This unique text for undergraduate courses teaches students to apply critical thinking skills across all academic disciplines by examining popular pseudoscientific claims through a multidisciplinary lens. Rather than merely focusing on critical thinking grounded in philosophy and psychology, the text incorporates the perspectives of biology, physics, medicine, and other disciplines to reinforce different categories of rational explanation. The book is also distinguished by its respectful approach to individuals whose ideas are, according to the authors, deeply flawed. Accessible and engaging, it describes what critical thinking is, why it is important, and how to learn and apply skillsóusing scientific methods--that promote it. The text also examines why critical thinking can be difficult to engage in and explores the psychological and social reasons why people are drawn to and find credence in extraordinary claims. From alien abductions and psychic phenomena to strange creatures and unsupported alternative medical treatments, the text uses examples from a wide range of pseudoscience fields and brings evidence from diverse disciplines to critically examine these erroneous claims. Particularly timely is the text's examination of how, using the narrative of today's "culture wars," religion and culture impact science. The authors focus on how the human brain, rife with natural biases, does not process information in a rational fashion, and the social factors that prevent individuals from gaining an unbiased, critical perspective on information. Authored by a psychologist and a philosopher who have extensive experience teaching and writing on critical thinking and skeptical inquiry, this work will help students to strengthen their skills in reasoning and debate, become intelligent consumers of research, and make well-informed choices as citizens. Key Features: Addresses the foundations of critical thinking and how to apply it through the popular activity of examining pseudoscience Explains why humans are vulnerable to pseudoscientific claims and how critical thinking can overcome fallacies and biases Reinforces critical thinking through multidisciplinary analyses of pseudoscience Examines how religion and culture impact science Enlightens using an engaging, entertaining approach Written by experienced and innovative scholar/educators well known in the skeptic community Features teaching resources including an Instructor's Guide and Powepoint slides

Stories give life and substance to scientific methods and provide an inside look at scientists in action. Case studies deepen scientific understanding, sharpen critical-thinking skills, and help students see how science relates to their lives. In Science Stories, Clyde Freeman Herreid, Nancy Schiller, and Ky Herreid have organized case studies into categories such as historical cases, science and the media, and ethics and the scientific process. Each case study comprises a story, classroom discussion questions, teaching notes and background information, objectives, and common misconceptions about the topic, as well as helpful references. College-level educators and high school teachers will find that this compilation of case studies will allow students to make connections between the classroom and everyday life.

Written and extensively class tested with NSF/NIH support, this timely and useful text addresses a crucial need which is acknowledged in most universities and colleges. It is the need for students to learn to write in the context of their field of study; in this case science. Although numerous "how to" writing books have been published, few, if any, address the central pedagogical issues underlying the process of learning to think and write scientifically. The direct connection between this writing skill and that of critical thinking is developed with engaging style by the author, an English professor. Moriarty's book is an invaluable guide for both undergraduate and graduate science students. In the process of learning the specific requirements of organization demanded by scientific writing, students will develop strategies for thinking through their scientific research, well before they sit down to write. This instructive text will be useful to students who need to satisfy a science writing proficiency requirement in the context of a science course, a course in technical writing, advanced composition, or writing for the profession.

Contains standards-based activities for the physical sciences that help students learn the scientific method and develop analysis skills that can be applied to science and other subjects.

Explores key topics in psychology, showing how they can be critically examined.

Critical thinking is an essential skill for learners and teachers alike. Therefore, it is essential that educators be given practical strategies for improving their critical thinking skills as well as methods to effectively provide critical thinking skills to their students. The Handbook of Research on Critical Thinking and Teacher Education Pedagogy examines and explains how new strategies, methods, and techniques in critical thinking can be applied to classroom practice and professional development to improve teaching and learning in teacher education and make critical thinking a tangible objective in instruction. This critical scholarly publication helps to shift and advance the debate on how critical thinking should be taught and offers insights into the significance of critical thinking and its effective integration as a cornerstone of the educational system. Highlighting topics such as early childhood education, curriculum, and STEM education, this book is designed for teachers/instructors, instructional designers, education professionals, administrators, policymakers, researchers, and academicians.

This innovative book helps students learn clinical reasoning skills to become more outcome oriented. It introduces the OPT (outcome, present state, test) model, an alternative to the nursing process, to help students develop the clinical reasoning skills required in contemporary practice. This model uses the client's story as a foundation for developing reasoning skills that are outcome focused, an area gaining importance in nursing. (judgement, critical thinking, reasoning, decision making, analyze)