Critical Thinking Course

CriticalThinkingCourse.com Ltd is a website-based company formed by teachers of the subject, which offers:

	Ready-made AS and A2 level courses in Critical Thinking for an annual fee of £290 for a site licence for AS course and a discounted fee of £150 for the A2 course . See the structure of new AS Level >> See the structure and an introduction to the A2 course >>
	The course has been written by Critical Thinking teachers and the website has been constructed by a professional website designer.
	A “taster” unit has been included for you to explore features of the course before purchasing it.
	There are inclines of difficulty from skill to skill and within the exercises for each skill.
	Suggested answers are given for all exercises.
	Explanations are given for why multi-choice alternative answers are correct and others are wrong.
	Through the course, teachers can train themselves to teach the subject from a baseline of no knowledge and skills.
	Teachers have their own area with detailed descriptions of how to employ different teaching and learning styles. Activities include kinaesthetic methods, cartoons, plays and use of an interactive whiteboard.
	Teachers have sole access to some exercises which can be used for assessments such as homework, tests and exams.
	They can allow students to see the answers once they have been completed.
	Teachers can also monitor the progress of their students in answering learning and assessment exercises.
	The courses are updated each year.
	It is cheaper than buying textbooks.

The AS Level course has the following chapters:

	Ch 0	Introduction
	Ch 1	What is an argument?
	Ch 2	How to identify conclusions
	Ch 3	How to identify reasons and other elements in an argument
	Ch 4	How to show the structure of an argument
	Ch 5	How to identify simple assumptions in an argument
	Ch 6	How to explain strengths and weaknesses in the use of evidence and examples
	Ch 7	How to identify when reasons give strong or weak support for conclusions
	Ch 8	How to comment on the weakness of reports in general
	Ch 9	How to assess the credibility of photos, graphs etc
	Ch 10	How to assess the credibility of documents
	Ch 11	How to assess the credibility of people's claims
	Ch 12	How to assess the relative credibility of individuals or documents
	Ch 13	How to state claims which corroborate or conflict
	Ch 14	How to come to a reasoned judgement about a dispute
	Ch 15	Revision and exam practice for paper F491
	Ch 16	Can you remember how to recognise the conclusions and reasons in an argument?
	Ch 17	Identifying the main conclusion and reasons and constructing an argument
	Ch 18	Intermediate Conclusions.
	Ch 19	Recognising counter-assertions and counter-arguments in a longer passage and constructing your own counter-argument.
	Ch 20	Some examples of a range of specific terms which are relevant to thoroughly understanding an argument.
	Ch 21	Analogies
	Ch 22	Principles and their applicability
	Ch 23	How to assess whether evidence and examples strengthen or weaken an argument when they are found in a passage.
	Ch 24 Part 1	The identification and recognition of Flaws.
	Ch 24 Part 2	Flaws which are an “appeal”
	Ch 25	A revision of assumptions and further practice on recognising assumptions in a longer piece of prose.
	Ch 26	Guidance Sheet for the Exam

Each chapter has a Teachers’ area and a Students’ area.
In the Teachers’ area are:
- A list of resources needed; where appropriate, resources are provided
- Suggested lesson plans
- Answers to exercises

In the Students’ area are:
- Details of the skills
- Exercises
- Past exam questions

The A2 Level course has the following chapters:

		These are NEW chapters:
	Ch 1	How to clarify expressions and ideas
	Ch 2	How to identify the elements of a passage
	Ch 3	Evidence and its impact on reasoning
	Ch 4	Deductive reasoning
	Ch 5	Analysis of the pattern of reasoning
	Ch 6	Assumptions and their impact on reasoning
	Ch 7	How to evaluate the strength of reasoning and the impact of counter argument
	Ch 8	Hypothetical reasoning and reasoning based on principle
	Ch 9	Analogy and its impact on the strength of reasoning
	Ch 10	Flaws and their impact on the strength of reasoning
		These chapters will be replaced in September as new chapters are added:
	Unit 3 Ch 1	What is meant by a “dilemma”?
	Unit 3 Ch 2	Identifying the “parties” involved in the resolution of a dilemma.
	Unit 3 Ch 3	What are the criteria which can be applied when assessing the validity of the possible choices available when resolving a dilemma?
	Unit 3 Ch 4	An exercise in linking together the ideas of Choices and Criteria for Choice
	Unit 3 Ch 5	What is a moral concept?
	Unit 3 Ch 6	An Introduction to ethical principles
	Unit 3 Ch 7	What is the difference between teleological (consequential) ethics and deontological (duty) ethics?
	Unit 3 Ch 8	Further Development Deontological Theory - Kent.
	Unit 3 Ch 9	Further Development Deontological Theory - John Rawls
	Unit 3 Ch 10	Further Development of Teleological (Consequential) Theory - Utilitarianism
	Unit 3 Ch 11	Egoism, Hedonism, Prudentialism & Altruism
	Unit 4 Ch 1	How to clarify expressions and ideas
	Unit 4 Ch 2	How to Understand and Apply the Language of Reasoning - Validity
	Unit 4 Ch 3	How to Understand and Apply the Language of Reasoning - Sustained Suppositional/Hypothetical Reasoning
	Unit 4 Ch 4	How to Understand and Apply the Language of Reasoning - Sustained Counter-argument
	Unit 4 Ch 5	How to Understand and Apply the Language of Reasoning - Different Patterns of Reasoning
	Unit 4 Ch 6	How to Recognize Classic Errors in the Form of an Argument
	Unit 4 Ch 7	How to Recognize Flaws in Arguments
	Unit 4 Ch 8	How to Interpret and Draw Conclusions from Numerical Evidence
	Unit 4 Ch 9	How to Evaluate Rhetorical Language and Reasoning in Arguments
	Unit 4 Ch 10	How to Write an Argument
	Unit 4 Ch 11	How to Answer Multiple Choice Questions
	Unit 4 Ch 12	Further Practice in Answering Questions