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e-Learning A Level in Critical Thinking (AS)

At eLearning.co.uk all of our courses are delivered online. This gives you the opportunity to study at your own pace and within your own time. Online learning allows you to study in the evenings, weekends, or even the odd hour during the day! With each course you will have full tutor and technical support available via the telephone and by e-mail – so you are not on your own by any means. This e-Learning A Level in Critical Thinking (AS) course will award you with the same certification as the classroom version of this course – usually for a cheaper cost and with the additional benefit of flexible study times!

Once you’ve decided to go ahead and enrol on this e-Learning A Level in Critical Thinking (AS) course, you will receive an e-mail shortly after containing your user name and password, receipt of payment and full course joining instructions. Use this with the link/url provided in the e-mail and you can log into the online training system and begin learning right away. This e-Learning A Level in Critical Thinking (AS) online learning course will use various interactive features and different types of media to enable you to stay engaged whilst learning. The course has been designed to be simple to follow and solely with the user in mind – so don’t worry about the technical side of things.

If you want to learn a little more about e-Learning in general, watch the video below. If you want to know more about your chosen course, please scroll down.

About the course -

Critical thinking is a skill that hones the ability to make sense of arguments and ideas. People who question things they read in the papers/hear on the news and enjoy analysing information with logic would be ideal for – and enjoy – this course. As well as being an interesting course, it can also help improve study and communication/information skills. A very generic qualification, the critical thinking course can even support your learning within other subjects.

Rather than skimming through a newspaper article, a technical report or a difficult chapter in a book, you should become better equipped to take what you have read into pieces and really understand the true meaning between words. You are given a discipline to see what somebody is really saying and whether you are convinced by it, opposed to relying on face value. By the end of the course you should expect to be able to construct your own arguments better with the skills taught in this course.

The course is divided into two units, each of which is divided into several sections. There are a large number of activities to do, as critical thinking is something best explored via experience. The course is skills based rather than content based – there is not a large amount of information required to be memorised. Rather, the course focuses on practising and developing skills. The answers to all the activities are included with the course notes for this reason. At various points you will be required to complete one of the assignments and send it to your tutor for marking. Each unit corresponds to a unit as set out in the syllabus and an examination. The lessons also broadly correspond to sections of the units in the syllabus. It is important that you will study the lessons in the right sequence, however it is encouraged that students see the links between terms and concepts as you go along. The units are divided up as follows:

UNIT 1: Introduction to critical thinking

Part A – the language of reasoning

3.1.1 What is an argument?

• What is an argument?
• Some basic rules of arguments
• Using common notation as shorthand

3.1.2 The elements of an argument

• What are argument indicators?
• Counter arguments
• The use of counter claims
• Providing evidence
• Providing examples
• Hypothetical reasoning
• Assumptions

3.1.3 How strong is the evidence in a reason?

• Evaluating evidence
• How big was the sample?
• Was the sample representative?
• How and when was the evidence collected?
• How is the evidence presented?
• Alternative interpretations of statistics
• How well does a reason support the conclusion?

Part B – Credibility

3.1.4 What is credibility?

3.1.5 Credibility criteria

• Is the evidence plausible?
• Is the source an eye witness?
• Is there corroboration?
• To what extent are different sources consistent with each other?
• Is there any suggestion of bias?
• Does the source have a vested interest?
• Is the source neutral?
• Can the source be seen as expert?
• Does the source have a positive reputation?

3.1.6 A guide to the unit one exam

• How the exam works
• What do I need to be able to do?
• How to give a good answer
• Practice makes perfect!

UNIT 2 Assessing and developing argument

Part A – Further points on components

3.2.1 Some things that are not an argument

• Explanation
• Description
• Opinion

3.2.2 Intermediate conclusions

3.2.3 Analogies

3.2.4 Principles

3.2.5 Drawing conclusions

Part B – spotting problems with an argument – types of flaw

3.2.6 Inconsistency and contradiction

3.2.7 Types of flaw

• Wrong actions
• Unwarranted assumption of a causal relationship
• Generalisation
• Restricting the options
• Slippery slope
• Circular argument
• Confusing necessary and sufficient conditions
• Conflation
• Straw person
• Ad hominem flaws
• Arguing from one thing to another

3.2.8 Irrelevant appeals

Part C – Developing your own reasoned argument

Part D – Guide to the unit 2 exam

Recommended textbook and use of the web

Although the course material provides explanations of the whole syllabus you are strongly advised to purchase a copy of OCR Critical Thinking AS by Jo Lally and others. It is published by Heinemann. (ISBN 978-0-435235-89-5). The book provides clear explanations and contains many activities.

At the front of the book is a CD which contains, among other things, the answers to the activities.

There are no websites specific to AS Critical Thinking except www.criticalthinking.org.uk

Please not that is for the previous, not the current specification, however.

On the critical thinking website you will see a useful links section, though as the creator of the website admits, there isn’t much else out there.

Finally, the OCR website (www.ocr.org.uk) contains full details of the syllabus and sample exam papers with answers.

Studying Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking is a broad, contemporary and “real world” subject.

Students probably need to have passed GCSE level English Language to do well on the course. There is no mathematics element but there is a need to have a go at interpreting figures and understanding some basic mathematical concepts such as averages and percentages at a fairly basic level.

AS EXAMS – Exam board: OCR – Code: HO52

Unit 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking (20% of total A level marks)

1.5 hour written paper. Answer all questions. Candidates will be presented with 2 or more passages, totalling 900 words.

Candidates answer short answer questions and more discursive answers

Unit 2 Assessing and Developing Argument (30% of total A level marks)

1.5 hour written paper. Answer all questions. The paper has 2 parts and candidates answer all questions. Section A: contains multiple choice questions. Section B: Short answer questions after analysing a passage. Section C: short answer questions and construction of one or more further arguments.

Exams available January and June

Further details of the exams available at the offical website. (www.ocr.org.uk)

Please refer to these details when preparing for exams, not this brief summary.

Study Hours

The number of study hours are variable according to student commitment, though it is recommended that candidates spend around 150 hours on AS, and 150 hours for the A2 (resulting in a full A level.)

Course includes On-line Learning Documentation, On-line Resources and Tutor support for 2 years.

Qualification

The titles of the qualifications as will appear on certificates are:

OCR Advanced Subsidiary GCE in Critical Thinking

OCR Advanced Level GCE in Critical Thinking

Technical Requirements

• Windows: Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 – Acrobat Reader 4.0 and above
  OR
  Macintosh: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.2 – Acrobat Reader 4.0 and above
• An up to date internet browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari.
• Internet connection (broadband reccomended.

Cost - Per Person

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