EXERCISES IN
CRITICAL THINKING
Prepared by
Charles Temple, Ph. D.
Reading & Writing for Critical Thinking Project
and
Steven Lee, Ph. D.
Philosophy Department, Hobart & William Smith Colleges
With
Scott Brophy, Ph. D.
Philosophy Department, Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Table of Contents
| Introduction | 4 |
| Phase I: Approaching the Topic | 4 |
| Introducing the Topic | 5 |
| Advanced Organizer | 5 |
| Think/pair/share | 5 |
| The Enhanced Lecture | 5 |
| Coming to Terms, Finding Controversies | 6 |
| "Terms Times Three" | 6 |
| Definition | 7 |
| T - Chart: Associations With Terms | 7 |
|
M - Chart: Positive, Negative, and Neutral Associations |
8 |
| Venn Diagram to Polarize Issues | 8 |
| Semantic Mapping | 9 |
| Interviews | 9 |
| Phase II: Researching the Issues | 9 |
| Reading to Find Out | 9 |
| Know/want to Know/learn | 9 |
| Paired Reading/paired Questioning | 10 |
| Reading for Arguments | 10 |
| Dual-entry Diaries | 11 |
| Reasons on Cards | 11 |
|
Argument Analysis: Structuring Arguments, and Evaluating Those of Others |
11 |
| Phase III: Just Before Debating | 12 |
| Constructing Arguments | 12 |
| The Discussion Web | 12 |
| Academic Controversy | 13 |
| Building Arguments from Reasons | 14 |
| Framing the Other Side's Arguments | 14 |
| Methods of Initial Structuring | 15 |
| After the Debate: Reflection and Extension | 15 |
| Composing an Essay | 16 |
| Suggesting Further Topics for Debate | 16 |
| Suggesting Appropriate Actions | 16 |
Introduction
Debating is a powerful way to develop skills in critical thinking and expression. The greater benefits, however, are enjoyed by those who learn to sense controversies in topics, construct defensible positions, and research and find support for those positions; but also listen carefully to counter-arguments, and think ("on their feet") of responses to them. In other words, those benefits accrue to students who can think for themselves.
The following strategies are intended to be used by leaders of debate teams to encourage debaters to discern potential controversies, critique arguments, and formulate their own arguments; as well as to listen critically and respond to others’ arguments.
The strategies presented here are useful at different points in a debate training session. The overall scheme of such a session might have these phases:
Approaching the topic-- Here the debaters learn about the topic, examine it for potential controversies, and consider its terms.
Researching the topic-- Here the debaters read to gain more information about the topic, and also to review the debates the topic has already engendered;
Preparing to debate-- Here the debaters practice critiquing, formulating, and responding to arguments.
Debating-- (This topic is not treated here).
Reflecting on and extending the debate-- Here the debaters review the arguments and counter-arguments that arose in the course of the debate. They may re-engage the debate, to pursue new ideas and new strategies. And they may step back from the topic and consider what has been brought to light about the topic by the debate.
Phase I: Approaching the Topic
The purpose of this first phase is to encourage students to find their own connections to the topic of the resolution: to ask themselves what the topic means in their experience, to consider the terms of the topic, and to ask what is controversial about it. The purpose of activities at this stage is to arouse students’ interest and -curiosity about the topic, to make connections between the issues raised by the topic and what the students already know, and to prepare the students to inform themselves about the topic so that they can debate it.
1. Introducing the Topic.
A. ADVANCED ORGANIZER . Rather than fully inform the audience about the topic, an advanced organizer is a brief (3 to 5 minute) talk meant to give the debaters only as much preliminary information as they will need in order to begin to ask questions about the topic and prepare to investigate it on their own. An advanced organizer might take the form of an anecdote or case study, or a short explanation.
