Critical Thinking Essay

Rate each of the following statements as TRUE or FALSE. Justify your answer with an example or explanation to prove and illustrate your understanding. DO NOT OMIT THIS PART OF THE TEST. True/False answers can be guessed. But when you defend your answer by example or explanation, you demonstrate not only your memory and understanding but also that you can apply what you have learned. The first question is answered for you.

Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a recent need. It is apparent that students, at all levels of education, are lagging in problem-solving and thinking skills. Fragmentation of thinking skills, however, may be the result of critical thinking courses and texts. Every course, especially in content subjects, students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question and evaluate.

In 2012, I accepted a position at the Wisconsin Credit Union League (WCUL) as a Compliance Specialist. The WCUL (or “The League”) is a dues-supported trade association for Wisconsin credit unions that are cooperatively owned by more than 2.7 million members. The primary purpose of the organization is to serve Wisconsin credit unions by promoting the “credit union difference” through advocacy, education, and public service. However, The League also serves as a non-profit organization promoting the wellness of credit unions and the communities in which they serve. This includes, but is not limited to: promoting credit union development, educating credit union staff and volunteers, promoting financial literacy, and supporting the overall credit union system in times of need. Respectively, being employed on the profit-side of the organization is not only critical to The League, but the Wisconsin credit unions as well. It is my belief that maintaining an understanding of the organization and remaining committed to its overall mission and values (on both the profit and non-profit side) are essential for success.

The following major crime offender characteristics, age, sex, race, and social class, can greatly influence criminals in their own different ways. However, the most the characteristic that can have a bigger impact in some cases is social class. Out of the four characteristics listed, this is the only one that can be changed. The age, sex or race of a person cannot be changed while social class is in fact changeable. A person can change either legally or illegally their social class. If a person is raised in poverty or the lower class of society, regardless of of their sex or race, they desire to have nicer things and live a better life. Living in the lower class society is a motive in itself to have more

3. Meaning/Purpose - In the biblical/Christian Worldview our purpose in life is to build a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ. We are also to spread the message of Jesus to others so that they may be saved as well. As Buddhists do not believe in God, they believe our purpose in life is to eliminate our suffering and stop the cycle of reincarnation.

I attempted to teach my friend how to drive when I was 16. There were four of my friends in the car when the lesson began. The car was totaled. My friends were hurt, I was hurt. I felt horrible as a juvenile for being responsible for that accident. I have learned that you should never listen to what a group of people is saying to you; you should think for yourself. Groupthink is a terrible thing.

Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 75(1),

Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM), an insurance firm that has successfully been in business for more than 50 years has never established a leadership development program. During a senior executive staff meeting held in August 2014, the director of operations suggested that CHCM establish a leadership program to prepare junior insurance executives for future advancement (A. Ravaswami, personal communication, October 10, 2014). In a memorandum to Ms. Cynthia Castle, CEO of CHCM, Mr. Anil Ravaswami, Vice-President of Human Resource, addresses and evaluates a proposal for the leadership development program submitted by Ms. Florence Forsythe.

Northeastern University College of Professional Studies Course Syllabus LDR 6110 – Leading Teams Winter A 2013, 6 week term January 7 – February 16, 2013 Blended Format Live Sessions held Wednesdays from 5:50-8:00pm Instructor Name: Dave Czesniuk E-mail: d.czesniuk@neu.edu; Phone: 617-373-7879 Program Manager: Jackie Bishop E-Mail: j.bishop@neu.edu; Phone: 617-373-6343 Faculty Dave Czesniuk is Assistant Dean for Partnerships and Alliances at the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University. Throughout his career, Dave has built an expertise in leadership education within the sports industry, higher education and the non-profit sector, among others. As a part-time faculty member in the College of Professional Studies at

Human beings have been preoccupied with thought and the concept of thought for centuries as is evidenced by the many philosophical and religious writings we find dating from ancient times. After all, we as human beings hold ourselves to be the masters of intelligence in the natural world since no other specie seems to exhibit the capability of thought and intelligence as demonstrated by human beings, the very term "homo sapiens" infers the ability to think. Critical thinking is asking the right questions about the information we are presented with on any given situation. Or as Brown and Keeley put it, it is "asking critical questions." (Pg. 2)

What is Critical Thinking? Is the process of conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and /or evaluating information gathered by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief and action (Scriven & Paul, n.d.). When one applies critical thinking more ideas are develop, fewer mistakes are made and better decisions are reached. When people instead of using critical thinking act on beliefs or without giving it a second thought, the end results are poor decisions and as a result have a disaster at hand. People don’t always use critical thinking, it is not uncommon to hear someone say such remarks after making the wrong decisions; “I just was not thinking”, “I did not think it was a big deal”,

reacting of bias learned, stress, stereo types, over reacting, thinking the same way all the time. Why this type of training is important is the fact there has been already 990 people killed by police officers in the United States in 2016 according to website. These numbers are subjective because some of the people had weapons, killed while training with cops. One story is about one cop killed from another cop during a safety training course. In this same year there have been 136 deaths in the policing community according to website. These numbers are also subjective because there are 17 different categories named. Examples are some are from illness suffered they got while working in dangerous environment, car accidents, K-9 are also included in this number.

Leadership development is defined as formal and informal training and professional development programs designed for all management and executive-level employees to assist in developing the required leadership skills and styles to deal with a variety of situations (Human Resources, 2011). A lack of effective leadership development programs usually comes from organizations thinking that senior managers need continuous training and development. However, great leadership development is essential to all employees and managers in an organization. Executive mangers are important to the success of any business but, building leadership skills on all levels can develop a culture of employees ready to take on leadership roles at any time. In my organization, we develop and hone leadership skills by focusing on team intelligence, managing up and down, succession planning, and performance problem solving.

Knowledge is generated through critical and creative thinking. Creative thinking is something new or original that is created with value. Critical thinking is a type of thinking that questions assumptions and validates or invalidates a current belief or something that is said to be previously true. Knowledge is created through the culmination of generally accepted assumptions and creativity. How do you separate general assumptions and creativity? These two types of thinking can be easily separated in regards to concrete or realistic ideas compared to abstract or original ideas however to generate new, acceptable knowledge critical and creative thinking must interact together. The questioning of established beliefs with the creation of

Critical thinking is considered as a higher level of reflective thinking that involves us becoming more aware of why we perceive things, the way we feel, act and do” (Phan, 2009). As the demand increases for students to demonstrate course material through hands on application, it is imperative for students to acquire clinical competency and effective critical thinking and decision-making skills. Through the use of HPS, students are offered a sequence and set of instructional practices that create conditions for practice in a mock work world. For example, experiential learning opportunities such as the High Fidelity Simulation (HFS) enhanced lab activity, and increased the student’s ability to synthesize critical content (Alfred & Fountain, 2009). These integrated lab activities provide a learning environment where students do self-exploration and share ideas and viewpoints with peers in small groups. Students receive feedback through debriefing about their practice and the experience offers multiple opportunities for corrective practice and critical reflection (Elfrink, et al., 2010).