RHE's home page draft Robert H. Ennis' Academic Web Site This site was last edited September 6, 2011. My academic interests lie primarily in the areas, critical thinking, philosophy of science, (especially causality), and analysis of educational concepts. 1. Critical Thinking Definition: Critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. 2. 3. A comprehensive record of my academic activities and publications (c.v.) is available. Addresses: Email: rhennis@illinois.edu Postal: 3904 Trentwood Place, Sarasota, FL 34243 USA
25 Beautifully Illustrated Thought-Provoking Questions « CHERYL & LESLIE'S MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES Since I have embarked in to a new career after 13 years working as a Clinical Social Worker in an Intensive Care Unit, I am forced to think about things other than motorcycles. My new career, Organ Donation Coordinator in a hospital makes me question so many things in my life. It is scary to go from a job where I was unconsciously competent to a job that I am consciously incompetent. We are interested to hear answers to some of the questions….please feel free to post any comments and let us all know how folks would answer these. ;-) Thanks. Posted by Alexander on Sept 8, 20 A question that makes you think is worth asking… At the cusp of a new day, week, month, or year, most of us take a little time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future. Remember, these questions have no right or wrong answers. Here’s a sample of 25 recent thought questions posted on the site: Few extra questions Like this: Like Loading... Don’t Ride Like a Bitch In "Education" In "BC"
How to learn to concentrate | Brainframe I wish I had a pound for every parent who said “If only he would just learn to concentrate.” It’s a comment that appears frequently and seems to be at the root of all learning. The fact that “my child can’t concentrate” is blamed for all the problems. There have been studies involving diet, exercise and a number of other factors. Some are ignored, some end up as a daily pill. For most of us the major cause of lack of concentration can boil down to environment and expectation. It seems obvious to turn off the TV in order to aid concentration. There are few jobs that require absolute concentration. How can we then expect our children to concentrate? I’m not suggesting that every subject is contained in 10 minute blocks but the ability to concentrate is learned over a period of time. Sometimes it seems that “thoroughness” has been overtaken by “learning objectives.” That confidence leads to increased concentration. Small steps each day can lead to giant leaps.
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Logic 10 Painfully Obvious Truths Everyone Forgets Too Soon | Live Learn Evolve Reading Time: 6 minutes You know how you can hear something a hundred times in a hundred different ways before it finally gets through to you? The ten truths listed below fall firmly into that category – life lessons that many of us likely learned years ago, and have been reminded of ever since, but for whatever reason, haven’t fully grasped. This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all… We know deep down that life is short, and that death will happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it happens to someone we know. LIVE your life TODAY! Your life is yours alone. Remember, it’s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than the top of the one you don’t. And if life only teaches you one thing, let it be that taking a passionate leap is always worth it. Busyness isn’t a virtue, nor is it something to respect. Being busy rarely equates to productivity these days.
Critical Thinking Learning Models Analyzing and Assessing Thinking In this section, we offer an interactive model which details the analysis and assessment of reasoning, and enables you to apply the model to real life problems. On this page we introduce the analysis and assessment of reasoning. To skip this introduction and go directly to the model, see the links near the bottom of this page. Why the Analysis of Thinking Is Important Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced. All Thinking Is Defined by the Eight Elements That Make It Up Eight basic structures are present in all thinking: Whenever we think, we think for a purpose within a point of view based on assumptions leading to implications and consequences. Each of these structures has implications for the others. These pages are self-guided and self paced, allowing you to move back and forth between the elements and standards.
Mind-Blowing Story: “Talking to God…” I met god the other day. I know what you’re thinking. How the hell did you know it was god? Well, I’ll explain as we go along, but basically he convinced me by having all, and I do mean ALL, the answers. Which is odd, because I’m still an atheist and we even agree on that! It all started on the 8.20 back from Paddington. What did he look like? Well not what you might have expected that’s for sure. ‘Anyone sitting here?’ ‘Help yourself’ I replied. Sits down, relaxes, I ignore and back to the correspondence on genetic foods entering the food chain… Train pulls out and a few minutes later he speaks. ‘Can I ask you a question?’ Fighting to restrain my left eyebrow I replied ‘Yes’ in a tone which was intended to convey that I might not mind one question, and possibly a supplementary, but I really wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. .. ‘Why don’t you believe in god?’ The Bastard! I love this kind of conversation and can rabbit on for hours about the nonsense of theist beliefs. ‘Who am I?’ ‘Stottle.
Clive Thompson on Why Kids Can’t Search | Magazine Illustration: Tymn Armstrong We’re often told that young people tend to be the most tech-savvy among us. But just how savvy are they? But Pan pulled a trick: He changed the order of the results for some students. Other studies have found the same thing: High school and college students may be “digital natives,” but they’re wretched at searching. Who’s to blame? Consider the efforts of Frances Harris, librarian at the magnet University Laboratory High School in Urbana, Illinois. But, crucially, she also trains students to assess the credibility of what they find online. “I see them start to get really paranoid,” Harris says. One can imagine even more entertaining ways to help kids grok the intricacies of the search world. Mind you, mastering “crap detection 101,” as digital guru Howard Rheingold dubs it, isn’t easy. In other words, Google makes broad-based knowledge more important, not less. Email clive@clivethompson.net.