In a multi-study naturalistic quasi-experiment involving 269 students in a semester-long introductory philosophy course, we investigated the effect of teaching argument diagramming on students’ scores on argument analysis tasks. An argument diagram is a visual representation of the content and structure of an argument. In each study, all of the students completed pre- and posttests containing argument analysis tasks. During the semester, the treatment group was taught AD, while the control group was not. The results were that among the different (...) pretest achievement levels, the scores of low-achieving students who were taught AD increased significantly more than the scores of low-achieving students who were not taught AD, while the scores of the intermediate- and high-achieving students did not differ significantly between the treatment and control groups. The implication of these studies is that learning AD significantly improves low-achieving students’ ability to analyze arguments. (shrink)

The dynamic nature of physics cannot be captured through an exclusive focus on the static mathematical formulations of physical theories. Instead, we can more fruitfully think of physics as a set of distinctively social, cognitive, and theoretical/methodological practices. An emphasis on practice has been one of the most notable aspects of the recent “naturalistic turn” in general philosophy of science, in no small part due to the arguments of many feminist philosophers of science. A major project of feminist philosophy of (...) physics has been to shine a critical light on the social and cognitive practices in physics, and how those ultimately influence other aspects of the science. Here we argue that traditional philosophy of physics has focused exclusively on the theoretical/methodological practices of physics, and that feminist philosophy of physics seeks to broaden the focus to include the social and cognitive practices as well. (shrink)

Many undergraduates, philosophy majors included, read philosophical texts similar to the way they read stories. One method for teaching students how to discern the argumentative structure of a philosophy text is through argument diagrams . This paper provides criteria for an ideal argument diagramming software and then reviews the strengths and weaknesses of such software currently available, e.g. Araucaria, Argutect, Athena Standard, Inspiration, and Reason!Able.

Argument-mapping software abounds, and one of the reasons is that using the software has been shown to teach/promote/improve critical-thinking skills. These positive results are very encouraging, but they also raise the question of whether the computer tutorial environment is producing these results, or whether learning argument mapping, even with just paper and pencil, is sufficient. Based on the results of two empirical studies, I argue that the basic skill of being able to represent an argument diagrammatically plays an important role (...) in the improvement of critical-thinking skills. While these studies do not offer a direct comparison between the two methods, it is important for anyone wishing to employ argument mapping in the classroom to know that significant results can be obtained even with the most rudimentary of tools. (shrink)

There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of critical thinking skills within the context of an introductory philosophy course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural⎯and relatively minor⎯modifications to standard critical thinking courses could provide substantial (...) increases in student learning and performance. (shrink)

After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we designed an experiment, performed twice over the course of two semesters, to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the Spring of 2004, and five in the Fall of 2004; and the students of Lecturer I were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool (...) to aid understanding and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. We were interested in whether this tool would help the students develop the skills we hoped they would master in this course. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semester. We also determined that the students who were able to construct argument diagrams gained significantly more than the other students. We conclude that learning how to construct argument diagrams improves a student's ability to analyze, comprehend, and evaluate arguments. (shrink)

After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we performed an experiment twice over the course of two semesters to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the first semester, and five in the second; in each semester students in some lectures were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool to aid understanding (...) and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semester. We also determined that the students who were taught argument diagramming gained significantly more than the students who were not. We conclude that learning how to construct argument diagrams significantly improves a student’s ability to analyze arguments. (shrink)

Learning to argue in a computer-mediated and structured fashion is investigated in this research. A study was conducted to compare dyads that were scripted in their computer-mediated collaboration with dyads that were not scripted. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted experimental group used significantly more words, engaged in significantly more broadening and deepening of the discussion, and appeared to engage in more critical and objective argumentation than the non-scripted control group.

The importance of teaching critical thinking skills at the college level cannot be overemphasized. Teaching a subcategory of these skills—argument analysis—we believe is especially important for first-year students with their college careers, as well as their lives, ahead of them. The struggle, however, is how to effectively teach argument analysis skills that will serve students in a broad range of disciplines.

Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on cognitive skills, including argumentation. In this paper we present a study on learning argumentation through computer-supported argument diagramming. We specifically focus on whether students, when provided with an argument-diagramming tool, create better diagrams, are more motivated, and learn more when working with other students or on their own. We use learning analytics to evaluate a variety of student activities: pre and post questionnaires to explore motivational (...) changes; the argument diagrams created by students to evaluate richness, complexity and completion; and pre and post knowledge tests to evaluate learning gains. (shrink)

There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether learning to construct visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of argumentative writing skills within the context of first-year college writing course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural⎯and relatively minor⎯modifications to standard first-year composition courses (...) could provide substantial increases in student writing ability. (shrink)

Drawing on the work of Linda Farmer, this article describes a detailed grading grid coupled with a rubric designed for the purpose of assessing argumentative papers. The rubric consists of two main parts: Content and Style. Relying upon Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, the “Content” part of the rubric assesses a student’s understanding of the material, the argument of their paper, and various abilities concerning analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation. The “Style” part of the rubric is split into two parts: Clarity (...) and Organization. Coupling this rubric with a grading grid, the author provides an example of a method for the effective grading of argumentative essays. (shrink)

