SUMMER thinkLAB

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GET A PREVIEW

A COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM
FOR FACULTY, STAFF, & LEADERSHIP

SUMMER 2025

DATES AND LOCATION TBA

thinkLAB GOALS

  • Hear about cutting-edge research in critical thinking instruction from experts in teaching and learning
  • Take a deep-dive into the research-backed methods of thinkARGUMENTS: Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy
  • Learn how other institutions are building Mapping and Empathy skills across class years, institution-wide programs, courses, and disciplines at scale through the thinkARGUMENTS platform
  • View live presentations by faculty currently using thinkARGUMENTS in their courses, big and small, and leverage their insights and support as you consider how thinkARGUMENTS can support your own instruction
  • Collaborate with your team to redesign existing programs or courses with support from thinkFELLOWS
  • Gain a certificate of completion and as much one-on-one support from thinkARGUMENTS staff before, during, and after the term ends as you like!
APPLICATION COMING SOON

HOW DOES thinkLAB WORK?

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STEP 1: COALESCE A TEAM

Identify a small team of colleagues (2-4 individuals) at your institution interested in teaching Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy by implementing the thinkARGUMENTS virtual program with students.


Teams can include faculty, program leaders, graduate student teachers and teaching assistants, advising staff, Deans, Provosts, and more!

STEP 2: TRY THEN APPLY

Browse the thinkARGUMENTS online program for students if you haven't already to get a feel. Try taking some practice sets and mastery checks, just like a student would!

When you're ready, submit an application for the summer program. It's fast and easy.

TRY thinkARGUMENTS
APPLY NOW
Practice skills until you reach a streak
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STEP 3: JOIN THE COHORT

Once accepted, we will email your team information about how to join the all-group sessions, peer support groups, and connect with thinkFellows-- faculty and institutional leaders who have successfully implemented thinkARGUMENTS to fit their course and program goals.

During the all-group sessions, be ready to hear from experts, ask questions, and imagine how your courses and programs might be changed for the better if your students mastered Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy. Outside of sessions, we'll suggest how you can collaborate with your team over the summer to make lasting, substantive impact across courses and programs.

Participants who attend all of the sessions will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program.

STEP 4: IMPLEMENT & ITERATE

Use thinkARGUMENTS in your courses, and track changes in students' skills (we can help!).

Along the way, reach out to the thinkARGUMENTS team and network with questions.

We will connect you with peers and mentor Fellows who can help guide next steps that are tailored to your goals and institution.

LEARN MORE
small group workshop

THE DETAILS

Info for summer 2025 coming soon– stay tuned!

READY TO LEARN MORE?

JOIN A WEBINAR
REQUEST A CONSULT
APPLY FOR thinkLAB SUMMER 2025

TOOLS YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH

Systematic Empathy is a step-by-step method for precise listening. Participants slow down their thinking to better understand the logic and context of an opposing argument.

Argument Mapping activates reasoning skills by uncovering hidden reasons, faulty logic, as well as points of connection.

Mastery Learning is a process for building Systematic Empathy and Argument Mapping skills through student-centered practice. Students work at their own pace, and their own skill level, to practice until mastery is achieved,

EXPLORE THE RESEARCH

LEARN MORE AT A PREVIEW WEBINAR

Hear more about the summer institute and ask your questions at a spring preview webinar!

UPCOMING WEBINAR DATES:

TBA

REGISTER

TBA

REGISTER

TRUSTED BY EDUCATORS

"[thinkARGUMENTS] is basically a critical thinking course developed by folks out of Harvard that you can build into your own course as a unit. What is phenomenal in my mind is that they've used technology in exactly the right way, given the educational process, because in order to learn critical thinking, you need to practice extensively and you need immediate feedback, and you need to do it on your own over and over and over... It's a mastery-based system the students go through."
Professor Paul BlaschkoAssistant Teaching Professor, Notre Dame
“I noticed at the start of the semester that a number of students were butting heads. Politics is of course a contentious topic... As the semester progressed, I noticed that this happened less and less, and I noticed that the students were being more productive in their disagreement. Instead of frustration and blank stares, I saw my students giving and taking reasons…. [thinkARGUMENTS] didn't just teach my students some basic critical thinking skills. By implementing the skills in class and integrating them into my in class instruction, HWA helped make them more charitable, more fair-minded, better at evaluating not only the positions of others but their own positions as well. As someone who has struggled to teach critical thinking in my classes, this course was a godsend.”
Philosophy InstructorUniversity of Texas at Austin
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ABOUT US

thinkARGUMENTS is produced by ThinkerAnalytix, an education non-profit organization spun out of the Harvard University Department of Philosophy. Why philosophy? For philosophers, disagreement is expected, even invited, to tackle seemingly impossible problems. History shows that the best learning happens through disagreement that is inquisitive, respectful, and fearless.
We leverage thousands of years of pedagogy from philosophy and custom education technology to offer a portfolio of courses and programs that teach productive disagreement as an essential part of learning and working communities.