Group items tagged

"Working at the intersection of psychology and economics, Weber is an expert on behavioral models of judgment and decision making under risk and uncertainty. Recently, she has been investigating psychologically appropriate ways to measure and model individual and cultural differences in risk taking, specifically in risky financial situations and environmental issues. She describes her research as follows: "I try to gain an understanding and appreciation of decision making at a broad range of levels of analysis, which is not easy, given that each level requires different theories, methods and tools. So at the micro end of the continuum, I study how basic psychological processes like attention, emotion and memory (and their representation in the brain) influence preference and choice. At the macro end of the continuum, I think about how policy makers may want to present policy initiatives to the public to make them maximally effective. This range of topics and methods is challenging, but at least in my mind the different levels of analysis inform and complement each other." "

"Welcome to ProCon.org. We promote critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting research on controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, and primarily pro-con format. Our websites are free, unbiased, and updated periodically. ProCon.org is an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity."

"Critical Thinking Challenge: Join the WikiLeaks Debate By Breanne Harris on December 9, 2010 First question: Were you scared to click on this leak? According to a State Official speaking to students at Columbia University, you should be! An email sent to students from the University of Career Services center, said you should avoid linking to or commenting on anything regarding WikiLeaks if you ever plan to apply for a job in the federal government. The WikiLeaks scandal continues to dominate headlines and create a great opportunity for a critical thinking debate. Much like our Open Debate on TSA Policies, we'd like to open a debate on this issues surrounding the WikiLeaks issue."

"Information Literacy Print Access and Evaluate Information * Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources) * Evaluate information critically and competently Use and Manage Information * Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand * Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources * Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information"

3rd World Farmer is a new kind of game. An experiment in the genre of Serious Games, it simulates some of the real-world mechanisms that cause and sustain poverty in 3rd World countries. In the game, the player gets to manage an African farm and is soon confronted with the difficult choices that poverty and conflict can cause. As a farm and family management game it has an emotional impact on many players because usually these types of games play out in much easier settings, where it's always possible to prosper by playing cleverly and making the right game choices. It's not always like that in 3rd World Farmer. Just like real people are dying from starvation in desperate situations that they never asked to be put in, all it takes for things to go wrong in this game is one bad harvest, an unfortunate encounter with corrupt officials, a raid by guerillas, a civil war, a sudden fluctuation in market prices, or any of the many other game events, that might never happen to families in industrialized countries. By letting players experience this - albeit in a harmless, fictional setting - we hope to open their eyes to the problems and to motivate them to make positive social change. Our aim is to have everybody play the game, reflect, discuss and act on it. The game is a great starting point for discussions of 3rd World issues, so we encourage teachers to use it in class.

About EFF From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990-well before the Internet was on most people's radar-and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

"What is it? Here's an article by BIE, updated from its original appearance in the September 2010 issue of Educational Leadership magazine from ASCD. Good for general audiences as well as educators, it explains the essential elements that make rigorous PBL different from "doing projects." Why do we like it? This article was written because some teachers say they "do projects" already (so why learn more about PBL) and some educators and members of the general public may have negative stereotypes of PBL as merely a "fun" or "hands-on" activity. How can you use it? Share this article with anyone, from teachers to parents to administrators, to explain PBL and provide a common framework for projects. The 8 Essential Elements are the basis of BIE's Project Design Rubric and PBL 101 Workshop."

"Professor Michael Eisenberg Talks Critical Thinking Today Betsynote: I first ran into Professor Michael Eisenberg last fall when he was introduced to me by multiple folks - the MacArthur Foundation, local Seattle educators, and the NCCE conference organizers. When I chatted with him in his office (yes, I got lost, even though it was Mary Gates Hall as a landmark) I realized he had a long history of working with Internet literacy and critical thinking, and his pro-library/reference stance provided another insight into the discussion. He has his hand in many projects - university academia, educational research, his own company that creates educational resources, and a startup. Here's what he has to say on various issues around search and critical thinking…. Tell us a little about yourself and what you do now. I am currently Professor at the Information School of the University of Washington. I am the founding dean of the School, having stepped aside in 2006. I keep pretty busy these days-teaching (grads and undergrads); being principal investigator on 2 funded research projects - Project Information Literacy (funded by ProQuest and MacArthur), a large-scale study of the information habits of college students and Virtual Information Behavior Environments (funded by the MacArthur Foundation), studying information problem-solving in virtual worlds; giving numerous workshops and keynote presentations on information literacy, technology, and the information field; advising a number of doctoral students; and hanging out with my family, especially my 2 grandkids - ages 5 and 7."

"Twitter Literacy (I refuse to make up a Twittery name for it) Post-Oprah and apres-Ashton, Twittermania is definitely sliding down the backlash slope of the hype cycle. It's not just the predictable wave of naysaying after the predictable waves of sliced-breadism and bandwagon-chasing. We're beginning to see some data. Nielsen, the same people who do TV ratings, recently noted that more than 60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month. To me, this represents a perfect example of a media literacy issue: Twitter is one of a growing breed of part-technological, part-social communication media that require some skills to use productively. Sure, Twitter is banal and trivial, full of self-promotion and outright spam. So is the Internet. The difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of time or as a powerful new community amplifier depends entirely on how you look at it - on knowing how to look at it. "

Using twitter effectively is a critical thinking skill. Howard describes this in detail.

Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email Bookmark Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis? ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) - As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles. See also: Mind & Brain Intelligence Educational Psychology Computers & Math Video Games Computer Graphics Science & Society Popular Culture Educational Policy Reference Computing power everywhere Webcast Computer-generated imagery Aptitude Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science. Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said. How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion? "No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops." S

Offers definitions of critical thinking and links to quality resources on topics such as argument mapping, assessment, cognitive biases, critical reading and writing, experts and expertise. (this resource was identified in Microsoft's "Developing Critical Thinking Through Web Research skills") Top Ten 1. Argument Mapping Tutorials. Six online tutorials in argument mapping, a core requirement for advanced critical thinking. 2. The Skeptic's Dictionary - over 400 definitions and essays. 3. The Fallacy Files by Gary Curtis. Best website on fallacies. 4. Butterflies and Wheels. Excellent reading - news, articles, and much more. 5. Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts by Peter Facione. Good overview of the nature of critical thinking. (pdf file) 6. Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion by John Stuart Mill. Classic chapter, densely packed with wisdom about thinking. 7. Chance - best resource for helping students think critically about issues involving probability and statistics 8. Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, by Richards Heuer. A good overview of how to improve thinking in the light of insights from cognitive psychology. 9. A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays by Ian Johnston 10. Baloney Detection Part 1 and Part 2 - by Michael Shermer. 10 step guide.

"Neil Postman's classic essay Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection. Contains a handy taxonomy of forms of bullshit, and some useful "laws" such as: Almost nothing is about what you think it is about-including you.""