critical thinking

Define Critical thinking:                                                                                                Critical thinking is 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, as a guide to belief and action

standard

CLARITY: Could you elaborate further on that point? Could you express that point in another way? Could you give me an illustration? Could you give me an example? Clarity is the gateway standard. If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant. In fact, we cannot tell anything about it because we don't yet know what it is saying. For example, the question, "What can be done about the education system in America?" is unclear. In order to address the question adequately, we would need to have a clearer understanding of what the person asking the question is considering the "problem" to be. A clearer question might be "What can educators do to ensure that students learn the skills and abilities which help them function successfully on the job and in their daily decision-making?"
  
ACCURACY: Is that really true? How could we check that? How could we find out if that is true?  A statement can be clear but not accurate, as in "Most dogs are over 300 pounds in weight."

PRECISION: Could you give more details? Could you be more specific?
A statement can be both clear and accurate, but not precise, as in "Jack is overweight." (We don’t know how overweight Jack is, one pound or 500 pounds.)

RELEVANCE: How is that connected to the question? How does that bear on the issue?
A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise, but not relevant to the question at issue. For example, students often think that the amount of effort they put into a course should be used in raising their grade in a course. Often, however, the "effort" does not measure the quality of student learning; and when this is so, effort is irrelevant to their appropriate grade.

DEPTH: How does your answer address the complexities in the question? How are you taking into account the problems in the question? Is that dealing with the most significant factors? A statement can be clear, accurate, precise, and relevant, but superficial (that is, lack depth). For example, the statement, "Just say No!" which is often used to discourage children and teens from using drugs, is clear, accurate, precise, and relevant. Nevertheless, it lacks depth because it treats an extremely complex issue, the pervasive problem of drug use among young people, superficially. It fails to deal with the complexities of the issue.

BREADTH: Do we need to consider another point of view? Is there another way to look at this question? What would this look like from a conservative standpoint? What would this look like from the point of view of . . .?  A line of reasoning may be clear accurate, precise, relevant, and deep, but lack breadth (as in an argument from either the conservative or liberal standpoint which gets deeply into an issue, but only recognizes the insights of one side of the question.)

LOGIC: Does this really make sense? Does that follow from what you said? How does that follow? But before you implied this, and now you are saying that; how can both be true? When we think, we bring a variety of thoughts together into some order. When the combination of thoughts are mutually supporting and make sense in combination, the thinking is "logical." When the combination is not mutually supporting, is contradictory in some sense or does not "make sense," the combination is not logical.

FAIRNESS:  Do I have a vested interest in this issue?  Am I sympathetically representing the viewpoints of others?  Human think is often biased in the direction of the thinker - in what are the perceived interests of the thinker.  Humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others on the same plane with their own rights and needs.  We therefore must actively work to make sure we are applying the intellectual standard of fairness to our thinking.  Since we naturally see ourselves as fair even when we are unfair, this can be very difficult.  A commitment to fairmindedness is a starting place.

Skills

Skill #1: Interpretation

What it Means: Having the ability to understand the information you are being presented with and being able to communicate the meaning of that information to others.

Throughout your career you will be presented with a variety of information in many different types of situations. Imagine you are looking at demographic information, hoping to target a different group of customers for a new product. Interpretation skills will enable you to better decode the information and add clarity to what you have discovered - which in turn will help you  better understand any potential new customer opportunities for your company.

Skill #2: Analysis

What it Means: Having the ability to connect pieces of information together in order to determine what the intended meaning of the information was meant to represent.

Imagine you are reading a companywide memo that is discussing making changes in order to address recent movement within the business landscape. Having this skill will better provide you with the ability to “read between the lines” and help you understand how this will impact the overall strategy you have in your position.

Skill #3: Inference

What it Means: Having the ability to understand and recognize what elements you will need in order to determine an accurate conclusion or hypothesis from the information you have at your disposal.

