Syllabus -- Critical Thinking

ENGLISH 75 Syllabus Lincoln University

CRITICAL THINKING

Dr. Sylvia Y. R. Schoemaker profsylvia@gmail.com

Semester: Spring 2006

Contact hours: 48

Units: 3

Days: T-Th; Time: 9:30 -10:45; Location: Room 303

Office hours: T-Th, 9-9:30, 12:15-1, by arrangement

Phone: 510.628.8036

Course Blog: criticalthinkingmatters.blogspot.com

Objectives:

Students will develop their cognitive skills and enhance their communicative strategies for defining, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information. The course will incorporate the following University learner and institutional goals:

University learner goals 1 -6, and specifically (3.2) To examine objectively various sides of issues; (3.3) To utilize the procedures involved in systematic problem solving; and in English:: To develop basic academic and professional skills(1); To develop the ability to communicate effective in English, oral and in writing, and to read with understanding (1.1) and institutional goals , especially 1,(1.1-1.4), 2.4

Catalog Course Description

ENG 75- CRITICAL THINKING (UNIVERSITY COURSE LISTING) Consideration of cognitive skills and communicative strategies for defining, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information. Course includes structural and operational approaches to task/mission analysis, decision-making, change forecasting, adaptation, and evaluation. Systems approach to analysis and solution of complex problems. Conceptual issues in problem definition, goal determination and measurement of effectiveness. (3 units)

Methods and Materials

A cooperative learning model will be employed. Small group and individual discovery exercises and presentations will augment lectures, class discussions and applications.

Emphasis will be on a systems approach to analysis and solution of complex problems, a conceptual approach to issues in problem definition, goal determination and measurement of effectiveness.

Required Texts:

(TFY) Mayfield, Marlys. Thinking for Yourself. 6^th Edition. Boston: Heinle, 2004. (ISBN: 0-8384-0735-8)

(CRCB) Daiek,Deborah and Macomb, Nancy. Critical Reading for College and Beyond. McGraw-Hill, 2004. (ISBN: 0072473762)

Recommended Text:

(CPS) Harris, Robert. A. Creative Problem Solving. Los Angeles: Pyrczak Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 1-884585-43-4

Student Responsibilities:

Students are expected to attend class, be punctual, follow classroom decorum, complete assignments, participate in the course in a productive manner, and to take personal responsibility for meeting the objectives of the course.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on the basis of all assignments, exercises, class participation, portfolios, midterm and final presentations; extra credit work/journals. Student course productivity will be averaged in appropriate proportions in determining the final grade along the following guidelines:

Classroom work:

Attendance, punctuality, decorum 10%

Productive classroom participation 10%

Class quizzes, exercises 15%

Individual/ group presentations 10%

Term Assignments:

Midterm portfolio 20%

Final portfolio 25%

Extra credit work/journals 10%

					TFY			CRCB
#	Tuesday	Thursday
1	1/17/2006	1/19/2006		Observation	1		Reading	1
2	1/24/2006	1/26/2006		Word Precision	2		Vocabulary	2
3	1/31/2006	2/2/2006		Facts	3		Memory	3
4	2/7/2006	2/9/2006		Inferences	4		Time	4
5	2/14/2006	2/16/2006		Assumptions	5		Main Ideas	5
6	2/21/2006	2/23/2006		Opinions	6		Details	6
7	2/28/2006	3/2/2006		Evaluations	7		Inference	7
8	3/7/2006	3/9/2006		MT Portfolio	Review		Texts	8
	3/14/2006	3/16/2006	Spring recess 13-17
9	3/21/2006	3/23/2006		Review	Review		PSR Strategies	9
10	3/28/2006	3/30/2006		Viewpoints	8		Marking	10
11	4/4/2006	4/6/2006		Argument	9		Advanced Strategies	11
12	4/11/2006	4/13/2006		Fallacies	10		Arguments	12
13	4/18/2006	4/20/2006		Inductive Reasoning	11		Cognitive Domain	13
14	4/25/2006	4/27/2006		Deductive Reasoning	12		Evaluation	14
15	5/2/2006	5/4/2006		Research Paper	Appendix		Applications
16	5/9/2006	5/11/2006		Prepare Portfolios			Prepare Portfolios
17	5/16/2006	5/18/2006	Finals Week	Final Portfolios			Final Portfolio

Assignment Schedule

TFY: Thinking for Yourself -- CRCB: Critical Reading for College and Beyond

Assignments -- Spring 2006

Week #	Tuesday	Thursday
1	1/17/2006	1/19/2006		Observation	1		Reading	1
2	1/24/2006	1/26/2006		Word Precision	2		Vocabulary	2
3	1/31/2006	2/2/2006		Facts	3		Memory	3
4	2/7/2006	2/9/2006		Inferences	4		Time	4
5	2/14/2006	2/16/2006		Assumptions	5		Main Ideas	5
6	2/21/2006	2/23/2006		Opinions	6		Details	6
7	2/28/2006	3/2/2006		Evaluations	7		Inference	7
8	3/7/2006	3/9/2006		MT Portfolio	Review		Texts	8
	3/14/2006	3/16/2006	Spring recess 13-17
9	3/21/2006	3/23/2006		Review	Review		PSR Strategies	9
10	3/28/2006	3/30/2006		Viewpoints	8		Marking	10
11	4/4/2006	4/6/2006		Argument	9		Adv. Strategies	11
12	4/11/2006	4/13/2006		Fallacies	10		Arguments	12
13	4/18/2006	4/20/2006		Inductive Reasoning	11		Cognitive Domain	46
14	4/25/2006	4/27/2006		Deductive Reasoning	12		Evaluation	14
15	5/2/2006	5/4/2006		Research Paper	Appendix		Applications	Application 1 or 2
16	5/9/2006	5/11/2006		Prepare Portfolios			Prepare Portfolios
17	5/16/2006	5/18/2006	Finals Week	Final Portfolios			Final Portfolio

Lexophiles -- Follow Up

http://www.teachit.co.uk/pdf/4212.pdf

FOR YOU LEXOPHILES: (LOVERS OF WORDS)

1. A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two-tired.
2. What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead giveaway)
3. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
6. She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but broke it off.
7. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
8. If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.
9. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
10. Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor.
11. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
12. The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
13. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blown apart.
14. You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
15. Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN downunder.
16. He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
17. Every calendar's days are numbered.
18. A lot of money is tainted. 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.
19. A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
20. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
21. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
22. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
23. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
24. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
25. Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
26. When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye.
27. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
28. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
29. Acupuncture is a jab well done.
30. Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat

Learning Styles Link

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/default.asp?ref=ga&data=learning+styles+free+test