Home Enrichment (HE) TEST THE IDEA

DAY ONE (1) Focus: Purpose & Questions at Issue 4 Home Enrichment (HE)- 4/13 Do Nightly / Due on Fri. 4/17 TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon Your Purpose Think of an important problem in your life. This can be problem in a personal relationship, at school, in a sport or activity etc. Now state your purpose in the situation clearly and precisely. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Is your purpose fair, or justifiable? Is it realistic? TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon the Question at Issue Go back to the important problem in the previous activity. Now state the problem you are trying to address. Then state the question that emerges from the problem. State your question clearly and precisely. What complexities, if any, are inherent in the problem? Is there more than one question that you need to address to effectively reason through the problem?

DAY TWO (2) Focus: Information & Points of View Home Enrichment (HE)- 4/14 Do Nightly/ Due on Fri. 4/17 TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon the Information You are Using in Your Reasoning Continue with the problem you have been working on. Now state the information that you are using in your thinking. This could be data, facts, or experiences that, in conjunction with your assumptions, lead you to conclusions. It could come from your experience, word of mouth, research, the media, or other sources. State the information clearly. How could you determine whether the information is accurate and relevant to the question at issue? TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon Points of View Continue with the problem from the last two activities. Now state the point or points of view relevant to the issue at hand. State each point of view clearly and precisely. Make sure you are considering all relevant points of view (that you are thinking broadly), and that you are representing each point of view accurately (even if it means sympathetically expressing a view that you do not personally hold.

DAY THREE (3) Focus: Concepts/Ideas & Assumptions Home Enrichment (HE)- 4/15 Do Nightly/ Due on Fri. 4/17 TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon the Concepts You Use Continue with the problem you have been working on. Now state the most important concepts you are using to guide your reasoning. For example, if you are concerned with how to keep in physical shape while also dedicating enough time school and family, your key concepts might be physical fitness, good family relationships, and a productive school life. (You usually can find key concepts you are using in your reasoning by looking at your purpose and question.) Elaborate on each of these concepts so you understand exactly how you are using them. State your concepts clearly and precisely. TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon Your Assumptions Continue with the problem you have been working on. Now state the most important assumptions you are making in your reasoning. What are you taking for granted that might be questioned? State your assumptions clearly and precisely. Make sure they are justifiable in the context of the issue.

DAY FOUR (4) Focus: Implications & Consequences Home Enrichment (HE)- 4/16 Do Nightly/ Due on Fri. 4/17 TEST THE IDEA Thinking Through the Implications of Your Reasoning Continue with the problem you have been working on. Now state the most important implication of potential decisions you might make. Fill in these blanks: If I decide to do _____________________, then ____________________________________ is likely to follow. If I decide to act differently by doing ______________________, then ____________________________________ is likely to follow. In this activity, you are emphasizing the logical implications and potential consequences of each potential decision. Make sure you emphasize important implications of each decision.

DAY FIVE (5) Focus: Inferences & Interpretations Home Enrichment (HE)- 4/17 Do Nightly/ Due on Fri. 4/17 TEST THE IDEA Bringing Intellectual Standards to Bear Upon Your Inferences Continue with the problem you have been working on. Now state the inferences, or conclusions, you might come to (about the information you have) in solving your problem. You may have already stated theses in the previous activities. Once you have thought through the potential conclusions you might come to in reasoning through the question at issue, state a possible final conclusion. Make sure your inferences make good sense, based on the information and concepts you are using.