Course Description

This is a class about critical thinking: what it is and why people are better and worse at it.  Since it can be taught and improves with practice, we will apply it together and you will hone your skills in this course.  We’ll also study how AI can be used to improve your critical thinking and in turn you will apply critical thinking to AI.  AI will only benefit you if you know how to work with it and critically evaluate what it generates.  The text for this course is a reader with selections of chapters from a variety of books about thinking and about AI.  They are generally written for an intelligent but popular audience making them enjoyable reading. I ensure class periods are filled with a variety of activities.  A substantial amount of class time will be devoted to analyzing a topic of your choosing as you will be required to study a current controversial issue from multiple perspectives.  We will use the controversy GMOs vs organic agricultural methods as an example. Since this course has potential to help you become an even smarter person I hope to see you there!

Texts: The required readings will be gathered in a reader and will include readings from books such as Thinking Fast and Slow, Useful Delusions, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, Weapons of Math Destruction.

Student requirements: Most weeks there will be a reading and a short writing assignment due in Canvas. Based on the controversial topic of your choosing, there will be short papers and the creation of a poster.

About the Instructor(s): Sarita Cargas

Dr. Sarita Cargas is an associate professor and her primary interest is teaching about the human rights of college students and in teaching the skills of critical thinking.  She has been with the UNM Honors College for over a decade. Cargas makes sure to use the most advanced pedagogical practices in her teaching which means her courses are focused on active learning and they employ experiential learning where possible.  She has created a course focused on critical thinking that requires students present at the university’s Undergraduate Research Conference which she helped found.  Her research and publications center on human rights education including, Human Rights Education: Forging an Academic Discipline (U of Penn Press, 2019) . Cargas earned her degrees at St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD (BA); Georgetown University (MA), and Oxford University (DPhil).