| Gravitas |
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Soliloquy
in pursuit of well-tempered thought
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| Miscellaneous
articles relevant to critical thinking, and the commentary by Hunter
Finch
pertaining to those articles, are examples of aggregated news in the
blogosphere,
which in this case have mostly been posted to the "Critical Thinking in
the News" section of the Foundation for Critical Thinking website
(criticalthinking.org).
It is the FCT's mission to foster critical thinking throughout all
domains
and disciplines of inquiry, discourse and learning in our social
institutions. Leading
research
suggests, and many leading educators believe, critical thinking will
become
a dominant |
force in the world
only when,
and to the extent that, critical societies emerge. Critical societies
are
those for whom fair-minded critical thinking is a social value and thus
routinely cultivated in all citizens and respected in all social
practices.
One contributes to the emergence of critical thought as a social value
by making changes consistent with the integral concepts, standards and
best practices of critical thinking across all domains and disciplines
in one’s daily life. Intellectual integrity arrived at through open,
accurate,
clear, precise, fair and independent thought processes is at the very
core
of a well |
tempered
mind. It is also at the core of the values and character in a critical
society. As media are reflections of our collective values and
character,
they are also potentially significant in helping us shape and alter our
individual views. Thus, a running index to some of the news, discourse
and critique that contextualizes critical thinking in media as they
alter
and illuminate our times follows. Articles and commentary are of mixed
quality and significance and we leave it to the reader to assess them.
###
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Athiests
Put Less Value on Love Than Believers: Study
National Post -- October 10, 2007
by Charles Lewis
Don
Mills, ON — "A new
Canadian survey has found that believers are
more likely than atheists to place a higher value on love, patience and
friendship, in findings the researcher says could be a warning that
Canadians
need a religious basis to retain civility in society ... The survey of
1,600
Canadian adults, led by University of Lethbridge professor Reginald
Bibby, gave
a list of 12 values - from honesty to family life to politeness to
generosity -
and asked the participants if they found each 'very important.' In each
case,
theists ranked the values as more important than atheists ... The
reason for
this, suggests Prof. Bibby, a prominent sociologist, is that those who
are
involved with religious groups are being exposed to a whole range of
values
that are not being propagated well by any other major source. 'To the
extent
that people are not involved in religious groups ... they're not being
exposed
to those interpersonal values and they're simply not holding them as
strongly,'
Prof. Bibby said in an interview ... Justin Trottier, executive
director of the
Centre for Inquiry Ontario, a Toronto-based atheist group, thinks the
problem
with Prof. Bibby's survey is with the definition of values. He said the
categories in the survey fit in the mould of the Ten Commandments, so a
religious person's enthusiastic response to them is not surprising
...'To me,
scientific thinking is a value. Critical thinking is a value. Open
inquiry is
my biggest value,' said Mr. Trottier. 'If he made those values - the
way
atheists would - he would have gotten different responses' ... He said
that
people should be judged by their actions, not by how they respond to
survey
questions. A person can claim to be any number of things but the proof
is in
the pudding. He said his own group, for example, has a sobriety support
group,
and that many nations that are highly secular do a better job of taking
care of
their poor than religious ones." -- Read
the Full Article
Commentary
by
Hunter Finch
The
language and concepts
we use to communicate are significantly skewed and, thus,
defined by our cultural and contextual surroundings. So,
when ambiguous, unclear, "fuzzy" or vague language and
concepts are used in research, they can, and generally do, skew or
cloud
the clarity. accuracy, precision, relevance, and significance of the
data
collected. For example, words like religion, honesty,
patience,
politeness,
friendship and god each have several very
abstract definitions "Love" is a singular universal
term with many discretely different definitions and nuances based upon
a number
of discretely different historical and philosophical
concepts. Even
the word, "atheist," has a number of meanings,
which frequently appear to contradict each other. Is an
atheist
someone who doesn't believe in god, or someone who does believe
there is
no "god," or someone who can't understand, much less believe or
love, a concept too fuzzy to get a good grip on unless and until
there's
"living, breathing proof?" Conversely, is a believer someone who
totally accepts a concept of a specific kind of
deity — absolutely,
unconditionally, without any reservations or conclusive evidence
— yet
with one huge drop-dead leap of faith, or is a believer someone who
tenaciously
embraces a working concept of god tentatively if and until the
proof of
concept is later revealed? Or, is a believer someone who studies,
follows, and
practices the teachings of a religious tradition with fundamental
doubts (God
bless Mother Teresa for courageously sharing with us her doubts!)?
