Preparation

Worksheet "Analyzing Information and Texts Critically"

To use the worksheet "Analyzing Information and Texts Critically" you will need a text sample that participants can work on.

• Single work use at home or in class: You can either use a short or a long article.
• Pair or group work in class: Use a shorter text, like a quote.

For beginners it's easier to analyze examples that either clearly violate the principles of critical thinking or that neglect certain aspects. The internet offers a lot of striking material, starting from Twitter posts to fake news pages. Participants should also get at least one good example that follows the principles of critical thinking.   

Text examples:

• Twitter Post: Elon Musk's Twitter post saying that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin payments due to ecological reasons: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1392602041025843203 . With this example you can also show that the format of Twitter with its short texts is hardly suitable for comprehensive debates. You can also follow the answers to the thread and see which points other people pick up, what they criticize and compare it with what the participants found out on the topic.  
• Fake News: You can start searching based on this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fake_news_websites. Depending on how good you know your participants already you might want to select an easier topic https://www.newswars.com/german-green-party-members-want-to-remove-germany-from-their-own-manifesto/ (a mixture of actual news with defaming statements) or something  more extreme (false news mixed with seemingly scientific evidences) https://www.newswars.com/horrifying-bombshell-connecticut-warns-moderna-vax-contains-deadly-poison/ 
• Solid critical analysis or statements: Any well researched and written newspaper article should do it here. One example of a highly critical statement was published in the New York Times in 2017, illustrating the extent to which Donald Trump while he was president of the United States.   lied: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html .

Perspective Circles Exercise

This exercise can be used to develop a better understanding for the implications of something you are examining. The exercise takes a look at the implications for the individual up to the global level.

1. State the problem or the topic as precisely as possible. "If the global temperature continues to rise, the sea level will rise and millions of people will lose their homes."
2. Analyze the topic, asking the question "What does this mean to…,
   • me?
   • my family?
   • my community?
   • my country?
   • the world?
3. If you do this as a group exercise split the group up into the various roles (one person is taking over the individual role, 2 persons the family, 3 the community,..). Give participants 10 minutes to make up their minds what the effects on their level can be.
4. Start gathering the results beginning at the individual level. You can either write the points down on a whiteboard or you can work with cards and lay them in circles on the floor. 

Method / Process description

In case participants are not used to working with long texts, Lesson 04 - Easy Learning should precede this lesson. 

• Input: Introduce the concept of critical thinking (Module 6 > 6.1. Introducing Children to Digital Skills > Creative and Critical Thinking > What is critical thinking? and "Miniature Guide for Critical Thinking" by the Foundation of Critical Thinking, see References ).
  • Emphasize that the goal is not to be right but to bring everybody involved to a better result.
  • Introduce why critical thinking is important on the internet. You might want to use the following picture to illustrate it:

• Exercise 1: Start with the worksheet exercise "Analyzing Information and Texts Critically". Depending on the text length give participants enough time to read and reflect the text and to fill in the worksheet. 
• Group discussion: Gather the results of the exercise. Let every participant/group present their findings about the 8 core questions. If core questions are not answered in the text, try to figure out how the could be answered.
• Input: Introduce the 9 intellectual traits and virtues introduced in the "Miniature Guide for Critical Thinking"
• Exercise 2: Get back to the text example from the exercise. Try to identify which intellectual traits or virtues are harmed in the text.
• Group discussion: Bring together the results and discuss them.
• Exercise 3: Either use a question that might have come up in exercise 1 or think about a new example and use it to perform the "Perspective Circles Exercise". 
• Reflection:
  • Gather in the group if participants remember situations where critical thinking was either an issue because it was not performed well or where it worked good. 
  • As a homework give participants one text that illustrates the core principles of critical thinking well and let them highlight in the text where they find the respective information.

Download Material

• Image with fake Abraham Lincoln quote 
• Worksheet "Analyzing Information and Texts Critically"

References

• Foundation for Critical Thinking https://www.criticalthinking.org, especially "Miniature Guide for Critical Thinking" 
  • EN: https://www.criticalthinking.org/files/Concepts_Tools.pdf;  
  • DE: http://www.criticalthinking.org/files/german_concepts_tools.pdf
  • ES:  http://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/PDF/SP-ConceptsandTools.pdf
• Critical thinking is a 21st-century essential — here’s how to help kids learn it https://ideas.ted.com/critical-thinking-is-a-21st-century-essential-heres-how-to-help-kids-learn-it/
• List of fact checking websites globally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites
  • EN: https://www.factcheck.org
  • DE: https://www.mimikama.at
  • ES: https://maldita.es