Argument Mapping Argument mapping is producing "boxes and arrows" diagrams of reasoning, especially complex arguments and debates. Argument mapping improves our ability to articulate, comprehend and communicate reasoning, thereby promoting critical thinking. Argument Mapping Tutorials from AusthinkArgument mapping is using graphical methods to display the structure of reasoning and argumentation. The technique is essential for advanced critical thinking. Can Computers Think? Robert Horn Website of one of the pioneers of argument mapping. Austhink Argument MappingArgument mapping page at the website of the Austhink, leaders in the application of argument mapping in education and in professional contexts. Visualizing Argumentation: Software Tools for Collaborative and Educational Sense-Making by Paul A. Dialog Mapping page of CogNexus InstituteDialog is a close cousin of argument mapping. Essays Discussion of the use of argument maps in teaching philosophy in the online journal Psyche. Software Reason! Online
The Periodic Table of the Figures of Speech: 40 Ways to Improve Your Writing At the root of all good writing lies an understanding of how sentences are built. In kindergarten, we learn the fundamentals of grammar and the basic concepts of how sentences are constructed. For most of our elementary and secondary training in writing, we are taught simply to improve those grammatical and mechanical skills. A good writer, however, understands the complexities and rhetorical effects of how modifying sentence structure (known as sentence “schemes”) improves the flow, interest, and even persuasive qualities of their writing. They also have a firm understanding of the many “tropes” (things like metaphors and similes and ironies) and how the inclusion of them can improve reader engagement, understanding, and overall appeal and effectiveness of their writing. If you can master these forty basic figures of speech in the periodic table below (broken down by category within the schemes and tropes), you’ll be on your way to becoming a fantastic writer. Related Graphics
Food poisoning bacterium may cause Multiple Sclerosis Animal study indicates that a type of food poisoning bacterium known as Clostridium perfringens can develop Multiple Sclerosis damage in the brain. Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in the United States, through lab tests in mice, found that a toxin made by a rare strain of C. perfringens is responsible for MS-like damage. While the exact cause of Multiple sclerosis (MS) has not been identified yet, mixture of genetic and environmental factors seems to play significant role in this neurological disease. MS is an inflammatory disease which sees the body’s immune system attack how nerves transmit signals to the rest of the body. C. perfringens, which is found in soil and contaminated undercooked meat, comes in different strains and a particular strain of the bacterium, Type B produces a toxin that can move through blood and enter the brain, according to the study report published in PLoS ONE. Source Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast) Related Posts
The Danger of a Single Story Study this list of rhetorical devices and answer the fourth question in the "Think" section. Watch these recommended TED-Ed LessonsWho built Great Zimbabwe? And why? The history of African-American social danceWhy do we dance? Additional referencesHalf of a Yellow Sun - AmazonIn Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novelHalf of a Yellow Sun has helped inspire new, cross-generational communication about the Biafran war. To read more about the dangers of a single story and Adichie's work. check out this article. To learn more about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, check out her other TEDxTalks called, "We should all be feminists."
Carmen Boulter's "The Pyramid Code" [5 parts] The Pyramid Code is a fascinating new five-part series that explores the pyramid fields and temples in Egypt and megalithic sites around the world, looking for clues to sophisticated technology in the ancient world. The series is based on the extensive research done in Egypt and around the world by Dr. Carmen Boulter of the University of Calgary. The Pyramid Code is a fascinating new five-part series that explores the pyramid fields and temples in Egypt and megalithic sites around the world, looking for clues to sophisticated technology in the ancient world. How to Teach Critical Thinking Robert H. Ennis, rhennis@illinois.edu The actual teaching of critical thinking is a function of many situation-specific factors: teacher style, teacher interest, teacher knowledge and understanding, class size, cultural and community backgrounds and expectations, student expectations and backgrounds, colleagues’ expectations, recent local events, the amount of time available to teachers after they have done all the other things they have to do, and teacher grasp of critical thinking, to name some major factors. I here suggest some general strategies and tactics gleaned from years of experience, research, and others’ suggestions. They are guidelines and must be adjusted to fit the actual situation. Underlying Strategies (The three underlying strategies are “Reflection, Reasons, Alternatives” (RRA): 1. 2. 3. Fundamental Strategies 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Tactics 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Mid-level Strategies 21. Be patient, but show that you are interested in their thoughts.
