… · Web viewVarious themes will be covered during this ten week course in order to demonstrate to students that critical thinking is used ... to stand by every word I

Educate Out Prejudice

Curriculum Pilot

Critical Thinking - Garo Avakian

Contents:

1. Lesson Plan (pp. 2 – 6)

2. Group Profile with Equality and Diversity Statement

(pp. 7 – 8)

3. Resources (pp. 9 – 11)

The creation of this material by Morley College has been financed by the Skills Funding Agency Equality and

Diversity Innovation Fund 2013/14.Copyright in this material is vested in the Crown but it is made freely available

through an Open Government Licence. This licence enables you to use and adapt the material but you must

attribute Morley College as the creator and include details of the licence. Full details of the licence are available at

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/


Lesson Plan 2013/14 - Garo AvakianCourse Title: Critical Thinking Subject of Lesson: Argument

ReconstructionWeek No: 15 Room: B21 No Present:

8Course Code: UPH004A

Timing2hrs

Content: By the end of the lesson students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate their ability to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument by locating the conclusion and premises of a sample argument.

2. Demonstrate their ability to reconstruct an argument by putting premises and conclusion of an argument in standard form.

3. Demonstrate their understanding of what an assumption is by identifying and stating assumptions sample argument relies on.

Tutor Activities and Assessment Method

Elicitation/exposition – what is an argument, what are the parts of an argument, what is the meaning of logical strength, how to identify an argument (argument indicators), what is an assumption

Q and ALearning activity – argument identificationLearning activity – identification of assumptions

Student Activities

Listening and responding

Taking notes

Raising questions

Responding to question nomination

Completing learning activities

Group discussion

Resources:

Colour and A3 formatted sample argumentSample argumentTalking points - list of questionsSMART board

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attribute Morley College as the creator and include details of the licence. Full details of the licence are available at


2 minHow to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument.

How to reconstruct an argumentAssumptions: what are they and how to locate them

Completing registerExplaining and scribing lesson aims on IWB

Listening and responding, scribing lesson aims

Colour and A3 formatted sample argumentSample argumentTalking points - list of questionsSMART board

10 min How to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument

e.g. - passing of SSMB (Same Sex Marriage Bill) caused the recent floods

Read sample argument and initiate ten minute discussion on comment piece (passing of SSMB caused the recent floods)

Checking familiarity and responses of students to comment piece.

Nominating quiet students to respond.


Group discussion

30 min How to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument(passing of SSMB caused the recent floods)

How to reconstruct an argument

Elicitation/exposition –

What is an argument? What are the parts of

an argument? What is the meaning of

logical strength? How to identify an

argument (argument indicators).

Listening and respondingTaking notes

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10 min How to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument

(passing of SSMB caused the recent floods)

How to reconstruct an argument

Nominating students to answer questions to check for understanding:

What is an argument? What are the parts of

an argument? What is the meaning of

logical strength? How to identify an

argument (argument indicators).

Listening and respondingResponding to question nomination

10 min BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

15 min How to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument (passing of SSMB caused the recent floods).

How to reconstruct an argument.

1. Breaking up students into pairs (less able with able)

2. Instructing students on how to complete learning activity.

3. Supporting, monitoring and observing students during learning activity.


Breaking up into pairs

Completing learning activity – students work together to identify another one of the premises of the SSMB-floods argument and reconstruct the argument in standard form

10 minHow to identify the conclusion and premises of an argument (passing of SSMB caused the recent floods).


Checking on reconstruction – nominating students to respond to questions.

Scribing answers from groups on IWB – correcting and giving praise on answers


Modifying answers

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Assumptions: what are they and how to locate them.

Informal/seminar style exposition - defining what an assumption is.

Then with students identifying two assumptions that SSMB-floods argument relies on to get the conclusion to follow from premises.

Group discussionListening and respondingTaking notes



Assumptions: what are they and how to locate them.

Group discussion – is this is a valid or sound argument?

Prompting students to consider whether any of the premises of the argument could actually be true.

Prompting students to consider the extent to which the argument uses the concept of causality legitimately.

Group discussion


Taking notes

Raising points/questions



Assumptions: what are they and how to locate them?

Quick recap on learning – Nominating students to answer question to check for understanding.- Modifying questions for less able learners.


Responding to question nomination

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EVALUATION OF LESSON (To what extent were the learning outcomes achieved? / What aspects of the lesson were successful? / Was there anything that was unsatisfactory? / Would you make any changes next time you teach it? Is there anything that needs to be carried over to the next lesson?

