Re-Imagining Critical Thinking in the Digital Age Narrowing the Gulf Conference March 30, 2012 Presenters: Matthew Bodie, M.A. Cher N. Gauweiler, Ph.D.

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Slide 2 Re-Imagining Critical Thinking in the Digital Age Narrowing the Gulf Conference March 30, 2012 Presenters: Matthew Bodie, M.A. Cher N. Gauweiler, Ph.D. Slide 3 The Bottom Line We live in an ecosystem of interruption technologies (Carr, 2011). Slide 4 The Shallows Slide 5 Defining our terms What is text? What is media? What is message? Slide 6 Analyze this! What is the message? Who is the messenger? Slide 7 An Experiment http://slate.me/Ha4xXm Slide 8 Points to Ponder #1 How can someone critically think quickly? Has skimming become our dominant form of reading? Slide 9 The Same? Or Different? (Best, 2004) Slide 10 Strategies to try Give a purpose for reading.purpose Slow down when reading. Teach students how to determine importance.importance Other ideas? Slide 11 Points to Ponder #2 What has happened to the role of author and reader? Are we all authors? http://bit.ly/Ha4V8q Slide 12 Question. Question It is time to elect the world leader, and yours is the deciding vote. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates: Candidate A: He associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologers. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks up to ten Martinis a day. Candidate B: He was ejected from office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a large amounts of whisky every evening. Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any extra-marital affairs. Slide 13 Strategies to try Question authority!authority Cross-check references Slide 14 Point to Ponder #3 What is relevance? Slide 15 Strategy #3 Ask questions, such as: Which stories are trending?trending Which point of view is being privileged? Which points of view are being emphasized? Learn how redefine issues. Access alternative sources.alternative sources Put events in historical perspectives.historical perspectives Slide 16 References Best, J. (2004). Confusing numbers. In More damned lies and statistics: How numbers confuse public issues (pp. 44-46). Berkeley, CA: Berkeley University of California Carr, N. (2011). What the Internet is doing to our brains: The shallows. W. W. Norton and Company: New York. Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2006). How to detect media bias & propaganda in national and world news, 3 rd ed. Foundation for Critical Thinking. www.criticalthinking.orgwww.criticalthinking.org