critical thinking chapter 4 exercise answers

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Chapter 4 Answer Key to Select Chapter Exercises

Exercise 4.1 1. The large collection of very well-supported beliefs that we all rely on to inform our actions and choices. 3. No, not always. But we should doubt any claim that conflicts with our background information, and we should assign a low probability to any claim that conflicts with a great deal of our background information. 5. Any two of: education and training; experience; reputation; and accomplishments. 7. When the experts disagree about a claim, we have good reason to doubt it. 11. We often suspect bias when an expert is being paid by special-interest groups or companies to render an opinion, when the expert expresses very strong belief in a claim even though there is no evidence to support it, or when the expert stands to gain financially from the actions or policies that he or she supports. 13. Any two: Impairment, expectation, or innumeracy 15. Possible answer: People may deny the evidence, ignore it, or reinterpret it. 16. The tendency to seek out or use only confirming evidence. 19. If we’re in the habit of basing our judgments on evidence that’s merely psychologically available, we will frequently commit the error known as hasty generalization —drawing a conclusion about a whole group based on an inadequate sample of the group. 22. Advertisers may: try to get you to identify with attractive individuals or groups; use catchy slogans; make misleading comparisons; use weasel words to make a claim that is technically true but superficially misleading. Exercise 4.2 2. Reject; the claim conflicts with background information about the origins of the virus. 5. Proportion belief to the evidence; it is well-known that many Canadians carry high levels of credit card debt, though there is debate over whether it is dangerously high. Additional statistical information should be sought. 7. Proportion belief to the evidence; the claim is probably true at least in part, though the scope of the sharing may be exaggerated. It is widely known that many governments have sought out and used additional legal powers to allow them to gather information. 8. Reject; McPhail would likely have to have been at least in her 30s when elected, which means she would have had to be born around 1890 (which indeed she was). So to have died last year, she would have had to be over 130 years old, which would beat the world record for longevity by quite a lot. 12. Accept; in general, such reports from Health Canada are very reliable. 16. Reject; the claim is very likely to be false (Canada has a mediocre history at the Olympic games overall, and has generally done better in the winter, not summer, Olympics). 18. Proportion belief to the evidence; depending on how “viable” is defined, the claim seems more likely to be false than true (because some modern democracies do, in fact, seem viable). 19. Accept; likely to be true (both products serve the same purpose, and so are substitutable to some extent, and people generally respond to price changes).

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Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

(10 reviews)

Matthew Van Cleave, Lansing Community College

Publisher: Matthew J. Van Cleave

Language: English

Formats Available

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Reviewed by "yusef" Alexander Hayes, Professor, North Shore Community College on 6/9/21

Formal and informal reasoning, argument structure, and fallacies are covered comprehensively, meeting the author's goal of both depth and succinctness. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Formal and informal reasoning, argument structure, and fallacies are covered comprehensively, meeting the author's goal of both depth and succinctness.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

While many modern examples are used, and they are helpful, they are not necessarily needed. The usefulness of logical principles and skills have proved themselves, and this text presents them clearly with many examples.

Clarity rating: 5

It is obvious that the author cares about their subject, audience, and students. The text is comprehensible and interesting.

Consistency rating: 5

The format is easy to understand and is consistent in framing.

Modularity rating: 5

This text would be easy to adapt.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is excellent, my one suggestion would be a concluding chapter.

Interface rating: 5

I accessed the PDF version and it would be easy to work with.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The writing is excellent.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This is not an offensive text.

Reviewed by Susan Rottmann, Part-time Lecturer, University of Southern Maine on 3/2/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

I reviewed this book for a course titled "Creative and Critical Inquiry into Modern Life." It won't meet all my needs for that course, but I haven't yet found a book that would. I wanted to review this one because it states in the preface that it fits better for a general critical thinking course than for a true logic course. I'm not sure that I'd agree. I have been using Browne and Keeley's "Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking," and I think that book is a better introduction to critical thinking for non-philosophy majors. However, the latter is not open source so I will figure out how to get by without it in the future. Overall, the book seems comprehensive if the subject is logic. The index is on the short-side, but fine. However, one issue for me is that there are no page numbers on the table of contents, which is pretty annoying if you want to locate particular sections.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I didn't find any errors. In general the book uses great examples. However, they are very much based in the American context, not for an international student audience. Some effort to broaden the chosen examples would make the book more widely applicable.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I think the book will remain relevant because of the nature of the material that it addresses, however there will be a need to modify the examples in future editions and as the social and political context changes.

Clarity rating: 3

The text is lucid, but I think it would be difficult for introductory-level students who are not philosophy majors. For example, in Browne and Keeley's "Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking," the sub-headings are very accessible, such as "Experts cannot rescue us, despite what they say" or "wishful thinking: perhaps the biggest single speed bump on the road to critical thinking." By contrast, Van Cleave's "Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking" has more subheadings like this: "Using your own paraphrases of premises and conclusions to reconstruct arguments in standard form" or "Propositional logic and the four basic truth functional connectives." If students are prepared very well for the subject, it would work fine, but for students who are newly being introduced to critical thinking, it is rather technical.

It seems to be very consistent in terms of its terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 4

The book is divided into 4 chapters, each having many sub-chapters. In that sense, it is readily divisible and modular. However, as noted above, there are no page numbers on the table of contents, which would make assigning certain parts rather frustrating. Also, I'm not sure why the book is only four chapter and has so many subheadings (for instance 17 in Chapter 2) and a length of 242 pages. Wouldn't it make more sense to break up the book into shorter chapters? I think this would make it easier to read and to assign in specific blocks to students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization of the book is fine overall, although I think adding page numbers to the table of contents and breaking it up into more separate chapters would help it to be more easily navigable.

Interface rating: 4

The book is very simply presented. In my opinion it is actually too simple. There are few boxes or diagrams that highlight and explain important points.

The text seems fine grammatically. I didn't notice any errors.

The book is written with an American audience in mind, but I did not notice culturally insensitive or offensive parts.

Overall, this book is not for my course, but I think it could work well in a philosophy course.

Reviewed by Daniel Lee, Assistant Professor of Economics and Leadership, Sweet Briar College on 11/11/19

This textbook is not particularly comprehensive (4 chapters long), but I view that as a benefit. In fact, I recommend it for use outside of traditional logic classes, but rather interdisciplinary classes that evaluate argument read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

To the best of my ability, I regard this content as accurate, error-free, and unbiased

The book is broadly relevant and up-to-date, with a few stray temporal references (sydney olympics, particular presidencies). I don't view these time-dated examples as problematic as the logical underpinnings are still there and easily assessed

Clarity rating: 4

My only pushback on clarity is I didn't find the distinction between argument and explanation particularly helpful/useful/easy to follow. However, this experience may have been unique to my class.

To the best of my ability, I regard this content as internally consistent

I found this text quite modular, and was easily able to integrate other texts into my lessons and disregard certain chapters or sub-sections

The book had a logical and consistent structure, but to the extent that there are only 4 chapters, there isn't much scope for alternative approaches here

No problems with the book's interface

The text is grammatically sound

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Perhaps the text could have been more universal in its approach. While I didn't find the book insensitive per-se, logic can be tricky here because the point is to evaluate meaningful (non-trivial) arguments, but any argument with that sense of gravity can also be traumatic to students (abortion, death penalty, etc)

No additional comments

Reviewed by Lisa N. Thomas-Smith, Graduate Part-time Instructor, CU Boulder on 7/1/19

The text covers all the relevant technical aspects of introductory logic and critical thinking, and covers them well. A separate glossary would be quite helpful to students. However, the terms are clearly and thoroughly explained within the text,... read more

The content is excellent. The text is thorough and accurate with no errors that I could discern. The terminology and exercises cover the material nicely and without bias.

The text should easily stand the test of time. The exercises are excellent and would be very helpful for students to internalize correct critical thinking practices. Because of the logical arrangement of the text and the many sub-sections, additional material should be very easy to add.

The text is extremely clearly and simply written. I anticipate that a diligent student could learn all of the material in the text with little additional instruction. The examples are relevant and easy to follow.

The text did not confuse terms or use inconsistent terminology, which is very important in a logic text. The discipline often uses multiple terms for the same concept, but this text avoids that trap nicely.

The text is fairly easily divisible. Since there are only four chapters, those chapters include large blocks of information. However, the chapters themselves are very well delineated and could be easily broken up so that parts could be left out or covered in a different order from the text.

The flow of the text is excellent. All of the information is handled solidly in an order that allows the student to build on the information previously covered.

