Along with our Canvas-based class website, the textbook will be a helpful resource.

This is a skills-based class. That is, the goal is to fine-tune some skills. In that sense, it's like learning to play a musical instrument, a new language, or a complicated game. While we will be learning some concepts, our graded quizzes and exams won't be asking you to repeat information that you learn. They will ask you to demonstrate the skills we're learning.

In a skills-based class like ours, a class textbook tends to play an unusual role. The goal of the class is not to memorize what the textbook says. So, how are we using the textbook? Most weeks we'll be learning some new skill. I recommend you think about the class readings as the first step toward learning that skill, and I recommend you think about the textbook as your first course reading. The textbook will introduce that week's skill and most of the key concepts you'll use when developing that skill. Then our online reading will explain those concepts in more detail. Finally, our Online Office posts will review those key concepts and highlight common issues that arise when students try to apply the concepts to practice examples. Most weeks, I recommend you think about our readings as preparation for your practice. Our readings also are a helpful resource as you practice.

There are two exceptions to this. First, as our semester starts, I encourage you to read our textbook's introductory chapter. It provides a helpful overview of what it means to think critically and what we'll be learning this semester. Then, later in the semester, you'll be asked to read a chapter on Thinking Critically and the Media. This chapter highlights some issues that arise when trying to think critically as you use Mass Media and/or Social Media. It provides a thought-provoking opportunity to review the skills we've learned up to that point, and think about how these skills apply to our lives.

We'll be reading from Gregory Bassham's Critical Thinking. It's published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education. We'll be using the sixth edition. You can find it in the SRJC bookstore. Once you get it, I recommend you read its first chapter: "Introduction to Critical Thinking."