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Romalpa thirty years on – still an enigma?
Original article can be found at: http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/schools-of-study/law/hertfordshire-law-journal/home.cfmPeer reviewe
Introduction to the Special Issue on Critical Thinking in Higher Education
The articles included in this issue represent some of the most recent thinking in the
area of critical thinking in higher education. While the emphasis is on work being
done in the Australasian region, there are also papers from the USA and UK that
demonstrate the international interest in advancing research in the area.
‘Critical thinking’ in the guise of the study of logic and rhetoric has, of course,
been around since the days of the ancient Greeks and the early beginnings of universities.
In a narrower sense, critical thinking has been central to higher education as a
desirable attribute of graduates since at least the beginning of the twentieth century.
The work of John Dewey, and others, emphasised the importance of ‘good habits of
thinking’ as early as 1916. In 1945, the Harvard Committee placed emphasis on the
importance of ‘thinking effectively’ as one of three desirable educational abilities in
their General education in a free society. This was later endorsed in 1961 by the US-based
Educational Policies Commission: ‘The purpose which runs through and
strengthens all other educational purposes … is the development of the ability to
think’ (Kennedy, Fisher, & Ennis, 1991, pp. 11–12).
In recent times, universities have made a point of emphasising the importance of
critical thinking as a ‘generic skill’ that is central to most, if not all, subjects. There is
not a university today (in Australia at least) that does not proudly proclaim that their
graduates will – as a result of a degree program in their institution – learn to think critically.
Further, there is rarely a subject taught that does not offer the opportunity to
acquire skills in critical thinking. However, where is the evidence that we teach critical
thinking in higher education? Disturbingly, despite our best intentions, it appears
we may be teaching very little of it
Concept mapping, mind mapping argument mapping: What are the differences and do they matter?
In recent years, academics and educators have begun to use software mapping tools for a number of education-related purposes. Typically, the tools are used to help impart critical and analytical skills to students, to enable students to see relationships between concepts, and also as a method of assessment. The common feature of all these tools is the use of diagrammatic relationships of various kinds in preference to written or verbal descriptions. Pictures and structured diagrams are thought to be more comprehensible than just words, and a clearer way to illustrate understanding of complex topics. Variants of these tools are available under different names: “concept mapping”, “mind mapping” and “argument mapping”. Sometimes these terms are used synonymously. However, as this paper will demonstrate, there are clear differences in each of these mapping tools. This paper offers an outline of the various types of tool available and their advantages and disadvantages. It argues that the choice of mapping tool largely depends on the purpose or aim for which the tool is used and that the tools may well be converging to offer educators as yet unrealised and potentially complementary functions
'Not Quite Right': Helping Students to Make Better Arguments
This paper looks at the need for a better understanding of the impediments to critical thinking in relation to graduate student work. The paper argues that a distinction is needed between two vectors that influence student writing: (1) the word-level–sentence-level vector; and (2) the grammar–inferencing vector. It is suggested that much of the work being done to assist students is only done on the first vector. This paper suggests a combination of explicit use of deductive syllogistic inferences and computer-aided argument mapping is needed. A methodology is suggested for tackling assignments that require students to ‘make an argument’. It is argued that what lecturers understand tacitly, now needs to be made a focus of deliberate educational practices
Computer-Aided Argument Mapping as a Tool for Teaching Critical Thinking
As individuals we often face complex issues about which we must weigh evidence and come to conclusions. Corporations also have to make decisions on the basis of strong and compelling arguments. Legal practitioners, compelled by arguments for or against a proposition and underpinned by the weight of evidence, are often required to make judgments that affect the lives of others. Medical doctors face similar decisions. Governments make purchasing decisions—for example, for expensive military equipment—or decisions in the areas of public or foreign policy. These issues involve many arguments on all sides of difficult debates. These issues involve understanding the arguments
of others and being able to make objections and provide rebuttals to objections. Students in universities deal with arguments all the time. A major purpose of a university education—regardless of subject matter—is to teach students how to read, understand, and respond to complex arguments. The ability to do this makes for highly employable, adaptable, and reflectively critical individuals. We often call the skill of marshaling arguments and assessing them “critical thinking.” All universities claim to instill the skill of critical thinking in their graduates and routinely note this in their advertising and promotional documents. This short paper outlines one way this skill can be taught