The PDF Table of Contents does not include links or page numbers which would be very helpful for navigation. Other than that, the text was very easy to navigate. All the images, charts, and graphs were very clear

I found no grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text including examples and exercises did not seem to be offensive or insensitive in any specific way. However, the examples included references to black and white people, but few others. Also, the text is very American specific with many examples from and for an American audience. More diversity, especially in the examples, would be appropriate and appreciated.

Reviewed by Leslie Aarons, Associate Professor of Philosophy, CUNY LaGuardia Community College on 5/16/19

This is an excellent introductory (first-year) Logic and Critical Thinking textbook. The book covers the important elementary information, clearly discussing such things as the purpose and basic structure of an argument; the difference between an argument and an explanation; validity; soundness; and the distinctions between an inductive and a deductive argument in accessible terms in the first chapter. It also does a good job introducing and discussing informal fallacies (Chapter 4). The incorporation of opportunities to evaluate real-world arguments is also very effective. Chapter 2 also covers a number of formal methods of evaluating arguments, such as Venn Diagrams and Propositional logic and the four basic truth functional connectives, but to my mind, it is much more thorough in its treatment of Informal Logic and Critical Thinking skills, than it is of formal logic. I also appreciated that Van Cleave’s book includes exercises with answers and an index, but there is no glossary; which I personally do not find detracts from the book's comprehensiveness.

Overall, Van Cleave's book is error-free and unbiased. The language used is accessible and engaging. There were no glaring inaccuracies that I was able to detect.

Van Cleave's Textbook uses relevant, contemporary content that will stand the test of time, at least for the next few years. Although some examples use certain subjects like former President Obama, it does so in a useful manner that inspires the use of critical thinking skills. There are an abundance of examples that inspire students to look at issues from many different political viewpoints, challenging students to practice evaluating arguments, and identifying fallacies. Many of these exercises encourage students to critique issues, and recognize their own inherent reader-biases and challenge their own beliefs--hallmarks of critical thinking.

As mentioned previously, the author has an accessible style that makes the content relatively easy to read and engaging. He also does a suitable job explaining jargon/technical language that is introduced in the textbook.

Van Cleave uses terminology consistently and the chapters flow well. The textbook orients the reader by offering effective introductions to new material, step-by-step explanations of the material, as well as offering clear summaries of each lesson.

This textbook's modularity is really quite good. Its language and structure are not overly convoluted or too-lengthy, making it convenient for individual instructors to adapt the materials to suit their methodological preferences.

The topics in the textbook are presented in a logical and clear fashion. The structure of the chapters are such that it is not necessary to have to follow the chapters in their sequential order, and coverage of material can be adapted to individual instructor's preferences.

The textbook is free of any problematic interface issues. Topics, sections and specific content are accessible and easy to navigate. Overall it is user-friendly.

I did not find any significant grammatical issues with the textbook.

The textbook is not culturally insensitive, making use of a diversity of inclusive examples. Materials are especially effective for first-year critical thinking/logic students.

I intend to adopt Van Cleave's textbook for a Critical Thinking class I am teaching at the Community College level. I believe that it will help me facilitate student-learning, and will be a good resource to build additional classroom activities from the materials it provides.

Reviewed by Jennie Harrop, Chair, Department of Professional Studies, George Fox University on 3/27/18

While the book is admirably comprehensive, its extensive details within a few short chapters may feel overwhelming to students. The author tackles an impressive breadth of concepts in Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4, which leads to 50-plus-page chapters that are dense with statistical analyses and critical vocabulary. These topics are likely better broached in manageable snippets rather than hefty single chapters.

The ideas addressed in Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking are accurate but at times notably political. While politics are effectively used to exemplify key concepts, some students may be distracted by distinct political leanings.

The terms and definitions included are relevant, but the examples are specific to the current political, cultural, and social climates, which could make the materials seem dated in a few years without intentional and consistent updates.

While the reasoning is accurate, the author tends to complicate rather than simplify -- perhaps in an effort to cover a spectrum of related concepts. Beginning readers are likely to be overwhelmed and under-encouraged by his approach.

Consistency rating: 3

The four chapters are somewhat consistent in their play of definition, explanation, and example, but the structure of each chapter varies according to the concepts covered. In the third chapter, for example, key ideas are divided into sub-topics numbering from 3.1 to 3.10. In the fourth chapter, the sub-divisions are further divided into sub-sections numbered 4.1.1-4.1.5, 4.2.1-4.2.2, and 4.3.1 to 4.3.6. Readers who are working quickly to master new concepts may find themselves mired in similarly numbered subheadings, longing for a grounded concepts on which to hinge other key principles.

Modularity rating: 3

The book's four chapters make it mostly self-referential. The author would do well to beak this text down into additional subsections, easing readers' accessibility.

The content of the book flows logically and well, but the information needs to be better sub-divided within each larger chapter, easing the student experience.

The book's interface is effective, allowing readers to move from one section to the next with a single click. Additional sub-sections would ease this interplay even further.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Some minor errors throughout.

For the most part, the book is culturally neutral, avoiding direct cultural references in an effort to remain relevant.

Reviewed by Yoichi Ishida, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Ohio University on 2/1/18

This textbook covers enough topics for a first-year course on logic and critical thinking. Chapter 1 covers the basics as in any standard textbook in this area. Chapter 2 covers propositional logic and categorical logic. In propositional logic, this textbook does not cover suppositional arguments, such as conditional proof and reductio ad absurdum. But other standard argument forms are covered. Chapter 3 covers inductive logic, and here this textbook introduces probability and its relationship with cognitive biases, which are rarely discussed in other textbooks. Chapter 4 introduces common informal fallacies. The answers to all the exercises are given at the end. However, the last set of exercises is in Chapter 3, Section 5. There are no exercises in the rest of the chapter. Chapter 4 has no exercises either. There is index, but no glossary.

The textbook is accurate.

The content of this textbook will not become obsolete soon.

The textbook is written clearly.

The textbook is internally consistent.

The textbook is fairly modular. For example, Chapter 3, together with a few sections from Chapter 1, can be used as a short introduction to inductive logic.

The textbook is well-organized.

There are no interface issues.

I did not find any grammatical errors.

This textbook is relevant to a first semester logic or critical thinking course.

Reviewed by Payal Doctor, Associate Professro, LaGuardia Community College on 2/1/18

This text is a beginner textbook for arguments and propositional logic. It covers the basics of identifying arguments, building arguments, and using basic logic to construct propositions and arguments. It is quite comprehensive for a beginner book, but seems to be a good text for a course that needs a foundation for arguments. There are exercises on creating truth tables and proofs, so it could work as a logic primer in short sessions or with the addition of other course content.

The books is accurate in the information it presents. It does not contain errors and is unbiased. It covers the essential vocabulary clearly and givens ample examples and exercises to ensure the student understands the concepts

The content of the book is up to date and can be easily updated. Some examples are very current for analyzing the argument structure in a speech, but for this sort of text understandable examples are important and the author uses good examples.

The book is clear and easy to read. In particular, this is a good text for community college students who often have difficulty with reading comprehension. The language is straightforward and concepts are well explained.

The book is consistent in terminology, formatting, and examples. It flows well from one topic to the next, but it is also possible to jump around the text without loosing the voice of the text.

The books is broken down into sub units that make it easy to assign short blocks of content at a time. Later in the text, it does refer to a few concepts that appear early in that text, but these are all basic concepts that must be used to create a clear and understandable text. No sections are too long and each section stays on topic and relates the topic to those that have come before when necessary.

The flow of the text is logical and clear. It begins with the basic building blocks of arguments, and practice identifying more and more complex arguments is offered. Each chapter builds up from the previous chapter in introducing propositional logic, truth tables, and logical arguments. A select number of fallacies are presented at the end of the text, but these are related to topics that were presented before, so it makes sense to have these last.

The text is free if interface issues. I used the PDF and it worked fine on various devices without loosing formatting.

1. The book contains no grammatical errors.

The text is culturally sensitive, but examples used are a bit odd and may be objectionable to some students. For instance, President Obama's speech on Syria is used to evaluate an extended argument. This is an excellent example and it is explained well, but some who disagree with Obama's policies may have trouble moving beyond their own politics. However, other examples look at issues from all political viewpoints and ask students to evaluate the argument, fallacy, etc. and work towards looking past their own beliefs. Overall this book does use a variety of examples that most students can understand and evaluate.

My favorite part of this book is that it seems to be written for community college students. My students have trouble understanding readings in the New York Times, so it is nice to see a logic and critical thinking text use real language that students can understand and follow without the constant need of a dictionary.

