THiNK - Softcover

Boss, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0078038200 ISBN 13: 9780078038204

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2011

Synopsis

All critical thinking texts aim to make their students critical thinkers for life, but unlike other texts, THiNK was written from the framework of understanding that students approach their worlds from a place of opinions and feelings. Judith Boss begins by proposing three stages of critical thinking development: Dualism: thinking things are either right or wrong; Relativism: accepting that not everything is right/wrong, and subsequently thinking all opinions are equally valid, and finally, Commitment:choosing a position based on careful reasoning. Judith Boss has found that the majority of her students come to class in the relativism stage. THiNK guides students to the final stage of critical thinking development by showing students the importance of overcoming their feelings and opinions to commit to positions based on reason and logic. In the process, students learn to apply critical thinking to their every day lives.

This innovative program provides instructors with scholarly yet succinct content on critical thinking and logical argumentation in a format that is portable, current, and captivating. With extensive opportunity for application and practice, and groundbreaking digital content (Connect Critical Thinking), THiNK directs students to make connections between skill development and application to their college studies, careers, and personal lives.

Connect Critical Thinking is a first: a learning program with pedagogical tools that are anchored in research on critical thinking. Connect actively and personally engages students in thinking critically while also showing students how to apply those thinking skills in everyday life. Connect provides assignable and assessable exercises including real-life simulations that are tied to learning objectives, providing students with immediate feedback and allowing instructors to track student progress.

About this title

About the Author:

Judith A. Boss earned her PhD in Philosphy from Boston University, her MA from Dalhousie University in Canada, and her BA from the University of Western Australia. Prior to pursing a career in academia, she worked as a writer/researcher for the Nova Scotia Museum. She was on the faculty of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rhode Island from 1988 to 1995 and worked as Assistant Director of Curriculum Affairs at Brown University School of Medicine until 2004 when she "retired" to return to full-time writing and became a visiting scholar with the philosophy department at Brown University. She continued, until last year, to teach one course a semester at the University of Massachusetts. In addition to her philosophical interests, she completed a MS in Human Development at URI in 1991 and has led faculty workshops and written extensively on the topic of college student development. She was recipient of a URI Foundation Grant to study the effects of community service learning on students' moral development and has served as a grant application reviewer for the Corporation for National Service. The author of nine books, her publications include ANALYZING MORAL ISSUES and ETHICS FOR LIFE, both with McGraw-Hill. Her textbook THiNK, also with McGraw-Hill, just came out in 2009. She is published in, among other, The Journal of Moral Education, Public Affairs Quarterly, The Journal of Medical Ethics, Academic Medicine, Educational Theory, Free Inquiry, and The Journal of Experiential Education. During her spare time she volunteers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and is active in the Appalachian Mountain Club. An avid traveler, she has traveled with students from the University of Rhode Island and Brown Medical School to work with underserved, indigenous people in Guatemala and Mexico. Her favorite travel destination, however, is Antarctica, and she is currently looking for a publisher for a suspense/thriller she wrote that is set in Antarctica. She lives in Rhode Island with her daughter, son-in-law, and twin granddaughters.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0078038200
• ISBN 13: 9780078038204
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 496