critical thinking

Revised for the twentieth anniversary of its original release, the award-winning The Art of Argument is a robust, delightful, and creative text designed to introduce students as young as 7th grade to the foundations of logic and critical thinking.

The Art of Argument will impart to students the skills they need to craft accurate statements and identify the flawed arguments found so frequently in commercials, articles, books, movies, songs, TV shows, everyday discussions, and other media. This revised edition features enhanced explanations, numerous examples of each fallacy, an updated design, and a taxonomic visual guide to the informal fallacies.

This teacher’s edition provides the entire student text as well as robust resources, including additional explanations, supplemental resources and examples, pedagogical suggestions, alerts for common student pitfalls, answers to chapter exercises, and chapter and unit tests with their respective answer keys.

This engaging, colorful 152-page book for grades 4-9 (ages 9-15) teaches the most important critical thinking concepts every student should know. Many workbooks claim to teach or develop critical thinking skills, but most of these products never define critical thinking or try to teach the meaning to students. This book defines and teaches critical thinking in a way all students can understand through simple explanations, diagrams, and short, engaging activities. In addition to being a course in critical thinking, the activities in this book can be used to supplement lessons in all subjects.Although this book teaches common argument forms, its primary focus is identifying and evaluating evidence–the very basis of critical thinking. Most propaganda, advertising schemes, legal trickery, and bad science are not the result of complex arguments; they are the result of half-truths and simple arguments. Students who successfully complete this book will have a fundamental set of critical thinking skills they can use their entire lives.

A logic course for all ages but designed for use as young as 7th grade, Traditional Logic is an in-depth study of the classical syllogism. Along with a basic understanding of the Christian theory of knowledge, the text presents the four kinds of logical statements, the four ways propositions can be opposed, the three ways which they can be equivalent, and the seven rules for the validity of syllogisms. Each chapter explains challenging concepts in clear, concise language.

Grammar Island introduces, in a simple fashion, the full four-level grammar analysis of (1) parts of speech, (2) parts of the sentence, (3) phrases, and (4) clauses. Using color to reinforce the lessons, the book offers grammar in child-friendly ways, with an array of strategies to make sophisticated material dynamic and fun. Each page focuses on a single concept, and the teaching approach is to read together with the students, talk about the concepts, ask questions, refer back to the text, and respond to questions before venturing further. This book will delight children just beginning grammar.

Middle and high school students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won’t argue well without good training. Students who complete The Art of Argument will learn how to reason with clarity, relevance, and purpose . . . and will have fun along the way! Informal logic is a foundational subject by which other subjects are evaluated, assessed, and learned. Therefore, students' study and mastery of the 28 logical fallacies will provide an essential lifetime framework for filtering good and bad reasoning as well as writing and speaking effectively.

Elementary Science Education: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Vol. II, grades 3-5, 2nd ed. Science Lesson Plans That Develop Understanding of Scientific Ideas and Concepts in Clear Steps. Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) is a complete K-8 science curriculum in three volumes. This Elementary Science, BFSU is Volume II for grades 3-5. The BFSU science curriculum addresses all the major areas of science: nature of matter (chemistry); life sciences; physical science and technology; and Earth and space science. Lesson plans in each area provide for systematic, step-by-step learning (a learning progression) that leads to a comprehension of basic ideas and concepts fundamental to each area of science. In addition to providing rigorous learning progressions, BFSU guides teachers and homeschoolers in using teaching techniques that have been proven to be most effective in developing students' proficiency in exercising the practices of science.

Mind Benders, our best-selling deductive thinking puzzles, develop logic, reading comprehension, and mental organizational skills that are vital to achieving high grades and top test scores in all subjects. They're also great for developing real-life, problem-solving skills. Methods, your students will learn to carefully analyze each mind Benders puzzle and its clues, identifying logical associations between people, places, and things. The key is to start with the most obvious associations, then deduce less obvious associations until everything finally fits together. Teaching support includes step-by-step instructions and detailed answers. Book levels spiral in difficulty within grade range.