Logical Fallacies "Dark Matter Might Not Exist" (Weekend Feature) In 2009, Zhao led An international team of astronomers that found an unexpected link between 'dark matter' and the visible stars and gas in galaxies that could revolutionize our current understanding of gravity. Zhao suggested that an unknown force is acting on dark matter. The team believes that the interactions between dark and ordinary matter could be more important and more complex than previously thought, and even speculate that dark matter might not exist and that the anomalous motions of stars in galaxies are due to a modification of gravity on extragalactic scales. "The dark matter seems to 'know' how the visible matter is distributed. They seem to conspire with each other such that the gravity of the visible matter at the characteristic radius of the dark halo is always the same," said Dr. Benoit Famaey (Universities of Bonn and Strasbourg). "The pattern that the data reveal is extremely odd. Lead researcher Dr. To Verlinde, gravity is similar. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
Critical Thinking Model 1 To Analyze Thinking We Must Identify and Question its Elemental Structures Standard: Clarityunderstandable, the meaning can be grasped Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Standard: Accuracyfree from errors or distortions, true How could we check on that? Standard: Precisionexact to the necessary level of detail Could you be more specific? Standard: Relevancerelating to the matter at hand How does that relate to the problem? Standard: Depthcontaining complexities and multiple interrelationships What factors make this a difficult problem? Standard: Breadthencompassing multiple viewpoints Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Standard: Logicthe parts make sense together, no contradictions Does all this make sense together? Standard: Significancefocusing on the important, not trivial Is this the most important problem to consider? Standard: FairnessJustifiable, not self-serving or one-sided Do I have any vested interest in this issue? Think About... Gather...
How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses | Wired Business He started by telling them that there were kids in other parts of the world who could memorize pi to hundreds of decimal points. They could write symphonies and build robots and airplanes. Most people wouldn't think that the students at José Urbina López could do those kinds of things. Kids just across the border in Brownsville, Texas, had laptops, high-speed Internet, and tutoring, while in Matamoros the students had intermittent electricity, few computers, limited Internet, and sometimes not enough to eat. "But you do have one thing that makes you the equal of any kid in the world," Juárez Correa said. He looked around the room. Paloma was silent, waiting to be told what to do. "So," Juárez Correa said, "what do you want to learn?" In 1999, Sugata Mitra was chief scientist at a company in New Delhi that trains software developers. Over the years, Mitra got more ambitious. Over the next 75 days, the children worked out how to use the computer and began to learn.
5 tips to improve your critical thinking - Samantha Agoos History of Critical Thinking “The intellectual roots of critical thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable, ultimately, to the teaching practice and vision of Socrates 2,500 years ago who discovered by a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge. Confused meanings, inadequate evidence, or self-contradictory beliefs often lurked beneath smooth but largely empty rhetoric.” “He [Socrates] established the importance of seeking evidence, closely examining reasoning and assumptions, analyzing basic concepts, and tracing out implications not only of what is said but of what is done as well. His method of questioning is now known as "Socratic Questioning" and is the best known critical thinking teaching strategy. In his mode of questioning, Socrates highlighted the need in thinking for clarity and logical consistency.” More on critical thinking through the ages is available here. 1.
8 math talks to blow your mind Mathematics gets down to work in these talks, breathing life and logic into everyday problems. Prepare for math puzzlers both solved and unsolvable, and even some still waiting for solutions. Ron Eglash: The fractals at the heart of African designs When Ron Eglash first saw an aerial photo of an African village, he couldn’t rest until he knew — were the fractals in the layout of the village a coincidence, or were the forces of mathematics and culture colliding in unexpected ways? Here, he tells of his travels around the continent in search of an answer. How big is infinity? Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic” A whole team of calculators is no match for Arthur Benjamin, as he does astounding mental math in the blink of an eye. Scott Rickard: The beautiful math behind the ugliest music What makes a piece of music beautiful? Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness The world is based on roughness, explains legendary mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot.
Evidence that shivering and exercise may convert white fat to brown Related images(click to enlarge) Photograph courtesy of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research Image supplied by Dr. Paul Lee A new study suggests that shivering and bouts of moderate exercise are equally capable of stimulating the conversion of energy-storing 'white fat' into energy-burning 'brown fat'. Endocrinologist Dr Paul Lee, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, recently undertook the study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington, funded as an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow. His work uncovered a way that fat and muscle communicate with each other through specific hormones -- turning white fat cells into brown fat cells to protect us against cold. Dr Lee showed that during cold exposure and exercise, levels of the hormone irisin (produced by muscle) and FGF21 (produced by brown fat) rose. We are all born with supplies of brown fat around our necks, nature's way of helping to keep us warm as infants. Source: Garvan Institute of Medical Research
How to Cite Sources in a Speech » Pretty Good Speech.com Citing a source in a paper is easy. I come from an APA background, so all I have to do is quote some journal article or book and write: “(Woods, 2009).” But, saying that in a speech wouldn’t exactly flow: “Open parenthesis Woods two thousand nine page seven closed parenthesis” just sounds weird and takes too long to say. There must be a way. So, what can you do? A Sore Cite – What Not to Do First, let’s discuss some solutions that just don’t work. Leaving citations out– The classic move of ignoring the problem only magnifies the problem. Citing sources at the end– A simple solution to the problem above: put the sources at the end! That leaves us where we started: what can you do? A Cite for Sore Eyes or Ears Believe it or not, you can cite a source without disrupting the flow. “Mark Woods, author of ‘How to Prepare a Pretty Good Speech,’ states that…” If you quote this author again, simply say: “According to Woods…” Of course, the audience may wonder where in the book you got that quote.