Inquiry-mindedness - The Critical Thinking Consortium

ACTIVITY SHEET #1DWhat really happened?For each of the following scenarios, suggest how the person might find out if his or her initial assumptions are true. What questionscould the person ask? What additional evidence might the person look for? Are there other plausible explanations for theevent?A. A boy walks into his bedroom and finds his globe on the floor, broken. He knows hisyounger brother loves playing with it and he assumes that he must have broken it.He storms into his brother’s room and tells him he can no longer play with any of histhings.B. A teacher is writing on the board and suddenly sees a paper airplane fly to the frontof the room. She spins around and sees Johnny laughing at the back of the classroom.“Johnny,” she says sternly, “You have a detention!”C. Cindy and Jennifer share a locker. Jennifer has a boyfriend who is always hangingaround the locker. One day, Cindy cannot find a CD that she is sure that she put in thelocker. When Jennifer and her boyfriend arrive at the scene, she accuses him of stealingher CD. After all, she knows he likes that music and he’s always just hanging around.Who else could have stolen it?D. You sit down at a restaurant and notice that the previous customer has left a wallet onthe table. You approach the manager to turn it in when suddenly, a women approachesyou and says, “Oh, you found my wallet! Thank goodness! I was looking for it everywhere.”You hand her the wallet and return to your table.Tools for Thought 2008-09:3 8 © The Critical Thinking Consortium