Resources for Reasoning

Before we teach reasoning we must confront some deeply-entrenched counter-productive human behaviours. An important one of these is 'confirmation bias', a failing which prevents us from applying logical analysis. Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek evidence in support of our beliefs,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brown, Paul
Format: Journal Article
Published: Mathematical Association of Victoria 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81564
Description
Summary:Before we teach reasoning we must confront some deeply-entrenched counter-productive human behaviours. An important one of these is 'confirmation bias', a failing which prevents us from applying logical analysis. Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek evidence in support of our beliefs, neglecting counter-examples which might cause us to re-think. Only when our students realise that psychological obstacles can be overcome will our efforts with reasoning prove fruitful. This essay presents some approaches which may assist students to address biases and apply insightful thinking.