Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

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162 Unit 4 Applied critical thinking


questions. She could not say what
the notes were about specifically.
C An intercepted text message from a
postgraduate st udent to Corinne’s
phone, saying: ‘Cant believe u r
bribing me. Wot kinda friend r u!!!
Write your own essay.’

Rank these three items according to
the weight you would give them, stating
reasons for your assessments.
3 Comment critically on the following further
item of evidence given to the principal
investigating the allegations against Corinne
Blake. It is from a report by an educational
psychologist who interviewed Corinne:
‘Miss Blake seemed agitated and
anxious. Her mannerisms and body
language were consistent with the
behaviour of someone who has
something to hide. When asked to
repeat the answers she had given to
some of the questions in the exam
she gave a number of incoherent
responses which suggested to me that
she had less knowledge of the subject
matter than her written answers
might have indicated. I do not believe
she could have given those answers
without external help of some sort.’

1    On the basis of the evidence, can it be
concluded that Ray Crowe intentionally
collided with Farr? Give a short, reasoned
argument to support your answer.
2 The principal of a college is investigating
allegations that one of the students,
Corinne Blake, has cheated on multiple
occasions by: copying essays found
on the internet; asking friends
to write assignments for her; and
taking revision notes into an exam.
Corinne denies all the allegations and says
that the other students are accusing her
out of spite.
The evidence in front of the principal
consists of three items, all messages:

A An anonymous email sent to the
principal. It reads: ‘I heard Corinne
Blake tell a friend she had
downloaded stuff off the internet and
got an A for it. They were both having
a good laugh about it. I thought you
should know.’
B A statement by a student saying that
she had been sitting behind Corinne
in an exam and watched her unfold a
page of notes and read it under the
desk before answering one of the

End-of-chapter assignments

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