Course Reflection Journal Analysis

“I know it’s good to be a critical thinker and to be able to ask lots of good questions, but I don’t know what questions to ask or how to ask them.” (Browne & Keeley, 2011) In our text “Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (10th Ed.) The authors explore the benefits and necessity for critical thinking as it relates to the process of asking the right questions to make an informed decision and conclusion to an argument. The authors Browne and Keeley (2011) give two different approaches that can be taken in

Over the course of the last six weeks, I have come to realize that critical thinking is an important asset as I continue my journey in life. I have found this course to be both challenging and rewarding. Most importantly, I find myself viewing problems and conversations in a completely different light. While I would not consider myself an expert at critical thinking, I would assess myself in as a Beginner Thinker. Paul and Elder point out in the beginning thinker stage an individual actively begins to take command of their thinking process across multiple facets of their life (Paul and Elder, 2012). Furthermore, we recognize that there are problems in the way we think and begin to consciously attempt to better understand we can improve our thinking.

Critical thinking was very challenging. This class was in my second block of my Associates program. This class seemed so foreign to me. I did not appreciate the content of learning, as I prayed for the day I was done! About a year later a friend of mine enrolled with the University of Phoenix. She was stressed out about her Critical Thinking class. I dreaded helping her, but I agreed to help her out with the class. We reviewed many of the terms and readings in the class. It dawned on me that the class was so easy. I could not believe I had so much trouble.

If I am to develop my personal critical thinking ability, I must first make a conscious choice to understand the basic concept of a premise and then make critical reflection of this basic concept by expanding my thinking approach. To achieve this, I must ask radical questions that will enhance the scope of analysis and judgment. I must move from the region of subconscious thinking to one of conscious thinking because in so doing, I become aware that I am actually thinking. This awareness will allow me to think beyond rudimentary concepts through critical reasoning and critical reflection to decipher underlying issues that are concealed in the concept under investigation. By understanding the predictable

A key component in teaching students critical thinking is being able to engage students in the active process of learning, and one can accomplish this through teaching the class by involving relevant topics that students can relate to. This is a main aspect of Acosta’s critical pedagogy curriculum which involves having the student participate in the academic experience. Acosta shows

Critical thinking is a complex sector of education and how to apply it to teaching students. It is a difficult term to define and teach to a student, it has been a mystery to most teachers to teach students to think critically. Just as Brookfield, explains in chapter one of his book that outlines

Prior to the Meeting of the Minds project, at the beginning of the semester, I did not think this course on would have much of an effect on me. However, as the weeks went by, I began to have a different idea of what it meant to be a critical thinker, and I quickly realized how important it was for me to embody the definition of this type of thinking. As the school year progressed, I found myself analyzing my perception of the topics friends and family discussed from an outsider’s perspective. While I used to think of myself as a critical thinker, this class made me evaluate how good I am at analyzing different subjects and whether I actually reach good educated conclusions.

After I listened to all the assigned videos, I have learned more about how critical thinking is used. The concepts of critical thinking were easy to comprehend. I am currently trying to work on my critical thinking skills by reading, writing, and my communication abilities. I thought I already knew what is critical thinking. Critical thinking helps us find other possibilities in making more positive or negative decisions.

The Critical Reasoning course being offered with the CSU-Global curriculum has been an interesting discovery; the class contains a myriad of information to both teach a student and more importantly engage a student in the art of critical reasoning. First – the class has provided a lot of extra information to help the students become better writers. Second – the class provides information to help understand media and finding factual information in the pursuit of avoiding fallacious information. Finally, the class teaches a student how to become a fair-minded thinker and the importance of asking clarifying questions and an increase of awareness of issues or problems. The Critical Reasoning

One core component of life within university and the professional world is the use of critical thinking. The foremost aspect of critical thinking is the dispossession of preconceived notions that may contribute to your current understanding, however unbiased they may be. With the approach of an open mind, topics and ideas can be analyzed with an impartial view.

I had a health history interview with an elderly lady in the community during transport to the city. She was sitting on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance and I was sitting on the bench seat at eye level with her. I remember explicitly noticing when we made eye contact because her eyes were big and blue but also sad. We talked through all of her body systems while I was doing my assessment. She often redirected the conversation towards her home life. She spoke of her pets and her concerns of her husband being home without her as she was the main caregiver.

The reason to enroll in the Critical Thinking class was to the fulfill requirements for an Associates Degree to transfer to a university. I thought the class was just reading and in class writing. As the professor explained the syllabus I started to feel a little overwhelmed with all the reading, essays and homework. Writing in the second person was hard to adjust too due to the only writing done was in an office for the past twenty years. Receiving low grades pushed me to find help starting with the writing center on campus, friends to help proofread my essays and online grammar editing services.

We've recently been constructing and familiarize with critical thinking. As well as being able to identify a strong argument, both inductive and deductive. We've explored the basis of critical thinking, and studied precisely how to analyze text. Noted as reading against the grain, we define critical thinking as. These previous 2 weeks we have also completed activities that test out critical thinking skills. Including comparing the content of articles, and creating a list to use during any critical thinking piece. Personally prior to these lectures and practices of critical thinking, I've always viewed it as simply annotating and giving your commentary on content. Internalizing critical thinking and applying it to various pieces of content,

Florence, I can completely relate to you. I am now beginning to channel through all the avenues of becoming a critical thinker. This class has helped me come out of my shell and not be afraid to ask questions to clarify its meaning, evaluate, analyze and investigate all evidence to make sure it's relevant to the question at issue. I have become more aware of others needs and ideas as well as just simply see situations in a different light. I usually do not make any assumptions or jump to conclusions, but again, we are all humans and maybe don't realize we are doing so for our selfish reasons. For this reason, we have to self-reflect and build that desire to continue improving this skill. It will be quite some time before I become an

In short, this course was very informative and it the most significant learning experience for me was defining critical thinking because I was intimidated by the word critical thinking. For the most part, I knew what the term critical thinking meant because I apply it in my everyday life. However, in our first assignment, I had to read to read define critically thinking several times to get a better understanding. In my own words, I described critical thinking as analyze a subject in more depth, but I learned in our reading assignments that the definition of critical thinking is “define as a set of skills which an individual applies to not only to another person reasoning, but also to one’s own reasoning” (Black, 2012, p. 59).