The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a set of psychosocial competencies which help the individual develop “adaptive and positive behaviour that [will] enable [them] to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.” One of the skills is Critical Thinking (the others being Self-Awareness, Empathy, Creative Thinking, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Interpersonal Skills, Effective Communication, Coping with Stress, and Managing Emotions). In contemporary times, where there is an overload of information as well as opinion, it is crucial that we develop an critical attitude when taking decisions or coming to conclusions, especially about issues of social importance.
This course aims to provide the students an opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills by introducing to them the basic tools of argumentation, by making them aware of prejudices and stereotypes and teach them to be empathetic to other views points.
Evaluation PatternFollowing is the evaluation pattern for this course
Assignments: 40%
Class Participation: 30%
Term Paper: 30%
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If a student is found plagiarising in the assignment, they will get zero marks for that assignment. If the term paper is found to be plagiarised, then the student will not be allowed to sit for the final exam.
- Teacher: R Venkata Raghavan