Today we have a guest post from David Young, Head of Theory of Knowledge and Ideas, The English College in Prague. He can be reached at david [dot] young [at] englishcollege [dot] cz.
A while ago I was asked to develop a critical thinking course for an International Baccalaureate (IB) school as a preparation for its Theory of Knowledge course. As someone who teaches global politics, I was drawn to two books: David T. Moore’s Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis (2nd ed 2007), and the invaluable The Art of Intelligence (2014) by William J. Lahneman and Ruben Arcos. Both have had a significant impact on my teaching and my position as the school’s co-coordinator for Theory of Knowledge (ToK), a core element in the IB programme.
In ToK, students are supposed to formulate and evaluate knowledge claims and ask questions about the acquisition of knowledge, making it one of the most challenging elements in a congested pre-university curriculum. I’ve found the analysis of intelligence and the ethical issues surrounding its collection and dissemination to be an exciting way for students to learn about ToK concepts such as reason, imagination, intuition, and sense perception. From my perspective, using principles of intelligence analysis has both enhanced my understanding of ToK and improved the course for students.
The Art of Intelligence in particular is a wonderful resource for teaching ToK. It is packed with more than a dozen a dozen simulations, exercises and games intended for intelligence community practitioners but which can be adapted for IB or undergraduate students. The debriefing notes are invaluable.
And so this post is as much a plea as a puff piece for this approach. Is there anyone else using these books in a similar course? Is there a subset of teachers of intelligence analysis willing to share their plans and activities?