Critical thinking is not a new concept just emerging from the think-tanks and universities that bring us innovative educational concepts. Critical thinking has existed since the days of Plato, Socrates, and other great ancient philosophers. Ancient Greeks believed that critical thinking “not only involved an examination of eloquent words and actions of other people,” as Plato had believed, “but also an examination of one’s own thoughts and actions” (Sriraman & Adrian, 2004, p. 97). Another outspoken advocate of critical thinking was Francis Bacon, a controversial scientist from the early seventeenth century. A non-conformist, Bacon proffered that critical thinking was the “desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture” (Lloyd & Bahr, 2010, p. 1). The concept of critical thinking has played a prominent role in intellectual circles throughout history. An exact definition to be agreed upon by educators and intellectuals alike, has eluded these great thinkers since historical records revealed the idea of critical thinking. The literature doesn’t seem to offer one consistent definition for critical thinking. Plato, the ancient Greeks, Francis Bacon, and countless other great “thinkers” have contributed their own definition. The various interpretations of critical thinking can help teachers create lesson plans and select the necessary materials for those lessons (Maiorana, 1992, p. 14). Some of those interpretations include: “questioning the assumptions that underlie our habitual ways of thinking”, “reflective digestion”, “reflective inquiry” and “the ability to produce generalizatio... ... middle of paper ... ...n Teaching English, 1986. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Pescatore, C. (2008). Current events as empowering literacy: For English and social studies teachers. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 51(4), 326-339. doi:10.1598/JAAL.51.4.4 Pithers, R. T., & Soden, R. (2000). Critical thinking in education: a review. Educational Research, 42(3), 237-249. doi:10.1080/001318800440579 Shermis, S.S. (1999). Reflective thought, critical thinking. EricDigest, 143. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d143.html Sriraman, B., & Adrian, H. (2004). The use of fiction as a didactic tool to examine existential problems. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 15(3), 96-106. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Willingham, D.T. (2008). Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? Arts Education Policy Review, 109(4), 21-26. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Critical thinking occurs when a person thinks about a subject or problem to where the improvement of the quality of ones own thinking using skillful analogies, then assessing and reconstructing them. A few important skills that is learned through critical thinking is learning how to discipline oneself in thinking, understanding the world as well as learning themselves. Critical thinking in the business world has many benefits in the process of decision making by employers as well as employees.
My personal definition of critical thinking is your ability to think using sensible, adequate, and level-headed thinking about things you believe in, the things that you do, and how you ultimately decide what needs to be addressed. This includes your ability to interconnect in independent, reflective, and authentic thinking that helps you recall information and details so that you can better understand them. Critical thinking also entails your ability to make the right choices while boosting your ability to solve problems and arguments while evaluating the evidence. This also includes your thought process in being rational, open-minded, and understanding the connections between thoughts and ideas. Critical
The Critical Thinking Community defines critical thinking as, “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication,
Critical thinking is the process of examining, analyzing, questioning, and challenging situations, issues, and information of all kinds. Without thinking critically, you're only looking at the surface of things. It means not taking what you hear or read and believing it, but using your critical power to what you agree with and what you do not agree wit...
Dictionary.com defines critical thinking as “the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion” (2011). A well-educated critical thinker will raise important questions as well as define problems or issue, in a clear and precise manner, gathering, and evaluating relevant information using abstract and informative ideas. The critical thinker as well will interpret the information effectively to come to a well-rounded conclusion and a well formulated solution, testing them alongside the relevant standards and criteria. Open mindedness is vital, within one’s thinking processes within alternate systems of thought, the critical thinker will recognize and assess, his or her assumptions, practical consequences, implications, by communicating effectively with other individuals to figure out a possible outcome to multifaceted issues (Criticalthinking.org).
When trying to define critical thinking you might run into some challenges along the way. Critical thinking is a widely used yet vague term that is practiced by different people in a variety of locations throughout the world. Critical thinking is a strong virtue for the majority and the worst enemy for others. Needless to say without critical thinking we would be nowhere close to where we are today pertaining to our technological and social endeavors.