How bio-friendly is the universe
The oft-repeated claim that life is written into the laws of nature are
examined and criticized. Arguments are given in favour of life spreading
between near-neighbour planets in rocky impact ejecta (transpermia), but
against panspermia, leading to the conclusion that if life is indeed found to
be widespread in the universe, some form of life principle or biological
determinism must be at work in the process of biogenesis. Criteria for what
would constitute a credible life principle are elucidated. I argue that the key
property of life is its information content, and speculate that the emergence
of the requisite information-processing machinery might require quantum
information theory for a satisfactory explanation. Some clues about how
decoherence might be evaded are discussed. The implications of some of these
ideas for fine tuning are discussed.Comment: 11 page conference report, no figure
Quantum mechanics and the equivalence principle
A quantum particle moving in a gravitational field may penetrate the
classically forbidden region of the gravitational potential. This raises the
question of whether the time of flight of a quantum particle in a gravitational
field might deviate systematically from that of a classical particle due to
tunnelling delay, representing a violation of the weak equivalence principle. I
investigate this using a model quantum clock to measure the time of flight of a
quantum particle in a uniform gravitational field, and show that a violation of
the equivalence principle does not occur when the measurement is made far from
the turning point of the classical trajectory. I conclude with some remarks
about the strong equivalence principle in quantum mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, research pape
Quantum fluctuations and life
There have been many claims that quantum mechanics plays a key role in the
origin and/or operation of biological organisms, beyond merely providing the
basis for the shapes and sizes of biological molecules and their chemical
affinities. These range from the suggestion by Schrodinger that quantum
fluctuations produce mutations, to the conjecture by Hameroff and Penrose that
quantum coherence in microtubules is linked to consciousness. I review some of
these claims in this paper, and discuss the serious problem of decoherence. I
advance some further conjectures about quantum information processing in
bio-systems. Some possible experiments are suggested.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, conference pape
Global behaviour corresponding to the absolute instability of the rotating-disc boundary layer
A study is carried out of the linear global behaviour corresponding to the absolute instability of the rotating-disc boundary layer. It is based on direct numerical simulations of the complete linearized Navier–Stokes equations obtained with the novel velocity–vorticity method described in Davies & Carpenter (2001). As the equations are linear, they become separable with respect to the azimuthal coordinate, . This permits us to simulate a single azimuthal mode. Impulse-like excitation is used throughout. This creates disturbances that take the form of wavepackets, initially containing a wide range of frequencies. When the real spatially inhomogeneous flow is approximated by a spatially homogeneous flow (the so-called parallel-flow approximation) the results ofthe simulations are fully in accordance with the theory of Lingwood (1995). If the flow parameters are such that her theory indicates convective behaviour the simulations clearly exhibit the same behaviour. And behaviour fully consistent with absolute instability is always found when the flow parameters lie within the theoretical absolutely unstable region. The numerical simulations of the actual inhomogeneous flow reproduce the behaviour seen in the experimental study of Lingwood (1996). In particular, there is close agreement between simulation and experiment for the ray paths traced out by the leading and trailing edges of the wavepackets. In absolutely unstable regions the short-term behaviour of the simulated disturbances exhibits strong temporal growth and upstream propagation. This is not sustained for longer times, however. The study suggests that convective behaviour eventually dominates at all the Reynolds numbers investigated, even for strongly absolutely unstable regions. Thus the absolute instability of the rotating-disc boundary layer does not produce a linear amplified global mode as observed in many other flows. Instead the absolute instability seems to be associated with transient temporal growth, much like an algebraically growing disturbance. There is no evidence of the absolute instability giving rise to a global oscillator. The maximum growth rates found for the simulated disturbances in the spatially inhomogeneous flow are determined by the convective components and are little different in the absolutely unstable cases from the purely convectively unstable ones. In addition to the study of the global behaviour for the usual rigid-walled rotating disc, we also investigated the effect of replacing an annular region of the disc surface with a compliant wall. It was found that the compliant annulus had the effect of suppressing the transient temporal growth in the inboard (i.e. upstream) absolutely unstable region. As time progressed the upstream influence of the compliant region became more extensive
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