Students demonstrate increasingly sophisticated analytical and evaluative skills and a disposition toward critical thinking, including the ability to: 1) Organize, classify, and categorize information. 2) Identify the organizational structure, component parts and essential elements of written and oral communications and creative works. 3) Identify and take into account factors that might affect the accuracy and validity of their own personal beliefs and conclusions. 4) Challenge, question, and test the accuracy and validity of recommendations, claims, and assertions by identifying and taking into account: a) internal inconsistencies, b) logical flaws, c) unproven or unstated assumptions, d) the existence of contradictory evidence and opinions, e) the currency and pertinence of data, and f) factors that bear on the objectivity and reliability of the sources of information (e.g., credentials, prejudice, bias, attitudes, motivations, and conflicts of interest). 5) Evaluate the relevance and weight assigned to specific evidence or arguments by: a) distinguishing between facts, opinions, speculations, and feelings and b) considering the expertise, personal knowledge, character, and credibility of the source. 6) Identify and describe strengths and weaknesses, and constructively express informed evaluative judgments (i.e., criticism), concerning the merit of oral communications (e.g., speeches, debates), writings (e.g., news reports, editorials, and research studies), performances (e.g., acting, singing) and artistic works (e.g., sculptures, paintings, symphonies).