CRITICAL THINKING

“You had better watch out - there’s a polar bear behind you!”

In the statement above there is a conclusion based on a reason.

What are the assumptions that have been made in drawing the conclusion that "You had better watch out!"?

There are at least 30 of them – how many can you think of?

Department members:
Mrs Annie O’Dea
Mrs V Jane Smith

Examination Board: OCR

The challenging exercise above is one used in the Critical Thinking
AS course, taken by students as part of the Key Skills options in Year 12.
It is a taught course, undertaken over two terms in one afternoon each week. There is no homework or coursework, just lots of lively discussion and demanding thinking.

The OCR AS examination is composed of two units :

1. Credibility of Evidence ( F491)
2. Assessing and Developing Argument ( F492).

New textbooks, published by Heinemann, are used to support the course, with Unit 1 to be examined in January 2007 and Unit 2 in June 2007.

The results from June 2006 (a cohort of 17) were particularly pleasing with four students achieving an A grade, and six a B grade. Three girls are to be particularly congratulated on gaining full marks in one of their papers.

Critical Thinking is increasingly popular as it not only supports other subject areas but is widely recognised by universities. It is particularly helpful when preparing for admission tests, which may rely on skills such as:

	the identification of reasons and conclusions
	the identification of assumptions and flaws in arguments
	assessment of the credibility of evidence
	evaluation of the structure, strengths and weaknesses of arguments.

These actually form the core aspects of this fascinating subject and we are delighted to provide this further dimension to the sixth form curriculum.

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