Critical Thinking: A Short Course for Schools

Critical thinking has long been regarded in education circles as a vital ‘21st-century’ or ‘New world’ skill. But what exactly is critical thinking? The thesis of this book is that critical thinking is not a nebulous transferable skill, rather but rather a training in logic and logical thinking. Critical thinking means learning about the structure of logical arguments, understanding how such arguments can become fallacies, and identifying the bad arguments that so often lie at the heart of dubious claims, misinformation, conspiracy theories and fake news that circulate endlessly on the internet and elsewhere. This short course intended for classroom use will equip students with the means to deal sensibly and maturely with such issues as the echo chamber of social media and the worrying rise of pseudo-science. With frequent discussion points and pauses to check their understanding, students will learn how to distinguish good and bad sources of information, spot flaws in reasoning, and confront their own confirmation bias.Chapters is an Argument?, Paradoxes, Fallacies, Correlation & Causation, Cognitive Biases, Conspiracy Theories, Fake News.