Critical Thinking
Across the
Curriculum Project
Are you thinking yet?

Resources in Critical Thinking:

• corenotes.htm

(1) Internal Core resources -
Introductory level resources for any discipline stored on this server.

• Introduction to the methods and practice of doing Philosophy,

and the value of Critical Thinking in general.
• A short history of Logic.
• Some Definitions of Critical Thinking
• Coaching Winners: How to Teach Critical Thinking;

an article by Bonnie Weaver Duldt, PhD, R.N.
Author of SmartPrim - software for teaching Critical Thinking

Core Concepts

• Notes on Statements:
• What a Statement is
• Roles statements play in arguments
• Truth tables for statements
• Notes on Arguments: Structure and Analysis
• Distinguishing the Premises of an argument from the Conclusion of an argument.
• Recognizing arguments in the everyday world,
• Deductive vs. Inductive arguments
• PowerPoint presentation on Deductive Arguments (requires viewer)
• What is a Valid argument?
• What is a Sound argument?
• Are there any standard Valid argument forms?
• adding missing premises or conclusions,
• Deciphering hidden arguments.
• Arguments & Their Evaluation (University of Northern Colorado)
• Identifying the Argument (Metropolitain Community College of Omaha, NE)
• Spelling out how an argument should look
• general rules concerning good argument structure in interpretation and writing.
• Writing Argumentative Essays (Victoria University of Technology, Australia)
• Picking out premises in longer passages.
• Techniques for simplifying/paraphrasing arguments
• Wrapping it all up: The Flow Chart for Argument Analysis

Establishing the truth of a Premise:

• Conceptual vs Empirical claims.
• Justifying/supporting premises in general
• Criticizing conceptual Theories
• Flow Chart for evaluating conceptual premises:
• writing good arguments with conceptual premises.
• Evaluating the truth of Empirical premises:
• The Flow chart for evaluating empirical premises.
• Inductive arguments, problems with induction
• The role of Analogies in arguments, Flow Chart for Analogy Analysis.
• Fallacies connected with analogies
• Statistics and Statistical Fallacies
• Causal Arguments
• How Graphs and visual aids can be used to hide the truth.
• How can I tell Facts from Opinions when they are used to support Reasoned Judgements?
• Writing good arguments with Empirical Premises

Informal Fallacies of Reasoning:

• Informal Fallacies
• Straw Man
• False Dilemma
• Slippery Slope
• Denying the Antecedent
• Affirming the Consequent
• Equivocation
• Begging the Question
• Appeal to Force
• Appeal to Pity
• Ad Hominem
• Tu Quoque or "You Too"
• Appeals to Authority
• See Also: Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies

Additional Topics:

• Sources of Information for making Critical Decisions:
• Book Knowledge vs. Experience
• The role of the news, experts, etc.
• How Graphs and visual aids can be used to hide the truth.
• Bibliography of Critical Thinking textbooks
• Resources in Critical Reading across the Curriculum
• Resources in Critical Writing across the Curriculum
• Constructing a Logical Argument (outside source)
• The Argument Clinic

(1) External resources -

• John Nelson's Sourcebook for Critical Thinking, "Cultivating Judgement" - and excellent resource for all disciplines of tested exercises which teach CT in all disciplines.   Check it out here:  New Forum Press
  

Textbook publishers with CT resources on the Web:

• Prentice Hall - Their gallery of companion web sites for their textbooks.  Check out your discipline or text.

Introductory level resources for any discipline stored on other servers:

• Thought Experiments
• Teaching tactics in various disciplines from the CTAC initiative at TVI Community College

PowerPoint presentations on Critical Thinking:

• Evaluating Web Resources: Web Resource Evaluation Techniques PowerPoint Presentation
• Bloom’s Critical Thinking Questioning Strategies
• Directory of /pub/ect/general_education.q-085/Paul & Elder ppt slides
• Bernstein, Essentials of Psychology, 2e
• Jeff's Critical Thinking Page
• Logical Fallacies
• INFO/COMP - Powerpoint Presentations
• Chapter 16: Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving

NURSING PROCESS AND CRITICAL THINKING

Thinking about thinking:

Holistic Critical Thinking Rubric

Curriculum & Assignments

Editorial, Critical Thinking Skills

Tutorials:

• Mission Critical Site, and:
• Metropolitain Community College of Omaha, Nebraska site.

Critical Thinking Centers:

• Centers for Critical Thinking (Some resources are free, some for a fee)
• The Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University has added College level resources to their site.

Bibliographies:

• Bibliography of CT textbooks - compiled by the CTAC initiative at TVI Community College
• Index of Journal Articles on Critical Thinking from Indiana State University
• Essays, Journals and Papers - compiled by James Elkins, Law Professor at West Virginia University

• Try your hand at some simple argument analysis and get some feedback!
• visit a Virtual Logic Class based on the Resources on this site -(under development)

Games & puzzles:

• Game Plan
• Categorical fun from the Mission Critical site
• Simeon's magic site - Tricks using logic

(2) Resources for instructors-integrating Critical Thinking into college classes in a specific discipline area.

• Resources for the Social Sciences - Psychology, History, Economics, Philosophy, Sociology, Law and Political Science
• Resources for the Humanities - Critical Humanities Journals, English - Art, Music
• Resources for Science and Math - Astronomy, Geology, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Math
• Resources for the Vocational Sciences - Automotive, Office Systems, Business, Nursing
• Learning Resources - Writing, Reading, Counseling

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