Case Studies

University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne 433-343 Professional Issues in Computing
Adrian Pearce and Antonette Mendoza have for a number of years incorporated argument mapping into their Computer Science subject Professional Issues in Computing.

They do this with a module consisting of some standalone activities, but also integrating argument mapping into a major collaborative writing exercise with peer feedback. Module components are:

Lecture. A lecture on argument mapping, which includes both why and how aspects.
Lab. A lab session in which students build skills by working on some small argument mapping exercises.
Draft Essay Planning. Students in small groups produce a 4000 word argumentative essay on a topic of their choice, together with a Rationale argument map of their reasoning. See Instruction sheet
Peer Feedback. Each student reviews two draft (essay + map) packages, providing feedback in accordance with a detailed criterion for marking and peer review.
Final Essay. Submission of final essay taking into account peer feedback.

University of Melbourne 800-116 Generating the Wealth of Nations.
Jeff Borland has introduced an argument mapping module into his mid-level Economics subject Generating the Wealth of Nations. The module consists of:

A lecture on argument mapping generally, and specifically how to do the assignment.
An assignment, in which students are asked to map the argument made in an economics journal article. Students submit their map and receive a score and some written feedback.

Resources provided to students include:

The Rationale and bCisive software packages (available free to Melbourne University students)
A 20-page guide for students, "Guide to Mapping the Argument in an Academic Text," tailored specifically to the module and the exercise comprising the major part of it
An "exemplar", consisting of an exercise of a kind very similar to the students' assignment, with a model answer (bCisive argument map). The exemplar was used in the Student Guide.

The sample text - Root Causes, by Daron Acemoglu
Model bCisive map of the argument in Root Causes

Additionally the module is supported by:

A Tutor's Guide, providing some assistance for the graduate students grading the student assignments (i.e. the TAs)
A one-hour coaching session for the tutors, to assist them in grading the students' maps

Foundation Kritisch Denken (Critical Thinking), The Netherlands

Timo ter Berg, living in Amsterdam, and former lecturer Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, has been a lecturer of Philosophy at Hogeschool Utrecht, a Dutch University of Applied Sciences since 1991. He is responsible for the Philosophy minor.
In 2006 philosophy lecturers decided to go to look for an evidence-based method for developing critical thinking skills. This because they saw their students having great deficits in reasoning skills.
This search led to an intensive collaboration between Tim van Gelder and Timo which has resulted in

a Dutch version of Rationale
a Dutch version of the connected sites with exercises
a Dutch version of materials for teaching Critical Thinking and
a book (in an English and a Dutch version) with materials written together with Sytske Teppema and Fiona Patterson on the basis of teaching materials of Tim van Gelder. See here for the books, published by Pearson.

This whole set of materials, book and Rationale can be seen as a state of the art method to develop Critical Thinking skills within a curriculum in higher education. This bilingual method, Critical Thinking with Rationale, is made available in the Dutch speaking countries by the Foundation Kritisch Denken. For English speaking countries, contact Austhink.
In 2008 the bilingual Critical Thinking with Rationale method was awarded a prize for educational innovation within the Netherlands by The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.
In the Netherlands thousands of students in different Universities of Applied Sciences are working with this method. For that reason almost hundred lecturers have been trained intensive in working with the Critical Thinking with Rationale method.