CriticalThinkers

Senior Phase · Grades 7–9

Grade 9: Critical Thinking Year Plan

Bad reasoning often feels like good reasoning — the Senior summit is learning to evaluate an argument, a study, an expert and even your own motives before you accept a conclusion.

34 weekly lessons4 terms (10 + 9 + 9 + 6)34 available now

By the end of Grade 9

What your learner will be able to do.

  • Name and explain common logical fallacies and catch them in real arguments.
  • Judge the quality of a research claim by asking how the study was actually done.
  • Evaluate whether an expert or authority deserves trust on a specific question.
  • Explain the warning signs that mark a conspiracy theory and how it breaks the rules of evidence.
  • Recognise motivated reasoning in others and, harder, in themselves.
  • Reason carefully through an ethical dilemma, giving the strongest case on each side before judging.

How a week works

The screen is the spark. The thinking happens together.

Each week is one short on-screen lesson (about ten minutes) wrapped in something no screen can do: a real conversation. Every lesson comes with a free session guide for the adult — a time-budgeted plan with discussion prompts, an activity, a “talk about it after” question, and the signs to watch for — with a version for parents at home, homeschooling families, and classrooms.

1. The on-screen spark (~10 min)

A hook, the idea, a quick check with feedback that teaches, and a written reflection.

2. The conversation (~15 min)

The heart of the lesson: the big question, talked through — at the table, on a walk, in class. Ask more than you tell.

3. Real life + the journal

Spot the idea in your own week, then capture the reflection in the Thinking Journal — the year’s proudest record.

The year, term by term

34 weeks across four South African terms.

Every grade follows the same four-term journey — looking and wondering, reasons and evidence, other eyes and hidden persuaders, then doing the right thinking — so families and teachers always know where they are. Lessons unlock one at a time.

Term 1 · 10 weeks

Looking & Wondering

Open the summit by turning the lens inward: how we reason toward conclusions we already want, and how to catch our own motivated thinking.

Hold onto this term: The thinker hardest to fool, and easiest to fool, is yourself.

  • Week 1: Motivated Reasoning

    Am I reasoning toward the truth, or toward what I already want?

    MetacognitionBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 2: The Comfortable Conclusion

    Why is it so easy to believe what is comfortable?

    MetacognitionBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 3: Steelmanning the Other Side

    Can I argue the opposing case better than its supporters?

    ObservationBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 4: What Would Change My Mind?

    Is there any evidence that could change my view — and if not, why not?

    ObservationBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 5: The Backfire Trap

    Why does being shown I am wrong sometimes make me dig in harder?

    MetacognitionBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 6: Questions That Test, Not Confirm

    Am I asking questions to learn, or just to confirm?

    ObservationBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 7: The Senior Thinking Journal, Year 3

    How can my journal hold me honest about my own reasoning?

    MetacognitionBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 8: Intellectual Humility

    How do I hold strong views without being closed?

    MetacognitionBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 9: A Belief I Want to Test This Year

    Which of my own beliefs deserves a proper investigation?

    ObservationBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 10: Looking & Wondering — Term Review

    How honest can I now be about my own thinking?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 2 · 9 weeks

Reasons & Evidence

The summit of evidence work: how good research is actually done, how to read "a study found", and how to decide which experts deserve trust.

Hold onto this term: "A study found…" means nothing until you ask HOW it was done — and who is qualified to say.

  • Week 11: Research Methodology

    What separates a real study from noise dressed up as science?

    EvidenceBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 12: The Control Group

    Compared to what?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 13: Peer Review and Replication

    Why does one study, on its own, prove little?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 14: Who Funded This?

    Does who paid for the research change how I read it?

    EvidenceBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 15: Evaluating Experts and Authority

    Whom should I trust when I cannot check it myself?

    EvidenceBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 16: Expert, Celebrity or Salesperson?

    Is this voice an expert, a famous face, or someone selling to me?

    EvidenceBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 17: When Experts Disagree

    What do I do when qualified experts disagree?

    ReasoningBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 18: Reading a Claim Like a Researcher

    Can I run a real "studies show" claim through a full check?

    ReasoningBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 19: Reasons & Evidence — Term Review

    How well can I judge research and expertise now?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 3 · 9 weeks

Other Eyes & Hidden Persuaders

Fallacies at depth and the anatomy of conspiracy thinking — the strongest persuaders that feel like reasoning but break the rules of evidence.

Hold onto this term: Some of the most persuasive thinking is wrong on purpose — name the move and it loses its grip.

  • Week 20: Logical Fallacies: How Arguments Go Wrong

    What hidden moves make a bad argument feel convincing?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 21: The False Dilemma and the Straw Man

    Am I being given only two choices, or a fake version of the other side?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 22: Slippery Slopes and Scare Tactics

    Will this small step really lead to disaster?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 23: Conspiracy Theories: Why They Spread

    Why do conspiracy theories feel like deep thinking but break the rules?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 24: When You Cannot Be Proven Wrong

    Why is a claim that explains everything actually weak?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 25: Cherry-Picking the Evidence

    Is this showing me all the evidence, or only the convenient bits?

    Bias & FallaciesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 26: Why Smart People Believe Strange Things

    How can intelligent people end up believing something false?

    PerspectivesBloom: analyse Available — start free
  • Week 27: Talking Across the Divide

    Can I change a mind without making the person defensive?

    PerspectivesBloom: apply Available — start free
  • Week 28: Other Eyes & Persuaders — Term Review

    What faulty reasoning did I see through this term?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Term 4 · 6 weeks

Doing the Right Thinking

Reason through genuine ethical dilemmas with the full Senior toolkit, then reflect on three years of growth and step toward the FET phase.

Hold onto this term: Real dilemmas have good arguments on every side — reasoning through them well matters more than rushing to a verdict.

  • Week 29: The Ethics Tribunal

    How do I reason well when every choice has a real cost?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 30: Consequences vs Principles

    Do I judge an action by its results or by the rule it follows?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 31: A Real Dilemma in My World

    Can I apply careful ethical reasoning to a genuine issue I face?

    Ethics & CivicsBloom: evaluate Available — start free
  • Week 32: My Changed-Mind Moment

    When did honest reasoning change my mind this year?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 33: Three Years of Senior Thinking

    How far have I come across the whole Senior phase?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free
  • Week 34: Ready for the FET Phase — Review & Celebration

    What kind of thinker am I, ready for the FET phase?

    MetacognitionBloom: understand Available — start free

Take it further — on paper

The whole year, in a book you can hold.

Every lesson on this page is free online, forever. For families and classrooms who love working away from screens, Grade 9’s year is also available as an optional printed handbook — the same journey, bound as a book to read, write in and keep.

The printed handbook is a separate, optional purchase. It never unlocks or gates anything — the full course stays free online.

Start Grade 9 — free.

Create a free account, and your learner begins with the first lesson — the next unlocks as they go. Built for homes, classrooms and homeschooling families.