Reviewed by Rebecca Owen, Adjunct Professor, Writing, Chemeketa Community College on 6/20/17

This textbook is quite thorough--there are conversational explanations of argument structure and logic. I think students will be happy with the conversational style this author employs. Also, there are many examples and exercises using current events, funny scenarios, or other interesting ways to evaluate argument structure and validity. The third section, which deals with logical fallacies, is very clear and comprehensive. My only critique of the material included in the book is that the middle section may be a bit dense and math-oriented for learners who appreciate the more informal, informative style of the first and third section. Also, the book ends rather abruptly--it moves from a description of a logical fallacy to the answers for the exercises earlier in the text.

The content is very reader-friendly, and the author writes with authority and clarity throughout the text. There are a few surface-level typos (Starbuck's instead of Starbucks, etc.). None of these small errors detract from the quality of the content, though.

One thing I really liked about this text was the author's wide variety of examples. To demonstrate different facets of logic, he used examples from current media, movies, literature, and many other concepts that students would recognize from their daily lives. The exercises in this text also included these types of pop-culture references, and I think students will enjoy the familiarity--as well as being able to see the logical structures behind these types of references. I don't think the text will need to be updated to reflect new instances and occurrences; the author did a fine job at picking examples that are relatively timeless. As far as the subject matter itself, I don't think it will become obsolete any time soon.

The author writes in a very conversational, easy-to-read manner. The examples used are quite helpful. The third section on logical fallacies is quite easy to read, follow, and understand. A student in an argument writing class could benefit from this section of the book. The middle section is less clear, though. A student learning about the basics of logic might have a hard time digesting all of the information contained in chapter two. This material might be better in two separate chapters. I think the author loses the balance of a conversational, helpful tone and focuses too heavily on equations.

Consistency rating: 4

Terminology in this book is quite consistent--the key words are highlighted in bold. Chapters 1 and 3 follow a similar organizational pattern, but chapter 2 is where the material becomes more dense and equation-heavy. I also would have liked a closing passage--something to indicate to the reader that we've reached the end of the chapter as well as the book.

I liked the overall structure of this book. If I'm teaching an argumentative writing class, I could easily point the students to the chapters where they can identify and practice identifying fallacies, for instance. The opening chapter is clear in defining the necessary terms, and it gives the students an understanding of the toolbox available to them in assessing and evaluating arguments. Even though I found the middle section to be dense, smaller portions could be assigned.

The author does a fine job connecting each defined term to the next. He provides examples of how each defined term works in a sentence or in an argument, and then he provides practice activities for students to try. The answers for each question are listed in the final pages of the book. The middle section feels like the heaviest part of the whole book--it would take the longest time for a student to digest if assigned the whole chapter. Even though this middle section is a bit heavy, it does fit the overall structure and flow of the book. New material builds on previous chapters and sub-chapters. It ends abruptly--I didn't realize that it had ended, and all of a sudden I found myself in the answer section for those earlier exercises.

The simple layout is quite helpful! There is nothing distracting, image-wise, in this text. The table of contents is clearly arranged, and each topic is easy to find.

Tiny edits could be made (Starbuck's/Starbucks, for one). Otherwise, it is free of distracting grammatical errors.

This text is quite culturally relevant. For instance, there is one example that mentions the rumors of Barack Obama's birthplace as somewhere other than the United States. This example is used to explain how to analyze an argument for validity. The more "sensational" examples (like the Obama one above) are helpful in showing argument structure, and they can also help students see how rumors like this might gain traction--as well as help to show students how to debunk them with their newfound understanding of argument and logic.

The writing style is excellent for the subject matter, especially in the third section explaining logical fallacies. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this text!

Reviewed by Laurel Panser, Instructor, Riverland Community College on 6/20/17

This is a review of Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking, an open source book version 1.4 by Matthew Van Cleave. The comparison book used was Patrick J. Hurley’s A Concise Introduction to Logic 12th Edition published by Cengage as well as... read more

Competing with Hurley is difficult with respect to comprehensiveness. For example, Van Cleave’s book is comprehensive to the extent that it probably covers at least two-thirds or more of what is dealt with in most introductory, one-semester logic courses. Van Cleave’s chapter 1 provides an overview of argumentation including discerning non-arguments from arguments, premises versus conclusions, deductive from inductive arguments, validity, soundness and more. Much of Van Cleave’s chapter 1 parallel’s Hurley’s chapter 1. Hurley’s chapter 3 regarding informal fallacies is comprehensive while Van Cleave’s chapter 4 on this topic is less extensive. Categorical propositions are a topic in Van Cleave’s chapter 2; Hurley’s chapters 4 and 5 provide more instruction on this, however. Propositional logic is another topic in Van Cleave’s chapter 2; Hurley’s chapters 6 and 7 provide more information on this, though. Van Cleave did discuss messy issues of language meaning briefly in his chapter 1; that is the topic of Hurley’s chapter 2.

Van Cleave’s book includes exercises with answers and an index. A glossary was not included.

Reviews of open source textbooks typically include criteria besides comprehensiveness. These include comments on accuracy of the information, whether the book will become obsolete soon, jargon-free clarity to the extent that is possible, organization, navigation ease, freedom from grammar errors and cultural relevance; Van Cleave’s book is fine in all of these areas. Further criteria for open source books includes modularity and consistency of terminology. Modularity is defined as including blocks of learning material that are easy to assign to students. Hurley’s book has a greater degree of modularity than Van Cleave’s textbook. The prose Van Cleave used is consistent.

Van Cleave’s book will not become obsolete soon.

Van Cleave’s book has accessible prose.

Van Cleave used terminology consistently.

Van Cleave’s book has a reasonable degree of modularity.

Van Cleave’s book is organized. The structure and flow of his book is fine.

Problems with navigation are not present.

Grammar problems were not present.

Van Cleave’s book is culturally relevant.

Van Cleave’s book is appropriate for some first semester logic courses.

Chapter 1: Reconstructing and analyzing arguments

1.1 What is an argument?
1.2 Identifying arguments
1.3 Arguments vs. explanations
1.4 More complex argument structures
1.5 Using your own paraphrases of premises and conclusions to reconstruct arguments in standard form
1.6 Validity
1.7 Soundness
1.8 Deductive vs. inductive arguments
1.9 Arguments with missing premises
1.10 Assuring, guarding, and discounting
1.11 Evaluative language
1.12 Evaluating a real-life argument

Chapter 2: Formal methods of evaluating arguments

2.1 What is a formal method of evaluation and why do we need them?
2.2 Propositional logic and the four basic truth functional connectives
2.3 Negation and disjunction
2.4 Using parentheses to translate complex sentences
2.5 “Not both” and “neither nor”
2.6 The truth table test of validity
2.7 Conditionals
2.8 “Unless”
2.9 Material equivalence
2.10 Tautologies, contradictions, and contingent statements
2.11 Proofs and the 8 valid forms of inference
2.12 How to construct proofs
2.13 Short review of propositional logic
2.14 Categorical logic
2.15 The Venn test of validity for immediate categorical inferences
2.16 Universal statements and existential commitment
2.17 Venn validity for categorical syllogisms

Chapter 3: Evaluating inductive arguments and probabilistic and statistical fallacies

3.1 Inductive arguments and statistical generalizations
3.2 Inference to the best explanation and the seven explanatory virtues
3.3 Analogical arguments
3.4 Causal arguments
3.5 Probability
3.6 The conjunction fallacy
3.7 The base rate fallacy
3.8 The small numbers fallacy
3.9 Regression to the mean fallacy
3.10 Gambler's fallacy

Chapter 4: Informal fallacies

4.1 Formal vs. informal fallacies
4.1.1 Composition fallacy
4.1.2 Division fallacy
4.1.3 Begging the question fallacy
4.1.4 False dichotomy
4.1.5 Equivocation
4.2 Slippery slope fallacies
4.2.1 Conceptual slippery slope
4.2.2 Causal slippery slope
4.3 Fallacies of relevance
4.3.1 Ad hominem
4.3.2 Straw man
4.3.3 Tu quoque
4.3.4 Genetic
4.3.5 Appeal to consequences
4.3.6 Appeal to authority

Answers to exercises Glossary/Index

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This is an introductory textbook in logic and critical thinking. The goal of the textbook is to provide the reader with a set of tools and skills that will enable them to identify and evaluate arguments. The book is intended for an introductory course that covers both formal and informal logic. As such, it is not a formal logic textbook, but is closer to what one would find marketed as a “critical thinking textbook.”

