Test Bank for Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User-Friendly Manual, 7th Edition

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1Becoming a CriticalThinkerSeventh EditionSherry DiestlerTest Bank

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3Following are general comments about the goals of this text, a samplecourse outline, suggestions for teaching chapter content, and additionalexercises for each chapter. Please contact the author through the publisheror through Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Drive, San Pablo,California 94806, at sdiestler@contracosta.edu or (925) 247-8210 if youhave any comments or questions.Thoughts on the purpose of this textMarshall McLuhan once made the following comment:‟If you can't say itso that people comprehend it, you haven’t said it at all.”The primary goal of this text is to bridge the gap between the types ofdiscerning responses to information that we want students to have, and theresponses they usually do have at the start of the critical thinking course.Many students at college freshman and sophomore levels are sufferingfrom a combination of information overload and inadequate preparation forcollege coursework. Students who have recently immigrated to the UnitedStates or Canada are additionally burdened with the adjustment to their newculture. Yet college students must be prepared for the information analysisthat their education requires. So, what is a teacher to do?Some of us tend to ignore the students who can’t make it through ourclasses and teach to those who are bright enough or motivated enough tosucceed. We are tempted to give up on the students who don’t seem to becapable of learning the material or who are not really prepared for collegework. We may feel, and they may also feel, that they don’t belong in ourclasses.Other teachers recognize that our students are not prepared, but they arehere and the classroom could serve as a turning point in their lives. Ourapproach is generally to lower our expectations and standards, making thecourse material simple enough for the students to handle.Finally, some of us, frustrated by the dilemma, use some combination ofthe above teaching styles, often walking around in a state of denial,saddened or hardened by our inability to make as much of a difference aswe want to make.

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4The desire to reach under-prepared students was a major factor in thedecision to write this textbook and the accompanying materials. My dreamwas to use the text as a bridge between unpreparedness and college levellearning. This idea is expressed well by Richard Saul Wurman, author ofthe bookInformation Anxiety:How you organize your thoughts and the information you want to shareis a critical issue. There is a simplification movement that I believe isleading to the dumbing of America. It shouldn’t be simplification butclarification.Clarifying allows you to explain ideas of very high density and makethem easy to understand. The goal is not to simplify things, it’s to clarifythings. Clarification is what I’m interested in….The point is makingexamples and images that anyone can easily understand. Take the acrestory, for example. You can only understand the size of an acre relativeto something you know. If in school you’re asked on a test,‟How largeis an acre?” and you answered,‟About the size of a football field,”you’d flunk. But if you said it was 43,560 square feet, you'd get an‟A.”But one is understandable and the other one isn’t. And the one that’sunderstandable is not the one that gets you the‟A.”1As Wurman implies, it is important that textbooks are clear andunderstandable. When they are, the students who are under-prepared have agreater chance of achieving success. But it’s also important to have a usefultext for the bright, well-prepared students who sometimes have difficultyrelating an abstract concept to a practical reality, even when they canmemorize and produce the abstract concept on a test. The extent of thisproblem is described by Nobel prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman inhis book,Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!I often liked to play tricks on people when I was at MIT. One time, inmechanical drawing class, some joker picked up a French curve (a pieceof plastic for drawing smooth curves—a curly, funny-looking thing) andsaid,‟I wonder if the curves on this thing have some special formula?”I thought for a moment and said,‟Sure they do. The curves are veryspecial curves. Lemme show ya,” and I picked up my French curve andbegan to turn it slowly.‟The French curve is made so that at the lowestpoint on curve, no matter how you turn it, the tangent is horizontal.”All the guys in the class were holding their French curve up at differentangles, holding their pencil up to it at the lowest point and laying italong, and discovering that, sure enough, the tangent is horizontal. Theywere all excited by this‟discovery”—even though they had alreadygone through a certain amount of calculus and had already‟learned”that the derivative (tangent) of the minimum (lowest point) of any curveis zero (horizontal).1Richard Saul Wurman,Information Anxiety.

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5They didn’t put two and two together. They didn’t even know what they‟knew.”2Feynman’s point underscores the underlying assumption of this text:students are successful in a field of knowledge when they can put itsprinciples into practice and when they are led to see the practicalapplications of knowledge gained. To this end, each concept isexplained with examples, and the examples often proceed from thepersonal to the social and/or political, from the familiar to theunfamiliar. Each chapter has several journals, exercises, andassignments of this nature that can be given to the students as regular orextra credit work.Evaluation of students in a critical thinking courseThree basic means of evaluation are short writing and speakingassignments, longer writing and speaking assignments, and tests.Assignments are meant to keep students reading the chapter materialand prepared for class discussions. You might require that students turnin their assignments at the start of class, and tell them that theircompleted work is the‟ticket” to class. If assignments are notcompleted, students must go to the library to complete them, and takean absence and lower grade for that period.When students are held accountable for completing work throughoutthe semester, they are more likely to pass the course.Tests are available to be given after every unit and include bothobjective and essay questions. The objective questions give credit forreading the chapters and identifying basic concepts; the essay testsallow instructors to assess whether critical thinking skills are beingassimilated and used in a variety of contexts. You may want to combineseveral chapter tests together.2Richard Feynman,Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

