Simply Better Thinking www.sightandsound.co.uk

Sight and Sound Technology is Austhink’s exclusive distributor in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Austink, the developers of Rationale, are working with Sight and Sound to provide world class educational software and outstanding service propositions.

If you have any queries about Rationale or would like to arrange a demonstration, you can contact Sight and Sound on 0845 634 7979, or email info@sightandsound.co.uk

Alternatively, visit our website to view our extensive range of software and hardware for those with sight deficiency and learning difficulties.www.sightandsound.co.uk

System Requirements

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP Vista/• Server 2003256 RAM• Microsoft NET Framework 2.0•

Rationale™ goes far beyond concept and mind mapping software. It is the educational software tool to guide students from basic brainstorming tasks toward evaluated reasoning and to be able to construct clear and structured essays.

Rationale™ encapsulates the critical thinking process in one package and is an outstanding scaffold for critical thinking skills founded on 5 years of University research. There is simply no other product like it.

Rationale™

Simply better thinking

Enter a

Rationale world...

Simply Better Thinking www.sightandsound.co.uk

Rationale Versus other mind mapping software

There are many software packages offering solutions for students to assist them in organising their ideas into logical mind maps.

Using one of the numerous Essay Planning templates, a student can enter and arrange their thoughts into a chosen map. Throughout the various stages of completion, the format of the templates challenges the way the student thinks and questions their ideas. Once the information has been entered successfully, the details can be exported in MS Word and the skeleton of an essay created. To further assist the student, additional prompts are set out throughout the basic essay to suggest how the essay can be completed.

Why use Critical Thinking software?

Research has shown that reasoning, using an argument map, vastly improved students’ critical thinking skills. Using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, there was an average improvement of 20% displayed by students during the set period.

Rationale origins

Rationale was born from a desire to answer the following question: is there an effective and affordable way to improve students’ critical thinking skills? The researchers investigated this question in the context of a first-year, one semester undergraduate subject, Critical Thinking: The Art of Reasoning. Studies at other universities were finding that traditional critical thinking subjects did not appear to add much “value” in terms of improved skills. The challenge was to develop a new method which demonstrably produced substantial skill gains.

Dr Fiona PattersonLecturer and tutor in Critical Thinking at The University of Melbourne for 5 years and Education Product Manager for Austhink.

6 steps to improve critical thinking skillsStep 1

Step 2

Step 3

ORGANISE INFORMATION Students have no difficulty in locating information. The key is that the information is selected and structured appropriately. With Rationale’s grouping maps you can drag information from the web straight onto your workspace. The pyramid like maps provide a guide for students to structure the information in such a way that reveals the connections between the main topic and its various themes or categories.

STRUCTURE REASONINGMany students provide opinions but rarely provide supporting reasons for their view. Rationale’s reasoning maps encourage students to support their responses and to consider different opinions. It uses colour conventions to display reasoning – green for reasons, red for objections and orange for rebuttals. It also includes indicator or connecting words so that students understand the relationship between statements.

CONSIDER EVIDENCEA test of a solid argument is how good the evidence is that underpins the claims. Rationale’s basis boxes provide a means for students to identify the basis upon which a statement is given. The icons provide a visual guide as to the range of research utilised and the strength of the evidence that is provided.

Simply Better Thinking www.sightandsound.co.uk

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

IDENTIFY ASSUMPTIONSWe often talk about analysing arguments. This can mean a few things including, looking at the logical structure of the argument and identifying assumptions and co premises. For students that require such levels of analysis, Rationale provides an analysis map format to show the relationships between main premises and co premises.

EVALUATE ARGUMENTSOnce arguments for and against an issue have been logically structured, they need to be evaluated. Rationale provides a visual guide for the evaluation of claims and evidence - the stronger the colour, the stronger the argument - while icons designate acceptable or rejected claims. These colour and icons provide immediate understanding and communication of the conclusion at a glance.

COMMUNICATE CONCLUSIONPresenting ideas is crucial and is often the distinguishing feature between good results and average ones. Rationale has essay and letter writing templates to build skills and confidence. Templates provide instruction and generation of prose. When exported, there is a structured essay plan with detailed instructions to assist understanding of clear and systematic prose.

Critical thinking: the why, what and how

There’s a great deal of talk about improving critical thinking skills. We know they’re good skills to have but how do we acquire them? Indeed, what is critical thinking and how do educators integrate it into their lesson plans?

To begin answering these questions, think about what critical thinking means to your students’ development. In Austhink’s workshops teachers responded that critical thinking was fundamental to their students’ learning process - at school and beyond. Teachers reported that they wanted their students to be more discerning with information; to consider both sides of the argument; to be logical, rigorous and structured in their communication; to analyse and reflect upon different opinions; to locate a range of evidence and to transfer their skills between subject areas. In short, teachers would like their students to be equipped to take on challenges and make sound decisions to ensure good outcomes.

To aid the complex task of effective thinking, Rationale has devised a simple yet rigorous path to improve learning outcomes. Rationale provides different maps to aid information selection, structuring of reasoning and analysis of arguments. There is a web browser, evidence boxes and an evaluation function to ensure students ask questions before they accept claims. If essay writing is not your students’ strong point, then the Rationale essay planner templates will provide them with a path to build their essay, export it to Word and follow instructions to create a well structured and reasoned essay.

Rationale is straightforward whenintegrating critical thinking into thecurriculum. There are on line exercises and guides to enhance learning and teaching, with engaging activities that promote collaborative peer learning. If you have used other mind or concept mapping tools then Rationale is the next step for coherent, structured and rigorous thinking.

Simply Better Thinking www.sightandsound.co.uk

What Users say“Once they start to see this as a normal, natural way to think through their essay plan, the quality of their essays jumps noticeably. Students who were baffled at first, started to feel that they really can do this stuff. ” Mark Matcott, Lilydale High School “An outstanding product with a broad range of curriculum applications. The visual nature of this software will prove highly valuable in assisting my students to organise their thinking.”Garry Chapman, Assistant Director of Curriculum, Ivanhoe Grammar School. “I am very impressed with Rationale as a tool to assist students in improving the structure of their analytical essays... Rationale greatly assists our staff in implementing the higher order thinking skills that are essential to improving student learning.”Catherine O’Kane, St Rita’s College “Rationale is magic when it comes to thinking through a problem... To my great delight I found that argument mapping could be fun as well as eye opening... If I had had Rationale in college... my thinking skills would’ve been finely tuned and problem solving would have become a much more rewarding pursuit. Now my ideas are more accurate and better articulated.”Chet Dailey “…fun to use.... A very good tool for students learning rhetoric, debating, logic, or composition.”Larry O’Brien in his review of Rationale™ at Knowing.net “Rationale is clearly a breakthrough product that has the potential to accelerate the development of sound reasoning.”Gregory Louie, Gravelly Hill Middle School, North Carolina “Rationale has really helped with my Open University studies. My disability restricts me to short work sessions. Using Rationale I have been able to organise my study notes and it has enabled me to pick up quickly where I left off after a break. It is so easy to get started I could use it straight away without having to wade through pages of instructions. I particularly like the flexibility of the editing, especially when planning essays. It also is a brilliant revision tool.Allison Ashrafi, Student, Open University, United Kingdom