Lesson was moderately successful. Students need more time to develop argument identification skills but more so developing reconstruction skills. Some students could also benefit from having one more class where there is a focus on working out what assumptions arguments sometimes rely on.

As the argument we looked at made no explicit use of argument indicators, perhaps in the next session we could do more work on how to identify the conclusion and some premises of an argument by relying on textual hints or clues in sample text. Otherwise, all of the students did well in identifying the conclusion of the SSM bill-floods piece we looked at.

One thing that was really good about the session is the discussion that followed reconstruction of the argument. The 15 min group discussion was useful as it brought out some really interesting ideas and opinions. One student in particular raised a fascinating question: why could it not be true that the passing of the same sex marriage bill caused the floods. This resulted in a group discussion of why it could not be the case that the SSMB caused floods as well as a discussion about the nature of truth, and how methods of argument in CT work with a very specific and narrow idealisation of what counts as true or false.

Discussion also focussed on the extent to which it would be wrong to say that the SSMB caused the floods based on the requirements that are made on making a causal claim. Even though discussion was the most rewarding and interesting part of the lesson – evidence of this being students’ participation – the group still needs to do more work on reconstructing arguments as well as identifying arguments. This will be one of the aims of the next session.

The creation of this material by Morley College has been financed by the Skills Funding Agency Equality and Diversity Innovation Fund 2013/14.Copyright in this material

is vested in the Crown but it is made freely available through an Open Government Licence. This licence enables you to use and adapt the material but you must attribute

Morley College as the creator and include details of the licence. Full details of the licence are available at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

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Group ProfileCourse Title: Critical Thinking

Level: 2/3 Tutor: Garo Avakian

Start Date: 8/1/14 Department Humanities

Mode of Attendance

Prt Time Day Prt Time Eve Full Time

Type of Student 16-18 19+ Accredited Non-Accredited

Number on register 8 Numbers by gender: M 2 F 6

Teacher Status Full time Fractional Hourly Paid

Comments on the group (issues which impact on the way you organise the group or plan your teaching, e.g. size, range of ability, mixture of beginners/experienced, range of ages, learning styles of students etc.):

This is a fairly small group of learners with varying support needs and abilities. There are some students who, even though they have never studied critical thinking before, are adept in recognising arguments and others factors that are relevant to argument analysis and evaluation, e.g. hidden assumptions, fallacies. There are others however who are less able and therefore require more reinforcement and learning.

It will therefore be necessary to ensure that learning takes place in stages and also that students have opportunity to re-visit some prior learning in order to review and connect topics covered earlier in the course to topics covered later. The aim, in effect, will be to demonstrate to both range of students the connectedness and systematic nature of critical science (i.e., that critical thinking is a kind of science). For those who are less able, explanations need to be developed slowly, concepts explained using examples, and accompanied by practical application of skills so that through application they are able to consolidate some of their learning.

There are currently two students in the class who have support needs. The first of these students is dyslexic. In addition to this, her first language is not English. For this reason, additional time is normally given to her in completing learning activities. As well as additional time she will be encouraged to ask questions or be nominated, if she is comfortable, to answer questions. About two weeks into the course she seems to be comfortable and at ease in raising questions fairly regularly and has the tendency to address points which are quite poignant and sharp (e.g. what is truth). I will aim to encourage her to do this because these questions have a tendency to generate discussion and more questions which other students have participated in.

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So far, these methods of support and encouragement have worked well and will therefore continue to be used. Checks on her understanding will also be extremely useful when more complex concepts are explained. This will be done in the form of question/nomination and reinforcement of learning through question/answer following learning activities. In addition to this, in group work, she will be paired with someone more able and maybe at times less able students if she demonstrates ability consistently. I have also formatted some of the resources that are used in class so that they are pastel coloured and in A3 so that she, along with other students, are able to annotate parts of resources or take notes directly on resources.

There is another student in the class who has a disability affecting mobility. During breaks (10min) she does not seem to leave to class nor has she made any requests in terms of requiring a chair with back support. Occasionally she has a bottle of water with her or a hot beverage but on those instances where she doesn’t I have offered to bring her water while on break so that she is not inconvenienced by having to leave the class in case it is very difficult for her to move. While in class, she appears to be sit in a position where she can rest her leg on a chair next to her and so I have encouraged her to continue to do this if she is comfortable. Apart from this she seems to get on well in class and participates/initiates discussion between her tutor and her peers. She too appears to be able and demonstrates good understanding of some of the concepts we have already covered and makes relevant and poignant contributions.