About the Contributors

Matthew Van Cleave , PhD, Philosophy, University of Cincinnati, 2007. VAP at Concordia College (Moorhead), 2008-2012. Assistant Professor at Lansing Community College, 2012-2016. Professor at Lansing Community College, 2016-

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6 Chapter 4 Supporting Students’ Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is fundamental to learner achievement in all subject areas. There are a great number and variety of standards that students are expected to meet using critical thinking skills such as analyzing, evaluating, and assessing; this is because critical thinking is essential for students to lead productive lives. Almost 30 years ago, Facione (1990) argued that critical thinking is also necessary for societies to hang together, stating, “Being a free, responsible person means being able to make rational, unconstrained choices. A person who cannot think critically, cannot make rational choices. And, those without the ability to make rational choices should not be allowed to run free, for being irresponsible, they could easily be a danger to themselves and to the rest of us” (p. 13). That sentiment is even more applicable in the age of the Internet and world unrest as humans prepare for an unknown future.

OVERVIEW OF CRITICAL THINKING AND TECHNOLOGY IN K–12 CLASSROOMS

In order to implement technology use with a learning focus, teachers need to understand critical thinking before attempting to support it with technology.

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking skills refer to abilities to be open-minded, mindful, and analytical, and to evaluate, question, reason, hypothesize, interpret, explain, and draw conclusions (Ennis, 2012). A simple way to define critical thinking is the ability to make good decisions and to clearly explain the foundation for those decisions. When using technology, being able to think critically allows one to:

Judge the credibility of sources.

Identify conclusions, reasons, and assumptions.

Judge the quality of an argument, including the acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence.

Develop and defend a position on an issue.

Ask appropriate clarifying questions.

Plan experiments and judge experimental designs.

Define terms in a way appropriate for the context.

Be open-minded.

Try to be well-informed.

Draw conclusions when warranted, but with caution. (Ennis, 1993, p. 180)

To some extent all humans, even very young children, continually think critically to analyze their world and to make sense of it. However, most people’s skills are not as well developed as they could or should be, and there is a clear link between critical thinking and student success. Scholars agree, however, that schools are not the most productive learning environments for critical thinking, and that schools need to take a stronger focus on critical thinking.

Critical thinking is part of a group of cognitive abilities and personal characteristics called higher order thinking skills (HOTS). These skills also include creative thinking (chapter 5) and problem solving (chapter 6). This list of cognitive skills is based on Bloom’s well-known Taxonomy of Educational Goals (Bloom, 1956). Bloom’s first three competencies—knowledge, comprehension, and application—are generally equated with the acquisition of declarative knowledge (discussed in chapter 2). The second three competencies—analysis, synthesis, and evaluation—are generally considered critical thinking or higher order skills. Figure 4.1 presents an example of critical thinking skills from Bloom’s taxonomy and the types of technology-enhanced tasks that might support them. Forty-five years after Bloom’s Taxonomy was published, Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) revised it to add a “metacognitive knowledge” category and to make it easier for teachers to design instruction that requires critical thinking. Excellent resources for using the revised taxonomy are available from teachthought at http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/50-resources-for-teaching-with-blooms-taxonomy/ and many other sources on the Web, including Pinterest (e.g., the poster at

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287597126178595755/).

Critical thinking has been central to education since the time of Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.). The focus of the Socratic method is to question students so that they come to justify their arguments; this teaching strategy is still used in many classrooms to foster critical thinking. Edutopia ( https://www.edutopia.org/ ) provides many resources for Socratic/ critical thinking. Critical thinking software can also provide tasks that require critical thinking and prompts to help students understand how to come to effective decisions. Regardless of the tool that students use to support their critical thinking, it is important to note the crucial role of critical thinking skills both in school and out. In fact, since Socrates, philosophers throughout history such as Plato, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, William Graham Sumner, and John Dewey have emphasized the need for students to think critically about their world.

More specifically, scholars note that critical thinking is one foundation for learning, in part because all of the learning skills are interdependent and, as Paul (2004a) points out, “everything essential to education supports everything else essential to education” (p. 3). For example, as students consider how to decide whether they can believe everything they read on the Internet, they use a variety of skills to

Understand basic content.

Communicate among themselves and with others.

Think creatively about resources.

Assess the veracity of the information they come in contact with.

Produce a well-supported conclusion.

In other words, they must think critically throughout the process as they develop other learning skills.

It is also clear that critical thinking is used in all areas of life as we learn and experience. Making a good decision about whether to buy a laptop or an iPod, and then which model, requires research, assessment, evaluation, and careful planning, just as deciding what to eat for dinner or how to spend free time does.

Although there may be discipline-specific skills, general critical thinking skills may apply across disciplines and content areas (Ennis, 2011a; McPeck, 1992). For example, Stupple, et al (2017) note that critical thinking skills test scores correlate positively with college GPA. Although this is not a causal relationship (in other words, the research does not show that effective critical thinking causes a high GPA), there appears to be something about students who can think critically that helps them succeed in college. In addition, the processes that students use to think critically appear to transfer or assist not only in the reading process but in general decision- making. However, experts disagree to what extent this happens. Some researchers believe that much critical thinking is subject- or genre-specific. Nonetheless, all agree that it is crucial to help students hone their critical thinking abilities, and many believe that technology can help by providing support in ways outlined throughout this chapter.

In addition to the lessons presented in this chapter based on these ideas, other chapters of this book present ideas and activities that involve critical thinking either implicitly or explicitly. As you read through the text, see if you can find those examples.

Critical Thinking and Media Literacy

Critical thinking, as defined in the previous section, is especially important because media, particularly television and computers, is increasingly prevalent in the lives of K–12 students. Students have always needed to have general information literacy, or “knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use, and communicate it in an ethical manner” (CILIP, 2007). However, students who are faced with a bombardment of images, sounds, and text need to go beyond information literacy to interpret and assess (in other words, think critically about) information in new ways. In other words, they must be media literate.

In general, media literacy means that students are able not only to comprehend what they read, hear, and see but also to evaluate and make good decisions about what media presents. There are many variations on how to support students in becoming media literate. For example, the Center for Media Literacy, the world’s largest distributor of media education materials, recommends activities such as tracing racial images in the media throughout history, exploring how maps are constructed (and asking questions like “Why does ‘north’ mean ‘up’?”), and challenging gender stereotypes in TV comedies. These activities are crucial because learners of all ages watch TV, and even kindergartners use the computer and may have access to the Internet. Much of what learners read, see, and hear they believe verbatim and share as truth with others, particularly if someone they see as an authority posts it. This occurs whether the message is intended as fact or not. To become more media literate, teachers and students need to learn and practice critical thinking skills that are directed at the ideologies, purveyors, and purposes behind their data sources. Most important, students must use the Internet responsibly and with the necessary skepticism; in particular, this includes investigative skills and the ability to judge the validity of information from Web sites.

There are many resources to help teachers and students to become media literate. One of the best is the Center for Media Literacy’s (CML) free K-12 resources (available from http://www.medialit.org/). The site presents a clear, theory-based definition and outstanding lessons based on the five core concepts of media literacy. The lessons and handouts focus on students learning to ask these five “key questions”:

Who created this message?

What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

How might different people understand the message differently from me?

What values, lifestyles, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?

Why is this message being sent?

Another focus of the CML is the “Essential Questions for Teachers” that teachers should ask themselves:

Am I trying to tell the students what the message is? Or am I giving them the skills to determine what THEY think the message(s) might be?

Have I let students know that I am open to accepting their interpretation, as long as it is well substantiated, or have I conveyed the message that my interpretation is the only correct view?

At the end of the lesson, are students likely to be more analytical? Or more cynical?

During media literacy lessons, students use technology to construct their own critically evaluated multimedia messages. This site is an excellent resource both for teachers just beginning to explore media literacy and for those looking for additional pedagogically sound ideas and activities.

Another outstanding source of lessons, articles, and activities for K–12 is the Critical Evaluation section of Kathy Schrock’s Web site at http://www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html), as is the useful medialiteracy.com Web site (see Figure 4.2).

Characteristics of Effective Critical Thinking Tasks

There are many ways to help students become media-literate critical thinkers. In general, effective critical thinking tasks:

Take place in an environment that supports objection, questioning, and reasoning.

Address issues that are ill-structured and may not have a simple answer.

Do not involve rote learning.

Provide alternatives in product and solution.

Allow students to make decisions and see consequences.

Are supported by tools and resources from many perspectives.

Help students examine their reasoning processes.

Teachers who want to promote critical thinking can employ the terms in Figure 4.3 in their student objectives and assignments. For example, if the objective is for students to analyze their use of technology, the teacher can ask students to contrast, categorize, and/or compare. If the objective is for students to evaluate technology use in schools, the teacher might ask students to defend, justify, or predict. For more information and tools for secondary school, see the resources provided by the Critical Thinking Community at http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/high-school-teachers/807 .

