102 Critical Thinking and Ignorance Professor Ramos Blog

102 Critical Thinking and Ignorance What is Critical Thinking? Quick Write What is critical thinking? Write for two minutes. What is Critical Thinking? Quality of Thinking, Quality of Life 30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living Through Critical Thinking Critical thinking, in a rich sense of the term, is self-guided disciplined thought that attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fairminded way. From our textbook. Critical comes from the Greek word  krinein, meaning â€Å"to separate, to choose†; above all, it implies  conscious  inquiry (4). Conscious also means to be awake or aware. This suggests that by examining our reasoning, we can understand the basis of our judgments and decisions – ultimately, so that we can make better ones. According to Google: Critical Thinking – the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. Critical Thinking According to our textbook, to think critically, you must question not only the beliefs and assumptions of others, but also one’s own beliefs and assumptions (5). Identify important problems. Explore relevant issues. Evaluate available evidence. Consider the implications of the decisions. Critical thinking is NOT collecting information to support established conclusion. Survey, considering as many perspectives as possible. Analyze, identifying and then separating out the parts of the problem. Evaluate, judging the merit of various ideas, claims, and evidence. Why is it important? Texas GOP wants to get rid of critical thinking.   Ignorance According to our textbook, to think critically, you must question not only the beliefs and assumptions of others, but also one’s own beliefs and assumptions (5). â€Å"Most of us assume whatever we believe to be â€Å"right.† Though we were taught much of what we believe before we could critically analyze our beliefs, we nevertheless defend out beliefs as  the truth† (Elder and Paul). Vocabulary Ignorance  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  lack of knowledge or information. Intellectual Arrogance  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the tendency to confidently assert as true what you do not in fact know to be true. Intellectual Humility  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  awareness of the extent of your ignorance. People with a high degree of intellectual humility understand that there is far more that they will  never  know that they will  ever  know (Elder and Paul). Acknowledge that you may be wrong, until you find sufficient evidence to prove your belief. Notice when you argue if you are justifying your beliefs. Do you have evidence? Question your beliefs, especially religious, cultural, or political. Research from multiple perspectives. Explore new beliefs. Weekly Journals Every week, you will locate an article, news report, social media post, or related in some way to the class discussion or readings.   First, summarize the text, explaining how you are understanding what they are saying. Second, respond to the article using the skills we will be working on in class. About 250 words. Reply to the post on the blog or type and print it out to hand in by Monday 2BR02B Solution The proposal asks that we define a problem and come up with a solution that we can implement to the problem. It is important in critical thinking to think thought the decisions. If you come up with a solution, you have to think of the implications it will have. Will it lead to problems in the future? While we may not be able to predict with certainty if it will cause problems, we can think through it and anticipate some possible negative outcomes. Kurt  Vonnegut 2BR02B Homework Read Chapter 1, Critical Thinking

How To Use the Preterite and Imperfect Tenses of Ser

How To Use the Preterite and Imperfect Tenses of Ser Spanish has at least two common ways of translating simple phrases such as it was using a form of the verb ser - era and fue - but it isnt always easy to know which one to use. Uses for the Two Past Tenses of Ser  Overlap The two forms represent different past tenses, era for the imperfect and fue for the preterite. Corresponding forms also exist for subjects other than it - you could say either eramos and fuimos for we were, for example. Conceptually, the differences between the two past tenses are fairly easy to grasp: the imperfect tense generally refers to actions that occurred numerous times and/or didnt have a definite end, while the preterite typically refers to actions that took place or at least ended at a definite time. However, for the English speaker, applying those concepts to the past tenses of ser can be problematic, partly because it seems in practice that native speakers commonly use the imperfect for states of being that had a definite end, while an application of the rule above might suggest use of the preterite. Similarly, it would seem logical to say, for example, era mi hija for she was my daughter, because presumably once a daughter always a daughter, but in fact fue mi hija also is heard. Similarly, it isnt hard to come up with sentences structured and translated similarly where one of the verb forms is preferred over the other. Here are two such pairs:  ¿Cà ³mo fue tu clase? (How was your class? The preterite tense is preferred here.) ¿Cà ³mo era tu juventud? (How was your childhood? The imperfect tense is preferred.) ¿Cà ³mo fue el partido? (How was the game? Preterite.) ¿Cà ³mo era la ciudad antes? (How was the city before? Imperfect.) Which Tense of Ser Is Preferred? It is difficult to formulate an exact rule for which tense of ser is preferred. But it may be helpful to think of the imperfect (such as era and eran) being used primarily when talking about inherent characteristics and to think of the preterite (such as fue and fueron) to refer to events in the broadest sense of the word. You can see this distinction in this recent list of top Web search results for era:  ¿Einstein era malo en matemticas? (Was Einstein bad in mathematics?)Si ayer era malo ... (If yesterday was bad ...) ¿Quien dijo que la marihuana era malo? (Who said marijuana was bad?)No sabà ­a que yo era capaz. (I didnt know I was capable.) ¿Era malo Hitler en realidad? (Was Hitler actually bad?) In all these sentences, it might be said that era is used to refer to the basic nature of persons or things, even if they had a definite end. Note the differences from the following: El semestre pasado fue malo. (The past semester was bad.)Tu amor fue malo. (Your love was bad.)El paisaje de amenazas digitales fue malo durante el aà ±o pasado. (The cyberthreat scene was bad during the past year.)Esos ​negocios fueron malos  para Grecia. (Those businesses were bad for Greece.)Al final Chiquidrcula no fue malo para Panam. (In the end Chiquidrcula wasnt bad for Panama.) These sentences also refer to the nature of of things, but the things can all be thought of as a type of event. The love of the second sentence and the businesses in the fourth were  decidedly temporary, for example, and the other sentence subjects can be thought of events in a more traditional sense. The use of the preterite also is more common when it is followed by a past participle: El concierto fue pospuesto. (The concert was postponed.)El goleador brasileà ±o fue detenido con marihuana y crack. (The Brazilian goalie was arrested with marijuana and crack.)Los animales fueron acostumbrados al ambiente de laboratorio. (The animals were accustomed to the laboratory environment.)   Unfortunately, this guide is far from foolproof. Ayer era malo and ayer fue malo can both be used for yesterday was bad. And even though the postponing of a concert might be seen as something that requires the preterite, youll sometimes here statements such as el concierto era pospuesto. Also,  native speakers seem to show little preference between era difà ­cil de explicar and fue difà ­cil de explicar, both of which translate to It was difficult to explain. Ultimately, as you learn Spanish and hear it used by native speakers, youll get a clearer idea of which verb form sounds more natural.