B. THINK/PAIR/SHARE . Think/Pair/Share is a quickly-performed cooperative learning activity that invites students to reflect on a topic and have the help of a partner in giving shape to their responses to it. The teacher prepares a question in advance, usually of an open-ended nature. For example, if the topic had to do with the minority cultures, the teacher might ask a question such as this: "Imagine that you are traveling in a foreign culture. Someone asks you what culture you are from, and asks you to give two examples of your cultural heritage. What would you say?" The teacher asks individuals to write out a brief answer to that question. Then, students pair up and share answers with each other, trying to arrive at a joint answer that incorporates both people's ideas. Finally, the teacher calls on two or three pairs and has them give a thirty second summary of their discussions.
C. THE ENHANCED LECTURE . The Enhanced Lecture is used when the teacher or debate coach wants to present material in lecture form, but still keep the students actively inquiring.
Preparatory Phase. At the beginning of the session, the teacher assigns a task that focuses participants' attention on the material to come. The teacher has two purposes here: to invite students to survey their prior knowledge about a topic, and to challenge them to formulate questions to pursue as the lecture unfolds. The teacher may:
## ask the class to write for five minutes on a question (such as a prompt to list ideas) that surveys their prior knowledge about the topic to be discussed;
## put a question to the participants to be discussed and answered by pairs;
Depending upon the amount of time available, the teacher should occasionally ask pairs to volunteer answers to these preliminary questions, and may write some of their ideas up on the board, for the whole class to keep in mind as they hear the lecture.
Partial Lecture. The teacher then lectures for no more than twenty minutes. The timing is deliberate, because studies of students' attention during lectures suggest that attention falls off precipitously after a fifteen or twenty minutes.
If the participants will have many ideas to write down, and especially if they are inexperienced at note-taking, the pace of the delivery should be moderately slow.
Think/Pair/Share Now during four or five minutes, the teacher puts a question to the class. The question has to do with the portion of the lecture they just heard. Each participant prepares an answer, shares that answer with a partner, and listens carefully to the partner's answer. Then the two of them prepare a joint answer. The teacher calls on three or four pairs to give a 30 second summary of their discussions. The question put to the students in the Think/Pair/Share activity may focus attention on what is to come in the next part of the lecture, and serve as a preview of it.
Continue with the Lecture, and Another Think/Pair/Share. The teacher presents another ten to fifteen minute segment of the lecture, followed (optionally) by a checking up session, which is in turn followed by a Think/Pair/Share session.
Summary Exercise. The teacher should assign an exercise that helps the participants reflect on the materials presented in the lecture. This exercise may take one of several forms. The teacher may:
## ask participants in pairs to answer an open-ended question that draws on the main issues of the lecture;
## ask participants to write a "ten-minute essay" that probes some issue raised in the lecture.
## ask participants to write an even briefer "five minute essay," in which they make a short statement about one thing they learned during the class, and write one question that remains. (The teacher collects these afterwards, since they offer excellent pointers for a way to begin the next class, and also provide important diagnostic information as to how and how well the material is being understood by the students).
2. Coming to Terms, Finding Controversies.
A. "TERMS TIMES THREE" . The debate trainer may help the students call to mind the associations they already have for the terms of the resolution by asking the students three questions about each key term:
1. What do you think this term mean in the resolution?
2. Where and in what context have you come across this term in your studies, or in your reading about current events?
3. What are some examples of this term from your own experience?
B. DEFINITION . In this exercise, students are set to work seeking to formulate a definition of some of the key terms in the debate topic. Students are presented with one of the models of definition presented below and asked to "Think-Pair-Share:" to think about the definition of the term on their own, then to share their thinking with a partner, formulating together the best definition that they can. The process continues with two or three pairs joined together, each larger group coming up with the best definition that they can. Finally, representatives of the large groups shares their definitions with the whole group, others in the whole group offering criticisms of the proffered definitions.
Method of definition by necessary and sufficient conditions: (1) what features must something necessarily have in order to be a thing of the kind in question, and (2) what set of features is sufficient for something to be a thing of that kind.
Method of definition by genus and species: (1) what is the general category in which the kind of thing in question belongs (for example, human beings are animals), and (2) what are the features that distinguish the kind of thing in question from others things in the general category (for example, human beings are animals that are rational).