Student benefits of critical thinking

It should be clear from the previous discussion that good critical thinking skills affect students in many ways. Additional benefits that accrue to good critical thinkers include:

Better grades and/or performance on high stakes tests (Watanabe, 2015)

Independence

Good decision making

The ability to effect social change

Becoming better readers, writers, speakers, and listeners

The ability to address bias and prejudice

Willingness to stick with a task

Because critical thinking skills can be learned, all students, including those with different language and physical abilities and capabilities, have the potential to reap these benefits.

THE CRITICAL THINKING PROCESS

Although all students can benefit from critical thinking, no two people use the exact same skills or processes to think critically. However, teachers can present students with a general set of steps synthesized from the research literature that can serve as a basis for critical thinking. These steps are:

Review your content understanding/clarify the problem. Compile everything you know about the topic that you are working on. Try to include even small details. Figure out what other content knowledge you need to know to help examine all sides of the question and how to get that information.

Analyze the material. Organize the material into categories or groupings by finding relationships among the pieces. Decide which aspects are the most important. Weigh all sides.

Synthesize your answers about the material. Decide why it is significant, how it can be applied, what the implications are, which ideas do not seem to fit well into the explanation that you decided on.

Evaluate your decision-making process.

Students can use this process as a foundation for discovering what works best for them to come to rational decisions. As outlined in the following section, teachers play a central role in sup- porting students in this process.

Teachers and Critical Thinking

To support the critical thinking process with technology, teachers must first understand their roles and the challenges of working with learners who are developing their critical thinking skills. These issues are discussed here.

The teacher’s role in critical thinking opportunities

Experts see the teacher’s role in critical thinking as being a model, helping students to see the need for and excitement of being able to think critically. In modeling critical thinking, teachers should:

Overtly and explicitly explain what they do and why.

Encourage students to think for themselves.

Be willing to admit and correct their own mistakes.

Be sensitive to students’ feelings, abilities, and goals and to what motivates them.

Allow students to participate in democratic processes in the classroom.

By modeling self-questioning and other strategies, teachers can help students to understand what critical thinkers do.

Teachers can also decide to teach critical thinking skills directly and/or through content— both are appropriate in specific contexts. Techniques that teachers can use to support critical thinking are presented in Figure 4.4. Additional ideas are listed in the Guidelines section of this chapter.

As Weiler (2004) notes, often students who are in a dualistic stage of intellectual development, in which they see everything as either right or wrong, will need a gradual introduction to the idea that not everything is so clear-cut. Rather than direct teaching of critical thinking, students can be led to understand this idea by encountering inexplicable or not easily answerable examples over time. For example, teachers addressing the urban myth of alligators in the sewers of New York might ask students to suggest what the sewers of New York might be like, and then to compare that to what they know about alligators’ natural habitats. This might lead to a thoughtful consideration of whether alligators could survive in New York sewers. The teacher’s role in this case is to ask questions to support student movement toward more complex reasoning.

Challenges for teachers

As the process above implies, learning to think critically takes time, and it requires many examples and practice across a variety of contexts. The school library media specialist is an excellent source for resources and ideas for teaching all aspects of critical thinking.

However, teaching students to think critically is not always an easy task, and it may be made more difficult by having students from cultures that do not value or promote displays of critical thinking in children in the same way as schools in the United States do or believe that it is the role of the school to do so. As many scholars point out, critical thinking in itself is probably not culturally biased, but the instruction of critical thinking can be. Teachers need to understand their students’ approaches to reasoning and objection and to teach critical thinking supported by technology in culturally responsive ways (as mentioned in chapter 2) by:

Understanding and exploring what critical thinking means in other cultures

Avoiding overgeneralizing and recognizing salient cultural features of critical thinking during the process, particularly in the tools used

Taking into consideration the strengths and differences of students

GUIDELINES FOR SUPPORTING STUDENT CRITICAL THINKING WITH TECHNOLOGY

As with all the goals outlined in this text, there are many things for teachers to think about when deciding how to support critical thinking. Many of the guidelines in other chapters also apply. The guidelines here are not specific only to critical thinking.

Designing Critical Thinking Opportunities

Guideline #1: Ask the right questions. Research in classrooms shows that teachers ask mostly display questions to discover whether students can repeat the information from the lesson and can explain it in their own words. However, to promote critical thinking and reasoning, students need to think about and answer “essential” questions that help them to meet universal standards for critical thinking. These standards are directly related to analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (and sometimes to application), discussed above as characteristics of effective critical thinking tasks. For example, questions about clarity (Can you give me an example of …? What do you mean by… ?) ask students to apply their learning to their experience, and vice versa. Questions that focus on precision or specificity (Exactly how much… ? On what day and at what time did … ?) ask students to analyze the data more deeply. A question about breadth (How might___ answer this question? What do you think___would say about this issue?) might also challenge students to synthesize.

Whichever set of standards or objectives teachers decide to use, it is important that the teacher support the critical thinking process by providing scaffolds, or structures and reinforcements that help guide learners toward independent critical thinking. Critical thinking does not mean negative thinking, it means voluntary, justified, educated skepticism. Question formats and strategies for creating effective questions are provided by Kentucky Prism at http://www.kyprism.org, and see Cotton (2001) for still-relevant research on questioning and strategies to make it work in classrooms. On the Web, find lists of questions that can lead to critical thinking by conducting a search on the term “critical thinking questions.”

Guideline #2: Use tasks with appropriate levels of challenge. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (1997) and other researchers have found that the relationship between skills that students possess and the challenge that a task presents is important to learning. For example, they discovered that students of high ability were often bored with their lessons and that the balance of challenge and skills could be used to predict students’ attitudes toward their lessons. Their findings indicate that activities should be neither too challenging nor too easy for the student. Teachers can use observation, interview, and other assessments to determine the level of readiness for each student on specific tasks and with different content. Teachers can then use student readiness to change the challenge that students face in a task by:

Changing the way students are grouped

Introducing new technologies

Changing the types of thinking tasks

Varying the questions they ask

Altering expectations of goals that can be met

Differentiation, a strategy for designing instruction that meets diverse students’ needs (dis- cussed in chapter 2), can help teachers to provide tasks with appropriate levels of challenge for students.

Guideline #3: Teach strategies. Supporting critical thinking by modeling and asking questions is useful but not enough for all students. Good critical thinkers use metacognitive skills–in other words, they think about the process of their decision-making. The actual teaching of metacognitive strategies can have an impact on when and if students use them. To help students think about their thinking, teachers can prompt the students to ask themselves:

Did I have enough resources?

Were the resources sufficiently varied and from authorities I can trust?

Did I consider issues fairly?

Do all the data support my decision?

For English language learners (ELLs), this might mean teaching how to formulate and ask questions for clarity and specific information and to use relevant vocabulary words. One way this could hap- pen is to have ELLs create interview questions and interact with an external audience via email. Through the interaction and feedback from their email partners, the students could learn whether their questions were clear and specific and the vocabulary appropriate.

Guideline #4: Encourage curiosity. Why is the grass green? Why do I have to do geometry? Why are we at war? What are clouds made of? How do people choose what they will be when they grow up? Children ask these questions all the time, and these questions can lead to thinking critically about the world. However, in classroom settings they are often ignored, whether due to curricular, time, or other constraints. The Internet as a problem-solving and research tool (chapter 6) can contribute to teachers and learners finding answers together and evaluating those answers. However, if teachers stop learners from being curious, avoid their questions, or answer them unsatisfactorily, teachers can shut down the first step toward critical thinking.

A summary of these guidelines is presented in Figure 4.5.

CRITICAL THINKING TECHNOLOGIES

What Are Critical Thinking Tools?

Critical thinking tools are those that support the critical thinking process. Critical thinking instruction does not require the use of electronic tools. However, many of the tools mentioned throughout this book can be used to support critical thinking, depending on the specific activity. For example, word processing can help students lay out their thoughts before a debate, and concept mapping Web sites and software such as Inspiration (www.inspiration.com) can help students to brainstorm and plan their ideas. Likewise, the Internet can supply information, and databases and spreadsheets can help students organize data for more critical review.

This chapter presents tools that are specifically focused on building critical thinking skills. The following examples are categorized into:

Strategy software—content-free and structured to support critical thinking skills with student-generated content.

Content software—content is predetermined and strategy use is emphasized. Students typically read the software content and work out answers to questions.

Many other tools in these categories exist; those described here are some of the most popular, inexpensive, and useful.

Strategy Software

CMap v.3.8 (IHMC, 2005)

This software is easy to learn and use for third grade and up. The user double-clicks on the screen and inputs text into the shape that appears. Users can change the colors of the graphics and text to show different categories of reasoning such as objections, reasons, and claims. A very useful feature allows users to put text on the connecting lines to show the reasoning behind the connections they made. Figure 4.6 is an example map of the argument for and against alligators in the New York City sewer system. Download this software free from http://cmap.ihmc.us/.

