Critical Thinking:

Your thinking process organizes the world you see into relationships that make sense to you; thinking helps you understand the world and what is happening. These relationships that help you understand the world are also called patterns, which include patterns of the following types: Chronological, Process, Comparative & Causal.  In this unit, you will explore the way you use these thinking patterns, and others, to organize your beliefs and knowledge (Unit IV). You will learn that the quality and accuracy of your beliefs are dependent on the information, inferences, and judgments with which you support them. You will recognize how some beliefs are perceived to be better than others because they appear more accurate, complete, and grounded in plausible inferences, or they are based on valid judgments.

Unit 5 Textbook

• Chapter 5 – Reporting Information, Inferring, and Judging

Unit 5 Movies – watch 1 of these

• Contact
• Meet Joe Black
• Bruce Almighty
• Question Faith:  Confessions of a Seminarian
• Leap of Faith

Unit 5 Discussion Board

• Do you believe that everyone deserves forgiveness?  Support with ideas from Chapter 5 in our text.  At the end of the post, include 1 question of your own to the group focusing on issues discussed in Chapter 5.

Unit 5 Essay

This think piece is more analytical and less personal. The plots of the films this unit contrast the differing perceptions of faith believers and non-believers. Illustrate the roles that factual information, inferences, and judgments play in the main character(s) major decisions. Be sure to differentiate between the three terms and give examples for support.

In the second half of your think piece, discuss which path–-science or faith—is a more influential part of your own believing and knowing things about the world.

Your essay should be no less than two full pages in length, roughly 500 words. If you use outside sources, please cite and reference them according to APA standards.

Here is a suggested breakdown for the essay.

• Para 1:  Introduction
  • Sentence 1 – provide an overview of the main topic.  You can get this directly from the unit study guide.  EXAMPLE:  Factual information, inferences, and judgments play a role in major decisions.
  • Use paragraph 1 to introduce your movie selection with a brief synopsis of the main characters, introduce the major problem quick overview of the plot (keep this short, 2-3 sentences).
  • Use your last sentence to lead into the body of your paper
• Para 2:  Examples of how factual information plays a role in the main character(s) major decisions.  Great place to include citations.
• Para 3:  Examples of how inferences play a role in the main character(s) major decisions.  Great place to include citations.
• Para 4:  Examples of how judgment play a role in the main character(s) major decisions.  Great place to include citations.
• Para 5:  discuss which path–-science or faith—is a more influential part of your own believing and knowing things about the world
• Para 6: Conclusion – Restate the main idea of your essay, or your thesis statement, summarize your essay and leave the reader with an interesting final impression