Once again, the author defines critical thinking as “...evaluation. Critical thinking, therefore, may be defined as the process by which we test claims and arguments and determine which have merit and which do not. In other words, critical thinking is a search for answers, a quest. (19)”. The author defines critical thinking as proposing questions and seeking answers, also inspecting arguments and claims that are tied to the issue. Applied to the school curriculum, the course would entail critical thinking and evaluation of judgements and perceptions of acceptable values and conduct towards others. Employing critical thinking and analysis into the class curriculum, students then also grow to become more mature in their decisions as critical thinkers. Various traits of critical thinkers are listed by Ruggiero, where he states that experienced thinkers are honest with themselves and their own limited knowledge, see problems and issues as intellectual challenges, remain patient yet curious, draw conclusions from logic rather than personal emotion, open-minded, and think before acting (21-22). These listed traits are all extremely beneficial to the development of the student’s personalized conscience and would only broaden their internal horizons for understanding their moral
The author Vincent Ruggiero defines critical thinking in his book Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking, as a “search for answers, a quest.” It is the idea that one does not accept claims, ideas, and arguments blindly, but questions and researches these things before making a decision on them. From what I learned in class, critical thinking is the concept of accepting that there are other people and cultures in this world that may have different opinions. It is being able to react rationally to these different opinions.
Critical thinking is the careful scrutiny of what is stated as true or what appears to be true and the resulting expression of an opinion or conclusion based on that scrutiny, and (2) the creative formulation of an opinion or conclusion when presented with a question, problem or issue, (Kist-Ashman, 2011, p. 33).
What is not easily recognized is the fact that the very fabric of life is dependent on the ability to think properly and make good decisions. Improper thinking is costly in the quality of life and monetarily. The result of a critical thinker that has worked to cultivate proper thinking skills includes: the ability to ask vital questions and to identify problems with clarity. A critical thinker also collects relevant information while effectively interpreting it, thinks with an open mind, uses alternative systems of thought, and understands how to communicate while working to formulate a strong solution. In summary, critical thinking is self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. Above all else, the standards of excellence are rigorous, and it entails the prospect of overcoming the challenge of sociocentrism and
Critical thinking means accurate thinking in the search of appropriate and dependable knowledge about the world. Another way to describe it is sensible, insightful, responsible, and skillful thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. Critical thinking is not being able to process information well enough to know to stop for red lights or whether you established the right change at the supermarket.
According to The Foundation for Critical Thinking (2007), "Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2007).
What is critical thinking? Encarta Pocket Dictionary defines critical thinking as a type of critical analysis. Encarta Pocket Dictionary defines a decision as firmness in choosing something. The authors of Whatever It Takes suggest that decision-making material and literature tend to emphasize the product of decision-making but does not emphasize the actual process of decision-making. Critical thinking is the mechanical process by which problems are perceived, alternative solutions weighed, and rational decisions are made and decision-making is streams of choices (McCall, Kaplan, xv).
“Critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances” (Paul & Elder, 2006, p. xviii). Critical thinking involves the capability to think rationally and fair-minded. One must have the ability to employ his thinking reflectively and independently. Critical thinking is more than just thinking "naturally." It involves analyzing oneself and self improvement. One needs to do more than gather information when making a good decision to think critically. Even if someone has a good memory and knows a large amount of facts is does not necessarily mean that he thinks critically. As a critical thinker one needs the ability to determine the consequences from what one knows, to know how to make use of information to solve problems, and seek reliable sources of information to inform oneself ("Module: About Critical Thinking", 2011). Critical thinking in business in important because it helps one recognize the prejudices, false beliefs, and habits that may lead to flawed decisions.
Critical thinking regularly involves the capability to interpret information and make knowledgeable decisions based on such information. Additionally, problem solving is frequently theorised as the use of critical thinking skills towards the effective solution of a specific problem or towards a specific end goal. Critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances. The general goal of thinking is to figure out some situation” (Critical Thinking, 2001, p.1), solve some problem, answer some questions, or resolve some issue. It also is a process in which a person pursuits reliable and pertinent information about the world. Critical thinking is often described as reasonable, ruminative, trustworthy, and a well-practiced form of thinking that assists people with deciding what they should believe in and what actions should be taken. A practiced critical thinker will ask good questions, collects pertinent data, categorizes common characteristics, logically reasons with the new data and then he or she will come to a trustworthy and dependable conclusion. Critical thinking makes use of many processes and procedures. Some processes include but is not limited to asking questions, making judgments, and identifying