Critical Thinking Schedule, Spring 2020

2 Basics of Argument 2 is open from Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 12:00 am until Monday, Jan. 27 at 11:59 pm. 30 minutes, one attempt. We will take the highest score from Basics of Argument 1 and 2.

3 Logical Consistency 1 quiz is open from Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 12:00 am until Monday, Jan. 27 at 11:59 pm. 30 minutes, one attempt.

4 Logical Consistency 2 quiz is open from Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 12:00 am until Monday, Jan. 27 at 11:59 pm. 30 minutes, one attempt. We will take the highest score from Logical Consistency 1 and 2.

Note: If you are not checking your CSUS email address on a daily basis, you are missing essential information about this course. It is an online course and that email address is a necessary channels of communication. Adjust your email client/browser accordingly.

Preparing for and doing well on Prof. McCormick's Online Quizzes.

Canvas Quizzes:

5 Validity 1 quiz is open from Monday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 11:59 pm. 30 minutes, one attempt.

6 Validity 2 quiz is open from Friday, Jan. 31 at 12:00 am until Sunday, Feb. 2 at 11:59 pm. 30 minutes, one attempt. We will take the highest score from Validity 1 and 2.

7 Advanced Validity 1 quiz is open from Monday, Feb. 3 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

8 Advanced Validity 2 quiz is open from Friday, Feb. 7 at 12:00 am until Sunday, Feb. 9 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from Advanced Validity 1 and 2.

Canvas Quizzes:

9 Cogency 1 quiz is open from Monday, Feb. 10 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

10 Cogency 2 quiz is open from Friday, Feb. 14 at 12:00 am until Sunday, Feb. 16 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from Cogency 1 and 2.

Canvas Quizzes:

Note: This week you are allowed three attempts on Deductive and Inductive Strength 1 as practice and an opportunity to learn the concepts, then only your score on Deductive and Inductive Strength 2 will count for the course. Use your study time and practice attempts carefully.

11 Deductive and Inductive Strength 1 quiz is open from noon on Monday, Feb. 17 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 11:59 pm. Three attempts, 30 minutes each.

12 Deductive and Inductive Strength 2 quiz is open from noon on Friday, Feb. 21 until Sunday, Feb. 23 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. Only your score for this quiz will be incorporated into the course grade for these quizzes this week.

Strength Homework Assignment 1 (10% of course grade): Strength Homework is due by Friday, Feb. 28 at 11:59 pm. Copy and paste only the answer sheet into the Google Doc you created for this class for your journal assignments at the bottom and fill it out carefully. Do not create additional documents. No assignments will be accepted late.

If you are having trouble understanding the concepts of deductive and inductive strength from last week's lectures and quizzes, I urge you to seek out help in office hours or on email since this homework assignment is worth 10% of the course grade.

Create Google Doc.

See the syllabus for instructions on creating your Google Doc for the course.

Video: Creating a Google Doc

Also see this video for Google Doc basics. Share the document with me: mccormick@csus.edu and allow me to edit.

Journal 1: The Planning Fallacy due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, Jan. 26 in your Google Doc.

Journal 2: Confirmation Bias due by 11:59pm, Sunday, Feb. 2

Notice: Make sure your Google Doc is correctly named and formatted. Add each new entry at the top each week pushing the previous entries down. Do not create multiple documents or folders.

Journal 3: Motivated Reasoning due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, Feb. 9

Journal 4: The Sunk Cost Fallacy due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, Feb. 16

Journal 5: Optimism Bias due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, Feb. 23

Journal 6: Bad Decisions due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 1

Journal 7: Hindsight Bias due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 8

Journal 8: False Memories due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 15

Journal 9: The Placebo Effect due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 22

Journal 10: The Backfire Effect due due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, March 29

Journal 11: Going Nuclear due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, April 12

Journal 12: Wine Snobs due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, April 19

Journal 13: Astrology due by 11:59 pm, Sunday, April 27

Note this week you are allowed three attempts on Finding the Premises and the Conclusion 1 as practice and an opportunity to better learn the concepts, then only your score on Finding the Premises and the Conclusion in an Argument 2 will count for the course. Use your study time and practice attempts wisely.

Canvas Quizzes:

13 Finding the Premises and the Conclusion in an Argument 1 quiz is open from Monday, March 2 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, March 4 at 11:59 pm.

