Nine Ideas for Including a Civic Engagement Theme in an Informal Logic Course

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 100-115
Author(s):  
Lisa Cassidy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Informal Logic ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scene Investigation

A class in informal logic can be an opportunity to do more than just cover the basic material of the subject (such as fallacies, induction, and deduction). Critical Thinking can also foster civic engagement as experiential learning—in the course’s readings, assignments, in-class activities and discussions, and tests. I favor an inclusive understanding of civic engagement: the course theme is engaging (from the French, pledging with) with the concerns of the civis (Latin for the citizenry). The argument made throughout here is that the civic engagement theme is a way of doing experiential learning in informal logic. I offer nine ideas for instructors here, which could be adopted wholesale or piecemeal, including how to do CSI (that’s Civic Scene Investigation).

THE USE OF CRITICAL THINKING AGAINST FAKE NEWS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra-Niculina Babii
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Informal Logic ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Sanctions ◽  
The One

The digital era has determined a very easy creation and propagation of fake news. As a consequence, it has become harder for people to fight this malicious phenomenon. However, the only weapon that can have results in this informational war is critical thinking. But who should use it? The creators of fake news that do this for different reasons? The social platforms that allow the circulation of fake news with ease? Mass media which does not always verify with much attention and rigour the information they spread? The Governments that should apply legal sanctions? Or the consumer that receives all the fake news, him being the final target? Even if critical thinking would be useful for every actor on fake news’ stage, the one who needs it the most is the consumer. This comes together with the big responsibility placed on his shoulders. Even if others are creating and spreading disinformation, the consumer must be aware and be careful with the information he encounters on a daily basis. He should use his reasoning and he should not believe everything just because it is on the Internet. How can he do that? Critical thinking seems to be a quite difficult tool to use, especially for non-specialized individuals. This paper’s aim is to propose a simplified model of critical thinking that can contribute to detecting fake news with the help of people’s self judgement. The model is based on theories from Informal Logic considering the structure of arguments and on Critical Discourse Analysis theories concerning the patterns found in the content of the information.

A Compass During the Storm: Offering Students Critical Rigor for Polarizing Times

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Wender ◽  
Valerie J. D’Erman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Objective ◽  
First Year

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning in higher education is occurring, unavoidably, within the broader civic context of today’s extraordinarily polarizing political times. We seek to help students situate themselves with respect to and, above all, thoughtfully assess others’ as well as their own perspectives on issues of profound contention, without contributing to exacerbated polarization ourselves. Specifically, we offer students in our first-year exploratory political science course a vital tool—critical rigor—for navigating but not being inundated by the storm. This article discusses our experiences in teaching the course titled, “The Worlds of Politics,” as we attempt to help students deeply engage in cognitive processes of critical thinking and analysis, without undue infringement from their own—and least of all our own—personal political biases. Our focal learning objective is the cultivation of critical-thinking skills that promote students’ drawing of distinctions between advocacy and analysis, as well as their discerning civic engagement.

scholarly journals Mechatronics: Experiential Learning and the Stimulation of Thinking Skills

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Maki K. Habib ◽  
Fusaomi Nagata ◽  
Keigo Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Experimental Systems

The development of experiential learning methodologies is gaining attention, due to its contributions to enhancing education quality. It focuses on developing competencies, and build-up added values, such as creative and critical thinking skills, with the aim of improving the quality of learning. The interdisciplinary mechatronics field accommodates a coherent interactive concurrent design process that facilitates innovation and develops the desired skills by adopting experiential learning approaches. This educational learning process is motivated by implementation, assessment, and reflections. This requires synergizing cognition, perception, and behavior with experience sharing and evaluation. Furthermore, it is supported by knowledge accumulation. The learning process with active student’s engagement (participation and investigation) is integrated with experimental systems that are developed to facilitate experiential learning supported by properly designed lectures, laboratory experiments, and integrated with course projects. This paper aims to enhance education, learning quality, and contribute to the learning process, while stimulating creative and critical thinking skills. The paper has adopted a student-centered learning approach and focuses on developing training tools to improve the hands-on experience and integrate it with project-based learning. The developed experimental systems have their learning indicators where students acquire knowledge and learn the target skills through involvement in the process. This is inspired by collaborative knowledge sharing, brainstorming, and interactive discussions. The learning outcomes from lectures and laboratory experiments are synergized with the project-based learning approach to yield the desired promising results and exhibit the value of learning. The effectiveness of the developed experimental systems along with the adopted project-based learning approach is demonstrated and evaluated during laboratory sessions supporting different courses at Sanyo-Onoda City University, Yamaguchi, Japan, and at the American University in Cairo.

