Grade(s): 7-12+
Pages: 534

The James Madison Critical Thinking Course engages children in crime-related scenarios to develop essential critical thinking skills. The step-by-step lessons and activities are easy to use and help children transfer these vital skills throughout academia and life. The easy-to-read, easy-to-follow activities teach children to identify and evaluate evidence to help guide their decision making.

Critical Thinkers ask questions about the meaning of claims and the evidence that supports claims. Critical Thinkers are open-minded, curious, know the limits of their knowledge, and try to find connections among pieces of evidence. The James Madison Critical Thinking Course can help your child to become a critical thinker. You'll see benefits at home and in school.

In learning a child who questions is more likely to make connections between pieces of information and retain and use new knowledge. In testing a child who has the ability to ask "what do they really mean?" and "what did they really say?" has a huge advantage.

Any student who works through the entire book should be well-grounded in the issues that constitute critical thinking. In particular they will have learned to:

• Recognize ambiguity and lack of clarity for claims
• Distinguish between arguments and explanations
• Distinguish premises and conclusions in arguments
• Distinguish deductive and inductive arguments
• Evaluate deductive arguments as valid or invalid
• Evaluate specific reasons that make an inductive argument stronger or weaker; and
• Evaluate common fallacies in reasoning.

Teaching Support
The Instruction/Answer Guide (sold separately) includes answers and teaching suggestions.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Questions, Practices, and Qualities of Critical Thinkers

Chapter 2: Facts, Claims of Fact, and Opinions

Chapter 3: Ambiguity, Descriptions, and Explanations

Chapter 4: Valid and Invalid Arguments

Chapter 5: Arguments Based on Claims

Chapter 6: Categorical Syllogisms

Chapter 7: Inductive Arguments

Chapter 8: Informal Fallacies