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Assigning a Fallacy Notebook to Teach Critical Thinking

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How to instruct students to create a fallacy notebook by using critical thinking to recognize fallacies in print, web, and other media.
Fallacies are simply incorrect argument constructs, and they’re everywhere in all types of literature today. Instructors can use the fallacy notebook tool to teach their students to recognize, codify, and explore these pseudo-arguments to develop critical thinking skills.

A simple three-ring binder works fine for a fallacy notebook, or the notebook can be kept digitally. The advantage of paper is that it allows students to highlight specific elements of an argument that are fallacious. Fallacies can be found in a number of places, but editorials are particularly norious for fallacious reasoning. The student “report” on each instance will follow a simple four-step process.
  1. The title, indicating the fallacy (Here, the student indicates which fallacy is evident. In some cases, there may be multiple fallacies.) Hasty Generalization
  2. A short explanation of the error in question (Here, the student delivers a brief definition of the fallacy.) A hasty generalization reaches a conclusion based on insufficient evidence, such as seeing a dog on a small town street and assuming all dogs in that town are strays.
  3. The example in the media (Here, the student affixes the actual argument, with highlights as needed.) “It’s sad that our children no longer care about history,” Smith says as he cleans the graffiti from the statue, “Our history is so important to a town like ours.”
  4. An analysis of the argument, and why it is indeed fallacious (Here, the student demonstrates an understanding of the fallacy in use by analyzing the actual occurrence.) Mr. Smith concludes because of vandalism that children don’t care about history. He has decided that based upon one act by one or two people, who may or may not be children. It would be accurate, to some extent, to say that the people who vandalized the statue don’t care about the history of the town, but not that all children don’t.
The fallacy notebook not only helps students to recognize fallacies in media, but also encourages reading in general and reading with a critical eye. In addition, the notebook allows for additional discussion questions - who can do my homework for me? It’s important to teach the students that a correct conclusion doesn’t absolve the arguer of the obligation to use good reasoning. In fact, supporters of any cause or position should demand that the cause be defended with superior rather than inferior logic and not fallacies. Critical thinking requires that students find appropriate and correct methods to make and analyze points. To this end, instructors should teach students the use of the Toulmin Model of Argumentation as well as other rhetorical tools.

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