scholarly journals Hybrid team based learning-personalised education for teaching epidemiology in public health degrees

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Ha ◽  
B Kemp ◽  
M Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Failure Rate ◽  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Weighted Average ◽  
University Education ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Team Based Learning ◽  
The Subject

Abstract Background University education in Australia and internationally involves teaching diverse students: in terms of age, life experience, previous degrees completed, and level of English competency. In Australia the Bachelors of Public Health (BPH) at The University of Wollongong, epidemiology is a core subject. It aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to design, critique and interpret studies that investigate why different populations experience different health outcomes. A student-centred learning strategy; Hybrid Team Based Learning and Personalised Education teaching strategy (HTBL-PE) was created to maximise academic success. Each phase has a distinct purpose based on learning theories (e.g. TBL, Bloom's taxonomy and Vygotsky). HTBL-PE aims to systematically build students abilities; strengthen self-confidence and belief, by teaching the way students learn and harnessing the capabilities of the team to strengthen the individual. Objectives HTBL-PE was evaluated in spring 2019 in the BPH, where their experiences at the beginning and end of semester were measured. Results In total 73 out of 84 enrolled students provided data at both time-points (87%). At the end of the semester, the vast majority of students indicated their interest in epidemiology had increased (93%), critical thinking had improved (92%), and confidence as independent learners had increased (86%). Outcomes did not differ significantly by gender or across learning styles. More than two thirds of students had already applied learnings from this subject in other settings (67%). Students' final mark for this subject was significantly higher than their Weighted Average Mark (WAM) prior to the semester (+17.4, p < 0.001). Average scores for the subject were > 84/100 with a < 0.5% failure rate. Conclusions HTBL-PE has positive learning outcomes; low failure rates, increased confidence in learning and themselves, increased interest in epidemiology and high overall scores in the subject. Key messages An effective new innovative teaching strategy resulted in a subject average score > 84/100 and <0.5% failure rate. The vast majority of students reported increased confidence as independent lifelong learners, critical thinking, confidence in epidemiology (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) and themselves.

D. Robert Ladd (1996). Intonational phonology. (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 79.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. xv+334.

Phonology ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-118
Author(s):  
William R. Leben
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Basic Material ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Past ◽  
Look Back ◽  
Basic Goal ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Reasonable Price

Ladd's Intonational phonology is a substantial addition to an area that has only recently ‘arrived’. Fortunately for the field of intonational phonology, the past two decades have seen a number of seminal contributions from phonologists, including Mark Liberman, Gösta Bruce, Janet Pierrehumbert and Ladd himself. Work on intonation, which has advanced in sync with modern linguistic theory, can also look back on quite a number of rather specific studies by phoneticians and rather general descriptive accounts by linguists and English teachers on this continent and in Europe.The book's basic goal is to present the subject matter of intonational phonology to the non-specialist linguist. The material is not only summarised but also accompanied by critical comments. Ladd's goal of keeping the book accessible to the non-specialist may limit the depth of the presentation of the basic material and the definitiveness of the critical comments, but for many this will be a reasonable price to pay for breadth of coverage.

scholarly journals PENERAPAN MODEL PROBLEM BASED LEARNING UNTUK MENINGKATKAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA KELAS 5 PADA MATA PELAJARAN PKN DI SD MUHAMMADIYAH KAUMAN TAHUN 2016/ 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Tri Siwi Septiana ◽  
M. Ragil Kurniawan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
The Subject ◽  
5Th Grade