And,
whatever happened to agnostic skepticism, the concept of withholding
judgment
on essential questions until conclusive answers can be
found? Aren't our
attempts to prove non-existence identical to those which attempt to
prove the
existence of god? Critical thinkers are likely to recognize the
answer lies somewhere in our own egocentricities,
sociocentricities, and
intellectual arrogance; that the essential questions which most
need to be
asked before they can ever get answered require more
information
and knowledge of us than anyone can begin to comprehend.
Professor
Bibby argues "religious groups are being exposed to a whole range
of
values that are not being propagated well by any other major source."
There is, perhaps, an unintended truth in this statement, because
unexamined
social values, like those propagated in some religious
as well
as secular social dogma, all need continual integration and
reconciliation
with our evolving knowledge to remain valuable. It
isn't
that we don't all have beliefs and values, it's the critical process of
why,
how and what we arrive at believing and valuing that is most
relevant. To the extent social research furthers understanding, an
ongoing
critical analysis of our social values and the way we communicate
them can
only make them more significant and, thus, more valuable.
###
OLPC's
Potential for Revolution
Education Futures -- October 6, 2007
by John Moravec
"An
element missing from media coverage of the One Laptop per Child XO
is the ramifications of using mesh networking. This scheme allows for
data to
be passed through individual machines acting as nodes, where data hops
from
machine-to-machine until its destination on the network — or on a
foreign
network is reached. This allows for instantly reconfigurable and
self-healing
networks that can self-adapt to a variety of network accessibility
environments
... This networking model has also been recontextualized into the
interface and software design of the device which encourages as much
co-teaching and co-learning as possible. Working with teams from Petagram
Design and Red Hat, OLPC created SUGAR, a graphic user
interface that captures the students' world of fellow learners and
teachers as
collaborators, emphasizing connectivity between people and activities. From
OLPC ... Everyone has the
potential for being both a learner and a teacher.
We have chosen to put collaboration at the core of the user experience
in order
to realize this potential. The presence of other members of the
learning
community will encourage children to take responsibility for others'
learning
as well as their own. The exchange of ideas amongst peers can both make
the
learning process more engaging and stimulate critical thinking
skills. We
hope to encourage these types of social interaction with the laptops
... As
most software developers would agree, the best way to learn how to
write a
program is to write one, or perhaps teach someone else how to do
so;
studying the syntax of the language might be useful, but it doesn't
teach one
how to code. We hope to apply this principle of "learn through
doing" to all types of creation, e.g., we emphasize composing music
over
downloading music. We also encourage the children to engage in the
process of
collaborative critique of their expressions and to iterate upon this
expression
as well ... While the developed world is using new technologies to
teach the
same old stuff it's been pushing since the 19th century, the
co-constructivism
allowed by OLPC could allow children in less developed countries to
leapfrog
their peers in new knowledge production. Is this purposeful orientation
toward
the use of technologies the start of a new revolution in education?" --
Read
the Full Article
Commentary
by
Hunter Finch
Eavesdropping
on discussions in the evolving
development of
software and hardware for future online pedagogical media
sometimes
provides unique insights into the status of where critical
teaching,
learning, and application strategies are currently headed, as well
as how
those strategies and applications are being used within the new product
development process itself. This article showcases how impending
technologies
and products may enable new beneficial dimensions
to interactive
and cooperative learning strategies.