First Step KidSkills (Kid Tools Support System, 2003)

KidSkills is a free software package intended for students ages 7–13. Of the four sections, titled Getting Organized, Learning New Stuff, Doing Homework, and Doing Projects, the last has the greatest focus on critical thinking. This section has five activities: Project Planner, Getting

Information, Big Picture Card, Working Together, and Project Evaluation. Each of the activities focuses on students combining information and printing or saving it in the form of a “card” or page. In the Project Planner exercise, students make a card that lists their question, topics for them to investigate, possible re- sources, and an evaluation of the resources (authority, fact, opinion, or don’t know). There is also a Second Step available, and resources and tips for use are provided on the Kid Tools Web site. Although intended for use with learners with learning disabilities or emotional/ behavioral problems, it is useful for all children and simple enough for students with limited English proficiency to understand and use, particularly because all instructions are presented in text and audio. Some teachers may find it too simple, but its simplicity is also part of its effectiveness.

Additional apps and tools are presented in the Teacher Toolbox for this text.

Content Software

BrainCogs (Fablevision, 2002)

A CD-based strategy program, BrainCogs helps students to learn, reflect on, and use specific strategies across a variety of contexts. The software employs an imaginary rock band, the Rotten Green Peppers, to demonstrate the importance of and techniques for remembering, organizing in- formation, prioritizing, shifting perspectives, and checking for mistakes. Although the focus is more on strategies to help students pass tests, the general strategy knowledge gained can transfer across subjects and tasks because it is not embedded in any specific content area. The software is accompanied by a video, posters, and other resources that function as scaffolds for diverse learners. The exercises, in addition to being entertaining and fun, employ multimedia (sound, text, and graphics) in ways that make the content accessible to English language learners and native English speakers with diverse learning styles. Available through http://www.fablevision.com/.

Mission Critical (San Jose State University)

This Web tool provides information and quizzes on critical thinking. Although intended for college students, the quizzes are simple and well explained and could be used at a number of different grade levels with support from the teacher. The site addresses arguments, persuasion, fallacies, and many other aspects of logic and critical thinking. The site begins at http://missioncritical.royalwebhosting.net/ .

Choices, Choices: Taking Responsibility (Tom Snyder Productions/Scholastic)

Taking Responsibility helps students in grades K–4 work through a five-step critical thinking process:

Understand your situation.

Talk about your options.

Make a choice.

Think about the consequences.

Used on a single computer and facilitated by the teacher, the simulation in this software title provides a scenario in which two students have broken one of the teacher’s possessions; how- ever, no one else saw them. The class acts as the two students in the scenario. Through a series of decisions, the class must decide which actions to take and face the consequences of their decisions. There are 300 different ways that students can get through this software, so the consequences are not always clear- cut until they are presented to students. Figure 4.8 presents the Taking Responsibility goal-setting screen.

The software comes with many resources to help students think critically about the situations and their decisions and to assist the teacher in integrating literature, role-play, and other activities into the lesson. Each step of the simulation is presented in pictures, audio, and text, which helps ELLs and other students to access the information. The Choices, Choices series includes a number of other titles. Tom Snyder Productions/Scholastic also provides a similar Decisions, Decisions series for older students.

Teachers who want to use this type of software should be aware that the choices that students are allowed to make within the software are preset and represent the views of the software author. Teachers and students must understand the limitations and biases of this software to use it in ways that demonstrate true critical thinking.

Other Options

There are a variety of other tool options for teachers and students to support critical thinking. Brainstorming and decision-tree software, strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats (SWOT) analysis packages, and Web-based content and question tools are available. For more information on teaching critical thinking and how technology might help, see Schwartz (2016) and the TedEd talk “Rethinking Thinking” by Trevor Maber on ed.ted.com.

One recent trend in critical thinking is the development of school- and classroom-based makerspaces. A makerspace is a physical space that contains any array of tools and resources where students can dream, imagine, solve problems, invent, and a lot more. Makerspaces support discovery, creativity, and many of the other goals outlined in this book. For more information, see “7 Things You Should Know about Makerspaces” at https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7095.pdf and learn more about the maker movement at http://www.makerspaceforeducation.com/.

Additional apps and Web sites can be found in the Teacher Toolbox for this text. Whichever tools teachers decide to use, they need to remember that the tool should not create a barrier to students reaching the goal of effective critical thinking.

TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES: CRITICAL THINKING

As noted previously, instruction in critical thinking can be direct through the use of explicit instruction or indirect through modeling, describing, and explaining. The goal is to help learners understand clearly why they need to think critically and to give them feedback on how they do and how they can improve. Unfortunately, few software packages and Web sites, let alone textbooks, require critical thinking skills of students. Software that does support critical thinking often requires supplementing to help students understand and use them. Teachers can supplement these resources and facilitate critical thinking during activities by developing external documents. An external document is a kind of worksheet that can involve students in, for example, taking notes, outlining, highlighting, picking out critical information, summarizing, or practicing any of the skills that support critical thinking. An external document can also enhance students’ access to critical thinking software or Web sites by providing language or content help. All kinds of external documents exist across the Internet in lesson plan databases, teacher’s guides, and other educational sites to be shared and added to.

The goal for an external document is to overcome the weaknesses of the software. An external document should:

Be based on current knowledge in the content area.

Enhance interpersonal interaction.

Provide higher order thinking tasks.

Provide different ways for students to understand and respond.

Enhance the learning that the software facilitates.

Be an integral part of the activity.

Make the information more authentic to students.

Expose students to information in a different form.

Give students more control.

Teachers can use the terms from Figure 4.3 to help plan and create external documents. Like any other tool, external documents need to be clearly explained and modeled before students use them. To make documents more accessible to students with learning challenges and/or diverse learning styles, teachers can:

Print instructions in a color different from the rest of the text.

Provide oral instructions along with the written document.

Provide visual aids when possible.

Provide slightly different documents for students at different reading or content levels.

Use large, clear print.

In this section, technology-enhanced lessons in critical thinking are supplemented by external documents to demonstrate how teachers can make do with the tools they have and also make the tools more effective. Each example provides an overview of the lesson procedure and the tools used and a sample external document that supports student critical thinking during the lesson. Specific grade levels are not mentioned, because the focus is on the principles behind the activities, and the tasks can be easily adapted for a variety of students. As you read, think about how each external document supports critical thinking and what additional documents might encourage student critical thinking in other ways.

Science Example: Shooting for the Moon

The class reads Space Day—Inventors Wanted at the about.com site ( http://childparenting.about.com/ ). The site gives students guidelines for designing and creating an item for astronauts to take into space.

The class uses a planning tool to decide how to address this task and to make a timeline for completion.

Students make teams and brainstorm their ideas in a word processing or graphics program. They list their re- sources and reasons for using each re- source in the external document, a resource handout (Figure 4.9).

After they make a preliminary decision about their invention, they use the Space Day Invention external document handout (Figure 4.10) to analyze their choices.

Students complete a model of their invention, then use the Invention Justification external document (Figure 4.11) to plan the written explanation that will accompany their model.

The simple external documents in this case give students a foundation for thinking, a permanent record of their thinking, and assistance for thinking, speaking, and writing about their invention. The range of documents that can be created to facilitate this activity is large; the documents can also be adapted for different students. For example, documents intended for ELLs can include graphics and vocabulary explanations, and those for students with reading barriers can be set up online and read by an electronic text reader. When students finish their project, they can be asked to review their documents to reflect on their thinking processes.

Social Studies Example: Election Year Politics Debate

The class reads a variety of Internet sources, popular press, and opinion pieces to gather information to complete the Election Year Issues chart external document in Figure 4.12.

Students choose the issue they decide is most important according to the criteria given and use the Debate Planning document in Figure 4.13 to organize their position.

During the debate, students keep track of and summarize the arguments on a computer screen using a spreadsheet or other relevant software.

After the debate, students try to come to a consensus using all their documentation for support. The Issues chart helps students to focus on crucial aspects of the topic that they are thinking about. This type of grid can be used for almost any topic area. The debate planning handout is also a multiuse external document that can be employed in debate planning or discussion throughout the year in almost any subject area.

English Example: Critical Reading

After appropriate introduction by the teacher, students in groups of three read one of the three stories about the death of Malcolm X from Dan Kurland’s Web site (http://criticalreading.com/malcolm.htm).

Student groups complete the Reading Analysis external document (Figure 4.14), which they would have used previously for other readings.

Student groups reconfigure, with one student from each of the initial three reading groups in a new group (known as jigsaw learning). In their new groups students compare the reports and understandings from their first group and summarize their analysis of all the readings.

