By the end of this lesson, students will: Understand and use the significance of assumptions, the third Key of Reasoning, in debating and in other areas.

1. The Affirmative and Opposition Teams debate on the motion given. 2. The class then comes up with two lists of assumptions from the Affirmative and the Opposition respectively.

In what way do you think the comic is funny/not funny? Why? What did you anticipate as you read the comic strip? What are the differences between what you imagined and how the strip turns out to be? Why are there the differences? Is there anything to do with our assumptions?

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Key 3: Assumptions 1. What exactly are you taking for granted here? You seem to be assuming __________. How do you justify taking that for granted? 2. Why are you assuming that? 3. Should you question you are using about _______? More advanced: 4. What could we assume instead? 5. All of your reasoning depends on the idea that ___________. Why have you based your reasoning on ___________ instead of ________? 6. Is that always the case? Why do you think the assumption holds here? 7. Why would someone make that assumption?

Get ready for challenges? Give a thumb-up if you think the assumptions are implicit in the statement, and a thumb- down to indicate those which are not.

People who were born between January and June are smarter than those born in the rest of a year. Assumption I: One’s performance is only determined by innate abilities. (Implicit) Assumption II: All people are smart. (Not implicit)

Homework doesn’t help students learn or retain information. I: Homework does not work well. (Implicit) II: Homework is supposed to help students learn. (Implicit)

Single-sex schools are good for education. I: One gender performs better than the other. (Not implicit) II: Co-educational schools are worse for education. (Implicit)

All parents should attend parenting classes. I. Parents are hard to talk with. (Not implicit) II. Fathers are busier than mothers. (Not implicit)

Video games cause bad behavior in children. I. Video games are popular. (Not implicit) II. Children are easily influenced by video games. (Implicit)

Beauty over brains or brains over beauty? I. Young people are always smarter and prettier than the elderly. (Not implicit) II. Beauty and brains are mutually exclusive. (Implicit)

Males make better friends than females. I. Males are more easy-going. (Implicit) II. Females have some characteristics which make them less friendly. (Implicit)

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I. There is more than one meal we take every day. (Implicit) II. Other meals are not important. (Not implicit)

Love is blind. I. Love can cause harm. (Implicit) II. Romance is harmful to teenagers. (Not implicit)

Children with siblings have better social skills than single children. I. Bigger families are better than smaller ones. (Implicit) II. Social skills are important. (Not implicit)

1. Look at the assumptions again. 2. Use the Assumption Key of Paul’s Reasoning to evaluate whether the assumptions are generally accepted or biased concepts. Only implicit assumptions should be looked into a debate. We should build argument based on the generally accepted ones. We should avoid the biased ones as we form argument. We can, however, rebut the biased assumptions from the opposite side.

Competition: Assumptions Behind the Scene of Motion 1. Work in groups. 2. Choose a motion. 3. Study the motion. 4. List all implicit assumptions. 5. Discuss how an assumption affects or works as we form an argument.

Take-home Job Search on the internet and find an example of how a public speaker constructs a shared assumption with the audience and use it in the beginning of a speech.