Think Hard

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Think Hard

• A seminar on critical thinking

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A Brain Teaser

• What is the measure of the angle between the
  hands of a clock then it is 315?

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A Mind Bender

• Can you place ten coins into 5 rows, with each
  row containing 4 coins, without placing any coin
  on top of another coin?

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Of course you can
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Thinking Outside the Box
Can you draw a line through each of these dots,
without lifting your pencil and by making only 3
turns (for a total of 4 straight segments)? You
can only go through each dot once.
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Why not?
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Dont Overthink It

• Does England have a fourth of July?
• How many months have 28 days?
• How many birthdays does the average person have?
• Whats heavier, a ton of feathers or a ton of
  bowling balls?

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And Never Underthink it

• A rope ladder hangs over the side of a ship. The
  rungs are one foot apart and the ladder is 12
  feet long. The tide is rising at four inches an
  hour. How long will it take before the first four
  rungs of the ladder are underwater?

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What is Critical Thinking?
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What is Critical Thinking?
For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing
so well as for the study of Truth as having a
mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the
resemblances of things and at the same time
steady enough to fix and distinguish their
subtler differences as being gifted by nature
with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness
to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to
consider, carefulness to dispose and set in
order and as being a man that neither affects
what is new nor admires what is old, and that
hates every kind of imposture. FRANCIS BACON
1605
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What is Critical Thinking?
reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused
on deciding what to believe or what to do
ROBERT ENNIS
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What is Critical Thinking?
the propensity and skill to engage in an
activity with reflective skepticism. MCPECK
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What is Critical Thinking?
the careful, deliberate determination of whether
we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment
about a claim, and the degree of confidence with
which we accept or reject it. MOORE PARKER
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What is Critical Thinking?
the art of thinking about your thinking while
you are thinking in order to make your thinking
better more clear, more accurate, or more
defensible. PAUL ET AL
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What is Critical Thinking?
taking control of your conscious thought
processes. curiosity and a desire to dig beneath
the surface. thinking beyond the obvious.
TROYKA
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And Why is Critical Thinking Important?
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And Why is Critical Thinking Important?
If any man wishes to write in a clear style, let
him first be clear in his thoughts. Goethe
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Thinking, Reading, Writing.

• Think Critically Always
• Read Critically
• Think about what you read
• Read with a pen in hand (let it be your sword)
• Read both literal and implied information
  (analyze)
• Look for the unstated assumptions, assess them
  and challenge them as needed
• Look for prejudice, tone, and bias
• Write Critically
• Make logical arguments, build your case,
  anticipate objections, be well informed, know all
  sides before taking a stand, challenge the status
  quo, be brave, be thoughtful

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If you cannot write well, you cannot think well,
and if you cannot think well, others will do your
thinking for you. GEORGE ORWELL
MIND CONTROL
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Your ongoing taskis to think critically about

• what people say to you
• what you read
• the information you consume everyday, actively or
  passively, and how it affects you
• your own stated or unstated assumptions,
  prejudices, and biases
• how you speak, write, and use language
• how you argue
• what you believe and why

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Dr. Lang Mrs. Lang Bobby Lang Mrs. Hernandez Mary
White Jean Hernandez Mr. Newton Mrs. Clark Mr.
Young Father Philip Dr. Garcia
Who will survive?