Problem-Based Learning has become an increasingly popular instructional method for a variety of disciplines at all levels. Many studies and meta-analyses of these studies have shown the efficacy of this method for developing knowledge and skills. I adopted this method for teaching Engineering Ethics at Carnegie Mellon University, which has as its main course objectives the development of moral reasoning skills, as well as collaboration and communication skills, with special attention given to ethical dilemmas that may arise in the normal (...) course of an engineer’s professional career. In the most recent iteration of the course, I used the Engineering and Science Issues Test as a pretest and posttest to test the development of my students’ moral reasoning skills over the course of the semester. Based on the results of these tests, I argue that the students in my Engineering Ethics course did in fact significantly develop their moral reasoning skills. (shrink)

: Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what extent student dyads’ online argumentation can be facilitated with collaboration scripts that prompt learners to prepare individually, create conflict, and encourage productive collaboration and argumentation. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted treatment group used significantly more words and broadened and deepened their discussions significantly more than the unscripted group. Qualitative analysis indicates that scripted learners engaged in more critical and (...) objective argumentation than non-scripted learners. (shrink)

Recently, Rueger and Sharp (1996) and Koperski (1998) have been concerned to show that certain procedural accounts of model confirmation are compromised by non‐linear dynamics. We suggest that the issues raised are better approached by considering whether chaotic data analysis methods allow for reliable inference from data. We provide a framework and an example of this approach.

There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of critical thinking skills within the context of an introductory philosophy course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural and relatively minor modifications to standard critical thinking courses could (...) provide substantial increases in student learning and performance. (shrink)

This commentary suggests that the general population has much less reasoning skill than is claimed by Mercier & Sperber (M&S). In particular, many studies suggest that the skills of understanding, evaluating, and producing arguments are generally poor in the population of people who have not had specific training.

Maralee Harrell. The Improvement of Critical Thinking Skills in What Philosophy.

A standard platitude about the function of causal knowledge or theories is that they are valuable because they support prediction, explanation, and control. Knowledge of predator-prey relations enables us to predict future animal populations, as well as design policies or interventions that help influence those populations. If we understand the underlying biochemical mechanisms of some disease, then we can predict who is at risk for it, explain why it produces particular symptoms, and develop interventions to try to reduce its prevalence (...) or the symptom severity. Of course, there are many situations in which one has, for practical reasons, only some of these desiderata; for example, control might be infeasible for technical or ethical reasons. But these remain, for many researchers, the ideal for why causal knowledge is a valuable end of scientific inquiry, including biological inquiry. There are, however, certain types of systems—in particular, chaotic systems—in which it appears that these ends are unattainable, and these systems appear to be widespread in the biological domain, broadly construed. In this paper, we will show why it is natural to think that causal models of chaotic systems cannot satisfy any of the three functions. But we will also show why this natural thought is wrong: we can have usable causal knowledge about even chaotic systems. Moreover, the ways in which we can have such knowledge lead us naturally to rethink a standard understanding of how causal learning and modeling proceed. In particular, just as we often must find the appropriate variables for a causal system, we also must determine the proper level or granularity of description for the dynamics of that system. (shrink)

Most of the recent work in chaos theory has been the development of data analysis tools for analyzing chaotic data. It is based upon the results of the application of these tools that many researchers have made claims that such phenomena as heartbeats, planetary orbits, and chemical reactions are chaotic. ;The first part of my dissertation is concerned with investigating the standard methods that are used to determine whether a system is chaotic, and the requirements of these methods. I begin (...) by explaining chaos theory, and providing a generally accepted definition of chaos. I then explain the current methods that have been developed for experimentally studying chaotic systems. With this in mind, I turn to a more theoretical investigation of the reliability of these methods. Within the framework of formal learning theory, I discuss the conditions under which a scientist can reliably determine whether a system is chaotic. ;Generalizing this problem leads to the philosophical center of my dissertation: an investigation that relates how the conceptions of reliability of the scientists who work with chaos theory fit into a larger philosophical picture of reliable knowledge, and whether and in what sense or senses scientists are justified in their beliefs that particular systems are chaotic. ;I argue that Alvin Goldman is correct in a general sense; cashing out "justified" as "produced by a process that reliably produces true beliefs" captures a very strong intuition about knowledge and justification. I also argue that defining reliability, as Goldman does, in terms of "truth-ratios" does not capture our intuitions about reliability, and is often ill-defined. Instead, we need to define a reliable process as one which does one of two things: either the process always produces true beliefs, or the process gives specific conditions under which it will fail to produce true beliefs. ;Finally, I return to the discussion of a particular instance of scientific knowledge, the knowledge that a system is chaotic. I argue that, under my conception of reliabilism, and under certain conditions, scientists are in fact justified in their beliefs that particular dynamical systems in nature are chaotic. (shrink)