UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

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UGRC 150: CRITICAL THINKING AND PRACTICAL

REASONING
FIRST SEMESTER 2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR
COURSE SYLLABUS (Main Campus)
Course Code and Title: UGRC 150: Critical Thinking and Practical Reasoning
Credits: 3
Course Coordinator: Dr. Nancy Myles Baffour Gyamfi
Office Location: Rm 23, Philosophy Department
Office Hours: Mondays 12:00– 2:00pm
E-mail: [email protected]
E-learning Assistants:
Isaac Johnson ([email protected]); Mrs. Lucy Akrong ([email protected])
Course Instructors (Lecturers) Teaching Assistants (T.As)
1. Dr Nancy Myles Baffour Gyamfi Lucy Akrong: [email protected]
Email: [email protected] David Oppong-Gyimah: [email protected]
Mohammed Napare: [email protected]

2. Dr Emmanuel I. Ani Bernice N. Adjei: [email protected]

Email: [email protected] Michael Manu: [email protected]
3. Dr Stephen N. Morgan Agnes Afful: [email protected]
Email: [email protected] Kelvin Asare: [email protected]

4. Dr Richmond Kwesi Isaac Johnson: [email protected]

Email: [email protected] Beatrice Darko-Yeboah:
[email protected]
5. Mr. Daniel Ocansey Isaac Essel: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]. Elizabeth Baholi: [email protected]

6. Dr. Husein Inusah Naomi Akowuah: [email protected]

Email: [email protected] Derrick Fatomey: [email protected]
7. Dr. Anthony Boakye Douglas Bonsu: [email protected]
 Email: [email protected] Selma Yoyowah: [email protected]

The offices of lecturers are mainly located in the Philosophy building

Course Description:
Critical Thinking is the careful, deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject, or
suspend judgment about a claim and of the degree of confidence with which to accept or reject it.
Critical Thinking operates according to rational standards in that beliefs and claims are evaluated
by how well they are supported by reasons. This course will introduce learners to the methods
and principles used to distinguish good (correct) from bad (incorrect) reasoning. The course will
provide concepts and techniques that are required to be employed in critical thought and practice
within the academic arena and in everyday life. It also aims at giving learners these tools to be
able to critically analyze and distinguish between various types of discourse, reasoning, and
belief.
Course Goal
To teach and learn conceptual clarity, effective speaking and sound reasoning for career and life
goals.
Course Objectives:

 To practice clarity and techniques for improving concision in the use of language.
 To define different modes of reasoning and argumentation
 To identify certain principles of reasoning and their application to everyday issues
 To recognize certain mistakes and fallacies in argumentation and reasoning

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, learners should be able to:

 Identify different types of language in use and recognize when logical techniques do or
do not apply;
 Differentiate a passage or discourse that contains an argument from a narrative, or
instruction, or polemic, or literary artistry;
 Distinguish between deductive and inductive methods of reasoning, and how they are
applied in basic and applied sciences as well as in the humanities;
 Identify polemic ploys and rhetorical tricks commonly employed as tactics of
manipulation and persuasion.

Course Delivery:

 The course will be delivered online mainly through the SAKAI eLearning Management
System within a period of 11 weeks. The First, middle and last weeks will be in-person
(face-to-face) at the specific lecture hall and time given by the university and announced
on your course site on sakai. Read announcements.
 From week two (2) onwards, the Course Instructors will teach the course online using the
google Teams link for the specific group you have signed for at site info for ONLINE
lectures. You may join the lecture session of an alternative group in case of genuine
unforeseen clashes or a holiday. But maintain a consistent attendance of, and full
participation in all lectures of your group. In addition to the live sessions, Course lecture
videos, power-point slides, and/or online meeting recordings will be available at the
resource tools. But, endeavour to be present at the live sessions as much as possible.
  The Teaching Assistants (TAs) will schedule and conduct tutorial sessions to assist
learners who encounter difficulties either in understanding the lectures or carrying out the
exercises and assignments. Tutorial links are also compiled and stored at the resource tool
on sakai.
 Prepared and Active Participation in the course is required. Preparation includes doing
the readings from the required text carefully and thoughtfully, learning the slides and
lecture videos, and coming to the Live interaction with preliminary thoughts on the
relevant topics. The resource tool has a soft version of the required text (in Units).
 There shall be Activities and/or Assignments based on the weekly lessons. Take all
assessments before the due date.
 Learners are to visit their Course Sites on SAKAI frequently to update themselves with
the uploads of lecture slides, other resources, assignments, tests/quizzes and
announcements. Go to the announcement tool and READ announcements for yourself!
Make that a habit.
 Address all questions on the course to the coordinator’s email:
[email protected]. The emails of the specific lecturers are also listed on
the course outline.
 Learners are to observe all online classroom etiquettes and netiquettes. The use of
offensive language especially should be always avoided. Keep muted until you are asked
to speak. Learners should not hesitate to ask for feedback and clarification from the
Instructors (Lecturers), T.As (Teaching Assistants), and the Course Coordinator (see
emails of each on page 1 of this document).