Picture yourself as a business manager; you are looking at the latest sales forecast and you see sales have decreased. It’s important for you to be able to understand what additional information you may need in order to determine why that happened, including identifying internal issues, external competition or even economic conditions. The ability to understand the information you already have and determine what you may still need to find the best solution is an important skill for you to have no matter what career field you are in.

Skill #4: Evaluation

What it Means: Being able to evaluate the credibility of statements or descriptions of a person’s experience, judgment or opinion in order to measure the validity of the information being presented.

Imagine you are leading a focus group at work to determine how your customers view the organization’s products. You ask the group a few questions that uncover several negative opinions about certain items you sell. You will need to use this skill to evaluate those responses, so you can determine if the information you received is valid and whether or not it needs to be further looked into.

Skill #5: Explanation

What it Means: Having the ability to not only restate information, but add clarity and perspective to the information, so it can be fully understood by anyone you are sharing it with.

Imagine you are giving two presentations for new product ideas; one to the CEO of the company, and the other to product engineers. You know both groups are extremely interested in hearing what you have to say, but you will need to be able to explain these ideas in two very different ways. The CEO may only need to hear high level ideas about the products while the engineers will need more specific product details. Your ability to clearly explain your ideas while keeping in mind who you are presenting to is important for making sure the information is understood and well received.

Skill #6: Self-Regulation

What it Means: Having the awareness of your own thinking abilities and the elements that you are using to find results.

Imagine you are on the phone with a customer attempting to work through a problem they are having with your company’s software, and it’s your first week on the job. The problem they are having is complex, and yet, you still want to assist them in order to make a good impression at work.  Your ability to understand that perhaps transferring them to a coworker with more knowledge on the subject is the best way to provide the customer with a positive result.

Barriers

. Barriers to teaching critical thinking                                                                                     1. Lack of proper assessment                                                                                     The difficulties involved in critical thinking education are Multifoods. One of the obstacles is lacking proper assessment that effectively and objectively measures students’ strength and weaknesses in critical thinking.                                                                        2. Vague conceptualization of CT                                                                                 As mentioned earlier, there are competing definitions of critical thinking. However, there is no consensus among scholars about what critical thinking means, is it measurable, if yes, how and to what extent. These areas are still vague and teachers are still in need of clear and tangible definition of critical thinking.                                                                  3. Lack of organized sequence in teaching CT                                                           One of the barriers that teachers confront in teaching critical thinking is that there does not exist an organized approach for teaching critical thinking. There is no magical formula for developing critical thinking [16]. The variety of techniques presented in the special issue of Teaching of Psychology on teaching critical thinking testifies to this point. 4 Threatening nature of CT                                                                                       practice It has been argued that critical thinking threatens the calm of assumed amiability that governs much of our interactions with one another [17]. Very rare is the individual who is eager to have his or her reasoning placed under the bright light of critical questions.                                                                                                                                  5. Lack of teacher training                                                                                           Unless teachers are familiar with different components of critical thinking and approaches to teach it, they will not be able to equip students with this precious ability. There is a lack of training on the part of the teachers as well.                                                           Characteristics                                                                                                                            1.Critical Thinkers…  Are honest with themselves,                                                             2.acknowledging what they don't know, recognizing their limitations, and being watchful of their own errors.                                                                                                         3.Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting challenges.                               4.Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive, remain patient with complexity, and are ready to invest time to overcome confusion.                                                                     5.Base judgments on evidence rather than personal preferences, deferring judgment 6.whenever evidence is insufficient. They revise judgments when new evidence reveals error.                                                                                                                                       7.Are interested in other people's ideas and so are willing to read and listen attentively, even when they tend to disagree with the other person.                                                 8.Recognize that extreme views (whether conservative or liberal) are seldom correct, so they avoid them, practice fair-mindedness, and seek a balance view  Practice restraint, controlling                                                                                                                         8.their feelings rather than being controlled by them, and thinking before acting