2024 Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Entrepreneurship courses
Master's Critical Thinking
- Academic unit or major
- Entrepreneurship courses
- Instructor(s)
- Mayumi Ando / Dan Ricinschi
- Class Format
- Lecture (Livestream)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Thu
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- ENT.C448(LAC.M448)
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
※ Courses with parentheses in the course number have different subject codes depending on the student's year of admission.
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Critical Thinking trains students to form and enhance their ability of being reflective and reasonable in forming opinions and taking decisions, as well as when evaluating positions taken by others, within or out of the confines of one's specialized area. The course will emphasize the need of a high standard for the precision of language used for expressing ideas and evaluating the realities of our world. The advantages of shaping a large proportion of one's thinking into the form of an argument, i.e., requiring that all claims are defended with appropriate reasons and evidence, will be outlined. The course also contains a discussion of the various approaches to scientific inquiry, such as induction and deduction, as well as a presentation of logical fallacies that are barriers to critical thinking, including examples taken from scientific research. Furthermore, the course aims to teach students to ask the right questions when confronted with their peers' ideas and opinions, as well as to properly defend their own, in particular with respect to soundly evaluating conditional and cause-effect relationships, thus helping to properly identify problems and their possible solutions. They will also learn to point out and avoid vagueness, ambiguities, lack of evidence, weaknesses in argumentation, inconsistencies, and omissions in written and oral communications.
Course description and aims
By the end of this course, students will:
1. understand the importance of critical thinking for their proper functioning in and out of their professional activity.
2. acquire and enhance the ability to recognize their own or other people's valid and sound arguments.
3. avoid critical thinking lapses that could prevent them from forming the right opinion on a topic or performing the optimal action
4. function better in their future workplace, particularly in cases when they are expected to expand knowledge and advance progress in different areas valuable to society or train others to do so.
Keywords
critical thinking, claim, evidence, argument, logical support
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
The course will be offered once per academic year, in 4Q. Students will attend the classes for 7 weeks, on account of Ookayama campus. Main format of each class will be a lecture given by the instructor, with students as audience and participating in class exercises. A number of individual written homeworks will be assigned, which will be evaluated by the instructor, to weigh the most on final grade. There will also be quizzes delivered by Zoom.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Importance and role of Critical Writing | Importance of Critical Thinking for ensuring one's personal autonomy in life in general as well as in their chosen profession. |
| Class 2 | Clarifying meaning by use of proper language as a prerequisite of Critical Thinking | Importance of correctly defining concepts precisely, unambiguously and specifically. |
| Class 3 | Assertions and Basics of Arguments | Components of an argument, and how to distinguish an argument from other kinds of logical discourse. |
| Class 4 | Evaluating the validity and acceptability of arguments | How to evaluate for logical support inside an argument and what other conditions are necessary in order to accept the conclusion of an argument. |
| Class 5 | Particular types of argumentative discourse I; exemplification and importance in science and technology | Using the correct terminology in recognizing particular types of reasoning, with emphasis of validity and acceptability of such arguments. |
| Class 6 | Particular types of argumentative discourse II; exemplification and importance in science and technology | Using the correct terminology in recognizing particular types of reasoning, with emphasis of validity and acceptability of such arguments. |
| Class 7 | Logical Fallacies of Critical Thinking | How to avoid critical thinking lapses that could prevent forming the right position on a topic or performing the optimal action, with emphasis on societal problems and their solutions. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None-learning materials will be provided by instructors
Reference books, course materials, etc.
A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking by David A. Hunter
Evaluation methods and criteria
The achievement grade of the individual students will be evaluated on the basis of homework assignments (80%). Any class exercises and/or quizzes provided as part of the lectures will be considered in calculation of the final grade, and active student participation in interactive group discussions during some of the lectures should also be expected to favorably reflect on the final grade (20% in total).
Related courses
- None
Prerequisites
None
Other
GA: GA1M