COURSE IN TENERIFE: Teaching critical thinking and tolerance through active learning
Active and participatory methodologies for training critical thinking, analytical strength and the skill to discern reliable information.
In the digital age, information is just a click away. We can find the answers to a lot of questions and learn about virtually any subject; the era of the democratization of knowledge. But, how can we tell apart reliable information from falsehood?
It’s becoming more and more important for our students to acquire the learning tools that will allow them to know if a source is valid, tools that will help them distinguish the most common fallacies and argumentative tricks.
Instead of telling them “this is true” or “this is false”, in this course we will teach through a series of active and participatory activities that allow to understand through experience how knowledge is built in order to know how to recognize tricks easily.
Day 1
- Course introduction
- Group dynamic: Getting to know each other
- Reflection exercise: What is knowledge?
- Group activity: Biases and fallacies/argumentative tricks
- Group experiment: Improve your intelligence
- Hands-on activity: Analysis of newspaper articles
Day 2
- Group dynamic: Breaking the ice
- Practical activity: The Scientific Method
- Group experiment: Find the right assertion
- Group activity: Hunters by the method
- Individual activity: Detection of prejudice
- Hands-on activity: Data analysis
Day 3
- Group dynamic: Energizer for encouraging collective learning
- Group experiment: Experiments and demonstrations
- Group dynamic: Generating an open attitude in the group and raising energy
- Reflection and group discussion: Identify and compare different methodologies
Day 4
- Group dynamic: Energizer for fostering collective learning
- Rejection and discussion: What can other disciplines learn from Science?
- Group activity: Numbers that lie
- Hands-on activity: The rigor of Social Sciences
Day 5
- Group dynamic: Energizer for encouraging team building
- Reflection in small groups: Critical Thinking in the age of the Internet
- Final hands-on activity: Blind data collection
- Open discussion on possible future collaborations and planning follow up activities
- Summary of key learning points
- Final course evaluation and feedback
- Validation of learning outcomes and handling certificates
Reflect on the importance of educating in critical thinking and taking an autonomous approach when searching for information.
Teach methodological tools to train critical thinking.
Know the main fallacies/argumentative tricks and how to distinguish them.
Generate critical debate around information overload and how that shapes our society.
Understand the scientific method and how it is implemented in Social and Natural Sciences.