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Journal 9/31/15
What do you think the term "critical thinking" is? Do you think you already have it? What about most of the people around you? See if you can define this term.
Objective Tonight’s Homework
To begin learning how to think critically
Finish problems 1-4 of the packet by Friday (5 and 6 are extra credit!)
Vocabulary
1) The mental ability to “back up” and
approach a problem from another angle when confronted with a problem
2) A way of thinking that questions basic assumptions about a problem
or situation
3) A way of thinking about something from broad to narrow. Getting big ideas before specifics.
Critical Thinking
Notes on Critical Thinking
Critical thinking allows us to approach problems in science in fresh ways.
Scientists get stuck just as often as other people. But critical thinking skills help them to back up, take another look at the problem and try something new.
Notes on Critical Thinking
Critical thinking allows us to approach problems in science in fresh ways.
Scientists get stuck just as often as other people. But critical thinking skills help them to back up, take another look at the problem and try something new.
Example: Galileo
Before Galileo, people just assumed that heavier things always fell faster. Galileo questioned this basic assumption and did tests to see if what everyone assumed was true really was.
Notes on Critical Thinking
Example: Edison
Edison’s team did thousands of tests to see what metal they could put in a light bulb to get it burning the longest.
When confronted with a problem, they didn’t just stop, instead they took a step back and tried to find another path to success.
Notes on Critical Thinking
The first way we’ll work on critical thinking is through what are called “logic puzzles”.
In these puzzles, you’re trying to match up a number of things given limited information.
The key to these puzzles is to see things like “if X is right, then Y can’t be right”. Let’s do an example.
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Look at the following puzzle:
Zookeeper George was in charge of feeding all of the animals in the morning. He had a regular schedule that he followed every day. Can you figure it out from the clues?
1) The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys.
2) The bears were fed 15 minutes after the monkeys.
3) The lions were fed after the zebras.
Notes on Logic Puzzles
The first thing we want to do with any puzzle like this is make a grid of what can relate to what.
Notes on Logic Puzzles
In this puzzle, we were told of 2 things that can relate. Animals, and times.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
Notes on Logic Puzzles
In this puzzle, we were told of 2 things that can relate. Animals, and times.
We weren’t given specific times, but we’re told one animal was fed 15 minutes after another, so we can pick any times we want, as long as they’re separated by 15 minutes.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Next we want to start filling this thing in. To do this, we’ll read through the clues one a time, “x”ing out things we know can’t happen.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys. “
From this, we know that the giraffes couldn’t be fed at 10:00, because if they were, the zebras couldn’t be after them.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys. “
Similarly, we know that giraffes couldn’t have been fed first, because they were fed after the monkeys. So giraffes at 9:00 is out.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys. “
There’s more here, though! Zebras couldn’t have been first either, because the giraffes were fed before them. So zebras at 9:00 is out, too!
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys. “
Last, we can use the same thought to know that monkeys weren’t fed last because the giraffes were fed after them. So monkeys at 10:00 is out.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Look at how much we got from just one clue. There were 4 pieces of information there even though the clue never actually said any of these 4 things directly.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 2: “The bears were fed 15 minutes after the monkeys.”
We know that bears come right after monkeys. So bears can’t be first either.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X
X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 3: “The lions were fed after the zebras.“
This clue tells us that lions can’t come first because they come after zebras. So lions at 9:00 is out. And zebras at 10:00 is out.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X X
X
X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
At this point we can do something special. Look at 9:00. What animal had to be fed at that time?
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X X
X
X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
At this point we can do something special. Look at 9:00. What animal had to be fed at that time? The monkeys! They’re the only choice left. So if the monkeys were fed at 9:00, they couldn’t have been fed at any other time.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X X
X
O X X X X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
But what now? We’ve run out of clues! This is where we have to revisit our clues again. Now that we have monkeys nailed down, maybe something else will pop out at us.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X X
X
O X X X X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys.“
Hm. Nothing new popping out at us here. That’s ok. Let’s check another clue.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X
X X
X
O X X X X
X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 2: “The bears were fed 15 minutes after the monkeys.”
This one does tell us something new. We know when the monkeys were fed, so now we know exactly when the bears were fed, too.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X X
X X X
X X
O X X X X
X O X X X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
With new information, let’s go back to clue 1 again.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X X
X X X
X X
O X X X X
X O X X X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
Clue 1: “The giraffes were fed before the zebras but after the monkeys. “
We can get something new here now. The giraffes and zebras only have 2 choices. If we know giraffes go before zebras, the only choices are 9:30 and 9:45.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X O X X
X X X O X
X X X X
O X X X X
X O X X X
Notes on Logic Puzzles
With that, we can fill out the rest of the boxes.
The order would go: monkeys, bears, giraffes, zebras, lions.
Anim
als
Times
Giraffes
Zebras
Lions
Monkeys
Bears
9:0
0
9:1
5
9:3
0
9:4
5
10:0
0
X X O X X
X X X O X
X X X X O
O X X X X
X O X X X
Exit Question
Which of the situations below requires critical thinking?
a) Ordering a pizzab) Shoveling snow from the sidewalkc) Sharpening a pencild) Repairing a car enginee) All of the abovef) None of the above
