This course provides you with an overview of common logical fallacies that students may encounter in the classroom and in their everyday lives. You will learn examples and techniques to address these fallacies as a natural extension of your classroom instruction.
This teacher professional development course will explore the reasoning and common logical fallacies students may encounter in their own thinking or in discourse with others. Throughout the course, you will explore twelve common types of logical fallacies, analyze examples for each, and then reflect on how those fallacies can be addressed within classroom instruction. You will leave the course with a stronger idea of how to support sound logical reasoning in your classroom. You will also explore a simple framework for introducing logical reasoning into the classroom.
The course comes with a downloadable PDF of the content and a graphic organizer of the twelve common logical fallacies discussed in the course, with a space for students to practice recording their own examples of each fallacy.
Requirements:
Hardware Requirements:
- This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.
Software Requirements:
- PC: Windows 10 or later.
- Mac: macOS 12 or later.
- Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
- Microsoft Word Online
- Editing of a Microsoft Word document is required in this course. You may use a free version of Microsoft Word Online, or Google Docs if you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer. Model Teaching can provide support for this.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
Other:
- Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
- An Introduction to Logical Fallacies Course Content
- The video and article will provide you with the content required to understand 12 common fallacies and examples that can be used to support logical reasoning in the classroom. It also includes some "Reflect or Discuss" prompts to help you connect with the course content and ends with a "Try This Task" to guide you explicitly on how you might implement the ideas into the classroom.
- Quiz
- You will answer questions related to logical fallacies. Quizzes are automatically scored and provide feedback on answer choice rationale.
- Implementation Reflection
- The reflection prompt requires you to plan for use of the "try this task" by either reflecting on the content yourself or discussing them with the colleague. You will then discuss a new concept you can attempt to implement in the future based on something you learned in the course.
- Considerations for Implementation
- This short statement helps you reflect on your ideas and assess whether you might be successful in your implementation.
- Videos and Further Reading
- Additional content suggestions are provided to enhance and expand your learning of logical reasoning and fallacies in reasoning.
What you will learn
- Analyze the structure of basic logical arguments
- Understand the 12 most common logical fallacies and how you can incorporate them into the classroom
- Evaluate a method for teaching logical fallacies to your students
How you will benefit
- Your students' critical thinking skills will increase, leading to more dynamic classroom interactions, discussions, and arguments
- Your students will begin to draw stronger conclusions and identify weak conclusions in other arguments, strengthening their reasoning skills
- You will grow your own understanding of logical fallacies
Self-Study