National Conference on Student Writing and Critical Thinking in Agriculture

Teaching Critical Thinking: Skills versus Attitudes

(Including the Virtues of a Reasonable Person in a Critical Thinking Class)

Ed Sherline

Department of Philosophy

University of Wyoming

Laramie, WY 82071-3392

307-766-5156

Sherline@uwyo.edu

Handout 1: Some resources for teaching critical thinking within an agriculture-based course

I. Major workhorse texts

These comprehensive texts emphasize the logical skills of critical thinking and include many exercises. They are valuable both as a reference for the instructor and in excepts (on e-reserve or in a course packet), for the students, though they tend to be more rigorous and so less accessible (without significant instructor assistance) to students.

Copi, Irving and Cohen, Carl. Introduction to Logic, 10^th ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 1998.

Hurley, Patrick. A Concise Introduction to Logic, 8^th ed. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, 2003.

Salmon, Merrilee. Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking, 4^th ed. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, 2002.

II. Comprehensive texts that are more accessible to students and balance logical skills with rhetorical analysis of popular culture and politics to a greater degree than the workhorse texts.

Moore, Brooke Noel and Parker, Richard. Critical Thinking, 7^th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Kahane, Howard and Cavender, Nancy. Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason in Everyday Life, 9^th ed. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, 2002.

III. Supplementary texts for courses that include a component on critical thinking. These shorter texts emphasize the logical skills of critical thinking and include exercises.

Epstein, Richard. The Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking, 2^nd ed. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, 2003.

Munson, Ronald and Conway, David. Basics of Reasoning. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, 2001.