Argument Mapping for critical thinking skills: Research in progress

1. Argument Mapping for critical thinking skills: does it work?Kristy LascellesSteve Kilpatrick Graham SmithHEA Psychology Network mini-project

2. Argument Mapping for critical thinking skills: Research in progress • What is an argument map (AM)? • AMs embedded in psychology UG teaching & learning • AMs & critical thinking • Attitudes to AMs

3. What is an argument map (AM)? An AM visually represents • an argument’s main claim • the reasons to believe a main claim is true or false • the relationships between reasons (premises) and the main claim An argument is a connected series of statements to establish a definite proposition? (Python, 1972) No it isn’t Yes it is It’s not just a contradiction

4. What is Argument Mapping (AM) An argument is a connected series of statements to establish a definite proposition? (Python, 1972) No it isn’t Yes it is It’s not just a contradiction If I argue I must take up a contrary position That’s not just saying “no it isn’t” No it isn’t Yes it is

5. AMs embedded in psychology UG teaching & learning • AM-based critical thinking courses well established in Australia & US, but few examples in UK. • Many existing AM programmes designed for philosophy students or stand-alone study skills modules (e.g., van Gelder, 2002a). • Aims: develop AM programme embedded within UG psychology modules.

6. AMs embedded in psychology UG teaching & learning • Seminar debates allowed students to incorporate their points into a collective AM • Arguments presented in lectures were supported by AMs • Lecture notes utilised AMs • Students could produce AMs for feedback in preparation for an essay assessment • Teaching materials and tutor guides were produced to facilitate teaching and learning of AM

7. Can Argument Mapping improve Critical Thinking? • Van Gelder, Bissett & Cumming (2004) • California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) (Facione & Facione, 1992) comprises: • 34 equally-weighted multiple-choice questions • 5 subscales (analysis, evaluation, inference, deduction, induction) • Norms: Mean = 15.89; SD = 4.46

8. Can Argument Mapping improve Critical Thinking? • CT Skills typically show a 0.34 SD improvement over first year of an undergraduate programme and 0.55 SD over three year undergraduate programme • Using the Reason! approach and the Reason!Able software van Gelder et al. claim improvements of 0.8 SD over one semester • Reason! approach involves intensive instruction in the formulation of argument maps

9. Critical Thinking Scale • Critical Thinking Scale • Items taken from AS & A2 Critical Thinking examination papers (OCR) (suggestion of Ian Wells, UEL) • 2 forms (A & B) comprising of 16 items • All items comprise of multiple-choice questions with four option choices • Question type included, weaken/strengthen argument, conclusion of argument, flaw of argument, assumptions • 15 mins. to complete all items

10. Critical Thinking Scale The widespread belief that mothers of very young children have sleep-disturbed nights is nothing but myth. A large scale national survey of the amount of sleep that different women have each night showed that mothers of young children under five have 8.5 hours. This is actually more than childless women who manage only 8.3 hours. Which of the following is the best statement of the flaw in the above argument? A The amount of sleep that mothers with very young children might have during the day is ignored. B The degree of sleep disturbance is not necessarily measured by the overall amount of sleep. C The amount of sleep that mothers of older children have is not mentioned. D The two categories of mothers with very young children and childless women ignore the fact that people’s need for sleep varies considerably.

11. Critical Thinking Scale • Validate Critical Thinking Scale with CCTST • Compare Pre-intervention CT scores with post-intervention CT scores • Pre-test scores obtained December 2005 (prior to introduction to AM) • Post-test scheduled April 2006 (revision lecture) • Essay Assignment Performance

12. Essay Assignment • PSY2001 Biological & Cognitive Psychology • Biological Assignment submitted prior to AM being introduced • Cognitive Assignment submitted after AM introduction • Comparison of student grades N=123, NS

13. Attitudes to AMs • 32 item questionnaire (attitudes to argument maps index) • VAS scales • General attitudes to AMs (3 items) • AM & study skills (7 items) • Specific study skills • communicating academic argument (4 items) • preparing assignments (4 items) • understanding psychological topics (4 items) • Students study skills (10 items) • Pre-intervention/post-intervention measures

14. Attitudes to AMs • All items on each of specific study skills showed high agreement on pre-test (a > .8) • No evidence of significant shift in overall attitudes • No evidence of significant shift in individual items or sub-scales • No discernible pattern to positive/negative shifts

15. Experimental Research for the Future • Does AM impact psychologists’ argument skills? • How does AM impact psychologists argument skills? • Reduced cognitive load? • Parsing • Seeing the wood for the trees • Visual analogy of argument structure