Method of criticism by counter-example: One can show that a proposed definition is false by citing something, the counterexample, that fits the definition, but which is not in fact the kind of thing in question. For example, if someone defined human beings (by genus and species) as animals who use language, one could show this definition is false by citing examples of gorillas who have been taught to use language.
C. T - CHART: ASSOCIATIONS WITH TERMS . Ask pairs of students to construct a T-Chart like the one shown below. For each term in a resolution, they should imagine themselves into the perspective of a partisan of that term, and brainstorm positive associations that come to mind (These might be synonyms, or examples of the term). These associations should be written on the left-hand side of the T-Chart. Next, they should put themselves into the perspective of opponents of the term, and brainstorm negative associations for it. These should be written on the right-hand side of the T-Chart.
===========================================
T-CHART| Positive Connotations | Negative Connotations |
| Ethnic pride | Disloyalty |
===========================================
The T-Chart is a useful way to polarize issues. However, it may be necessary to help the students find middle ground on the issues by looking for non-polarized terms.
D. M-CHART: POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, AND NEUTRAL ASSOCIATIONS.
======================================
M-CHART
Positive Neutral Negative Ethnic Pride Sense of Identity Disloyalty
=======================================
After students have completed a T-Chart, they may be asked to review the terms they came up with. They may discuss the extent to which the choice of terms facilitated or impeded agreement between adherents to both sides of an issue. They may want to approach the task again, this time using an "M-Chart," one with three columns: as before, the left and right-hand columns are reserved for associations that would be offered by partisans and opponents. A middle column is reserved for neutral terms for those associations (see above).
E. VENN DIAGRAM TO POLARIZE ISSUES . Taking a term such as a "minority culture" as the basis, have the students construct a Venn Diagram (two large intersecting circles). The area that is bordered only by the left-hand circle should be used to list reasons in favor of preserving minority cultures — reasons that, perhaps, only proponents of minority cultural rights would readily acknowledge.
The area that is bordered only by the circle on
the right should be used to list reasons that opponents to the idea of minority cultural
rights would use in their arguments, and these are likely to be reasons that the other
side would not readily acknowledge.
The area shared by the intersecting circles should be used to list contentions that both sides would be likely to support.
F. SEMANTIC MAPPING . We begin by writing a word or phrase that names the topic in a circle in the center of the chalkboard or piece of chart paper: "Minority Culture," for example. For the first "satellite idea," we might ask the students to break out the idea of "culture:" which might yield "lore," "behavior," "beliefs," and so on. "Minority" might yield both a definition and examples. Other satellite ideas might include "advantages of minority culture," "disadvantages," and so on. For each satellite idea, we write the words on the board, draw a circle around them, and connect them with a line to the idea from which they derived. After the students have filled out the cluster of ideas as far as they can, we ask them to point to aspects of the topic about which we need more information. We write big question marks next to the parts we are unsure of. We ask the students to pay close attention as they investigate the topic: to confirm the things they knew, to correct the ideas they were wrong about, to fill in knowledge they had questions about, and to tell the group interesting things they hadn't thought of.
G . INTERVIEWS . Ask the students to interview three people--teachers, adults in the community, and other students about the topic (especially people from relevant groups, such as minority groups, local politicians, business people, or clergy). The students should ask the people why they care about this topic, what position they take on it, if they have ever disagreed with others about it, and about the form that the disagreement took. They should take notes on the interview, and bring these back to the group.
Phase II: Researching the Issues
The purpose of this second phase is to prepare students to read and otherwise inquire to gather the material they will need to debate the issue. Phase is approached successfully, students will take the initiative to inform themselves, and will also think carefully about the material they are uncovering.
1. Reading to Find Out.
A. KNOW/WANT TO KNOW/LEARN . Called the K-W-L strategy for "What do we KNOW?" "What do we WANT TO KNOW?" "What did we LEARN?", this procedure can be used to guide a reading (or listening to a lecture) within a single session; or it may be used to guide an inquiry that stretches over several days.
