Read critically, think critically (Technical Elective)

In Read Critically,Think Critically, students learn how to approach a variety of text genres and delve into topics at the intersection of society and technology, such as artificial intelligence or climate change. By practicing their critical reading skills, students not only become familiar with common argumentative structures to discriminate between facts and opinions; they also practice expressing their own beliefs and convictions in written form. Further, they learn how to apply strategies to evaluate the credibility and validity of sources and how to convey their own stance. Finally, students will improve their written and spoken language by reading extensively, discussing the viewpoints and findings presented in the texts, and assessing socio-technological challenges in a variety of disciplines.

Students will

• understand a broad variety of text genres at the intersection of society and technology.
• improve their language skills through reading, by building up their academic and (inter-)disciplinary lexicon.
• be able to express in writing their own stance on an article.
• use a variety of reading techniques to improve their reading speed, their understanding of specialized texts and to become more effective readers.
• be able to discern different viewpoints and ideas in written texts and identify the argumentative structure of opinion pieces, news articles, popular science articles and business reports.