Logic program issues...

[Deb in NJ]

I posted this on the general board too.

We are using The Art of Argument and she'll also check things out in the Fallacy Detective.

She knows the definition of all the fallacies, but during test time when she has to apply them she doesn't get them correct.

Is there another program that would help her with this (maybe one that has more exercises).

Any advice?

Thanks.
Deb in NJ

[Karenciavo]

Is she working through it on her own Deb? I used it at LEARN a while back and I would have students look for fallacies in everyday life kinds of things, newspapers, magazines, the news (especially politics unfortunately.) That seems to help.

[Nan in Mass]

We did it orally because I was editing out the "Christian" political issues. In the process, I discovered that one of my children could do the excersizes easily, and the other one needed lots of guidance at first. After I had talked him through about half the book, he improved. I think it was partly a learning-to-answer-textbook-questions problem. I saw the same thing happen with other textbooks. In his case, he needed help learning how to answer exactly the question, using only the material presented in the book, and not move sideways at all, dragging in related materials. One of my sons picked this up fairly quickly, but the other struggled with it (brain wiring I'm sure).
So, maybe you could work orally with her and help nudge her in the direction of the right answer enough that she learns how to get there herself?
-Nan

[FloridaLisa]

I did FD orally with several of my kids, then ages 9 - 15. The 9-yr-old was on it! He often named the correct fallacy when I didn't even know it. I also found that while some fallacies are very clear (red herring, ad hominen for example) others are not so clear. Sometimes more than one fallacy looked like it could apply. I would ask my kids to support their answer if they chose a fallacy different from *the answer* in the book.

Having been through law school and a practicing attorney, I still didn't get every answer every time.* Teaching fallacies is not like teaching math; it's a way of thinking that you are developing, not necessarily a hard and fast answer. FD is training the mind to find gaps in the argument or inadequate reasoning. Perhaps you can discuss some of the fallacies that are tripping her up and then look to apply them in your daily life. Editorials, talk radio and evening talk tv should provide *ample* opportunity to find the logical fallacies.

HTH,
Lisa

*ETA: Sad, I know. :-)