Critical Thinking

Lesson Design

• SEP-7 Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Claims, Evidence, Reasoning (CER)

Rely on evidence

• examine problems carefully

• ask pertinent questions

• identify assumptions and biases

• define criteria

• look for evidence

• identify missing information

Rely on logic

• assesses statements and arguments

• analyze data

• consider a variety of explanations

• reject information that is incorrect or irrelevant

• admit a lack of understanding or information when necessary

• suspend judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered

• weigh evidence, and draw reasoned conclusions

• adjust opinions when new facts are found

Summary

• Identification of premises and conclusions.  Critical thinkers break arguments into basic statements and draw logical implications.

• Clarification of arguments: Critical thinkers locate ambiguity and vagueness in arguments and propositions.

• Establishment of facts:   Critical thinkers determine if the premises are reasonable and identify information that has been omitted or not collected.  They determine if the implications are logical and search for potentially contradictory data.

• Evaluation of Logic: Critical thinkers determine if the premises support the conclusion. In deductive arguments, the conclusions must be true if the premises are true.  In inductive arguments, the conclusions are likely if the premises are true.

• Final evaluation:  Critical thinkers weigh the evidence and arguments.  Supporting data, logic and evidence increase the weight of an argument.  Contradictions and lack of evidence decrease the weight of an argument.  Critical thinkers do not accept propositions if they think there is more evidence against them or if the argument is unclear, omits significant information, or has false premises or poor logic.