brainstorms

Tuesday May 17, 2005

c r i t i c - an acronym for critical thinking

this month's skeptical inquirer magazine has an article on an information-literacy version of wayne bartz's CRITIC acronym [SI sep/oct 2002] for critical thinking:

C	claim?
R	role of the claimant?
I	information backing the claim?
T	testing?
I	independent verification?
C	conclusion?

[important to note that role does not discredit or invalidate a claim (genetic fallacy) but it does effect the analysis for the remaining steps]

see also: critic materials at butler university libraries.
related reading: fashionable nonsense

[may/june issue of SI is worth the price just for the annotated periodic table of elements ("26 elements have been added since 1923. WHEN WILL IT END?") at the back, and the alternative cobb county table of elements: earth, fire, air, water. (rotfl!)]