###
More
Than Just a Number
The
Santa Barbara Independent --
October 4, 2007
by Amy Chong
"This weekend I'm waking up at the crack of dawn to do
something I'd really rather not be doing. My fellow students and I will
be
drawn into the depths of my high school to fill classrooms on a
Saturday
morning, no less. What could possibly explain such a phenomenon?
Perhaps the
threat of college?... For entrance to most public and private colleges
in the
United States, a number of standardized tests are required. These tests
calls
for weeks of preparation on top of the average high school workload,
with an
entire market devoted to increasing test scores. Princeton Review, Kaplan,
and Barron's are popular test prep books and agencies
offering study
skills and even guaranteed score improvement. What better way to make a
profit
than to stuff knowledge into the minds of the next generation?... Most
commonly
known on the West Coast is the
SAT, consisting of three
subjects:
critical reading, math, and writing, with a required essay. Revamped in
2005,
each section is graded on a scale from 200 to 800, with sub-scores on
multiple-choice writing questions and on the essay. The four-hour test
is
designed to test critical thinking skills acquired throughout high
school and
is known for being geared toward math-inclined students ... Meanwhile,
more
common in the Mid-East and on the East Coast is the the ACT, an
approximately three-hour-long test covering four subjects: English,
math,
reading, and science, with an optional essay portion. The ACT is graded
on a
scale of 1-36 and is known for those more verbally inclined. It's also
referred
to as “friendly,” presenting a format familiar to those seen on most
high
school tests ... Next are the SAT
Subject Tests, two of which are
required by public universities. These hour-long tests cover specific
subjects,
ranging from languages and world history to literature and chemistry.
The
particular topics are designed to showcase a student's abilities in a
certain
subject, and are graded on a scale from 200-600 ... This fails to
mention the
"optional but highly recommended" tests that impress admissions
officers, like Advanced
Placement (AP) exams that show a
student's
ability to handle a college-level curriculum ... (And let’s not forget the
PSAT, the preliminary test to
the SAT taken usually in a student’s junior
year, opening up scholarship opportunities for brilliant students.)...
Brilliance is, of course, an opinion. Using standardized testing to
determine
intelligence goes back to the days of IQ tests, which were originally
designed to show the superiority of one race over another. It's easy to
say
that such tests shouldn't matter, but in reality, they kind of do ...
I'd love
to say that I don’t care, throwing my books, score reports, and
receipts out
the window. Unfortunately, the truth hurts, finding me hoarding my
numbers in a
precious folder in my room instead. The ACT gave me a headache. SAT
Subject
Tests are a pain. AP tests shot my social life. Sure, there are a
select few
who enjoy taking standardized tests, but I'm not one of them ... If
schools
press that test scores are only a portion of the admissions process,
why are
statistics still reported, and taken so seriously? Why are students
still
comparing their numbers? Most importantly, why have I wasted the last
month
studying a subject I don't even like?... I hope the desire for
standardized
intelligence will one day amount to something more — something more
than a
bunch of numbers." -- Read
the Full Article
Commentary
by
Hunter Finch
Every individual is
different and everyone learns next what they want or need to learn best
when
they are intellectually and foundationally engaged and ready to
learn it,
using their
own mental maps, compasses and clocks. Because we each come from
different
places, each of us directs our own interests of inquiry,
discovery, understanding and learning differently. What
we do
have in common when we are learning, is thought. This article reflects
well the frustration and inherent disconnect between learning and
assessment
that students and teachers share when testing has become
irrelevant
to us. There is mounting skepticism for testing
whose function has
little to do with one's intellectual engagement in a
subject or
on one's progress in learning it. Given the pivotal function
of
independent minds in use, our concept of "What
is education?" needs to include our varying progressive
levels
of critical engagement. Our future concepts and strategies for
assessment need
to drive our future concepts and strategies for instruction in a way
that causes
every student, in every classroom, at every moment to look forward
to the
experience with a fully engaged mind. The 2007 National Academy on
Critical Thinking Testing and Assessment recently compared assessment
instruments in use today. Its report with recommendation can
be found
in a White Paper on Consequential
Validity
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