Mike McGuire MV Community College COM 101 Think Hard A seminar on critical thinking

A Brain Teaser  What is the measure of the angle between the hands of a clock then it is 3:15? Answer: 7.5 degrees

A Mind Bender  Can you place ten coins into 5 rows, with each row containing 4 coins, without placing any coin on top of another coin?

Of course you can…

Thinking Outside the Box Can you draw a line through each of these dots, without lifting your pencil and by making only 3 turns (for a total of 4 straight segments)? You can only go through each dot once.

Why not?

Don’t Overthink It  Does England have a fourth of July?  How many months have 28 days?  How many birthdays does the average person have?  What’s heavier, a ton of feathers or a ton of bowling balls?

And Never Underthink it  A rope ladder hangs over the side of a ship. The rungs are one foot apart and the ladder is 12 feet long. The tide is rising at four inches an hour. How long will it take before the first four rungs of the ladder are underwater?

What is Critical Thinking?

For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things … and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences; as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture. – F RANCIS B ACON 1605

What is Critical Thinking? …reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or what to do – R OBERT E NNIS

What is Critical Thinking? …the propensity and skill to engage in an activity with reflective skepticism. – M C P ECK

What is Critical Thinking? …the careful, deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim, and the degree of confidence with which we accept or reject it. – M OORE & P ARKER

What is Critical Thinking? …the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, or more defensible. – P AUL ET AL

What is Critical Thinking? …taking control of your conscious thought processes. …curiosity and a desire to dig beneath the surface. …thinking beyond the obvious. – T ROYKA

And Why is Critical Thinking Important?

If any man wishes to write in a clear style, let him first be clear in his thoughts. – Goethe And Why is Critical Thinking Important?

Thinking, Reading, Writing….  Think Critically Always  Read Critically  Think about what you read  Read with a pen in hand (let it be your sword)  Read both literal and implied information (analyze)  Look for the unstated assumptions, assess them and challenge them as needed  Look for prejudice, tone, and bias  Write Critically  Make logical arguments, build your case, anticipate objections, be well informed, know all sides before taking a stand, challenge the status quo, be brave, be thoughtful

If you cannot write well, you cannot think well, and if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you. – G EORGE O RWELL

Your ongoing task is to think critically about…  what people say to you  what you read  the information you consume everyday, actively or passively, and how it affects you  your own stated or unstated assumptions, prejudices, and biases  how you speak, write, and use language  how you argue  what you believe and why

Dr. Lang Mrs. Lang Bobby Lang Mrs. Hernandez Mary White Jean Hernandez Mr. Newton Mrs. Clark Mr. Young Father Philip Dr. Garcia