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Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Critical Thinking & Health
Module Code NS122 (ITS) / HEA1025 (Banner)
Faculty Science & Health School Nursing, PsyT & Comm Health
Module Co-ordinatorDavid Loughrey
Module TeachersMarcia Kirwan, Mark Philbin
NFQ level 6 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
None
Array
Description

In this module, we explore a variety of phenomena to do with everyday life, society and health as a way of developing a "critical consciousness" oriented to the meanings of things as part of a relational world.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the value of developing critical thinking skills.
2. Assess the relationship between health and society from a critical viewpoint.
3. Develop a reasoned critical position in relation to current evidence on health.
4. Collaborate with others in thinking critically about a range of phenomena to do with everyday life, society, and health to inform professional decision-making.



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture24Lecture and group discussion
Online activity12Watching and examining video materials
Independent Study47Reading
Independent Study42Writing a reflective assignment
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Critical thinking
What is critical thinking? The role of cognitive biases and heuristics in human cognition in misinformation are explored. Assessing how arguments are formed and logical fallacies.

Critical analysis of health research
Critically evaluating the quality of health research studies. Understanding various methodologies in health research and their implications for assessing evidence.

Critical thinking in public health and policy
Exploration of the significance of critical thinking in health and policy, including ethical decision-making.

Critically evaluate health and media
Critically evaluate health information sources and understanding the influence of media on public health perceptions. Assess strategies to address health misinformation.

Critically thinking and ethical considerations in health
Discussion of ethical issues in health. How can critical thinking inform ethical decision-making. Understanding moral dilemmas or failures in health and society.

Developing positions on health issues
Explore various health topics, such as vaccination mandates or the allocation of limited healthcare resources. Assess how to form positions on these topics using critical thinking.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
Reflective journalReflective assignment in which critical thinking is applied to a topic related to health and society.100%Sem 1 End
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Aysha Akhtar: 2019, Our Symphony with Animals, Pegasus Books, 9781643130705
  • Hannah Arendt: 2003, Responsibility And Judgment, Schocken Books Incorporated, 9780805211627
  • Hannah Arendt: 1963, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Penguin UK, 0143039881
  • Ernest Becker: 1997, The Denial of Death, Simon and Schuster, 0684832402
  • Rutger Bregman: 2020, Humankind, Bloomsbury, 9781408898949
  • Anne Boyer: 2019, The Undying, Penguin UK, 9780241399736
  • Barbara Ehrenreich: 2010, Smile Or Die, Granta Books, 9781847081735
  • Arthur W. Frank: 2013, The Wounded Storyteller, University of Chicago Press, 022600497X
  • Paulo Freire: 1998, Pedagogy of Freedom, Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated, 9780847690466
  • Atul Gawande: 0, Being Mortal, 1846685818
  • William MacAskill: 2016, Doing Good Better, Guardian Books, 9781783350513
  • Matthieu Ricard: 2015, Altruism, Little, Brown, 9780316208246
  • Stanley Milgram: 0, Obedience to Authority, 1905177321
  • Susie Orbach: 2010, Bodies, Profile Books(GB), 1846680298
  • Plato: 2003, The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Classics, 9780140449280
  • Michael J. Sandel: 2020, The Tyranny of Merit, Penguin UK, 9780141991184
  • Peter Singer: 2015, The Most Good You Can Do, Yale University Press, 9780300219869
  • Sarah Trainer,Alexandra Brewis,Amber Wutich: 2021, Extreme Weight Loss, New York University Press, 9781479857265
  • Winters, E.: 2022, This Is Vegan Propaganda: And other lies the meat industry tells you, Vermilion, London,
  • Philip G. Zimbardo: 2008, The Lucifer Effect, Random House, 1846041031
Other Resources

None

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