
Exercise 3.3 |
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27 February |
Chapter 3 (cont’d) |
pp. 78-93 |
Exercise 3.4 |
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1 March |
In-Class Groups
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4 March |
Chapter 4: Language |
pp. 97-120 |
· Exercises 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 · Newspaper Assignment 1 is due. |
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6 March |
Chapter 4 (cont’d) |
pp. 122-139 |
Exercises 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 |
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8 March |
In-Class Groups |
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11 March |
Exam 2 |
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13 March |
Chapter 5: Logical Fallacies—1 |
pp. 140-148 |
Exercise 5.1 |
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15 March |
Chapter 5 (cont’d) |
pp. 148-155 |
Exercise 5.2 |
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18 March |
In-Class Groups |
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20 March |
Open for Review |
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Newspaper Assignment 2 is due. |
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22 March |
Exam 3 |
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25March |
Spring Break |
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27 March |
Spring Break |
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29 March |
Spring Break |
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1 April |
Cesar Chavez Holiday |
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3 April |
Chapter 6: Logical Fallacies—2 |
pp. 162-169 |
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5 April |
Chapter 6 (cont’d) |
pp. 170-178 |
Exercise 6.1 |
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8 April |
Presentations |
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10 April |
Presentations |
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12 April |
Presentations |
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15 April |
Chapter 8: Evaluating Arguments |
pp. 221-225 |
· Exercise 8.1 · Newspaper Assignment 3 is due. |
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17 April |
Presentations |
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19 April |
Presentations |
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22 April |
Chapter 8 (cont’d) |
pp. 226-227 |
Exercise 8.2 |
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24 April |
Presentations |
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26 April |
Presentations |
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29 April |
Chapter 9: Getting Deeper into Logic: Categorical
Reasoning |
pp. 244-249 |
Exercise 9.1 |
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1 May |
Presentations |
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3 May |
Presentations |
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6 May |
Chapter 9 (cont’d) |
pp. 250-253 |
Exercise 9.2 |
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8 May |
Presentations |
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10 May |
Presentations |
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13 May |
Chapter 9 (cont’d) |
pp. 253-255 |
· Exercise 9.3 · Newspaper Assignment 4 is due. |
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15 May |
Chapter 9 (cont’d) |
pp. 256-266 |
Exercise 9.4 |
Note: Everything in this syllabus is subject to revision. I will announce any and all revisions in class and, in general, do my best to make sure that each and every student knows about revisions. If you miss class, you must nevertheless submit assignments according to any revisions that I make to the Schedule. You should either make sure that you don’t miss class or find a sure way of becoming aware of any revisions that I make to the Schedule or to the syllabus.
Critical thinking and logic tutorials
- THINK-L, a discussion list focusing on critical thinking and related topics
- Mission: Critical, Interactive tutorial to introduce basic concepts (contains exercises and instructions)
- Argumentation and Critical Thinking Tutorial
- Identifying the Argument of an Essay: A Tutorial in Critical Reasoning
- Philosophy 3: Critical Thinking,
a site from
- Critical Thinking, from WannaLearn.com
- Critical Thinking
Tutorial, a site from
- Symbols and Logic Tutorial
- Real World Reasoning Some of the topics covered in this extensive list of links compiled by Peter Suber at Earlham College include classic fallacies, constructing a logical argument, elementary logic, informal fallacies, logical fallacies, and a guide to detecting and supplying missing premises in arguments.
- Introduction to Thinking Skills Compiled by Nancy Lockett, Staff Development Coordinator for AEA 7 Educational Services in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this site provides resources and teaching strategies primarily for K-12.
- Strategies for Teaching Critical Thinking Created by ERIC, the Educational Resources Information Center, this digest discusses skills related to critical thinking and three specific strategies for teaching these skills: (1) Building Categories, (2) Finding Problems, and (3) Enhancing the Environment. A brief but valuable overview applicable to all disciplines.
- Activities/Teaching Aids, part of an extensive annotated bibliography compiled by Montclair State University in New Jersey, this site lists games and activities that promote critical thinking.
- Critical Thinking at Sonoma The Critical Thinking Community at Sonoma, CA is the home of the Center for Critical Thinking (Richard Paul, Director), the Foundation for Critical Thinking, the International Center for the Assessment of Higher Order Thinking, and the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. This site supplies extensive start-up support including sample syllabi, lesson plans, grading schemes, and online resources.
Fun sites
- Brain Teasers: Fun With Categorical Thinking, a direct link to some entertaining interactive mind games from San Jose State University’s “Mission: Critical” website.
- Cave of Magic, an entertaining collection of Robert Simeon Fay’s magic tricks, puzzles, word games, and brain teasers that encourage critical thinking.
- The Fallacy Zoo Computer software designer Brian Yoder (Earthlink) lists philosophy as one of his spare time interests. He’s compiled here a practical set of fallacies, with definitions and real-world examples.
- Intelligent Humor Page When your brain is drained...
General
writing guides
- The University of Victoria’s Hypertext Writer’s Guide
- The National Writing Centers Association,
contains a fairly comprehensive list of university on-line writing centers
- Michael Harvey’s The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing
- Writing at the University of Toronto
- The University of St. Thomas’s Study Guides and Strategies
- The Writing Center at Colorado State University
- Charles Darling’s Guide to Grammar and Writing
Guides to writing philosophy papers
Tim’s Philosophy Page · Tim Black’s Homepage