Book: Asking The Right Questions: A Guide To Critical Thinking

Age Groups: Owlys (15-18 year-olds)
Hello, Teachers!

PREDICTION / BRAINSTORMING FOR STUDENTS
1.Look at the title “Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking”. What do you
think are some “right questions” we should be asking in our daily lives?
2.Based on the cover and title, what skills do you think this book might help you develop?

WHAT STUDENTS WILL LEARN

1. The importance of critical thinking in evaluating arguments and information
2. How to identify issues and conclusions in arguments
3. Techniques for recognizing and analyzing reasons given to support conclusions
4. Methods for detecting ambiguity in language and reasoning
5. Skills to uncover value conflicts and assumptions in arguments
6. Approaches for identifying descriptive assumptions
7. Strategies for recognizing common reasoning fallacies
8. Techniques for evaluating different types of evidence
9. How to detect rival causes and avoid causal oversimplification
10. Skills for critically examining statistics and data
11. Strategies for identifying significant omitted information
12. Methods for generating alternative reasonable conclusions

KEYWORDS

Critical thinking, argumentation, reasoning, logic, evidence evaluation, assumptions, ambiguity, fallacies,
causal reasoning, statistics, omitted information, conclusions, issues, value conflicts, rival causes

A QUICK SUMMARY

“Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking” is a comprehensive guide designed to enhance readers’ critical thinking skills. The book presents a systematic approach to analyzing and evaluating arguments through a series of critical questions. It covers various aspects of critical thinking, including identifying issues and conclusions, analyzing reasons, detecting ambiguity, uncovering assumptions, recognizing fallacies, evaluating evidence, and considering alternative conclusions.

The authors, M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley, emphasize the importance of active engagement with information rather than passive acceptance. They introduce the concept of “panning for gold” as opposed to the “sponge” approach to learning, encouraging readers to actively question and evaluate the information they encounter.

Throughout the book, readers are guided through the process of applying critical thinking skills to real-world arguments and situations. The authors provide numerous examples and practice exercises to reinforce the concepts presented. The book is structured to progressively build critical thinking skills, starting with basic identification of arguments and moving towards more complex analysis of evidence and generation of alternative conclusions.