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What is Critical Thinking?
The English word Critical comes from the Greek word Kritikos ...and kritikos refers to someone who has the ability to tell the difference between what's important and what isn't,and that's what Critical Thinking is all about.
Instead of just having a gut reaction to situations or concepts, critical thinkers look at the whole problem, from all points of view, and arrive at a rounded conclusion. They use reasoning to sift the unimportant parts out of any scenario.
What skills will I learn?
Critical Thinking unlocks a number of personal skills:
- Develop clear communication skills to influence people with sound reasoning
- Discover new ways to use and analyse information from different sources
- Become a ‘problem-solver' and make good decisions
- Develop an analytical brain
- Value the views of other people.
How will it help me?
Students who take Critical Thinking find it complements other subjects, including English, Religious Studies, History, Politics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Content
At Marshland we use the OCR exam board. In AS Critical Thinking there are two different units studied; one in year 10 and one in year 11. There is no coursework in AS Critical Thinking.
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Unit 1 (F501)
Introduction to Critical Thinking
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Unit 2 (F502)
Assessing and Developing Arguments
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Written Paper, 1 hour 30 minutes
50% of the total AS marks
25% of the total A Level marks
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Written Paper, 1 hour 30 minutes
50% of the total AS marks
25% of the total A Level marks
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Candidates answer all questions.
Candidates will be presented with two or more passages, totalling around 900 words, and material presented in the form of diagrams or images.
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Section A: Candidates are required to answer multiple-choice questions based on stimulus material in the form of short passages, charts or diagrams. The material may provide the stimulus for one or more questions. Section A is worth a maximum of 15 marks.
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| Candidates are required to analyse a simple argument by responding to short-answer questions and part-questions. |
Section B: Candidates are required to analyse a passage of approximately 500 words containing an argument. Candidates will be expected to respond with short answers. Section B is worth 30 marks. |
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Candidates are required to produce an analysis of the credibility of sources (individual characters and organisations) within a scenario. Candidates will respond to both short-answer questions and questions requiring more discursive answers.
Unit F501 is worth a maximum of 75 marks. |
Section C: In addition to short-answer questions, candidates will be asked to write one or more further arguments. Section C is worth 30 marks.
Quality of written communication is assessed under AO3 in Section C.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 October 2011 13:04 |