We divide the chalkboard (or a large piece of newsprint) into three broad columns, marked, "KNOW", "WANT TO KNOW" and "LEARN", respectively. We also ask the students to produce their own version of the K-W-L chart in their notebooks.
Next we state the topic, and ask students what they already know about it. We discuss this until a set of essential facts emerge, which the students are reasonably sure about. These we record in the "KNOW" column on the large chart (and invite the students to do the same in their own versions). Once several ideas have been offered by the students, we ask them to help us think of categories into which the ideas can be grouped. Then we ask them to offer more ideas within each category.
Areas of doubt will emerge, too--and these can be entered into the "WANT TO KNOW" column. We ask students to think of other things they are curious about with respect to the topic, and record these, too--both on the chart, and in the notebooks. Again, by inviting students to think of questions within each category, more questions are likely to emerge.
Now, if the students are to read a text, we review the questions they raised, and assign the reading (But if it is a broader inquiry we are undertaking, we must first discuss where they will find the information: from the library--if so, what books or periodicals? If from live informants, How do we approach them? How do we interview them, and record and report what they have to say?).
After the reading is complete, we turn to the third column, "WHAT DID WE LEARN?" We ask the students to record the main points they learned on their charts--lining up the answers with the questions they raised originally, and writing the other information (the knowledge they had not anticipated) lower on the column. Now the students share with the whole group what they entered in the "LEARNED" column of their own charts, and this is entered into the large charts. The students compare how much they knew already with what they found out, and also compare the answers they found with the questions they raised. They decide what to do about the remaining unanswered questions--which may lead them into another cycle of KNOW/WANT TO KNOW/LEARN.
B. PAIRED READING/PAIRED QUESTIONING . This strategy is recommended when students’ research takes them to difficult material--including material written in a second language. Pairs of students find a quiet place where they will not disturb others. One student reads a paragraph aloud (or both read it silently). At the end, he summarizes what has been read. The other student raises questions about the reading: especially about the implications of the paragraph for the issue at stake. Both try to answer these questions. Next, the second student reads the next paragraph and summarizes it. The first student now raises questions about the paragraph and both try to answer them.
2. Reading for Arguments .
A. DUAL-ENTRY DIARIES . Dual Entry Diaries offer a simple way to encourage individual students to read carefully and to relate what they read to issues they are concerned about. They are especially useful when students are reading longer assignments, out of class.
To make a dual entry diary, the participants should draw a vertical line down the middle of a blank sheet of paper. One the left hand side they should note a part of the text that struck them strongly. In the context of the debate program, most likely this will be a statement or a piece of information that can be used as an argument, a reason in support of an argument, or a piece of evidence in support of a reason. Or it may be a seeming fallacy. Or a particularly clever wording.
On the right hand side of the page the students should write a comment about the phrase they noted in the left-hand column: What was it about the quote that made them write it down? What did it make them think of? What question did they have about it? As they read the text, they should pause and make entries in their dual entry diaries. Some teachers assign a minimum numbers of dual entry diary entries: so many per ten pages, for example.
B. REASONS ON CARDS . Begin by presenting a controversial issue to the class, accompanied by a binary question. Assign half the class to each side of the question. Then assign reading material that provides information relevant to the question. The different sides can read different material; or, if you have material that provides information that can support both sides of an argument, both sides may read the same material.
The students should be alert as they read the material for reasons that support their side of the argument. They should write at least three such reasons on notecards, or on half sheets of paper. On one side of the card they should write reason, and on the other side they should write at least one piece of evidence that supports that reason.
C. ARGUMENT ANALYSIS: STRUCTURING ARGUMENTS, AND EVALUATING THOSE OF OTHERS . This method requires that students have a copy of a short newspaper editorial, or other piece of argumentative writing. The article is distributed to groups of participants, who are asked to:
1) Number the sentences in the piece of writing;
2) Pick the sentence in the piece that best represents the conclusion of the author's argument;
3) Pick the sentences that best represent the reasons or premises of the argument; and then
4) Array the numbers of those sentences in a "tree diagram" that represented a schema of the argument.
