email: david_zellmer@csufresno.edu
Telephone and Voicemail: (559) 278-2113
Course website: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/‾davidz/ns4/

Required Texts: (all are paperbacks)
K. Moore, Patterns of Inductive Reasoning, 4th Ed.
T. Schick and L. Vaughn, How to Think About Weird Things, 3rd Ed.
T. Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

Word-processed assignments are due frequently. Students must meet the University requirement for computer access.

This course fulfills the GE Foundation A3 requirement for Critical Thinking. The CSUF catalog description is:

In this Critical Thinking offering from the College of Science and Mathematics, we provide the students with the tools required to evaluate the flood of information available to us. With the advent of widespread popular access to the Internet around 1994, anyone can publish whatever they wish and make it available to a global audience without review or restriction. Television, radio and print commercials attempt to sell us products that will relieve pain, reduce stress, extend cell phone coverage and turn us into supermodels. By some estimates, fewer than 1% of our political leaders have any training in science, yet we are supposed to have informed debate over technological and scientific issues like nuclear waste storage, global warming, missile defense, therapeutic cloning and long range energy policy. People with medical problems turn to alternative medicine or to faith and psychic healing. How are we to evaluate the claims made for all of this?

The textbook Patterns of Inductive Reasoning, by K. Moore, will be used to help the class learn how to do critical thinking by working through a series of exercises using deductive and inductive logic. Many of these exercises will be done in class by small groups of students, so attendance and participation are required. Most of the examples are based on actual stories and claims from our national media, some of which are highly controversial.

The other two books deal with topics that propose to tell us how the world works, but do so by appealing to ignorance and superstition. Many of these are uncritically accepted by significant portions of our population. Teams of three students each will prepare presentations to the class on these topics throughout the semester, and will then conduct a discussion of the material. Class members will do written evaluations of each presentation. Grading of presentations and evaluations will be on the quality of the critical analysis, and not on reaching some "correct" answer in the mind of the instructor.

You will be asked to write and turn in something almost every day, so bring lots of paper and something to write with. There will also be a formal 1500 word term paper, as well as two midterms and a final examination. You must attend every class meeting if you expect to do well this course. There will be no make-ups for material missed in your absence.

The instructor reserves the right to make changes in the above points and in the grading scale, either up or down, as conditions in the class warrant.

The Final Exam will be given at the time stated in the Schedule of Courses. No early finals will be given, so don't make any travel plans during Finals Week. Makeup hour exams will only be given if you have a signed doctor's excuse. Failure to take any Hour Exam or the Final, or failure to turn in the Term Paper will result in the student being issued an unauthorized withdrawal (U) for the course. A grade of Incomplete (I) will be issued only if the student consults with the instructor before the end of the course and meets the University requirements for an Incomplete as stated in the Schedule of Courses.

Evaluations and other assignments must be turned in during the first 10 minutes of class on the due date given by your instructor, and cannot be made up if they are late or missing. Some due dates will be given in class; changes to the dates on the Tentative Lecture Schedule may be given; it is the responsibility of the student to know when all announced due dates are. Some assignments will be done in class. If you are missing from that class you will lose the points; they cannot be made up. If you fail to participate in your Group Presentation, you will lose all the points assigned to the presentation; this cannot be made up.

Students will be asked to select a ranked series of three topics from the list provided to them in class. Presentation groups of three students each will then be created by the instructor for the oral presentation of one topic based upon these selections. The groups will be responsible for preparing a 30-45 minute seminar that they will present to the class. The presentation will be divided into three parts (one for each student) lasting approximately 10-15 minutes. Part 1 will be a history or background of the subject. Part 2 will be a pro argument. Part 3 will be a con argument. Each student will be graded individually on the quality of the presentation or argument made. (The quality of the presentation will be judged using the principles laid out in Moore.) The students are expected to be familiar with the topic as discussed in the course texts (Hines, Schick & Vaughn), and must add material from other sources as well. The instructor will assign dates for the presentations, which will gin about the third week of the semester and continue on each subsequent Thursday until all the groups have presented. A good presentation will be scored 80%. Better or weaker presentations will have points added or deducted.

All non-presenting students will write evaluations of the oral presentation. These evaluations must be typed and will be no more than two pages (12 point font, double spaced) in length. Include a list of the arguments made and make a discussion of the quality of each argument. A simple summary of the presentation with no critical evaluation will receive a poor grade. A good evaluation will be scored 16 out of 20 points. Better or weaker evaluations will have points added or deducted. Evaluations are due during the first 10 minutes of class on the period following the presentation. Late work will not be accepted.

A 1500 word (4 -5 pages, 12 point font, double spaced) paper on a pseudoscience topic of the student's choice (not their presentation topic) will be due near the end of the semester. The paper will cover pro and con arguments and evidence for the topic and the position of the author. The topic must be approved by the instructor, a rough draft will be evaluated by a fellow student, then a final paper is turned in. Dates for these three stages of your paper are found on the Tentative Lecture Schedule below. A more detailed handout on the term paper will be distributed in class. A term paper is a university requirement for this G.E. course. Failure to turn in a term paper will result in failure for the course. Plagiarism of your term paper is a very serious offense, and will result in disciplinary action (usually a fail for the course) and will be reported to the Dean of Students as per University Regulations.

Daily participation is required for this course. You cannot pass it by just showing up for the exams and the final. Evaluations of presentations made in your absence will not be accepted. Work on material done during class time will only be accepted from students who were there. Frequent absences will result in the lowering of the Participation portion of the points for the course, in addition to loss of points for any work missed.

Homework assignments will generally be from Moore. Reading assignments will be from the course texts or other material, including Internet sources. Material to be turned in is due during the first 10 minutes of class on the due date. Late homework will not be accepted.

"Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used as one's own work." Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a 0 or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion from the university. For more information on the Universityﾕs policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Schedule of Courses (Legal Notices on Cheating and Plagiarism) or the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations)

Students with Disabilities:

Upon identifying themselves to the instructor and the university, students with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodation for learning and evaluation. For more information, contact Services to Students with Disabilities in Madden Library 1049 (278-2811).

Disruptive Classroom Behavior:

"The classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained. … Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop and understanding of the community in which they live  . . . Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class."

Texts are referred to as Moore, Hines and WT(Weird Things). Assignments in the schedule below are mainly to Moore, which covers Critical Thinking methodology. Assignments from the other two texts, which provide content and topics for discussion and starting-point material for the Presentations, will be given as needed in class. Topic and assignment abbreviations are: Read=Read for next time, Discuss=class discussion with possible in-class work, HW=Homework, due the following period.

Major events, such as Exams and Term Paper due dates, will take place as scheduled below unless extraordinary events intervene. The time specified and allotted for discussion of each topic is only an estimate. Expect frequent amendments to this schedule. Discussion of current topics will continue on Thursday after the Group Presentation Seminar has concluded. Homework will be assigned as needed in class and does not appear on the schedule below. It is in the nature of this class that a fixed set of topics is not set in advance.

This syllabus and schedule are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.  If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to check on announcements made while you were absent.