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Studying logic is ruining our lives!


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We are seeing logical fallacies *everywhere*.  And I mean everywhere!  My kids are spotting them in TV shows, televised debates, commercials, posts online...  Red herrings, tu quoque, genetic fallacies, ad hominem...  My kids are even finding logical fallacies in Facebook memes!  It's like some kind of alarm goes off when the kids spot a logical fallacy.  I feel sorry for the college professors who have to teach my children later.  My kids will be sitting in the front row, arguing about everything.   :svengo:      

 

I wish we would've studied logic/argument in public school!

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What resource(s) are you using?

 

We've done several logic books in the past, but right now we are reading The Fallacy Detective, because we are reading through the Ambleside Online Year 7 books and it's on the booklist.  

 

I'm thinking about getting this book for fun:   http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-illustrated-book-of-bad-arguments-ali-almossawi/1118733806?ean=9781615192250

 

They're enjoying this too much, so I'm on the lookout for some more serious logic materials.  Maybe Art of Argument or one of the other CAP products.  They even did a mock trial this fall and had a blast (so they just REALLY like to argue!).    

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What age did you guys start introducing it?

 

We've done some logic from the beginning, but this is the first time we've really delved into logical fallacies and arguments (they're 8th and 9th grade, so probably a little late by WTM standards).  Over the years, my kids did several levels of Mind Benders, one of those big Critical Thinking Company books (can't remember what it was called, but it was like a phone book and overwhelmed my kids), Red Herring Mysteries (Red Herring Mysteries was a big hit here) and The Great Chocolate Caper (they really liked that one, too).

 

Like I mentioned, we all did a mock trial this fall and they had a great time with that, too (well, they were giggling the entire time).  If anyone is interested in mock trials, there are a ton of free scripts online.  Some law firms have free scripts online for high school/middle school (that's where we found ours).  

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If you think logic has ruined your life, read Logicomix by Doxiadis and Papadimitriou:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Logicomix-search-truth-Apostolos-Doxiadis/dp/1596914521

 

"This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, ... Russell persists in the dogged mission that threatens to claim both his career and his personal happiness, finally driving him to the brink of insanity." (and, some of the other mathematical logicians or w/e in the book fare worse than Russell does).

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What age did you guys start introducing it?

 

I had the kids start doing basic logic puzzles on paper starting around 2nd grade. We progressed to various other puzzles like tanagrams and IQ Fit (don't like the name), sudoku, and a game I got at Lakeshore Learning with cards and discs and you have to arrange the discs logically. ("The green disc is between 2 orange discs and the purple is not on either end.") We also played Gridworks online but never got through all of the puzzles.

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