Students go online to discover other discussions and reports on the death of Malcolm X and to make conclusions about the events and the sources that reported them.

Instr u ctions: Read the selection carefully. With your g roup, write answers to the questions. Use examples from the readin g and other evidence to support your answers.

To relate facts
To persuade with appeal to reason or emotions
To entertain (to affect people’s emotions)
Explain why you think this is the purpose. Use examples from the selection to support your idea.
Why did the author write this selection?
Where and by whom was it published?
List all the main ideas in this selection.
List any words that you do not know, and add a definition in your own words.
Write a short summary of the selection. Limit your summary to five sentences.
Decide if the information in this selection is well written. What makes you think so?
What are the selection ’ s stren g ths and weaknesses?
What is your g roup ’ s opinion about this selection? Does it seem fair, lo g ical, true, effective, somethin g else? Explain clearly why you think so and g ive evidence to support your ideas.

FIGURE 4.14 Reading Analysis WWorksheet

Reading is not only covered in English or language arts areas. Teachers in all subject areas need to help students evaluate sources and become more media literate, and external documents that help them to do so can be used across the curriculum.

Math Example: Write to Dr. Math

Throughout the semester, students choose a math problem that is giving them trouble. They complete the Dr. Math Questions worksheet (Figure 4.15) about that problem. The teacher helps students post their questions to the Write to Dr. Math Web site (http://mathforum.org/dr.math/).

Students use the answer from the experts to analyze their approach to the problem and to answer a similar problem.

Presenting a problem and their thought processes to an external audience helps students clarify, detail, and explain—supporting the development of critical thinking.

Art Example: Pictures in the Media

Students look at the use of art in advertisements on the Web. Students choose an advertisement about a familiar product.

Examining the art that accompanies the ad, students complete the Advertising Art document (Figure 4.16).

Students choose or create new art for the advertisement based on their answers.

External documents help make the technology resources more useful, more focused, and more thought-provoking. The combination of technology tools and external documents can lead to many opportunities for critical thinking

Instr u ctions: Look at the art in your advertisement. Carefully consider your answers to these questions.

Answer as completely as possible.

1. Describe the art objectively, including color selection, line direction, use of shadow and light, and other features. In other words, try not to use any opinion in your description.

2. In words, what do you think this picture is saying? Why do you think so? Give evidence and

examples as support.

3. Is it an accurate representation of the product? How is it related to the product? Explain your

answers clearly.

4. How do you think someone else would respond to the art in this ad? Think of several different

people you know and project what effect the art might have on them.

5. What is the purpose of this art? What do the publishers of this ad hope to accomplish? Why do

you think so?

6. What are the consequences of not knowing the influences that art can have on people?

FIGURE 4.16 Advertising Art

ASSESSING CRITICAL THINKING WITH AND THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Evaluating student work on external documents like those described in the previous section is one way to evaluate student progress in critical thinking. Student use of strategy and other critical thinking software tools can also aid in assessment. Many of the assessment means and tools mentioned throughout this text can assist teachers in evaluating the process and outcomes of student critical thinking. Ennis (2011b) provides several purposes for assessing critical thinking:

Diagnosing students’ level of critical thinking

Giving students feedback about their skills

Motivating students to improve their skills

Informing teachers about the success of their instruction.

Although critical thinking tests do exist, Ennis recommends that teachers make their own tests because the teacher-made tests will be a better fit for students and can be more open-ended (and thereby more comprehensive). He makes a logical argument that the use of multiple-choice tests that ask students for a brief written defense of their answers might be effective and efficient.

Which is more believable? Circle one:

The sewer worker investigates the alligators and says, “I’ve never seen one, so they don’t exist.”
The mayor says, “Of course there are no alligators. I would know if there were.”
A and B are equally believable.

EXPLAIN YOUR REASON:

In addition, both content and thinking skills can be tested simultaneously. For example, the question below requires students not only to answer the question but to explain their logic.

This format gives students who have credible interpretations for their answers credit for answering based on evidence. It can also eliminate some of the cultural and language differences that might otherwise interfere with a good assessment. For example, although the student might mark the multiple-choice part of the question incorrectly due to language misunderstandings or a slip of the hand, the teacher will be able to tell from the written explanation whether the student understands the question and is able to use thinking skills to think through and defend the answer. Students can complete this kind of test on the computer, avoiding problems with handwriting legibility.

Technology can aid teachers in developing tests of this sort. Test-making software abounds both from commercial publishers and nonprofit Web sites; however, few of the multiple-choice test creators also allow for short answers. An effective choice is to use a word processor to develop the test. The test can then be easily revised for future administrations. Teachers who have technical support and/or are proficient in Web page creation can also use an html editor to create a Web-based test.

Measuring critical thinking skills is not easy, but observation over time, a criterion-referenced task, and/or talk-alouds by students during activities are some ways to do so. Self-assessments can also encourage student reflection on how well they have done. Teachers can use a personal digital assistant (PDA) such as a cell phone or iPad to quickly note and store observations and, if necessary, later transfer the notes into a desktop computer for editing and sharing. Most important is to assess many situations using different methods to get the best idea of which critical-thinking skills students understand and to what degree they use them.

FROM THE CLASSROOM

Thinking Skills

There are many activities young children need to be involved in before learning the ins and outs of working a computer. A good book on this topic is Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds and What We Can Do About It, by Jane M. Healy. All that said, computers can be extremely motivating and engaging. They can enhance our students’ use of collaborative skills and problem-solving skills. These things are very powerful in helping people learn. So while the activities you are thinking of using don’t directly match up to whatever test your students need to take, there are many computer activities that will involve many higher level thinking skills that will help our students learn, not only for THE TEST, but for life in general. (Susan, fifth-grade teacher)

Media Literacy

Learning to recognize bias in any form of media is important, especially on the Internet where anyone can publish. When are students developmentally ready to recognize bias? This is a tough question and will vary for individual students. I think that [the] use of preselected Web sites for fifth and sixth graders is a logical step. This is a good age to point out why you, as the teacher, have selected certain sites for their validity and reliability. This can be contrasted with sites that don’t meet the criteria. (Sally, fifth- and sixth-grade teacher)

Critical Thinking and Word Processing

[An article I read said that] one computer tool [that encourages students to think critically] is the word processor, because as students type, typographical, grammar or misspelled words are highlighted. Students should try to correct it themselves before looking at the suggestions by the computer. . . . this helps students become aware of their mistakes and make a conscious effort to avoid them in the future . . . I think that a conscious effort to avoid mistakes is probably going to take more than just seeing it highlighted as wrong on the computer. I think that some direct instruction or work related to those mistakes might be necessary to really help students critically think about what they did and why it wasn’t right . . . because in my experience, the computer’s tips aren’t always all that helpful. Sometimes I even wonder if spell check helps me to be a critical thinker or a carefree writer who is reliant on the computer to make corrections for me. I’m certainly not dedicated enough to try and correct my mistakes before doing a spelling and grammar check. Can we expect our students to do this? (Jennie, first-grade teacher)

Critical Thinking and the Internet

I appreciate the fact that using the Internet can promote critical thinking because the

students move from being passive learners to participants and collaborators in the creation of knowledge and meaning (Berge & Collins, 1995). The technology is empowering for students. . . They seem to feel more control over what they are able to learn and this seems to be motivating!

I wish I could figure out how to transfer that feeling to activities that are not suited for technology! (April, sixth-grade teacher)

CHAPTER REVIEW

Define critical thinking.

There are many different lists of the specific components of critical thinking, but in general experts agree that critical thinking is the process of providing clear, effective support for decisions.

Understand the role of critical thinking in meeting other learning goals such as creativity and production.

Teachers cannot teach their students all the content that they will use in their lives. They can, however, help them to become aware of and develop tools to deal with the decisions they will have to make in school and after. Learning to think critically will help students to become better communicators, problem solvers, producers, and creators and to use information wisely.

Discuss guidelines for using technology to encourage student critical thinking. Techniques such as asking the right questions, using tasks with appropriate challenges, teaching thinking strategies, and encouraging curiosity facilitate more than critical thinking; they are good pedagogy across subjects and activities. Teachers do not need to search for tools to support critical thinking. There are plenty of free tools on the Web, and critical thinking can be supported by common tools such as word processors.

Analyze technologies that can be used to support critical thinking.

People do not often think of a word processor or spreadsheet as a critical-thinking tool, but when their use is focused on aspects of thinking, they can certainly support the process. Many electronic tools can be used to support critical thinking, but teachers must ensure that the tools do not create a barrier to students reaching the goal of effective critical thinking.

Create effective technology-enhanced tasks to support critical thinking.

