Critical Thinking
In this lesson, students will: Examine an ad from John McCain claiming that ending a ban on offshore drilling would have an effect on current gasoline prices. Research the offshore drilling process and explore the connections between drilling for oil and current gasoline prices. Assess whether McCain is correct to link the ban on offshore drilling with high gas prices.
Pump It
PETA Pressure
Critical Thinking
Some manipulators focus their attentions on teenagers. In this lesson, students will learn to spot their tactics and why they should be skeptical about them.
Olly Olly Oxen Free!
Critical Thinking
Students will explore the meaning of the term “sanctuary city” and determine for themselves whether New York City ought to be designated a sanctuary city.
Oil Exaggerations
Critical Thinking
President Barack Obama has said that “we import more oil today than ever before” – but do we? How can you find out? In this lesson, students will weigh Obama’s superlative claim against the facts.
Monty Python and the Quest for the Perfect Fallacy
Critical Thinking
This lesson will focus on 10 fallacies that represent the most common types of mistakes in reasoning, using Monty Python and popular culture to make the lesson relatable.
Made in the U.S.A.
Critical Thinking
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards wanted to stop U.S. companies from moving jobs offshore, and a group called Working 4 Working Americans ran an ad in support of his plan. But the story the ad tells doesn’t quite give the whole picture. In this lesson, students will examine the facts behind this potentially misleading ad.
Everything You Know is Wrong 2: Beliefs and Behavior
Critical Thinking
This is the second of two lessons focusing on the instincts and habits of mind that keep us from thinking logically. This time around, we will focus on how people reconcile their beliefs with the world around them, even when the evidence doesn’t seem to agree with those beliefs.
Everything You Know Is Wrong 1: Us and Them
Critical Thinking
In this lesson, students explore some of the irrational ways in which humans think, and learn to recognize and overcome the habits of mind that can get in the way of good reasoning.
Combating the Culture of Corruption
Critical Thinking
In this lesson, students will: Examine an e-mail from the Democratic National Committee that attacks John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for looking the other way during a bribery and corruption scandal. Research McCain’s role as head of the Indian Affairs Committee and explore the history of the investigation into the scandal. Assess whether or not the DNC’s e-mail accurately describes McCain’s actions regarding the scandal.
Building a Better Argument
Critical Thinking
In this lesson, students will learn to create good arguments by getting a handle on the basic structure. The lesson will provide useful tips for picking out premises and conclusions and for analyzing the effectiveness of arguments.
Background Beliefs
Critical Thinking
In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between the two different types of background beliefs: beliefs about matters of fact and about values.
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood describes itself as “a visible and passionate advocate for policies that enable Americans to access comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care, education, and information.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice America describes itself as “the leading national advocate for personal privacy and a woman’s right to choose.”
Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute was founded in 1968 as the Center for Family Planning Program Development and was named after Alan Guttmacher, a former president of Planned Parenthood and distinguished obstetrician-gynecologist.
Project Vote Smart
Project Vote Smart is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that gathers and organizes information on candidates for political office. Vote Smart seeks to discover where candidates stand on any number of issues by scouring public voting records, public statements and biographical information, by monitoring ratings of candidates given by more than 100 competing special-interest groups, and by sending its own detailed questionnaires to candidates through its National Political Awareness Test.
National Institute on Money in Politics (Follow the Money)
National Institute on Money in Politics is a nonpartisan organization “dedicated to accurate, comprehensive and unbiased documentation and research on campaign finance at the state level.”
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent government agency was created in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandals to regulate campaign spending and police requirements for disclosing federal campaign money.
American Civil Liberties Union
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the organization, founded in 1920, is the “nation’s guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.”
Alliance for Justice
The Alliance for Justice describes itself as “a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women’s, children’s and consumer advocacy organizations” that works to “advance the cause of justice for all Americans, strengthen the public interest community’s ability to influence public policy, and foster the next generation of advocates.”
National Academy of Social Insurance
The National Academy of Social Insurance is a nonprofit organization that evaluates economic security programs for people out of work due to disability, unemployment or retirement.
Employment Policies Institute
The Employment Policies Institute focuses on labor issues and, especially, the debate over the minimum and living wages.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says in its mission statement that it works “at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.”
Social Science Research Council
The Social Science Research Council is a New York-based “independent not-for-profit research association” that brings the work of academic social scientists to contemporary social problems.
National Academies
The nonprofit National Academies — the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering — generate and disseminate expert research and judgments on matters of science, including the social sciences. They bill themselves as “advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine.”
Migration Policy Institute
The Migration Policy Institute is a nonpartisan think tank that studies international migration.