Assignment
1. In the Unit I Lesson,VanderStoep and Pintrich (2003) identify five behaviors of motivated learners that lead to achievement or success:
Smart choices - Effort - Persistence - Engagement - Belief system, values and motivation.
Select one of the five behaviors and describe how you can use this behavior to be successful in this class.
VanderStoep, S.W. &Pintrich, P. R. (2003) Learning to learn: The skill and will of college success. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
2. Universities and college require documentation or citing, such as APA, to identify the ideas of authors and organizations in scholarly work. Students are often frustrated by the rules and regulations set up by APA, MLA and other similar groups. In 200 words or more, share your ideas on the following question. What do you think would be the impact on scholarly research if colleges did not require APA or another form of citing?
1. In Chapter 1, Paul and Elder describe the virtue of Intellectual Courage. Describe a moment in your life when you showed Intellectual Courage. What belief did you question? Why were you willing to give up that belief? How were you able to stand up against the majority?
Your explanations should include reasons that support them and make use of the concepts in the textbook.
Please remember that intellectual courage is different than the courage you display when you stand up for your beliefs. Intellectual courage is demonstrated by questioning your belief and giving up that belief in light of reason and evidence.
2. In chapter 3 of our text, Paul and Elder encourage you to "connect academic subjects to your life and problems." This often seems challenging since many of the subjects you are learning seem irrelevant to your life. But, are they really? Let's try an experiment and see.
Pick a subject you are studying or have studied that you think is irrelevant to you. Now, choose something (another subject you are studying or have studied that you are interested in or anything else in your life you are interested in) and find the connection between that thing and the "irrelevant" subject you are studying. You might be surprised at the hidden connections.
Question 2
Assess what it means to develop good habits of thought through hard work.
Question 3
Define critical thinking, and contrast this definition with the ways that humans naturally think. Explain at least two ways that you could become a better critic of your own thinking.