Thinking Critically

Syllabus

Class time and location:

12:00 - 12:50 MWF: C-230 (Classroom building)

Instructor information

Roger Rigterink

Office hours: 9 - 10 MWF - C-208 (Classroom building)

Home page: http://www.fdl.uwc.edu/faculty/rrigteri

e-mail addresses: roger.rigterink@uwc.edu (office) ; rrigteri@vbe.com (home)

 

Weeks #1-#4 (Sept. 3 - 24)

 Memory: The Acquisition, Retention, and Retrieval of Knowledge

(Halpern, Chapter 2)

The Relationship Between Thought and Language

(Halpern, Chapter 3)

Evaluating the Strength of Arguments

(Halpern, Chapter 5)

TEST (Take home - September 24)

Weeks 5 -12 - Inductive logic for the 21st Century

Week #5 (Sept. 27 - Oct. 1)

Measurement

The Effects of Bias

Reporting on a Measurement

Week #6 (Oct. 4 - 8)

Determining Probabilities

The Basic Rules of Probability

The Multiplication Rule Redux

Week #7 (Oct. 11 - 15)

Open date

The Addition Rule Revisited

The Expected Value of a Bet

Week #8 (Oct. 18 - 22)

Completion of section

TEST (In class - Oct. 20)

Surveys

Week #9 (Oct. 25 - 29)

Distributions

Randomness

Reporting Results with Confidence

Week #10 (Nov. 1 - 5)

Selecting a Sample

Getting Good Results

Correlations

 Week #11 (Nov. 8 - 12)

Testing for Causation

Prospective Design Studies

Completion of section 

Week #12

TEST (In class - Nov. 15)

Weeks 12 - 16 ((Nov. 17 - Dec. 13)

Decision Making

(Halpern, Chapter 8)

Development of Problem-Solving Skills

(Halpern, Chapter 9)

Creative Thinking

(Halpern, Chapter 10)

TEST (Take home - due Dec. 17)