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6Following is a sample course outline. It gives you a general idea of howyou might structure the weeks and fill in blanks for the journals andassignments that you choose. It also leaves room for comments on grading,special needs, and campus resources.Critical Thinking and PersuasionInstructor:Phone:Email:Office Hours:Welcome to Critical Thinking and Persuasion!The critical thinking classes are designed to help you become a strongthinker and advocate for your ideas. If you complete the assignments andpractice the skills taught, you will do well in the course. To do your best,you should read the required text and be prepared to discuss the material asit is presented in the assignments each week.Course DescriptionThis course will provide students with the opportunity to study theprinciples of reasoning and their application to the analysis and evaluationof social, political, and marketplace communication. They examine thestructure of argument, underlying assumptions, the quality of evidence usedto support claims, the use of language, the discovery of formal andinformal fallacies, and the effect of print and electronic media onargumentation. The critical thinking courses emphasize the integration ofcritical thinking principles with techniques of effective written and spokenargument.Course Objectives:•to understand and be able to evaluate the structure, content, and qualityof arguments•to be able to objectively analyze print and oral communication•to understand how critical thinking can be applied to decision-making indaily life•to be able to clearly communicate your positions about issues and tosupport your positions with solid evidenceStudent Learning Outcomes:•Students will gain ability to advocate for their ideas.•Students will be able to recognize methods by which consumers andvoters are persuaded.Text:Becoming A Critical Thinkerby Sherry Diestler, 7th edition

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7Methods:Individual and group exercises, readings, journals, studentoral presentations, exams, and essaysCommunication:You are welcome at all office hours, and appointments may also bearranged to accommodate your schedule.Readings, Assignments, and ActivitiesThe course assignments are outlined below. There will be weeklyactivities assigned that will develop understanding and engage use ofthe material in a meaningful way. All due dates are posted in theCanvas assignments.Week 1Reading: Chapter 1:Foundations of ArgumentsHomework:Create opinion statement or decision-analysisJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 2Reading:Continue Chapter 1 and begin Chapter 2Homework:Do any of the journal exercises oroutline the argument that you hear on a radioprogram, television program, Facebook or Twitterpost, blog, or editorial illustrating issues, reasons, andconclusions—extra credit for more than one example.Journal(s):Assignment(s):Week 3Reading: Chapter 2:Values and Ethicsand beginChapter 3Journal(s):Assignment(s):Week 4Reading:Chapter 3:Reality AssumptionsHomework: Choose any of the journal exercises fromChapter 3.Assignment(s):Quiz on Chapters 1–3.Week 5Reading:Chapter 4: Inductive ReasoningandChapter 10 PersuasiveSpeakingJournal(s):Assignment(s):

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8Week 6Reading:Chapter 5:Inductive Generalizationsandcontinue Chapter 10Journal(s):Assignment(s):Activities: Prepare outline for persuasive speech,using models from Chapter 10Quiz on Chapter 4, 5, and 10Week 7Reading:Chapter 6: Reasoning ErrorsJournal(s):Assignment(s):Bring 2 copies of outline for the persuasive speech.Week 8Reading:Chapter 7: The Power of LanguageJournal(s):Assignment(s):Quiz on Chapter 6Week 9Reading:Chapter 8: Suggestion in MediaJournal(s):Assignment(s):Quiz on Chapter 7Week 10Reading:Chapter 9: Fair-mindednessJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 11Reading: Review Chapters 6, 7, and 8 forCommunication Analysis PreparationPrepare for Communication Analysis presentationJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 12Reading: Chapters 8 and 9Quiz on Chapters 8 and 9Discussion: Persuasion through media. Persuasivetechniques used in print and broadcast journalism andin marketingJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 13Reading: Review for quiz on Chapters 8 and 9Communication analysis presentationJournal(s):Assignment(s):