Three attempts, 30 minutes each.

14 Finding the Premises and the Conclusion in an Argument 2 quiz is open from Friday, March 6 at noon until Sunday, March 8 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. Only the score from this quiz will be counted toward the course grade for the quizzes this week.

Reconstruction Homework Assignment (10% of course grade): Reconstruction Homework is due by Sunday, March 8 at 11:59 pm. Copy and paste the homework into a document of your own, do the reconstructions as instructed, then copy and paste only the reconstructions, not the original argument passages, into your Last Name Critical Thinking Google Doc at the bottom. Do not submit this assignment as a new Google Doc. No other formats or attachments will be accepted.

Canvas Quizzes:

19 Midterm Exam 1 covers all previous quiz/course material up to and including the week of March 2. Go into your grades, click on your previous scores to see your earlier quizzes. Open from Monday, March 9 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, March 11 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 60 minutes.

Preparing for and doing well on Prof. McCormick's Online Quizzes.

20 Midterm Exam 2 covers all previous quiz/course material up to and including the week of March 2. Open from Friday, March 13 at 12:00 am until Sunday, March 15 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 60 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.

Preparing for and doing well on Prof. McCormick's Online Quizzes.

All CSUS classes, in-person and online are cancelled from Monday, March 16 through Thursday, March 19. All material: web page, lectures, and quizzes from this week has been moved to next week.

Canvas Quizzes:

21 Scientific Reasoning 1 quiz is open from Monday, March 23 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, March 25 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

23 Statistical Arguments 1 quiz is open from Monday, March 23 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, March 25 at 11:59 pm. One attempt. 30 minutes.

22 Scientific Reasoning 2 quiz is open from Friday, March 27 at 12:00 am until Sunday, March 29 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.

24 Statistical Arguments 2 quiz is open from Friday, March 27 at 12:00 am until Sunday, March 29 at 11:59 pm. One attempt. 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.

Canvas Quizzes:

25 Correlation Arguments 1 quiz is open from Monday, April 6 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, April 8 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

26 Correlation Arguments 2 quiz is open from Friday, April 10 at 12:00 am until Sunday, April 12 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.

Canvas Quizzes:

27 Causal Arguments 1 quiz is open from Monday, April 13 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, April 15 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

28 Causal Arguments 2 quiz is open from Friday, April 17 15 at 12:00 am until Sunday, April 19 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.

The Disproving Claims and Biases, Fallacies and Errors modules for the next three weeks are optional for the course. If you choose to do them, and you score better than previous quizzes, they will replace those scores. That is, if you do any or all of the next three modules, we will take your best 11 quiz scores from all of the quizzes you've done. If you do not do any of the next three modules, your quiz grades will be taken from the previous 11.

29 Disproving Claims 1 quiz is open from Monday, April 20 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, April 22 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

30 Disproving Claims 2 quiz is open from Friday, April 24 at 12:00 am until Sunday, April 26 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

The Philosophy Dept. requests that you fill out a student evaluation of this course. You should have received an email or you can login here: my.csus.edu If more than 80% of students in the class do the evaluation, I will increase everyone's journal grade by a letter grade.

The Disproving Claims and Biases, Fallacies and Errors modules for this week are optional for the course. If you choose to do them, and you score better than previous quizzes, they will replace those scores. That is, if you do any or all of the next three modules, we will take your best 11 quiz scores from all of the quizzes you've done. If you do not do any of the next three modules, your quiz grades will be taken from the previous 11.

29 Biases, Fallacies, and Errors in Reasoning 1 quiz is open from Monday, April 27 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, April 29 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

30 Biases, Fallacies, and Errors in Reasoning 2 quiz is open from Friday, May 1 at 12:00 am until Sunday, May 3 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 30 minutes.

Prepare for the Final.

34 Final Exam 1 covers everything from the midterm; everything since and including the week of the midterm exam. Open from Monday, May 11 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, May 13 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 60 minutes.

35 Final Exam 2 covers everything from the midterm; everything since and including the week of the midterm. Open from Friday, May 15 at 12:00 am until Sunday, May 17 at 11:59 pm. One attempt, 60 minutes. We will take the highest score from 1 and 2.