Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit, available within ACU's Core Curriculum, introduces students to some key tools for assessing information, and reasoning and communicating clearly, skills that are of real-world value for all areas of personal and professional life. Students will learn to structure arguments clearly for different audiences; to evaluate evidence and testimony; to engage constructively in cases of disagreement; to identify and guard against characteristic forms of bias and error; and to present oral and written presentations persuasively. Intellectual virtues like clarity, openness and charity are emphasised. 

The study of reasoning and argumentation has long been at the centre of the Catholic intellectual tradition in its inheritance from the medieval monastic tradition that itself preserved and developed ancient Greek logic and rhetoric. It remains a central dimension of contemporary Catholic thought in its focus on the togetherness of faith and reason in the pursuit of the common good. As such, students in this unit engage with each other on a diverse range of urgent contemporary issues, practicing skills in listening to others, crafting arguments, and conveying views effectively. Set in the context of this social media age, the unit aims to prepare students to be reflective, creative, responsible citizens and effective communicators in diverse domains of life.  

2026 10

Campus offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

PHCC102 Being Human , PHCC104 Ethics and the Good Life , PHIL102 Theories of Human Nature , UNCC100 Self and Community: Exploring the Anatomy of Modern Society , THCC100 Revolutionary Values: Christianity in History , THCC101 People Matter: Catholic Social Thought , TPCC100 Life and Meaning: Imagining Ourselves through Art and Cinema

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Identify different forms of reasoning and their st...

Learning Outcome 01

Identify different forms of reasoning and their structures, and kinds of errors in reasoning.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC7

Analyse sources of evidence, and deploy appropriat...

Learning Outcome 02

Analyse sources of evidence, and deploy appropriate evidence in constructing effective arguments.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC7, GC9

Apply persuasive techniques to effectively communi...

Learning Outcome 03

Apply persuasive techniques to effectively communicate arguments to a diversity of audiences
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC7, GC11, GC12

Content

Topics may include:

·        Forms of reasoning

·        Intellectual virtues or habits of mind (e.g., clarity, curiosity, thoroughness, openness, humility)

·        Common errors in reasoning

·        Argument mapping

·        Using evidence well to support your argument

·        Probabilistic reasoning

·        Persuasive techniques in written and oral communication

·        Audience and genre in written and oral communication

·        Organising and structuring arguments

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall minimum grade of pass (50%). 

The assessment strategy is designed to enable students to display achievement of all learning outcomes

Since students learn by doing, summative assessment tasks build on the active and formative learning students have engaged in during the workshops. Assessment is therefore closely tied to classroom engagement activities.

Assessment Task 1 tests students’ capacity to evaluate and reconstruct arguments, aligning with Learning Outcomes 1 and 2.

Assessment Task 2 tests students’ capacity to develop a persuasive text for a particular audience, enabling students to display achievement of all learning outcomes.

Assessment Task 3 is designed to test all learning outcomes: for example, by evaluating and constructing arguments, identifying and evaluating evidence, and analysing and producing persuasive communication. 

Overview of assessments

Task 1: Foundational Task Requires students to de...

Task 1: Foundational Task

Requires students to demonstrate understanding of common argument structures, forms of poor reasoning and evidence-use, and persuasive strategies, as used in written,, online professional and informal contexts.

Weighting

20%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC7, GC9

Task 2: Critical Analysis Project Requires studen...

Task 2: Critical Analysis Project

Requires students to demonstrate practical skills and understanding relating to the valid use of evidence, the assessment of testimony, the detection of bias, and/or the avoidance of fallacious reasoning, as used in written, online, professional and informal contexts.

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC7, GC9, GC11, GC12

Task 3: Application task Requires students to con...

Task 3: Application task

Requires students to construct a persuasive piece of communication on an important social issue that effectively deploys understanding of argument structures, use of evidence, genre and audience awareness. 

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC7, GC9, GC11, GC12

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

For both semester and intensive offerings, this unit employs a constructivist learning philosophy that emphasises the importance of active learning. Students learn in this unit by doing. In line with the Thrive model, preparatory material (including short instructional videos on key ideas and debates, set readings and study guides, and questions and formative assessment) readies the students for participation in active on-campus workshops/seminars. These workshops/seminars include tasks that students undertake individually and in groups, such as argument mapping, evaluation of set readings, oral presentations, and debates. Materials will be provided to scaffold learning and to enable students to engage with important arguments relating to social justice and the common good.

Communication and argument, and the formation of personal judgement, are always undertaken in communities. So the learning tasks (online and in the workshops) encourage students to pay attention to diverse perspectives and come to understanding through interacting with others’ ideas in multiple modalities, genres, and situations. 

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Brookfield, S. D. Assessing Critical Thinking: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 75, Fall, 17-29, 1997.

Browne, M. N., & Keeley, S. M. Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (9th ed.). Prentice Hall, NJ), 2010.

Facione, P. A. Think Critically. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2011.

Fisher, A. Critical Thinking: An Introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Halpern, D. F. Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking (4th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Kunda, Z. The Case for Motivated Reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 480–498, 1990.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. Critical thinking: Teaching students how to study and learn, Part III. Journal of Developmental Education, 26(3), 36-37. Available at http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/how-tostudy-and-learn-part-three/515, 2013.

Rush, D. The Essential Guide to Building Your Argument. London: Sage Publications, 2023

Stanovich, K. E. Who is Rational? Studies of Individual Differences in Reasoning. Mahwah: Erlbaum, 1999.

Stenmark, M. Rationality in Science, Religion, and Everyday Life: A Critical Evaluation. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2016.

 

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