As stated in Chapter 2 of your text, critical thinking involves an integrated set of thinking abilities and attitudes, including thinking actively, exploring situations, thinking independently, viewing situations from different perspectives, and discussing ideas in an organized way. For this assignment, you will analyze a fictional court case with Mary Barnett as the defendant.  First, read the information in Chapter 2 regarding the case. Then analyze the key dimensions of this court case and give a verdict.  Synthesize your thoughts regarding this case in a few paragraphs in which you explain the reasons and evidence that influenced your verdict. Then add your responses to any three of the following analysis questions at the end of your paragraphs.

I find Ms. Barnett guilty of the crime of second-degree murder: intentional murder without premeditation. As I read the case, the first impression that stuck with me throughout the rest of the story was that she had told the police she knew she left the baby behind, did not intend to come back, and that she knew Alison would die in a day or two. Being six months old, Alison was one hundred percent reliant on her mother, and Mary knew leaving her for any amount of time would be detrimental to the health and safety of her child. Her responsibility.

As I tried to keep an open mind and put myself in the shoes of both defense and prosecution, I weighed the stories and tried to discern the facts from opinion or emotion. I relied less on testimony that indicated she was just a party girl and drank all the time. Although this may have had something to do with her decision to leave Alison, the real question was did Mary leave Alison alone knowing she would die.

I also compared the two doctor’s statements in helping me determine a verdict. A lot of what they said contradicted each other and so trustworthiness was key in their testimony. The prosecution had been involved with many of these types of cases where the defense had not.

I also took much weight in the officer’s testimony. They are trained to collect facts and be able to weed out opinion and emotion from their reports. He stated that Mary indicated she tried to get a babysitter and, not being able to find one, still left Alison alone. This spoke volumes to me in terms of her knowing what she was about to do and what it would do to her child.

Reflect on your own deliberations of the Mary Barnett case and describe the reasoning process you used to reach a verdict. Did you find that you were composing a continuing story to explain the testimony you were reading? If so, was this story changed or modified as you learned more information?

My reasoning is described in the paragraphs above but I definatley found myself composing the story in my mind. I developed mental pictures at every step. Every time a different witness “spoke,” I imagined what the scene was like. The vision and the story does change with every bit of testimony and how it plays out if she is guilty, or not guilty. I play each piece in my mind and also consider biases. What if the apartment this took place were in the projects vs a gated community? What if all of her other neighbors liked her? What was Alison dressed in and how was she left in the apartment? And on and on.

Explain how factors from your own personal experience (age, gender, experience with children, and so on) may have influenced your verdict and the reasoning process that led up to it.

This is probably the hardest part of making a decision such as this: trying to remove your own biases from the decision itself. As I reflect on how my personal expeiences may have influenced my verdict, I look at several of the values I have held true throughout my life. One of those values is preservation of life. I personally don’t believe in abortion or the death penalty or war or any other activity where a life is taken at someone’s whim. I look at the age of the victim in this case and think how senseless it was and how she was robbed of life because of someone elses poor decisions.

As I think of these, however, I also ask myself, “am I making this based on my values?” Am I making the decision because Mary disgusts me? All of that aside, I still go back to the fact she told the police she knew she was leaving Alison and that she knew she would would die.

Explain how your beliefs about human nature may have influenced your analysis of Mary Barnett’s motives and behavior.

My first reading of the testimony left me somewhat empathetic to Mary’s argument. But I also questioned Mary’s motives and behavior and wondered how anyone could do this to their child. I do agree that she has mental issues and should have psychiatric care. Who else would leave their child to die? But this is not an excuse to get out of the just and right punishment either. The question of human nature does play into the mix as no one in their right mind would even consider such and act but, on the same token, who would stick a bomb in their pants and try to blow up a plane. I think that is crazy too but wouldn’t consider a mental competency trial for that person.

Chapter 1 of the text introduces critical thinking as an active process and lays the foundation for achieving goals, making effective decisions and learning to think creatively.  For this assignment, you will analyze a future decision. First, describe an important decision in your academic or personal life that you will have to make in the near future. Then, using the five-step decision-making approach described in Chapter 1, analyze your decision and conclude with your “best” choice. Using your webcam, share your analysis with your colleagues.

After I graduate from this class, I would like to write a book on technology. The reasons I would like to write a book are as follows. I enjoy sharing about technology. I am able to organize and communicate information about technology in an easy non-threatening way. This endeavor will also help me become a better writer and communicator. I would also like to use this as a platform for consulting and expanding my career.

Step 2: Consider All the Possible Choices

• What technology would I write about?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Why is there a need for this information?
• Is there already something out there?
• Can I write this or should I consider a ghostwriter?
• Is there a model I can follow?
• Who could I contact about publishing or would I self publish?
• What medium would I make the book available or would a publisher decide this?
• Where and how would I market the book?
• Who will review my work?
• How much time and effort am I willing to submit to this project?
• Are there any legal issues related to writing about a particular technology?

Step 3: Gather All Relevant Information and Evaluate the Pros and Cons of Each Possible Choice

What book would I write?

Google Apps for Educators

Pros: Not a lot of material on Apps out there that is targeted toward educators. This is a huge target audience. I know and use Apps on a regular basis. I have educators that are also using it that I could bounce ideas off of. Limited topics that could be covered as there are only so many programs in the suite.

Cons: Limited to educators + Limited topic = Narrower market.

Google Tools for Educators

Pros: Lots of possible content to draw from. Wider, focused audience. Content could be more general and easier to comprehend. I have a very good understanding of the content. There is much to draw on already from my GoogleTips twitter account. Content from this could easily be transferred to a later Google Apps book.

Cons: Lots of possible content may be hard to organize and put in a concise book form. There is already lots of material online for free. Might be outdated quickly.

Digital Clutter

Pros: Unique topic that affects many people. Interesting topic to me. Might be easy to translate real-world to digital. Opportunity to work with lots of people.

Cons: Would require much more research and cross-platform work. Time consuming as it would require lots of research and working with others.

Step 4: Select the Choice That Seems to Best Meet the Needs of the Situation

At this point, I believe writing a book “Google Tools for Educators” would be the best solution for the reasons outlined in the pros section as they outweigh the cons.

Step 5: Implement a Plan of Action and Then Monitor the Results, Making Necessary Adjustments

• Answer the questions in Step 2
• Brainstorm topics from GoogleTips account
• Develop an outline
• Have someone review the outline and make suggestions
• Start writing the pieces
• Organize the pieces
• Have someone review the organization and make suggestions
• Compile first draft
• Have someone review the progress and make suggestions
• Develop book proposal
• Talk to publishers
• Finish draft
• Have someone review the final draft and correct errors
• Market
• Publish
• Market