[Link] Rethinking the way colleges teach critical thinking

1 Despard 17 December 2012 06:51PM

"Though critical thinking is universally regarded as a pillar of higher education ... results show that students are not developing their critical thinking skills to the extent we expect."

 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/12/14/re-thinking-the-way-colleges-teach-critical-thinking/

The wandering rationalist: an update

2 Despard 22 November 2012 08:55PM

As per my original post here, and the more recent one by shokwave here, here's my attempt to nail down some dates for when I'll be in various places (both in the States and elsewhere). All dates are provisional, especially between Colorado and Washington, and my West Coast tour in January.

For the US portion of the trip I've decided to go mostly by bus and train; Greyhound have just discontinued their Discovery Pass (which allows unlimited travel for up to 30 days) but I was able to snag a 15 day one on a special offer for the first half of my trip.

Ann Arbor, MI:  Dec 4th

Lansing, MI: Dec 5th

Chicago, IL: Dec 6th

Madison, WI: Dec 7th

Minneapolis, MN: Dec 9th

Kansas City, MO: Dec 12th

Oklahoma City, OK: Dec 13th

Austin, TX: Dec 15th

Laredo, TX: Dec 16th

Oklahoma City, OK: Dec 18th

Denver, CO: Dec 19th

Salt Lake City, UT: Dec 22nd

Kennewick, WA: Dec 23rd

Spokane, WA: Dec 26th

Vancouver, BC: Dec 31st

Seattle, WA: Jan 3rd

Portland, OR: Jan 6th

San Francisco, CA: Jan 10th

Los Angeles, CA: Jan 15th

-- booked flights --

Nadi, Fiji Jan 21st

Auckland, NZ Jan 26th

Sydney, Australia Feb 16th

Singapore Mar 9th

Tokyo, Japan Mar 22nd

Seoul, Korea Apr 21st

London, UK May 7th

Reykjavik, Iceland Jun 8th

New York, NY Jun 13th

In the States portion of my trip, I have accommodation everywhere except: Chicago (where the friends I was expecting to stay with won't actually be there at that time); Kansas City; Austin (though I do believe I was offered a couch in the previous thread); SLC (though I may sleep on the coach and pass straight through on my long trip North if nobody is around); and the West Coast which I'm not worried about yet because it's an entire month away...

So do contact me if you're interested in meeting up and/or hosting me. As I said dates are subject to change if necessary or if I feel like it!

[Link] Article about rationality and CFAR

8 Despard 09 September 2012 05:06PM

http://issuu.com/nervemag/docs/issue-2?mode=window&pageNumber=18

A friend of mine runs Nerve, the new science magazine at the university where I work, and I offered to write about rationality for their second issue. The article is just out, with some quotes from some people you might recognise! Enjoy.

EDIT: the Wordpress version is now up, for those allergic to Flash.

http://nervemag.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/why-are-smart-people-so-stupid/

The wandering rationalist

6 Despard 28 August 2012 02:59AM

Hello all. I'm still fairly new to the site and I've only posted comments up until now, but this definitely warrants its own topic. Currently I work at Queen's University in Canada as a postdoc studying motor control, but my funding runs out at the end of November. I don't have another job immediately lined up, but I've been in discussions with CFAR about working for them either directly or through UC Berkeley on doing some research into rationality techniques. I attended the June minicamp and had an absolute blast with the people there.

Why am I telling you all this? Well... I've applied for some funding to go work at Berkeley but it won't come through until July 2013 at the earliest, assuming I'm awarded it. In the meantime, I've decided to go travelling through the US, buy a round-the-world ticket from San Francisco and wander for the next few months - and it would be awesome to meet up with some rationalists along the way!

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