| Welcome to GISAT 160. |
| Week | General Topic | Assignments or Activities | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | But don't we already know how to think? Introduction to critical
reasoning and problem solving. What is critical thinking? What is an argument? |
Reflection exercise
Learning style assessment |
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| 2 | Evaluating arguments - Structure, language, content, perspective | Short exercises - Id conclusion reasons. Id structure |
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| 3 | Evaluating arguments - Logic, reaching a conclusion, deductive reasoning vs "intuition", faulty logic | Short exercises | |
| 4 | Close reading - Putting it together | Bill Joy or Television article | |
| 5 | Close reading cont. - Writing arguments, Applying critical thinking to your own writing. | Pay for Priority articles Media free assignment |
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| 6 | Writing arguments - First exam | Write an argument from a list of topics. |
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Part II: Evaluating Other
Media
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| 7 | Evaluating web sources - primary vs secondary; using web sources Separating fact from fiction on the web Evaluating advertising - print, TV, web |
Compare and contrast selected web sites. |
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| 8 | Evaluating spoken arguments - learning to listen critically Evaluating statistics - display format, meaning |
Will use an assigned lecture. | |
| 9 | Web safety - Let's be careful out there! Blogs, chats, facebook,
information sharing. Whose network is it anyway? Evaluate student use of technology - how do they enhance/detract from your life? |
Students self-evaluate their "public" personas. Where are they? What information is conveyed to viewers? Students self-evaluate technology in their lives (review media free experience) |
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| 10 | What is a problem? What problems can be solved with the application
of technology? Which can't and why? Algorithms as one way of solving "process" problems |
Case studies and linear problem solving approaches.
Creating algorithms lab. Assign research paper. |
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| 11 | Problem solving techniques - What's in your toolkit?
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Individual assignments will include practicing some of these techniques on student problems. | |
| 12 | Problem solving techniques, continued. An introduction to systems thinking. |
Use NYC school system ban of cell phones. One other case study for students to brainstorm. |
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| 13 | What is data? And how do I use it? Drawing conclusions. | Include some lab time with querying a database to solve a particular set of problems. |
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| 14 | Data continued - Faulty "data" conclusions. | Case studies - How has the same data led to different conclusions? | |
| 15 | Unassigned for overflow of other topics | Research paper due. In-class final exercise using student papers. | |
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FINAL
EXAM
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| Cumulative involving evaluation of new material. | |||