JREF Education Resources

[athon]

It's been a while, and I had a reminder from somebody that prompted me to update this thread and explain where I've come with it.

A couple of years ago, while I was a teacher, I wanted to construct a unit that taught critical thinking in a fashion that did it justice while concentrating a range of resources which could be useful. I asked many people for opinions and resources, and proceded to drain libraries and the internet of anything and everything that had to do with critical thinking.

I read government documents, syllabuses, numerous school curricula, a score of papers and books on the topic...

And while it's taken a lot of time, I'm finally ready to admit the idea had a fundemental flaw. While teaching critical thinking as a unit is better than not teaching it at all, teaching critical thinking as an integrated, cross-curricula skill is a far superior way of teaching it.

I'll get around to writing an article on my present position sooner or later. The resources in this thread are hardly useless, and I encourage anybody to either use what is here or contact me if they want some advice. But I see no sense in finishing it when I feel my energies are best directed where I feel that will have the most impact.

Thanks to all who contributed.

Athon

 

[phyz]

Skepticism in the Classroom 1.0

I'll add mine to the mix on this sticky.

<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/phyzman/skepticism/">Skepticism in the Classroom 1.0</a>

These are short lessons that can be dropped in anytime during the year. No major committment required! Short, sweet; to the point. Get in, get out, get on with it. Lessons vary in content and style. Some involve presentations, some video clips, some worksheets, and some combinations of the above.

Hope you find something useful.

When I come up with something new, it goes to <a href="http://phyzblog.blogspot.com/">my blog</a> first.

 

[illogical]

i've been compiling a list of online books, and i could write up a separate list aimed at younger people. the strength of my list is that it doesn't just give links, but summaries too. some people want terse lecture notes, others want gigabytes of video.

 

[DrugFreeAlcoholic]

I have the PDF file Study Guide for Barker's Elements of Logic which comes with the book Elements of Logic (it was 5th or 6th edition).

"Study guide" is an understatement, for one can actually learn everything from venn diagrams, syllogisms, propositional and predicate logic, and inductiive reasoning from this "study guide."

I'm somewhat afraid of breaking copyright laws. And I don't use the Bible for my moral guide, so um, someone else tell me what to do. -_-;; Or PM me if you want to see the copy.

 

[phyz]

I'll add mine to the mix on this sticky.

Skepticism in the Classroom 1.0

These are short lessons that can be dropped in anytime during the year. No major committment required! Short, sweet; to the point. Get in, get out, get on with it. Lessons vary in content and style. Some involve presentations, some video clips, some worksheets, and some combinations of the above.

Hope you find something useful.

When I come up with something new, it goes to my blog first.

Sorry about botching the links!

 

[fossilhound]

Sounds good to me - I'll do what I can to put together some lessons on the topics you've outlined.

Can I ask, are you working on a 45, 60 or 80 minute lesson? Obviously they can be adapted either way but it seems logical to be working to the same standard.

(My lessons are currently 43 minutes = pointless)

MY HS is reconfiguring this year. I'll be teaching 90 minute lessons every other day, as opposed to 55 minutes every day, so I'm rewriting my timings to make sure I'm teaching effectively. I think it'll increase my effectiveness, simply because I'll be able to finish a thought, so-to-speak.