Logical Fallacies

Years ago when I taught High School English, I always included lessons on logical fallacies to help arm my students against being manipulated by advertisers. 

But with the growth of social media and the explosion of memes, today’s students are being bombarded with circular arguments and false equivalence every day! No matter what subject you teach (English, Math, Science, or Social Studies), these manipulative messages have the potential to badly warp your students’ thinking.

So what can you do? Help students clearly understand the most common logical fallacies. This can help them recognize when they’re being manipulated so they can take appropriate action. (Note: Developing this type of discernment is also a valuable skill for college or the workplace.)

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University has a great overview of logical fallacies. A creative way to teach this topic is to have students collect memes that demonstrate different logical fallacies and post those on a bulletin board. Another is to have a student present a meme they’ve seen, then discuss which logical fallacy is being used to manipulate people’s thinking.

For a somewhat different take on this valuable critical thinking skill, visit The School of Thought‘s Logical Fallacies website.