For Freshman Orientation or Critical Thinking courses as well as a supplementary text for use in any subject-matter at any educational level. This concise, effective guide is designed to help students learn to think critically in any subject-matter.
Learning to Think Things Through presents a combination of instruction and exercises that shows the reader how to becomeactive learners rather than passive recipients of information, use critical thinking to more fully appreciate the power of the discipline they are studying, to see its connections to other fields and to their day-to-day lives, and to maintain an overview of the field so they can see the parts in terms of the whole. The model of critical thinking (used throughout the book) is in terms of theelements of reasoning, standards, and critical thinking processes. This model is well-suited to thinking throughany problem or question. The 4th edition reflects streamlined writing, with changes and substantial edits on virtually every page.
NOTE: This is the standalone book, if you want the book/access card order the ISBN below:
0134019466 / 9780134019468 Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum Plus NEW MyStudentSuccessLab Update -- Access Card Package
Package consists of:
0133939243 / 9780133939248 MyStudentSuccessLab -- Glue in Access Card
0133939251 / 9780133939255 MyStudentSuccessLab -- Inside Star Sticker
0137085141 / 9780137085149 Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum
(NOTE: Each chapter concludes with a Some Outcomes section and
Exercises.)
1. What Is Critical Thinking?
Some Definitions of Critical Thinking. Some Prominent Features of Critical
Thinking. Three Parts of Critical Thinking. What Critical Thinking Is Not.
Impediments to Critical Thinking. Deeper, More Pervasive Impediments to
Critical Thinking. How Deep Is Our Need for Critical Thinking? The Experience
of Learning to Think Things Through. An Overview of the Book That Lies Ahead.
2. The Elements of Reasoning.
The Nuts and Bolts of Critical Thinking. The Elements of Reasoning. Three
Additional Elements of Reasoning. How to Analyze a Piece of Reasoning Using
the Elements. Example: Thinking Through the Logic of Getting Married.
Trusting the Process.
3. What Is Critical Thinking Within a Field or Discipline?
The Parts of Critical Thinking Within a Field. Thinking Biologically,
Thinking Sociologically, Thinking Philosophically, Thinking Musically The
Logic of the Field or Discipline. Learning the Vocabulary of the Discipline.
Fundamental and Powerful Concepts. The Central Question of the Course as a
Whole. The Point of View of the Discipline. Impediments to Thinking
Critically Within a Discipline. Trusting the Discipline.
4. Standards of Critical Thinking.
Clearness. Accuracy. Importance, Relevance. Sufficiency. Depth and Breadth.
Precision. Understanding and Internalizing Critical-Thinking Standards.
Additional Critical-Thinking Standards. Non-Critical-Thinking Standards.
Evaluating Around the Circle. A Note on Reading as a Critical-Thinking
Process.
5. Putting It All Together: Answering Critical-Thinking Questions.
The Core Process of Critical Thinking. How Do You Fit into the Picture:
Becoming a Critical Thinker. Thinking Through Important Critical-Thinking
Questions.
Responses to Starred Exercises.
Notes.
Index.
Dr. Gerald Nosich is a Professor at the University of New Orleans. He has given more than 150 national and international workshops on all aspects of teaching for critical thinking. He's also worked for the U.S. Department of Education on a project for a National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills, served as the Assistant Director at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University, and been featured as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia.
On a more personal note, he has at times exercised and not exercised good judgment: he has ridden a motorcycle to Baghdad (and to Ur of the Chaldees, the birthplace of Abraham); he has worked as an immigrant ditch-digger in Switzerland; been imprisoned by Communist authorities in Czechoslovakia; stowed away on a Sicilian ship to Algeria; sailed up the Nile with his family in a felucca; and lived with Maasai warriors in central Africa and in a Yurt in Mongolia. He currently lives in New Orleans with his son.