Any task can have a critical thinking component if it is built into the task. Understanding how to promote critical thinking and doing so with external documents can turn ordinary technology-enhanced tasks into extraordinary student successes.

Employ technology to assess student critical thinking.

Multiple-choice tests in which students are asked to explain their reasons for their answers seem to be a logical and effective way to test not only content but thinking processes. How- ever, this is only one way to assess critical thinking. Teachers need to employ observation, student self-reflection, and other assessments over time to gain a clear understanding of what students can do and how they can improve. Technology can help teachers prepare for and perform assessments

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The New Critical Thinking

An empirically informed introduction, exercise solutions.

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1.4: Chapter Exercises

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Jason Southworth & Chris Swoyer
Fort Hays State & University University of Oklahoma

Chapter Exercises

Suppose that you had been adopted at birth by a family very different from your own, and that you had been raised in a very different subculture, or even in a very different country.
Do you think that your political views would have been different? If not, why not? If so, how? Give two concrete examples of beliefs you find important in your own life that you might not have had.
Do you think that your views about right and wrong would have been different? If not, why not? If so, how? Give two concrete examples of beliefs you find important in your own life that you might not have had.
Do you think that your religious beliefs would have been different? If not, why not? If so, how? Give two concrete examples of beliefs you find important in your own life that you might not have had.
Give an example of a view you once thought was obviously true, but which you now think might be false. What led you to change your mind?
Give an example of a view you once thought was obviously false, but which you now think might be true. What led you to change your mind?
Give an example of a view you once thought had a definite right answer, but about which you now think you must reserve judgment. What led you to change your mind?

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Concise Guide to Critical Thinking CH 4: Deductive Argument ...
Therefore, psychic predictions are completely reliable. 1. Valid; modus tollens. 6. Valid; modus tollens. 9. Valid; modus ponens. Exercise 4.2. For each of the following premises, fill out the rest of the argument to make it valid in two different ways—modus ponens and modus tollens.
PDF EXERCISES, QUESTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES My Answers
Critical Thinking, Chapter 4 - Arguments with Independent Reasons Dona Warren 1 EXERCISES, QUESTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES My Answers Exercises Argument Forms I For each of the following arguments, determine the form of the inference and decide whether or not the inference is valid. 1) 1. Jim isn't guilty. 2.
Critical thinking chapter 4 Flashcards
1. Some reporters not trained experts on the issue. 2. Reporters are ibformed by sources& some sources are anonymous. 3. Some repeat ehat their sources say with out thinking critically about: passive report. -report bias. Corporate bias. Cultural bias.
Chapter 4: Critical Thinking Flashcards
Critical Thinking Questions. CTQ's are used to to exercise critical thinking by asking and answering questions using who, what, where, when, why, which, and how. During the commitment stage of cognitive and moral development. You weigh new information and integrate with what you have previously learned or experienced. Egocentric Thinking.
Chapter 4 Answer Key to Select Chapter Exercises
Return to The Power of Critical Thinking, 6Ce Student Resources; Chapter 4 Answer Key to Select Chapter Exercises. Exercise 4.1 1. The large collection of very well-supported beliefs that we all rely on to inform our actions and choices. 3. No, not always. ... Exercise 4.2 2. Reject; the claim conflicts with background information about the ...
Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking
Chapter 4 introduces common informal fallacies. The answers to all the exercises are given at the end. However, the last set of exercises is in Chapter 3, Section 5. There are no exercises in the rest of the chapter. Chapter 4 has no exercises either. There is index, but no glossary. Content Accuracy rating: 5 The textbook is accurate.
Critical Thinking 2nd Edition Textbook Solutions
1. The sentence is a statement as it is claiming that oxygen is an element. The claim can be true or false. It is true. 2. This sentence does not claim anything and it is neither true nor false. So it is not a statement. 3. The sentence is a statement as it is claiming that earth revolves around the sun and it can be true or false.
Chapter 4 Solutions
The following are the ways in which people's mental state affect their observations: • Being tired. • Being disturbed. • Getting emotionally upset. Step 4 of 8. 3. Two ways of credibility that should enter into evaluation of claim: • Credibility of claims. • Credibility of claims' sources.
Vaughn Exercise Answers
The Power of Critical Thinking: More Answers to the Exercises Contents Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter 2 7 12 43 50 56 84 115 131 143 154 Note: Exercises not answered here are found either in the textbook itself or at the companion website: CHAPTER 1 Exercise 2. Critical thinking is ...
Exercises 4.1
View Exercises 4.1 - 4.3 (Concise Guide to Critical Thinking).docx from PHIL 76 at Chaffey College. Exercise 4.1 1. ... Introduction to Critical Thinking - (Chapter 4 - Reasons for Belief and Doubt) - Annota. Solutions Available. Modesto Junior College. ... 4 a vi biv ci dii Read the scenario below and answer question 117 and 118 that ...
Critical Thinking Chapter 4 4.1 1-5
Critical Thinking 10.6 and In-Class Excersise; Critical Thinking 11.1 and 11.2 1-3; ARQ 5 Passage 3 and Critical Thinking 11.6, 11.7 11.8 1-2; ARQ Chapter 9 Passage 3 - Notes from the textbook as well as thorough and unique answers to questions. ARQ Chapter 7 Passage 3 - Notes from the textbook as well as thorough and unique answers to questions.
6 Chapter 4 Supporting Students' Critical Thinking
Critical thinking skills refer to abilities to be open-minded, mindful, and analytical, and to evaluate, question, reason, hypothesize, interpret, explain, and draw conclusions (Ennis, 2012). A simple way to define critical thinking is the ability to make good decisions and to clearly explain the foundation for those decisions.
Critical Thinking Chapter 4 Flashcards
1. when the expert is being paid by special-interest groups or companies to render an opinion. 2. when the expert expresses very strong belief in a claim even though there is no evidence to support it. 3. when the expert stands to gain financially from the actions or policies that he or she supports.
The New Critical Thinking
The New Critical Thinking An Empirically Informed Introduction. Exercise Solutions. All Files
4.4: Exercise Answers
Exercise 4. 1. 1. There is nothing wrong with consensual sexual and economic relations between adults. 2. There is no difference between a man paying directly for sex and a man taking a woman on a blind date, paying for it, and then having sex with her. 3.
Philosophy Chapter 4 Exercises for Concise Guide to Critical Thinking
Book questions that are on the homework assignment for Chapter for in the Second edition of Vaugn's guide to critical thinking. philosophy chapter exercises 10 Skip to document University
Critical Thinking Chapters 3-4 Flashcards
the premises to the conclusion. Fallacies of Minimal Support. concern reasons that. are more prejudicial than evidentiary. Fallacies of Understanding. concern the quality of. the inference drawn from the premises. Red Herring. introduction of an irrelevant issue.
Human Physiology
Critical Thinking Exercises. Please answer all questions. 1. Suppose you find a new enzyme that uses a molecule of water to break down a disaccharide named trehalose. According to international agreement, what should you name this enzyme?
Critical Thinking (5.2, 5.3, 5.4)
The questions come from the textbook "The Power of Critical Thinking" (sixth edition) by Lewis Vaughn. The answers were reviewed by the professor during class. Skip to document. University; High School. ... CHAPTER 1 EXERCISES. It included answers for exercises 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6. Critical Thinking 38% (8) 2. Critical Thinking (4.?, 4.3, 4.4 ...
1.4: Chapter Exercises
This page titled 1.4: Chapter Exercises is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jason Southworth & Chris Swoyer via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.
PDF EXERCISES, QUESTIONS, AND ACTIVITIES My Answers
Critical Thinking, Chapter 5 - Arguments with Missing Conclusions Dona Warren 2 3 A 2 + 4 + 5 B 1 This can be hard to see because ideas 2 and 5 aren't right next to each other, but we can move them around in our diagram since they're just added together. 1. You shouldn't vote for Joan. 2. Only emotional people can be ethical. 3.
114 CHAPTER 4 Critical Thinking Exercise The
She was just hired to work at a new mixed. Question: 114 CHAPTER 4 Critical Thinking Exercise The following story and questions are designed to stimulate critical thinking through class discussion or bries writing responses. There are many correct answers to these questions Justine Penn is a veterinary technician who worked in a small animal ...
Chapter 4.1 Critical Thinking Flashcards
Critical Thinking Chapter 4. 22 terms. Eric_Chen53. Preview. LR - Common Method of Argument. 8 terms. RJacob_Francisco. Preview. Disto Dest NMDA-R Na* 34 Cart Act PKA CREB S KinseS Bet CREB AMPA-R NAt al Me eaters there AMpA $ 5 Kinases Drive Insertion of AMPA PRES CREB. 16 terms. quizlette4239106.