Critical Thinking I don’t promote this, but those of you who gamble should find this one easy! It’s all about the odds. You’ll have four minutes to figure this out…odds are 2/3 of you will have it by then. Then again, you are an odd bunch, so who knows. No cheating – no talking!

Knights of the Round Table King Arthur, Merlin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Guinevere decide to go to their favorite restaurant to share some mead and grilled meats. They sit down at a round table for five, and as soon as they do, Lancelot notes, "We sat down around the table in age order! What are the odds of that?"  Merlin smiles broadly. "This is easily solved without any magic." He then shared the answer. What did he say the odds were?

The Answer The odds are 11:1. (The probability is 1/12.) Imagine they sat down in age order, with each person randomly picking a seat. The first person is guaranteed to pick a seat that "works". The second oldest can sit to his right or left, since these five can sit either clockwise or counterclockwise. The probability of picking a seat that works is thus 2/4, or 1/2. The third oldest now has three chairs to choose from, one of which continues the progression in the order determined by the second person, for a probability of 1/3. This leaves two seats for the fourth oldest, or a 1/2 chance. The youngest would thus be guaranteed to sit in the right seat, since there is only one seat left. This gives 1 * 1/2 * 1/3 * 1/2 * 1 = 1/12, or 11:1 odds against.

Goals for the Day I can refine my argument using feedback from my audience.

Cold Read Clear off your desks – you’ll have 11 minutes to read the text, annotate as needed, and then complete your quiz. When you finish, take out your netbooks and open to Socrative.

Vocabulary Quiz #25 Open to Socrative. Use Bauer2016 to login. Complete the quiz and take out your “Dumbest Generation” graphic organizers.

Goals for the Day I can refine my argument using feedback from my audience.

Challenging to Refine One student will stand and introduce his/her claim and support. Listen closely to your peer’s answers. Our goal as an audience is to help refine thinking – this is not a debate. Ask specific questions that may reveal flaws/fallacies/holes in the argument. (One question per student). Listen closely to the answer. Does the speaker have a clear answer that addresses the question? You do NOT have to agree with the answer, but determine whether there is a clear answer. Audience - take notes on what you want to hear but do not. Note where you think there may be a logical fallacy or flaw in thinking. Take notes on ideas or concepts you think are strong or unique. Note if you hear something you had not considered. Be prepared to share your thoughts.

Small groups – challenging to refine Follow the same procedure we just used – the goal is to help your peers refine. One student will stand and introduce his/her claim and support. Listen closely to your peer’s answers. Our goal as an audience is to help refine thinking – this is not a debate. Ask specific questions that may reveal flaws/fallacies/holes in the argument. (One question per student). Listen closely to the answer. Does the speaker have a clear answer that addresses the question? You do NOT have to agree with the answer, but determine whether there is a clear answer. Take some notes on what you wanted to hear but didn’t. Note where you think there may be a logical fallacy or flaw in thinking. Be prepared to share your thoughts. Each group member will have 6 minutes to present.

Small Groups Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Whipple Connor Vandeveer Albright Linge Anderson Guth Henton Hunt Brimm Bender Berning Jones Daniels Cartegena Gerbig Wiener Moore Flamion Garrison Polen Shaw Patino Mastison Manning Stone Binder Gore Wallace Rankin Wolfe Hansen

Small Groups Group 1 Group 2 Alvarez Fenwick Bailey Fettinger Crenshaw Keller Elkins Lisembee Eubank Logan Wright Marvel Merkle Wilkison

Refine Time Take five minutes to rethink how you may refine things in order to respond to some of the questions your peers asked you or flaws you saw in your own thinking.

Quick Write Write a well organized paragraph explaining how you will refine your argument based on the questions and feedback your peers gave you today?

Complete the Quick Write if you did not. You may still complete this week’s additional Albert Assignments for bonus points. I will post additional Alberts for bonus – you may complete any of them or you may go back and complete any that you may not have completed. Be safe and enjoy your spring break!!