Thinking Skills

1. ThinkingSkills Paper 2

2. Question 1 – suspects & witnesses(Evaluatingevidence) • CIRCUMSTANCES • Thingsthathappened, and wheretheyhappened • SUSPECTS • Peopleaccused of doingsomethingwrong • (or, at least, couldbeaccused) • WITNESSES • Peoplewhomayhaveseenwhathappened, orheardaboutit, orknowsomethingaboutit

3. SUSPECTS • MOTIVE • Did they have a reason to do it? • OPPORTUNITY • Did they have the chance to do it? • EVIDENCE • Is there convincing evidence they actually did it?

4. EVIDENCE • CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE • Factsfromwhichconclusionsmaybeinferred • WITNESS STATEMENTS • Directwitness = ‘eye-witness’ • Indirectwitness

5. WITNESSES • RELIABILITY • of theperson • PLAUSIBILITY • of whattheysay • CORROBORATION • forwhattheysay

6. RELIABILITY of theperson • REPUTATION • Do other people respect and trust them? • Do they have a position of authority or trust? • NEUTRALITY • Are they biased? • (prejudiced towards, or against, another person or thing) • Do they have a vested interest? • (a reason or motive to lie)

7. RELIABILITY of theperson • ABILITY TO SEE ( = ABILITY TO PERCEIVE) • Could an eye-witness see and hear properly? OR • ABILITY TO KNOW • Does an indirect witness have any special knowledge or experience? • (Do they offer more than hearsay, speculation or opinion?)

8. PLAUSIBILITY of whattheysay • Are the statements of a witness consistent, coherent and reasonable? (ORare there unusual changes, contradictions or very unlikely details?)

9. CORROBORATION forwhattheysay • From other witness statements • From circumstantial evidence

10. 1 (d) • Direct answer to the question • ‘Do you agree …?’, ‘To what extent …?’, ‘How likely …?’ • Choose from an imagined scale of 4 answers, such as: • Strongly agree, partly agree, generally disagree, strongly disagree • Very much, partly, only slightly, not at all • Very likely, quite likely, unlikely, very unlikely • If in doubt, choose one of the middle ones

11. Most important evidence • Discuss this first: • it shows you have evaluated the sources • Be clear. Use words like: ‘Most important to consider …’, or ‘Probably the most important evidence …’ • Other evidence • Go through all or most of the sources • Give an evaluation of the evidence: • ‘also significant’, ‘partly useful’, ‘unreliable’, ‘inconclusive’, …

12. Plausible alternative scenarios • Make clear what you think is the most likely explanation • Suggestat least one alternative explanation– something you think is less likely but still a possibility (and say why) • Further investigation • Suggest If you were in charge, what would you investigate next? • This shows again that you are evaluating the evidence

13. Question 1 terminology • Motive • Opportunity • Circumstantial evidence • Eye-witness /indirectwitness • Relevance • Reliability • Plausibility / credibility • Corroboration • Claims • Bias & vested interest • Ability to see • Hearsay • Speculation & opinion • Consistency / contradictions • Conclusive / inconclusive • Alternative scenario

14. Question 2 – scientificinformation(Evaluatingbroadlyscientificsources) Considerations for all parts: • Is the information in each source relevant? • Note any deliberate confusion in the evidence. • Remember the Coffee & Caffeine question • Is it reliable? • Is it useful? • (Is it sufficiently complete, accurate and precise?) • Does it have support from other sources? • What may be the implications of this information?

15. 2 (d) • Direct answer to the question • ‘How far would you agree …?’, etc. • ‘Strongly agree, generally agree, mostly disagree, strongly disagree’, etc. • Most important information • Discuss this first: ‘Most important is Source X, because …’ • Other information • Give an evaluation of each source, such as: ‘also relevant’, ‘probably quite reliable’, ‘only partly supports’, ‘inconclusive’, … • Further information • To understand this topic better, what else would you want to know?

16. Question 2 terminology • Conditions • Factors • Claims • Relevance • Reliability • Usefulness • Support • Implications • Vested interest • Speculation • Jumping to conclusions • Contradictions • Correlation & cause • Conclusive / inconclusive

17. Question 3 – longerpassage(Analysis, evaluation & furtherargument) ANALYSIS = ‘identify the structure’ • MAIN CONCLUSION • INTERMEDIATE CONCLUSIONS • SUPPORTING REASONS • EXAMPLES • COUNTER ARGUMENT

18. ANALYSIS • Part (a): identify the main conclusion • Use the ‘because/therefore’ test • Decide if you need the whole sentence or only part of it • COPY it straight from the passage • Part (b): identify 3 reasons that support the MC • Three key reasons (intermediate conclusions) • If you find more than three, just use the best ones • Again, COPY them from the passage

19. EVALUATION • Part (c): evaluate the reasoning EVALUATION = ‘Comment on the quality of the argument: its strengths, weaknesses and assumptions’ • Comment much more on weaknesses than strengths • ‘Assumptions’ are always implicit: • so you cannot quote one from the passage! • Discuss each paragraph in turn: • how well do the reasons and examples support each intermediate conclusion?

20. Q.3 evaluationterminology • Assumptions • Unsupported assertions • Straw person argument • Conflation • Restricting the options • Emotive language • Ad hominem argument • Circular argument • Contradictions • Generalisations • Exaggeration • Slippery slope reasoning • Analogies • Examples • Anecdote • Open to challenge

21. FURTHER ARGUMENT • Part (d): write your own short argument • It might be to support or to challenge, or it might give you a choice • Include at least a main conclusion, two or three reasons, and an example • (and preferably a CA and IC, too) • Your main conclusion can be copied from the question • Do not use material already in the passage

22. Recommendedrevisionforpaper 2 • Q.1 BUILDERS (text & notes) • Q.2 CYCLING vs. DRIVING (text & notes) • Q.3 DRUGS IN SPORT (text & notes)

23. Paper 2 – themostdifficultparts • Q.1 (d) – usually 6 marks • Q.2 (d) – usually 6 marks • Q.3 (c) – usually 5 marks • Theserequireyourmost complete evaluationskills • And they are worthalmost 40% of allthemarks • So reallyconcentrate and thinkhard! • AND ENJOY THE CHALLENGE ! !