eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
This definitive A to Z guide provides precise definitions for over 130 terms and concepts used in critical thinking. Each entry presents a short definition followed by a more detailed explanation and authoritative clarification.
Even though 95% of Americans consider critical thinking an essential skill that schools should teach, our students’ problem-solving skills rank among the lowest in the world. Students actually show lower brain activity in class than while watching TV or sleeping, and most college students, as well as half of American adults, fail critical thinking tests. But why? Written by an expert who trains educators and executives, America’s Critical Thinking Crisis shows that the problem doesn’t fall on educators or Gen Z, but on a fundamentally flawed conception of what education means. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and educational research, it demonstrates how we can create legions of divergent thinkers and problem solvers by tapping the hardwiring that innately makes children think all the time, in all areas of life – just not so much in school. Pearlman’s timely book is an essential text for understanding why our students don’t think critically. It also demonstrates what education should be and how it could transform our students and our culture. The book is a needed addition to the library of any educator or parent, or just anyone concerned about the direction our culture is headed. Chris Hakala Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship Springfield College Pearlman calls us to reimagine our education system as a whole and redefine what it means to teach and learn. We must understand that reason and critical thinking should be the primary outcomes of any quality education. America’s Critical Thinking Crisis speaks to us with urgency, and calls educators at every level to rethink, revise, and repurpose our work. Heeding Pearlman’s call may well be our only existential hope. Matthew Bristow-Smith 2019 North Carolina Principal of the Year Principal, Edgecombe Early College High School Pearlman's America’s Critical Thinking Crisis is a book written by a true college classroom pedagogue--one who eats, breathes, sleeps, and, for all I know, smokes college pedagogy as well. Filled with quirky asides, the book is flush with ideas about learning that only someone who has spent a life at the lectern (and deconstructing "the lectern") could imagine. Easygoing in its tone and passionate in its commitments, the book is strongly recommended for all of those dismayed at the state of American higher education and willing to get their hands dirty to fix it anew. Dr. Jacques Berlinerblau Author of Campus Confidential Professor, Georgetown University Helping students develop critical thinking is at the core of what most educators and society see as the essential role of higher education. In clear prose and with a dose of dark humor, Pearlman eviscerates current practices and lays out the urgent necessity for change. He also suggests strategies that could actually work, strategies that must become part of ongoing conversations in every facet of our society. Anton Tolman, Ph.D., Co-author, Why Students Resist Learning
With 'Thinking from A to Z', Nigel Warburton presents an alphabetically arranged guide to help readers understand the art of arguing. This fully updated edition has many new entries including lawyer's answer, least worst option, stonewalling, sunk-cost fallacy and tautology.
Stay alert and avoid being tricked. Apply logic and analysis to your everyday life. Detect hidden assumptions, spot inconsistencies, and recognize dishonesty. The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our thinking. And the quality of our thinking is often determined by the quality questions we ask from ourselves.Critical thinking is the art of asking relevant, necessary, and meaningful questions to discover the objective truth behind words, events, and opinions in general. Today we have more access to information than ever before. Information influences our world view and decisions often without us noticing it. Following wrong idols can lead us to bad decisions which lead to unhappiness and a dissatisfying life. When what's "right, beautiful, successful, and cool" gets dictated around us we often forget to think for ourselves and make our own choices. Thus we make bad decisions based on the opinion of others - not even our own. Who should make your life choices for you? You've put your own thoughts, wishes, and opinions off for too long. It's time for that to change. Models for Critical Thinking provides you with unique insights into the nature of thinking and reasoning - why are we often so wrong, why we are so inclined to avoid the responsibility of thinking for ourselves, and how can we develop solid, objective patterns of thought. This book is a guide for the notoriously "trusting," "overwhelmed," and "gullible". It is a deep psychological dive into what makes us stop thinking for ourselves, and how to systematically combat those compulsions. It's a book that stands apart from others because of the plethora