This study aims to improve students' critical thinking skills in Civics in 5th grade students of SD Muhammadiyah Kauman, Yogyakarta using Problem Based Learning model. This research is a Classroom Action Research (PTK). The subjects of the study were 5th grade students of B1 SD Muhammadiyah Kauman. The object of research is the whole process and the results of learning Civics with the application of Problem Based Learning model. This research was conducted at SD Muhammadiyah Pakel Yogyakarta in April until May 2017. Data collection techniques used were observation, diary, interview and test. Data analysis technique is done descriptively qualitative. This research was conducted in 2 cycles by applying problem based learning model. The learning steps that were implemented were changes in the delivery of the subject matter, the students analyzed the problem, the formation of the discussion group with the grouping of students based on their achievement, the students in group for discussion, the group members delivered the discussion result in front of the class.The results showed that the critical thinking ability of the 5th grade students of B1 SD Muhammadiyah Kauman, Yogyakarta increased after the use of Problem Based Learning model in Civics learning with the subject matter of the example of central and regional legislation. This improvement is evident in the improvement of students' critical thinking skill test result from 12.90% pretreatment score to 51.61% (enough) in cycle I and increased to 70.96% (good) in cycle II. The results of activity observations related to students' critical thinking skills are increased among others: active students in learning, students more freely in finding and collecting desired information, and students also have more opportunities to learn with friends.

scholarly journals Is there a Relationship between Critical Thinking and Critical Reading of Literary Texts: A Case Study at Arak University (Iran)

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamedreza Kohzadi ◽  
Fatemeh Aziz Mohammadi ◽  
Fatemeh Samadi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Proficiency Test ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Female Data ◽  
The Subject

Examining the theme, plot, and characters of a literary work is a common practice for students of literature so that they can criticize literature. Unlike a non-critical reading which provides readers only with facts, a critical reading also entails depicting how a book or a source illustrates the subject matter. Through various reading procedures including interpretation, inference and examining ideologies embedded in texts, readers can develop critical thinking. This paper aims at examining whether or not there is a relationship between critical thinking and critical reading of literary texts in higher education. To meet the mentioned aim, 121 EFL learners from Arak University were invited to participate in this study. After administrating English proficiency test, total numbers of students were 98 male and female. Data analysis was done through employing ANOVA and T-test.

scholarly journals The use of Instrumental Enrichment as a method to teach the analysis of the population pyramid to Grade 7 Geography students

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Juliet Brandt
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Baseline Assessment ◽  
Population Pyramid ◽  
Instrumental Enrichment ◽  
The Subject

Action research was conducted to improve the teaching of the analysis of the population pyramid to Grade 7 female Geography students. Instrumental Enrichment was selected as a tool to teach the analysis of the population pyramid. Firstly, the concept of a population pyramid was introduced and taught using an existing teaching method and a baseline assessment was conducted. Instrumental Enrichment was then introduced, and students used the tool to analyse four population pyramids. A concluding assessment measured the improvement in students’ ability to analyse the population pyramid. The use of Instrumental Enrichment did enhance the students’ understanding of the population pyramid. However, they were not able to use it consistently and independently. This agrees with Willingham (2009) that students remember what they think about and the findings of Bellaera (2017) and Adams (1991) that students are not able to develop critical thinking purely by interacting with the subject matter. A refinement of Instrumental Enrichment was proposed considering these principles.

scholarly journals The Practicality of OR-IPA Learning Model to Improve Critical Thinking Skill of Prospective Physics Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Binar Kurnia Prahani ◽  
Budi Jatmiko ◽  
Zainal Arifin Imam Supardi ◽  
Munasir M ◽  
Utama Alan Deta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Thinking Skill ◽  
Critical Thinking Skill ◽  
Physics Teachers ◽  
Physics Courses ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
The Subject

The Indonesian National Qualification Framework in higher education requires universities to develop a curriculum that makes students have superior competence with a variety of skills that are in line with the demands of the 21st century, including Critical thinking skills. The main objective of this research is to analyze the practicality of the OR-IPA learning model, which has been developed by design to improve the critical thinking skill of prospective physics teachers on the fundamentals of physics courses. The subject of practical observations was a physics lecturer who used the OR-IPA learning model. The observation sheet of the OR-IPA learning model practicality has been declared valid and reliable by the validators. The data analysis technique uses descriptive qualitative. The results showed that the OR-IPA learning model to improve the critical thinking skill of prospective physics teachers was considered practical (3.69). Lecturers and students can use the OR-IPA learning model without significant obstacles. This research implies that the OR-IPA learning model can be an alternative to improve the critical thinking skill of prospective physics teachers in the fundamentals of physics courses.

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