The groups share their results with the other participants. Then, the importance of understanding argument in reading, writing, and higher order thinking may be discussed.
Finally, the idea of argument evaluation may be introduced and the students may be asked, based on the schema (the tree diagram) for this argument, how the argument in the editorial could be criticized. As part of this effort, the written schema might be used to unearth in the argument any hidden assumptions or logical fallacies that require critical attention.
Are the premises true or acceptable? Do they support the conclusion? As part of this effort, the diagram should be used to unearth in the argument any hidden assumptions that require critical attention. A hidden assumption is an unstated premise that is needed for a stated premise to support the conclusion.
Phase III: Just Before Debating
The purpose of the many choices of activities in this third phase are to give the students guidance and practice in marshaling arguments in support of a conclusion.
Constructing Arguments
The following are short exercises that are used to give the students practice in constructing arguments and engaging in relatively brief and informal debates.
A. THE DISCUSSION WEB . For the Discussion Web prepare a grid like the one shown below.
===========================================
DISCUSSION WEB
YES |
NO |
|
______ |
Should the government take measures to preserve minority cultures? | ______ |
CONCLUSION:
===========================================
Ask each pair of participants to make a discussion web like the one pictured. During the next six or seven minutes, the pairs are asked to consider the question,
Should the government take measures to preserve minority cultures?
Rather than resolving the issue, each pair is asked to list several reasons why the government should take measures (These reasons should be listed on the form, under "Yes") and then all the reasons why the government should not take measures to preserve minority cultures (These should be listed on the form under "No.").
After the pairs have listed reasons on both sides, each pair should join another pair, and share the reasons they listed under "Yes" and those they listed under "No." Now the foursome should the discuss the issue through until they are able to reach a conclusion. They may write their conclusion at the bottom of one of the sheets. The teacher should take the time to review the reasoning of several of the groups.
B. ACADEMIC CONTROVERSY . "Academic Controversy" is a cooperative learning activity that is similar to the "Discussion Web" activity. It works as follows. Present a controversial topic to the group. You might present the issue by reading or telling a short story or case study. Pose a binary (yes or no, pro or con) question along with the topic. An example of a binary question is, "Should the government make efforts to preserve minority cultures?"
Assign students to groups of four. Within each group, one pair should take the "pro" position and one pair the "con" position. They should discuss the question in pairs, with the aim of listing reasons that support the "pro" or the "con" position, whichever they were assigned.
After seven or eight minutes, the members of the "pro" pair should split up, and each member should pair up with another person who was discussing the same position, "pro" or "con." They should compare reasons for four or five minutes.
Now the original pairs should rejoin, compare notes, and by the end of four or five minutes agree on a longer and more refined list of reasons in favor of their position.
Next, the pairs within the original foursome should debate the issue. It is best if each side begin with a statement of their position: that is, a statement of the what they have resolved, and the main reasons they have resolved it. Then they may debate each other’s reasons and arguments. You should let the debate run for at least eight or ten minutes.
You may now invite each side to make a summary statement of their position.
As an option, you may now invite the students to take a minute to think about what they really believe about the issue, and share their true position with their group members. Or you can invite them to free write for ten minutes about is in their mind about the issue.
C. BUILDING ARGUMENTS FROM REASONS . This activity is a continuation of the "Reasons on Cards" activity that was presented in the previous section. In that activity, the students are asked to form two groups: one "pro" the resolution and the other "con."
Now, the students should bring their cards to a meeting of their group (their group is the half the class that is arguing the same side of the issue). Each student should offer to the group his or her strongest reason in support of the argument. If, however, another student has already offered that reason, the student must offer another reason.
The group now discusses the reasons that have been offered, and chooses the four or five strongest reasons in support of their position.
As a next step from this point, a couple of options are available. Each side may agree on an opening statement, and appoint a person to make that statement. After each side has made its opening statement, they may offer reasons in support of their side, and also debate each other’s arguments. Alternatively, if more practice in structuring arguments is wanted, students may frame the opposite side’s arguments (see below).
