The Impact of Teaching Reasoning Fallacies on the Critical Thinking Ability of MoroccanEngineering Students

Abstract

This research paper reports an experimental study geared to examine the effect of teaching reasoning fallacies on the critical thinking ability of a group of Moroccan university students. In a random assignment post-test design, 40 subjects took part in study-treatment. While the subjects in both experimental groups (n 20) received a treatment on how to avoid and spot fallacies in arguments, the control group was involved straightway in taking the pre-test and the post test (with no prior assistance) for comparison purposes. After the treatment -which consisted in having the experimental group (n 20 subjects) receive a training on the meaning of 15 reasoning fallacies and reinforcements tasks on how to identify them in statements and how to avoid them when they speak or write - all the subjects answered a twenty item multiple-choicetest and 5 of them responded to structured interview to identify their attitudes. The final scores were then subjected to descriptive as well as referential statistics (independent and paired samples T-test) for between group comparison purposes. The results reveal a significant facilitative and positive effect of reasoning fallacies training understudy and particularly so when compared to the control condition. A follow-up investigation through an independent samplest-test) attested to the fact that the training resulted in an increased critical thinking ability as measured by the receptive and productive and this is particularly so when compared to the control condition. The study concludes with the main finding together with their interpretation. Some practical implications related to critical thinking instruction, lesson planning and material development, in general, brings the paper full circled.