Assessments and Grading:

1. All Assessments – continuous and final – will be done online via the SAKAI LMS.
2. There shall be two (2) off-site Continuous Assessment exercises that will amount to 20% of
your final mark in the course.
3. There will be an Interim Assessment Test during the 8th Week of the semester that will
constitute 30% of your final mark in the course to be conducted onsite-online (using
university computers). The Test will comprise of short-answer and Multiple-Choice
Questions (MCQs) drawn from lessons covered on Units 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. The Academic
Affairs Directorate will give notice on which specific computer labs at the UGCS you will use
in due course.
4. The Final Exam, conducted during the period of the End-of-Semester Exams onsite-online
using university computers, will constitute 50% of your final mark in the course. The Final
Exam will be drawn from lessons covered on Units 6, 7, 9 and 10. The Final Exam will
comprise of MCQs and Short Answer Questions.
5. The Final Grade for the Course will, therefore, be constituted as follows:
Two Continuous Assessment Exercises = 20%
Interim Assessment Test = 30%
Final Exam = 50%
Total = 100%
6. Learners are to ensure that they have strong and stable internet connections before they
start any assessment. There shall be no make-up assignments and tests due to internet failure.
Learners are to report any systemic failures and SAKAI malfunctioning to their
instructors/invigilators immediately they occur and during the period of the particular
assessments.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism, including undocumented use of internet materials in assignments and examinations,
if detected and confirmed, will earn a learner a grade 0 for that assessment or a grade X for that
examination, and subject that learner to disciplinary action by the university.
Required Text:
The Course Reader, UGRC150 Critical Thinking and Practical Reasoning, contains all the
material needed for this course. Every learner is required to engage the content in order to be
able to follow lectures and to carry out the exercises prescribed. The Units in the Schedule/Plan
of Work below are based on the Course Reader. [See your resource tool]

Schedule/ Plan of Work

Week Units Topics Lessons
1 1 & 5.2 Thoughts as Objects of Scrutiny;  Introduction to Critical Thinking
 Review of Course Outline
2 Contrasting facts and values
 Distinguishing Types of sentence-
Cont’d shaped thought
 Recognizing sentence fragments
and emotive expressions
 Identifying different types of
Declarative sentences
 Contrasting Facts and Values

3 2 & 3.1 Definitions; Verbal Disputes and  Connotation and Denotation

Substantive Disagreements  Six Types of Definitions
 Open-textured and Well-defined
terms
 Diagnosing Problems with
Definitions
 Verbal Disputes and Substantive
Disagreements

4 3 & 5.1 Contrasting Types of Discourse;  Correcting Ambiguity, Vagueness

and Equivocation.
Six Senses of Law
 Illustration of Ambiguity: Six
Senses of Law.
 Identifying Types of Discourses.
 Arguments: Premises and
Conclusions

5 6 Deduction versus Induction  Distinguishing between deductive

and inductive reasoning.
6 6 Deduction versus Induction cont’d
 Four Valid Syllogistic Patterns.

 Formal Fallacies
 The notion of Validity, Truth, and
Soundness

7 7 Inductive Reasoning in the Sciences  Basic principles of Inductive

8 9 and Everyday Life Reasoning.
 Verifiable and confirmable
Causal Reasoning
statements.
 Enumerative Induction: Law-like
and Statistical Hypothesis

 Causal Reasoning and the notion of

causation
 J. S. Mill’s Methods of Causal
Reasoning
 Some Causal Fallacies

9 10 Polemic Tricks and Rhetorical Ploys  Informal fallacies

 Fallacies that manipulate language

10 10 Polemic Tricks and Rhetorical Ploys  Fallacies of Irrelevance: changing

cont’d the subject, manipulating data

Revision (Face-to-face weekend  Student queries, exam preparation

session) etc