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9Week 14Quiz on Chapters 8 and 9Reading:Review Chapters 1–5 for the finalDiscussion:Application of skills learned to home,student, and work lifeJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 15Reading:Review Chapters 1–5 for the finalJournal(s):Assignment(s):Week 16Final and Course evaluationCourse Policies and ProceduresEvaluationGrading is on a point system. The points for each activity are clearlydelineated on the grading sheet and the following scale is used todetermine the final grade.90%–100% = A60%–69%= D80%–89%= BBelow 60% = F70%–79%= CExtra Credit:Take advantage of the extra credit work to raise yourgrade! Extra credit work counts when the required work is complete.Extra exercises from the text, work with a tutor in the SpeechCommunication Lab, and commentaries on books, articles, televisionprograms, or films that relate to our course content all may be countedfor extra credit.Technical RequirementsThe required software for this class is Microsoft Office (word, ppt,etc.).Many instructional documents throughout the course will be providedin the PDF format, so please update your Adobe Reader to the currentversion. This software is free and can be downloaded from Adobe’swebsite athttp://get.adobe.com/reader/(Links to an external site.)Linksto an external site.Quizzes and ExamsAll chapter materialmay be on the quizzes.This implies that the beststrategy is to read the chapter before taking the tests.Quiz questions will be in multiple-choice, true/false, matching, andshort-answer format, and you will be given a review sheet to help youprepare.

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10Late AssignmentsPolicies are established in an effort to create a fair and equitablelearning context for all students. Before each graded presentation(except the final), a typed outline and bibliography, carefully proofread,will be submitted to the instructor by the assigned due date. Please feelfree to make note cards for your use when speaking. When using notecards, do not read your cards. Practice your speech so that you feelcomfortable looking at your audience and referencing the informationon the note cards when needed. Effective extemporaneous delivery(with or without notes) will be the goal for this course.Assignments not submitted by their due date will not be accepted unlessthere is documented communication between professor and student thatallows for a late submission. This class moves very quickly and it isimportant that you keep track of deadlines.Attendance/Drop Policy‟Check In”This class has a discussion board post that is required within the firstweek (the Introduction). This post is a‟check in” to see that you areable to navigate the course site and confirms your enrollment in thecourse. The‟check in” post asks you to introduce yourself to the class.Feel free to also share your experience with Canvas or similarcourseware. If you fail to post during the required time, the professorwill assume you are not planning to continue with the course and willdrop you from the course. If you are having technical difficulties thatpreclude you from posting during the required timeframe, please, emailthe professor regarding the problem.If you fail to complete assignments for the first two weeks of thecourse, then the professor will assume you do not want to continue withthe course and will drop you from the course. Once again, if this is notthe case, please, email the instructor with your situation.Student Code of Conduct and Nondiscrimination PolicyIt is extremely important that we follow the standards of behavior setforth by our college. Discriminatory behavior of any kind will not betolerated. Students are expected to be able to deal with the materialcovered in this class in a mature manner. Comments that demean or arederogatory to a person or a group of people will not betolerated. Students who engage in this behavior will be dropped fromthe class.Information regarding College Student Conduct Standards andDiscipline, and the College Student Nondiscrimination Policy isavailable in the College Catalog. If there is a breach of thiscollege/class policy, students may be referred to the collegeadministration for disciplinary action.Our college district is committed to equal opportunity in educationalprograms, employment, and campus life. The District does notdiscriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, gender,marital status, national origin, parental status, race, religion, sexual

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11orientation, or veteran status in any access to and treatment in Collegeprograms, activities, and application for employment.A Serious Note on PlagiarismA student found copying from unacknowledged sources is guilty of aserious academic offense, and is open to college disciplinaryprocedures. Always make sure that you properly acknowledge yoursources on any written assignments. All work you turn in must be yourown.An automatic‟F” grade will result from plagiarizing or cheatingon any work you submit for this course, and this includesexams/quizzes. Administrative authorities will also be appropriatelynotified according to the provisions of the College Student Code ofConduct. No further warnings will be given.Special Needs/Disabilities DSPS StatementCollege Resources/Links●Personal counseling—assists students with family, personal, orother social concerns●Crisis counseling—assists students in danger to themselves orothers●Wellness counseling—assists students with short-term therapeuticneeds

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12Note to instructors: it helps to tailor class introductions to specificissues that concern students (question #4 below); if you takenotes on how they answer the following questions, you may beable to advise them about persuasive speaking topics based ontheir stated interests.Critical Thinking Class IntroductionsInterview your partner about the following questions (you canadd your own questions too). You will be introducing eachother to the class.If time permits, check your notes with yourpartner and let him/her know what you are going to say. Onthe day of the presentations, you and your partner will stand infront of the class and take turns introducing each other to theclass.1.Name (as you would like to be called).2.Major (or possible major).3.Why are you taking this class, besides as a requirement;or, what do you hope to get out of this class?4.What is a problem you notice in your environment—atwork, school, or in the community?5.What are two interesting facts about you—that is,what doyou like to do in your spare time, what jobs have you had ordo you have, how big is your family, do you have children,have you traveled to any interesting places?6.Add anything else about your partner that will help us to getto know him or her.

