Consider one of the following current social issues – or one of your choice:

• Gun violence
• Racism
• Economic inequality
• Sexism
• Violent crime
• Immigration

Address the following:

• State your position on one of these issues – are you for, against, or neutral? Explain why. Avoid vagueness or ambiguity in your response. Make your position very clear.
• Examine how you have formed that opinion.
  • How well do you think you know the facts?
  • Do you know and understand statistical information that applies to the issue?
  • Do you think you have formed your opinion using only System-1 thinking, or have you applied System-2?
  • What part have heuristics, cognitive bias, and dominance structuring played in how you have formed your opinions?

It is not about how “correct” your position is; it is about how you arrived at your position on the issue. This discussion requires application of metacognition – thinking about how you think.

A very valuable final post would be to discuss your judgment call: perhaps you “got it” in three; perhaps you opted for more than three; perhaps other demands on your time did not allow you to exercise as much deep thinking as you would have liked to do. Perhaps you did not see much value in the discussion – a very valuable final post would be a brief statement of why you found it so. Do not be shy about critiquing the exercise. Look at “A Poorly Crafted Assignment” in section 11.1 of the text in which the authors critique a similar assignment.

Writing Requirements

• Minimum of 2 posts (1 initial & 1 follow-up)
• Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside source)
• APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Title: Think Critically Authors: Peter Facione, Carol Ann Gittens Publisher: Pearson Publication Date: 2015-01-26 Edition: 3rd APA Citation

Facione, P. A., & Gittens, C. A. (2016). Think critically (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

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