Knowing how to think through issues is something that my son is VERY interested in lately. To that end we’ve been learning debate and some of the fallacies that go into having a debate. When we were offered the chance to go through another critical thinking product, my son was delighted! A chance to problem solve? What fun!
So over the past few weeks my son has been learning new vocabulary as he solves mysteries from the The Critical Thinking Co. What has he been using?
Critical Thinking Detective – Vocabulary Book 2 which is geared to Grades 5-12+. The fun of solving a mystery and the hunt to learn new words, what more could a 13 year ask for?

What I am Reviewing

Critical Thinking Detective – Vocabulary Book 2
The Critical Thinking Co.
Diane Hartsig
Grades 5-12+
PDF Ebook, downloadable program
Thinking skills, Math, Vocabulary, Critical Thinking, Language Arts
Detective mystery cases (12 in all) with include new vocabulary words. As you read the mystery you need to define these vocabulary words as you seek to unravel the clues provided. As Critical Thinking Co. says
Each mystery requires careful reading, critical thinking, and synthesizing information to identify the innocent and guilty. The cases also develop observation skills, reading comprehension, deductive and inductive thinking skills. Learning to identify and evaluate evidence is the very heart of critical thinking.

The Finer Details
My son, once I printed off the 40 pages that make up this ebook, divided them into three sections. He stapled them together so he had the answers in one section, and the rest of the book divided in half.

One of the things I love about Critical Thinking Co. is their dedication to helping their students learn how to think logically. Learning how to use deductive reasoning is a skill that helps each student throughout their life.
Detective Vocabulary 2 takes that one step further, adding new vocabulary words taken from the ACT and SAT word lists and more.

As you can see from the above example, statements are numbered, vocabulary words are mixed in, and careful reading is required.
There are 12 individual cases
- The Thieving Blatherskite
- The Disruptive Denizen
- The Pernicious Polluter
- The Prevaricator
- The Trying Troglodyte
- The Insolent Imposter
- The Malingering Manager
- The Careless Curator
- The Emphatic Editor
- The Jackleg Carpenter
- The Fluent Finagler
- The Bellicose Hoarder
Each case is set up in a similar fashion. Scenario with statements, followed by images of the suspects.

After those images, are particular statements by the suspects along with an injunction to figure out who the guilty party is.

The suggestion is that students complete one case every two weeks. Despite that suggestion, my son really liked working through these. Over our review period he has completed most of the mysteries (has two left to go).
You can complete these just viewing them on your device (it downloads a program on your computer), but I will suggest that you print them off. As you can see from the image below, my son wrote all over them as he worked through each mystery.

After each mystery there is a vocabulary section. They provided a word list and a number of sentences. You needed to plug in a word to complete the sentence.

The enclosed answer key allowed my son to easily check his own work. He told me that he liked that they told him how they came to the answer. A couple of incorrect answers happened, but their key showed him where he went wrong.

One of the nice things in this detective book is you don’t have to discern truth from lie. All statements made are true. This leaves you with just needing to deduce the culprit.

Our Review
To be honest, I looked over the program before giving it to my lad and thought, good, looks like another solid Critical Thinking product. Printed it off and handed it to my lad. That was the extent of my interaction with it, beyond taking pictures for this review.
Ergo, moving on to my son’s review.
It was a good program, I got most everything correct. The only thing I wish was different is they should put a shortened definition under the blanks. Sometimes multiple words can fit into the same spot, making the sentence mean different things but still being grammatically correct. The end result is that you have to guess, and then sometimes you guess wrongly.
I liked that the cases are reasonably difficult to solve. The vocabulary words are included at the just right amount. Not too many to make it overwhelming, but enough that you need to define them in order to solve the case.
Promotion Code
Here is a promotion and coupon The Critical Thinking Co. would like to share with you my readers. 🙂 Pretty cool eh?

Free Shipping + 15% Off Any Size Order!
Coupon: TOSCREW19 Expires: 12/31/2019
I urge you to check out their website. You can get a weekly puzzle sent to you. There is much to explore. Find the time to do so eh? I think you will as impressed as we are.

Other Critical Thinking Co. reviews I have done in the past are: Critical Thinking Detective 1.
Read Other’s Reviews!
75 people have been busy reviewing for The Critical Thinking Co. We’ve been looking at the following:
Pattern Explorer Beginning (Grades 3-4)
Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5)
Critical Thinking Detective – Vocabulary Book 2 (Grades 5-12+)
Dare to Compare: Math Level 2 (Grades 6-7)
Middle School Math Games (Grades 6-8)
Building Writing Skills – Essential Tips & Techniques (Grades 6-12+)
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 1 (Grades 8-12+)
Vocabulary Virtuoso PSAT-SAT Book 2 (Grades 8-12+)
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