Archive for the ‘Critical Thought Toolkit’ Category

Tuesday Media Watch: Realistic TV

Tuesdays? Wrapping the mind around too much TV culture.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the so-called “skeptical mind” and I’ve reconciled with myself that much of what defines that kind of personality is a strong sense of realism. Take that statement literally — the forever-fact-checker, scientific, analytical mind — or take it as a kind of objective observation, but either way there is a strong sense of “let’s not kid ourselves” mentality that bubbles to the surface of our personalities. So when I start thinking about the arguments, for and against, kids and television the skeptic in me needs to take a step back and just say: let’s not kid ourselves here.

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Full text from April 29, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Critical Thought Toolkit

Gaming and Critical Thought (Proposal)

In my everyday life I have been finding overlap between fellow skeptics and folks who game. That is to say, the people I know in real life and online who I would consider ‘critical thinkers’ and scientists have a notable affinity for playing complex and unique board games, dice games, or card games. It is not a closed-set of people by any means, but it makes me wonder: What do games teach us about thought? Are games good models for teaching integrity to kids (one of skep/dad’s claimed core pillars of critical thinking) or is it mere correlation? Or what else could we deduce from this seeming connection — if it even exists?

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Full text from January 25, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Critical Thought Toolkit, The Three Eyes

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Defining Critical Thought: Take One

I’ve been doing a little thinking about thinking. One of the great things about taking a few minutes each day to write out my thoughts on these topics — or any topics for that matter — is that such introspection opens up all kinds of new avenues for exploration. Sometimes this kind of meandering pontification threatens to take me off course. On other occasions it sends me down twisting paths of inquiry that ultimately validate those selfsame efforts. And as pointless as this little soliloquy might seem at the moment, it is in fact leading a singular point. That point is both a very good question to be asked in a blog such as this one and also a question offering no universally accepted definition; What exactly is critical thought?

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Full text from January 9, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Critical Thought Toolkit, Reasoned Education

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Ten Great Optical Illusion Sites

I remember growing up and hitting that age when suddenly a whole world of nonsense images opened up before me; Optical illusions were a terrific way for me, as a kid, to play tricks on my own brain. Of course, this was long before the Web made thousands of illusions available to the average computer user, so we would hunt through the local library for books that would satisfy our cravings.

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Full text from September 10, 2007 by Brad
Filed as: Critical Thought Toolkit