of real-life examples, studies, and solutions. If you wish to add to your critical thinking toolkit, you'll find the step-by-step answer in here. Models for Critical Thinking lays out: - The function of critical thinking and its main obstacles. - The varied elements of critical reasoning. - Important abilities and traits of critical thinkers. - The vocabulary of critical analysis, - The models essential to critical thinking. The most secure way of making good decisions is to have well-practiced and predictable strategies that you can use when you are faced with a problem that requires deeper analysis. This book will provide you with helpful exercises and tips to help you can find better solutions to your problems. - Learn the essential critical thinking skills when reading, writing, and speaking; - Be on your guard for hidden cognitive traps when shopping and interacting with advertisers. - Discover the tools and strategies can help you become a more disciplined thinker, developing your analytical, reasoning, and reflective thinking skills. Be ready to learn. Be ready to argue intellectually. - Learn to read between the lines and assess the validity of statements. - Identify and separate logical and illogical reasoning. - Learn how to construct a fair, well-reasoned argument with the help of formal and informal logic. As a physicist and computer scientist, I was always looking for logical, well-founded answers to questions. Yet, I needed to stay open to question my knowledge fairly often, revise my beliefs held, and unlearn some.
Shortlisted for the British Book Design and Production Awards 2018, Educational Books category Do you need to demonstrate a good argument or find more evidence? Are you mystified by your tutor′s comment ′critical analysis needed′? What does it really mean to think well - and how do you learn to do it? Critical thinking is a set of techniques. You just need to learn them. So here’s your personal toolkit for demystifying critical engagement. I’ll show you how to sharpen your critical thinking by developing and practicing this set of skills, so you can... Spot an argument and get why reasoning matters Sniff out errors and evaluate evidence Understand and account for bias Become a savvy user of technology Develop clear, confident critical writing. Designed to work seamlessly with a power pack of digital resources and exercises, you′ll find practical and effective tools to think and write critically in an information-saturated age. No matter whether you′re launching on your first degree or arriving as an international or mature student, Critical Thinking gives you the skills, insights and confidence to succeed. In your critical thinking toolkit Watch the 10 commandments videos – life rules to change how you think Smart Study boxes share excellent tips to whip your work into shape BuzzFeed quizzes to test what (you think) you know Space to scribble! Journal your thoughts, questions, eureka moments as you go Chat more online with #TalkCriticalThinking
Featuring contributed chapters written by experts within the field, Learning Critical Thinking Skills Beyond the 21st Century for Multidisciplinary Courses: A Human Rights Perspective in Education provides readers with various perspectives regarding the intersection of education, human rights, and critical thinking. The text integrates strategies and best practices that support equitable education, elevate human rights, and pave the way for a better future. The text is divided into four modules. In Module 1, readers learn about the history and evolution of human rights, how students can integrate language arts and human rights into STEM/STEAM subjects, and how critical teaching and social justice teaching can increase students' involvement and understanding. Module 2 features scholarship on leadership and inclusion in cross-cultural and multidisciplinary critical thinking, field theory as a means to analyze the social world critically, and the need across the disciplines for high-quality critical thinking. In Module 3, chapters speak to the critical nature of cultural learning and individual life experience in the quest for sustainability, the dynamics of cultural encounters, the correlation between art and mathematics from an instructional aspect, and how digital storytelling can foster greater academic literacy. The final module features chapters on humanistic literacy, strategies to enhance global literacy, and critical and cultural literacy.
Through the use of humour, fun exercises, and a plethora of innovative and interesting selections from writers such as Dave Barry, Al Franken, J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as from the film 'The Matrix', this text hones students' critical thinking skills.
In this highly accessible book, Alec Fisher shows students how they can develop a range of creative and critical thinking skills that are transferable to other subjects and contexts.
This brilliant book, now in its third edition, gives you the confidence to tell a good argument from a bad one. For everyone who wants to refine their powers of argument, Thinking from A to Z is an indispensable reference tool.