D. FRAMING THE OTHER SIDE’S ARGUMENTS . In this activity, all of the steps in the previous activity, "Reasons on Cards," will have been followed, through the step of having each side consider the members’ best reasons in support of their side of the argument, and choosing the strongest reasons.
Now one side should share its reasons with the other side, but without making an opening statement. The students on the other side take a few minutes to confer among themselves and formulate an opening statement that (1) presents the other side’s position (as they infer it to be), and (2) states the reasons that support that position.
Now, the same side states the reasons in support of their position--but does not state their position--to the students on the other side.
Both sides may now debate. Each side leads off with the opening statement that was given to them by the other side. Then they share and debate the reasons supporting each position.
After the debate has run for ten minutes or more, the debate stops. Each side is now asked to prepare a closing argument for the other side, and share it with that side. A closing argument is a restatement of the position, with the strongest reasons that support it.
Finally, the students may be invited to decide on a position of their own and write it out, along with the reasons that support it. The composition may take this form:
1. Position statement.
2. Reasons in support of the position.
3. Concluding statement (saying why the position is supported by the reasons).
E. METHOD OF INITIAL STRUCTURING . This is similar to the previous exercises, but it focuses on three aspects crucial for debate: namely, qualifying one's position, responding to reasons on the other side, and supporting the reasons one offers.
The method of initial structuring is a technique for generating an argument for a position one wishes to defend, an argument that not only presents strong reasons for one's own position, but includes an effort to counter the reasons offered by the other side.
To begin, a debate activity is introduced. A topic that interests the group will have been identified, one that roughly divides the house in half. A general position on the topic is then stated. Those in favor of the position are asked to move to one side of the room and those opposed to the other. The participants are then asked to pair up and each pair to come up with two reasons for the view they hold and two reasons against the view they hold. After these deliberations, groups of two or three of the pairs on each side are asked to meet together and to come up collectively with the three best reasons that support their side's view and the three best reasons that work against it. Then, each side meets as a whole to come up with the four strongest reasons for its view and four strongest reasons against it.
They put the four reasons for their view on a poster. Each side is then asked to decide three things: (1) Do they want to qualify their general view in order to eliminate or weaken one or more of the reasons against is? (2) How would they respond to the reasons against their position that remain (that is, how would they counter the expected argument of the other side? and (3) What reasons would they offer to support their view?
Then the debate begins. Representatives from each side present the argument on their poster to the other side, and each side then seeks to rebut the reasons offered by the other side and/or discuss how they would qualify their view to avoid or weaken the reasons on the other side. To the extent that each side has picked out as "against" reasons the same reasons that the other side offers as reasons in support of its view, that side is well prepared for the exchange. Finally, in responding to the criticisms of its reasons by the other side, each side makes use of its work on point (3) above to offer support for the reasons under attack.
After the Debate: Reflection and Extension
The debate is not the end of the activity. Following the debate, the students may want to go back through and reflect on the way the debate proceeded: premises, evidence, arguments, logic, opening and closing statements, rebuttals, and so forth. It may be worthwhile for the debate to be repeated, with new arguments made.
It will be helpful to pull back from the debate and take the role of an audience. What do we know now about the issue since debating it? What aspects of the issue came to light? Was is possible for one side to "win" the debate? What seem to be the strongest assertions that can be made about the issue, regardless of one’s point of view? What conclusions might a reasonable person draw about the issue now? What actions are prompted by those conclusions? What issues were raised that need to be considered further?
A. COMPOSING AN ESSAY . Students may compose an essay at this point, setting out the position they actually hold on the issue. As they construct that position, they should take into account the arguments and counter- arguments that were raised during the debate.
B. SUGGESTING FURTHER TOPICS FOR DEBATE . Students in groups of four may brainstorm a small set of issues that arose from this debate that deserve consideration as possible debate topics.
C. SUGGESTING APPROPRIATE ACTIONS . In pairs or groups of four, students can answer these questions: "If the outcome of this debate has practical implications, what are they? What should we do differently? What course of action should we recommend to others?" Then the products of these students' deliberations can be shared with the whole group, and possibly acted on.