Equality and Diversity

Various themes will be covered during this ten week course in order to demonstrate to students that critical thinking is used pervasively in a variety of situations. Themes will include arguments in media, (e.g. news stories), arguments about rights (e.g. animals), arguments about causation and use of statistical information to support causal inferences, same sex marriage (e.g. the bill and its causal properties), etc. The aim will be to keep the context in which skills are developed topical and current so that students’ current interests are catered for. This, however, will mean that occasionally students will have to do some research and reading outside of class by following developments and reactions to controversies in the news. However, to cater for the more sophisticated thinkers or those with a taste for the abstract, sometimes dry, logical/philosophical arguments will be used so that students can appreciate the relevance of logic to critical thinking. This is to ensure that some of learning that takes place on the course demonstrates to students that there is also some depth and intellectual history to critical thinking.

As always, throughout the classes and the course, all students will be encouraged to participate. Students have been informed that there will be a variety of learning strategies that the course will embrace, and that some of this will be through discussion, group work and, at times, 30min expositions/explanations of ideas and concepts. However, students have also been informed that the class will be run more an informal seminar model than formal lectures so that they can raise a range of questions after demonstrations or during discussions of ideas. Two weeks into the course this model has worked well so far and all students have been keen to participate so the aim will be to use it and adapt as situations require.

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Embedding LGBT – Critical Thinking: Resources.

1. Source 1 – Telegraph Article (pp.10-11)

Online Source: Marzal, A (2014) Ukip councillor who blamed floods on gay

marriage expelled from party, [Online], Available:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10619383/Ukip-councillor-who-

blamed-floods-on-gay-marriage-expelled-from-party.html [20 June 2014].

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attribute Morley College as the creator and include details of the licence. Full details of the licence are available

at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

Ukip councillor who blamed floods on gay marriage expelled from partyDavid Silvester, Ukip councillor in Henley-on-Thames, thrown out of party after calling for gay people to "repent"

"I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill", said Mr Silvester Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Andrew Marszal, and agencies

11:50AM GMT 05 Feb 2014

The Ukip councillor who blamed Britain's storms and floods on same-sex marriage has been expelled from the party after calling for gay people to "repent".

David Silvester, 73, who defected from the Conservatives in protest at David Cameron's support for same-sex unions, was initally suspended by Ukip on January 19 after claiming he had warned the Prime Minister that the legislation would result in "disasters".

But at an extraordinary meeting called last night to discuss whether he should resign, Mr Silvester deepened the rift over homosexual marriage and floods by calling on gays "to repent".

Ukip issued a statement today saying his comments were "unacceptable", and that it had "no choice" but to drop him from the party.

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The move also followed an online petition calling for Mr Silvester to go which had attracted more than 24,000 signatures. He had previously refused to quit as a town councillor in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon.

The outcry triggered by Mr Silvester began last month when, in a letter to the Henley Standard, he blamed the storms on God's fury at the Conservatives' same-sex marriage act.

Mr Silvester wrote: "The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war."

Blaming David Cameron for the bad weather, he added: "It is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods."

Henley Town Council held an extraordinary meeting yesterday evening to discuss the row over his remarks.

Members voted unanimously to distance themselves from their councillor colleague's views.

Bizarrely Mr Silvester, who attended the meeting to explain he would not be withdrawing his comments, also voted for the motion.

Mr Silvester then deepened the rift over homosexual marriage and floods by calling on gays "to repent".

Refusing to resign, Mr Silvester called for gay people to seek repentance from God, adding that he stood by his earlier comments in the Henley Standard.

Mr Silvester said: "Never was it my intention to insult the gay community and I certainly apologise to them if personal insult has been their perception."

"I have read that I am barmy to connect this to the weather – if that is the case then I am in good company," he said, citing senior bishops blaming floods on "abandonment" of bible teachings.

Mr Silvester said he was exercising his right to free speech by writing to the newspaper, which he claims held back his letter for three weeks and added his political and town council affiliations.

"I have had endless support from all over the country and the world and have the confidence to stand by every word I wrote," he said.

However, he conceded he will be "more circumspect" in his views in future.

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Documents

… · Web viewVarious themes will be covered during this ten week course in order to demonstrate to students that critical thinking is used ... to stand by every word I