WORKSHEET #8                GROUP EXERCISE - CRITICAL THINKING

DUE:  November 10, 1998

 

The tsunami of information available today is both a blessing and a curse. The most important skill in dealing with this enormous wave of information is the ability to evaluate critically and the ability to determine which "expert" can be believed or trusted. If you accept everything in print as-is and then incorporate it as your own, you have by-passed an important intellectual step.  Information must be evaluated. YOU must make the decision when the author's conclusions are to be accepted, rejected, or re-worked. YOU must make the personal decision of whether the author's work has merit (worth). Reading critically is as important as listening critically, as is seeing critically. The process of evaluating what you read, hear and see requires skill. This skill if often referred to as CRITICAL THINKING.  It has also been identified as the skill of "asking the right question".

 

CRITICAL THINKING refers to the following:

 

                        1. awareness of a set of interrelated critical questions

                        2. ability to ask and answer critical questions at appropriate times

                        3. desire to actively use the critical questions.

(Browne, M. Neil and Stuart M. Keeley. Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.  ON RESERVE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK)

 

Information builds our history. As a discipline,  history has perhaps become less certain and less objective, but it has not abandoned the analytical process established over the last several hundred years. This ANALYTICAL process uses CRITICAL ANALYSIS/CRITICAL THINKING to evaluate the historical event against the context in which it was created and against today’s current context. Good history requires good critical thinking skills that look at fact as well as at the human narratives that constitute our daily history. The following exercise requires that you exercise your skill at critical analysis and that you test those skills against the response of others in a group format.

 

Over the last few months you have been asked to read articles from your text May We All Remember Well. These articles are:

 

                "Introduction"

 

                "The Christie Cabin Site: Historical and Archaeological Evidence of the Life and Times of a 

                 Cherokee Metis Household (1835-1838)"

 

                "The Waterpowered Mills of Reems Creek"

 

                "Robert Duncanson's View of Asheville, North Carolina"

 

                "George Masa: The Best Mountaineer"

 

 

INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE:

 

ASSIGNMENT:    As an individual, prepare your answers to the 5 questions posed below.  Please make a  copy of  your work so that you may keep one and turn the other in to your instructors

 

The following 5 questions are based on the readings above and on any others you choose in the text May We All Remember Well. Answer the following questions yourself, using full sentences. Please type your responses.  Discussion requires more than just a few sentences. Write a full citation for all selected articles. Your citation should look like the following:

               

Charles G. Zug III, "E.A. McKillop: "A Born Carving Man" May We All Remember Well, ed. Robert Brunk (Robert S. Brunk Auction Services Inc.: Asheville, North Carolina, 1997)

 

1.        In your opinion(s), name three articles in the Brunk text which raise an issue or issues? List. Carefully analyze the information in the articles.. Which of the articles reach a conclusion or an opinion regarding the issue? Which article(s) are less successful at raising an issue, critically analyzing the information and reaching an informed conclusion? Discuss each.

 

2.        Which of the Brunk article(s) [give two] are more a collection of static facts than an engaged moral narrative?  Which of the Brunk article(s) [give two] are engaged moral narratives rather than a collection of static facts? Cite the articles and support your conclusions.

 

3.        Facts and statistics:  In your opinion which one of the articles in the Brunk journal (book) most effectively uses fact (something that is known with certainty and that has been objectively verified) and/or statistics to persuade the reader? Can the facts and statistics in the article be trusted? Are the facts and statistics documented?  Where and how are they documented? Explain.

 

4.        Evaluate the use of  photography and/or the use of graphics in three journal articles in the Brunk text.  Which article(s) are most successful in using the visual image to convey information?  Which article(s) are least successful in using the visual image to convey information? Discuss each.

 

5.        Which of the articles in the Brunk text are mostly biographical [List]? Is any one entirely

                       biographical? Which of the biographical articles gives you the best "feel" for the personality

                       of the individual?  Discuss and support your conclusions.

 

 

GROUP EXERCISE:

 

READ:    Brunk, R. May We All Remember Well. “Introduction” particularly the section “The purposes of  this journal are...”, p. 7.

 

ASSIGNMENT:    1.     Arrange with your group a convenient time to meet.

2.         Bring your answers to the 5 questions, above, to the group.

3.         Bring your text to the group meeting.

4.         Arrive at a consensual agreement for answering your assigned question.

5.        Present your conclusions to class on November 10

                                6.     As a group list the major differences in writing style and the use of narrative in the 

                                        two articles listed below.

                                7.    Turn in group list of major differences

 

There will be 5 groups of  3 each. Your group is determined by the number at the top of  the

worksheet [1, 2, 3,4, 5].

               

Each group will work on one of the five questions above. Group 1 will work on question 1. Group 2 will work on question 2, and so on.

 

As a group you are to arrive at a consensus. Your answer to the question and the discussion should reflect the group's opinion. No one person should dominate.  This process will not be an easy one for some groups and requires that each of you exercise skill in the group process.  The process is as important as the answers to the question. You will be graded accordingly.

 

As a group, you will be asked to present your conclusions and discussion to the rest of the class in the "Critical Thinking Skills" class on November 10 [5+ min. presentations].  How you present to the class will be up to the group, but try to allow for all members to participate

 

Part II of the Group Exercise requires that you determine what are the major differences in the writing style and the use of narrative in the following two articles and that you list the major differences. Prepare a list to be turned in to your instructors.

 

Terry B. Taylor, "Sunset Mountain Pottery," p. 50-62

 

Rob Amberg, "Tobacco: "…you had to do something to live…"  An Interview with Dellie Norton, p.124-137