Report, Inference, Judgment

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Report, Inference, Judgment

• June Olson
• Mountain Pointe High School 2006

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Critical thinking involves more than just
creative ideas. It asks you to think about your
thinking, a feat called metacognition.
Metacognition is divided into two realms what
we know (conscious awareness) and procedures for
obtaining knowledge (unconscious processes).
Often, we can easily recount to others what we
know but cannot relate how we arrived at that
knowledge. The value of studying unconscious
metacognition is to give us an understanding of
our thinking so that we can either learn new
procedures or maximize strategies we already
employ.
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According to Washington University psychologist
R. Keith Sawyer, author of the new book
Explaining Creativity The Science of Human
Innovation, our brains are constantly processing
information at a subconscious level. Those
sudden aha moments when ideas become
inspiration are not the work of fairy godmothers
or muses. Rather, they are built on information
and processes already the brain has been
pondering beyond our immediate awareness. It is
actually persistence and trial-and-error that
leads to great notions. Example Darwin's
notebooks, for example, show us that he went down
many dead ends like his theory of monads. These
were tiny hypothetical life forms that sprang
spontaneously from inanimate matter. If they
died, they took with them all the species into
which they had evolved. Darwin spent years
refining this bizarre theory before ultimately
rejecting it. But it was a critical link in the
chain that led to his branching model of
evolution.
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Persuasive writing draws much of its strength
from assumptions as well as the ability to get
into the head of the reader. Rather than
merely using intuition to guesswork, the use of
metacognition can help uncover underlying systems
of thinking so that we can use them to our
advantage. The purpose of this power point is to
discover the metacognitive processes involved in
judgment which must be exposed as we prepare to
write persuasively.
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For the purposes of this study, we will simplify
the metacognitive process involved in making
judgments into three categories
Report
Inference
Judgment
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Report
Report presents sensory awarenesses our brain
records. It is factual and unemotional,
without interpretation. It suspends judgment
until action is needed. Lets practice on a
picture.
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Inference asks us to interpret the reported data
into our own experience. It assimilated facts to
form conclusions for later action. The
megacognitive process for inference Because
__(fact A)__ and __(fact B)___, a reasonable
conclusion (C) is ________. If the inference is
based on valid information, the conclusion is
assumed to be valid. If A is true and B is true,
therefore C is true. Signal words for
conclusions are ___ and ___ gives me reason to
conclude ___ and ___ demonstrates that ___
and ___ implies that
Inference
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Inference
Lets practice.
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Judgment are claims that connect our conclusions
to our subjective opinions and attitudes.
Sample judgment statement Parents should take
be more involved in their teenagers lives. The
unverbalized thinking progresses Since Report
leads me to conclude Inference and I believe
that ____ is wrong/right, _____ should be
legalized/changed/endorsed. Judgment statements
tell what the individual speaker thinks or
reflects a particular groups perspective. These
statements are not necessary true or even
valid but are often vehemently defended as if
they are because they are based on personal
beliefs.
Judgment
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Judgment
Create several judgment statements regarding this
picture.
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The End