Curriculum/critical thinking as a subject

Like reading or writing, CT benefits all subjects. The four elements of CT can be taught as their own subject, using a common language of CT. All of the lessons on this page teach CT as a standalone subject. For lessons where CT is embedded in other subjects, see our subject-specific curriculum.

All of the lessons on this page are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. That means you are free to use them, change them, and even sell them, so long as you mention they came from ctfoundry.org, say if you've modified them, and share them under the same license.

We frequently add to and update our curriculum, so please check back periodically to see what's new.

Objective and Subjective Claims
20 to 45 minutes.

Claim, Subjective Claim, Objective Claim

Students learn that a claim is saying something is true, a subjective claim can be true for some people and false for others at the same time, and an objective claim must be true for everyone or false for everyone.

Evaluating Objective Claims
10 to 30 minutes.

Objective Claim

Students learn that all objective claims can be evaluated as probably true, probably not true, or not enough information to say.

What Are Facts?
10 to 20 minutes.

Fact, Objective Claim

Students learn that a fact is an objective claim that is true.

Why We Can Never Be 100% Certain That Something is a Fact
10 to 20 minutes.

Fact, Illusion

Students learn why we can never be 100% certain something is true using a convincing optical illusion.

What's In the Envelope?
10 to 20 minutes.

Objective Claim, Evidence

Students evaluate an extraordinary claim about the contents of an envelope.

Classifying Evidence
60 to 90 minutes.

Evidence, Direct Evidence, Indirect Evidence, Physical Evidence, Remembered Evidence, First-Hand Evidence, Second-Hand Evidence, Expert Evidence, Amateur Evidence, Casual Evidence, Methodical Evidence

Students learn about different ways to classify evidence such as direct versus indirect, physical versus remembered, first-hand versus second-hand, expert versus amateur, and casual versus methodical.

Identifying Sound Methods
10 to 20 minutes.

Method, Sound Method

Through an origami activity, students learn the basic concept of a method and how it helps to ensure reliable results regardless of who does it, when it is done, or how many times it is done. Students also learn what makes some methods better than others, including clarity, simplicity, completeness, and not relying on memory.

The Method of Elimination
10 to 20 minutes.

Method, Sound Method

Students learn to use the method of elimination.

The Logic Matrix Method
10 to 40 minutes.

Method, Sound Method

Students learn the method of logic matrices.

Writing Sound Methods to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
15 to 45 minutes.

Method, Sound Method

Students learn to write sound methods through a peanut butter and jelly making exercise.

Writing Sound Methods for a Robot
60 to 120 minutes.

Method, Sound Method

Students learn to write sound methods by writing instructions to guide a robot to its battery. Students try methods of varying quality and evaluate the results.

Using the Scientific Method to Find Out What Causes Fizzing
45 to 90 minutes.

Method, Scientific Method, Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment, Evaluation

Students generate hypotheses and test them.

Using the Scientific Method to Figure Out a Card Trick
10 to 30 minutes.

Scientific Method, Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment, Evaluation

Students generate and test hypotheses about how a card trick is performed.

Samples, Random Samples, and Sample Size
30-60 minutes.

Claim, Subjective Claim, Objective Claim, Sample, Random Sample, Sample Size.

Students learn the importance of sample size and random samples.

Understanding Base Rates
10 to 30 minutes

Base Rate, Base Rate Fallacy

Students learn about base rates and how it is easy to underestimate them using a cold reading demonstration.

Why Unlikely Things Happen All the Time
20 to 60 minutes

Probability, Lottery Fallacy

Students learn how to calculate the probability of an event and why something that is improbable for any one person still happens all the time among groups of people.

Knowing Your Thinking Errors
Students learn to identify and avoid common thinking errors, such as only looking for or remembering evidence that supports a claim but none that refutes it, letting feelings cloud your judgment, assuming memory is infallible, confusing coincidence with cause, thinking that unlikely events have special meaning, and coming to a conclusion based on anecdotes.

Evaluating Claims from the Internet
Students learn to apply critical thinking skills to determine the likelihood that a fact claim encountered on-line is true. Students practice finding and evaluating fact claims on the internet by considering the source of the claim, the recency of the information about it, and evidence about the claim from independent sources.

Evaluating Claims about Conspiracies
Students learn to evaluate the likelihood that a given claim about the existence of a conspiracy is true. Examples of both well-established and discredited conspiracy claims are discussed. Students consider factors including the existing expert consensus opinion, the source of the conspiracy claim, and the number of individuals required to accomplish the conspiracy.

Evaluating Claims about Special Powers
Students learn to apply critical thinking skills to determine the likelihood that a claim about special powers, such as mind reading, telekinesis, or clairvoyance is true. Students participate in teacher-led demonstrations of special powers wherein the teacher lets the students know up-front that the demonstration is a deception. Students then have the opportunity to test their hypotheses about how the deception was accomplished before the teacher reveals the trick.

Evaluating Political Claims
Students learn to evaluate the likelihood that any given claim made by a political candidate or elected official is true. Activities center on identifying specific fact claims and applying critical thinking skills to both identify the evidence required to evaluate the claim and then assessing available evidence to determine the probability that the claim is true.