Critical Thinking Resources

Longview Community College, Lee's Summit, Missouri

Critical Thinking
Across the
Curriculum Project

The application of logical principles to the activity of human reasoning

Why a site on Critical Thinking?

We often hear and read about the importance of using and teaching Critical Thinking, but it seems at times that no one has a clear idea of what exactly that is. It has become one of the "buzzwords" in education - which has devalued it severely. I would argue that what has become known recently as Critical Thinking is essentially applying the principles of Informal Logic to a variety of academic disciplines. In doing so, we hopefully become aware of the successful patterns of reasoning - successful in that they allow us to move closer to the truth rather than farther away from it. While there is a wealth of resources available in this area (textbooks, tapes , etc.), most of the resources available are directed at the K-12 level. Some of these are suitable for use in the college classroom, but very few. In addition, most of the resources can only be obtained at some cost to the instructor or institution - and few fit completely what the instructor is looking for.

As philosophers and logicians by trade, we found a severe lack of rigor concerning the teaching and presentation of logical principles in most attempts to integrate Critical Thinking into the college curriculum. In order to further an understanding of what Critical Reasoning/Thinking is all about and how it might be made easily accessible for use in college level courses in all disciplines, we initiated this project to develop the resources you find at this site. Not being ones to re-invent the wheel, we have provided links to alternative sources where we have found them on the Web..

Members of the CAI-2 Internet Group

These are the current and past contributors to this site. A huge contribution was made by the members of the Computer Aided Instruction Group Internet class - who enthusiastically embraced the concept of a Critical Thinking Web site.

Michael Connelly, Philosophy, Longview, (816)-672-2535, connelly@longview.cc.mo.us	Barbara Fowler, Reading Center, Longview, (816)-672-2073, fowlerb@longview.cc.mo.us
Betty Craft, Office Systems (OFSC), Longview (816)-672-2270, craft@longview.cc.mo.us	Dave Sharp, English, Maple Woods (816)-437-3229, sharp@kcmetro.cc.mo.us
Patty Illing, Reading/ Humanities, Longview (816)-672-2074, Illing@longview.cc.mo.us	Luis Flores, Psychology/PACE, Longview, (816)-672-2331, flores@longview.cc.mo.us
Andy Geoghegan, Psychology, Longview, (816)-672-2258, geoghega@longview.cc.mo.us	Fred Albers, Music, Longview, (816)672-2321, albers@longview.cc.mo.us
Janet Wyatt, Mathematics, Longview (816)-672-2344, Wyatt@Longview.cc.mo.us	Ron Taylor, Reading, Eastern Jackson County (816)-655-6146, (local e-mail address): taylor
Jan Redelberger, Office Systems, EJC, Ray Porter, PACE, Longview	Min Zeng, Mathematics, Longview, (816)-672-xxxx, zeng@longview.cc.mo.us
Mike Warren, English (Composition, Creative Writing, ESL, Literature) Maple Woods, (816)-435-3357, warrenm@maplewoods.cc.mo.us	Debbie McCarty, Reading , Maple Woods, (816)-437-3196, mccarty@maplewoods.cc.mo.us

Copyright © 1996
Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum Project
Longview Community College , Lee's Summit, Missouri - U.S.A.
One of the Metropolitan Community Colleges
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Permission to reproduce these resource pages is granted for
non-profit educational use provided the above information
is retained on all copies.

Inquiries to: michael.connelly@mcckc.edu
Last modified: 03/02/04