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14Divisions used for each chapter1.Learning Objectives for the chapter2.Using interactive exercises, journals, and assignments from the text3.Supplemental assignments and exercise ideasChapter l1.Learning objectives for this chapterChapter 1 is foundational to the rest of the text. If students can gain aclear understanding of the basic elements of argument, all of the morecomplex concepts in the following chapters will be easier to grasp.Students should finish this chapter with a clear understanding that:A.There are basic critical thinking skills that are essential to theprocess of individual and group decision-making aboutpersonal, social, professional, local, national, and internationalissues. These basic skills are listed at the beginning of Chapter1 and covered throughout the text.B.An argument consists of 3 parts: the issue underdiscussion, the conclusions (positions, stands) taken onthe issue, and the reasons which support theconclusion.Note: The word conclusion is used differently in formal logic, essayand speech writing, and argumentation. Most people who teachargumentation use our definition. It helps to clarify the difference forstudents who may be given different definitions in other courses.C.Argument does not necessarily mean quarrel or fight. The ideal ofargument is to achieve greater understanding of issues based onsolid information. Decisions about policies are then made morethoughtfully and skillfully. Some of the misconceptions aboutargument are presented on pages 3 and 4D.An argument is often presented as a conclusion followed byreasoning. Decisions, on the other hand, are often made byconsidering reasons first and then coming to conclusions. The on-line dialogue on pages 11 and 12 illustrates this principle.

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15Learning Objectives for this ChapterIn this chapter, students will learn to1.1Apply the basic structure of argument1.2Outline a decision process using the decision-making method2.Using exercises from the textAll of the exercises from this chapter can be done in class or assignedas homework. Many instructors have found it helpful to discuss theexercises from this chapter in class.Exercise 1.1.1 :Identify Issues Related to a TopicStudents are given an example topic with related issues. They are theninstructed to come up with a factual issue, a value issue, and a policyissue for 3 more topics. You can have the students do this exercise asa group or assign it as individual homework. It could also be done as a‟think, pair, share” exercise in which students first work on their ownanswers (in class or at home), the pair up with a partner to discusstheir answers, and then share out to the class. Students could extendthis exercise by brainstorming other controversial issues occurring intheir local or global community.Journal: Staying on TrackAssume you are a moderator for a campus panel on whether extremehazing in university fraternities should be outlawed. In response toyour question on whether the proposed bans on types of hazing wouldbe effective, one panelist says, “I believe there is too much underagedrinking in fraternity houses.” How could you respond to keep thetopic back on track?Comments on Journal:Staying on TrackThis journal gives an example of a panelist going off topic and asksthe student to respond to keep the topic on track. You may wish tocollect individual responses or have students share their responses.Journal: Finding the Issue and ConclusionConsider this short speech, and identify the issue and the conclusion(position, stand) of the speaker.“A high-speed rail would be useful to travelers, but I think thedisadvantages outweigh the advantages at this point. Buildingthe rail would cost billions of dollars of taxpayer money, andthere are just more important needs for funding in our stateright now.”

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16Comments on Journal: Finding the Issue and ConclusionFor discussions of arguments in the chapter, such as the shortargument on a proposed high-speed rail or for discussions ofeditorials or articles on current local, national, or internationalissues you give them, you can do the following:Students can be first put in groups (4 is an ideal number for aclassroom or online group) and asked to talk about one of thearguments. Then they can choose a spokesperson to present theirfindings with the larger class. If there are disagreements withanother group’s findings, these can be discussed and clarified by theinstructor.In this excerpt on the high-speed rail, reasons are given to supportthe conclusion. Ask students to differentiate the conclusion fromthe reasons.After the conclusions and reasons of the writers are discussed, studentscan say whether they thought some important reasons were left out.For other arguments that you or the students hear, they can discusswhich arguments were better supported and more convincing.These exercises provide a good opportunity for the instructor toemphasize the need to support arguments with credible reasons. It isalso a good time to emphasize that arguments are part of our dailylives, in the personal and social arenas, in sports, in the arts, inpolitics, and at work. Clarifying our different opinions is an importanthuman pursuit.Journal: Weighing Reasons to Make a DecisionTry to list the reasons to go and the reasons not to go that the friendscame up with before making their decision. Note that even routinedaily decisions involve the process of weighing pros and cons(reasons) in order to come to a conclusion. Think of a recent“argument” you had with someone. What reasons did the other personstate to back up his or her conclusion, and what reasons did you giveto support your conclusion?Comments on Journal:Weighing Reasons to Make a DecisionThe video preceding this journal shows two friends making a decisionabout whether or not to go to a water park. You can have the studentsanalyze it on their own as homework or discuss it in pairs or as agroup. They should understand that sometimes looking at reasons forand against an action precedes the conclusion, that is, the conclusionor decision is based on the reasons given.

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