Associate Teaching Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Maralee Harrell
Harrell teaches a wide variety of undergraduate courses at CMU, including Environmental Ethics, Engineering Ethics, and Introduction to Philosophy. Her main research interests are in teaching, especially teaching critical thinking skills. She has a special interest in the use of computers to teach critical thinking. In the past, Harrell have been involved in the development of an online course on Argument Diagramming as well as one on Causal and Statistical Reasoning. She has published an overview of computer-assisted reasoning software, has developed argument diagramming software, and engaged in collaborative research on collaborative tools for reconstructing and visually representing arguments.
Recent Publications
Harrell, M. (2016). What is the Argument? An Introduction to the Practice of Philosophy. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Harrell, M. (2016). On the Possibility of Feminist Philosophy of Physics. In Cristina Amoretti & Nicla Vassallo, Eds. Meta-Philosophical Reflection on Feminist Philosophies of Science. New York: Springer. Pp. 15-34.
Harrell, M. & Wetzel, D. (2015). Using Argument Diagramming to Teach Critical Thinking in a First-Year Writing Course. In Martin Davies, Ron Barnett, & Bob Ennis, Eds. Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 213-232.
Harrell, M. (2014). Review of THiNK: Critical Thinking for Everyday Life by Judith A. Boss. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines. 28(3): 51-58.
Harrell, M. (2013). Improving First-Year Writing Using Argument Diagramming. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
Harrell, M. Assessing the Efficacy of Argument Diagramming to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Introduction to Philosophy. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines. 27(2): 31-38.
McLaren, B., Scheuer, O., Harrell, M. & Weinberger, A. (2011). Will Structuring the Collaboration of Students Improve Their Argumentation? In Gautam Biswas, Susan Bull, Judy Kay, & Antonija Mitrovic, eds. Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence in Education—15th International Conference. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. 6738: 544-546.
McLaren, B, Scheuer, O., Harrell, M. & Weinberger, A. (2011). Scripting Collaboration: What Effects Does it Have on Student Argumentation? In T. Hirashima et al., eds. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Computers in Education. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
Harrell, M. (2011). Understanding, Evaluating and Producing Arguments: Training Is Necessary for Reasoning Skills. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34(2): 80-81.
Harrell, M. (2011). Argument Diagramming and Critical Thinking in Introductory Philosophy. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(3): 371-385.