Developing Critical Thinking Skills

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.

After learning studying the technics from Unit 2 on improving critical thinking skills, I feel that I have devised a plan to help me through this process. The steps in the lesson that include using wasted time and asking specific questions, planning to handle one problem per day, and internalize intellectual standards and having clarity and understanding about devising a game plan has helped me put the changes into action. Keeping a journal and trying to practice intellectual strategies are all part of my plan to improve my thinking.

Dylan is an 19 year old male who lives in West Springfield Massachusetts. Dylan has been identified with a specific learning disability, which impacts hi reading fluency, reading comprehension and phonemic awareness, recall, and processing. Secondary disabilities include ADHD and anxiety. Dylan had received accommodations on an IEP throughout his educational career to support him with his learning style with reading, writing and math. This Spring Dylan plans on attending Westfield University and he will be living on campus. He has a vocational goal of receiving a degree in Human Services. Dylan has been working with his MRC counselor to identify appropriate supports that could be implemented to help him be successful with his academic goals. For this reason, an assistive technology

Critical thinking is a vital task that must be done in our everyday lives. In “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking” found at criticalthinking.org, Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul explain critical thinking as “the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances”. Even tough there are many different types of methods to achieve a better quality of critical thinking, Dr. Elder and Dr. Paul discuss four specific ones in the article. All strategies, however, force you to put yourself in an uncomfortable and difficult position to develop a better quality of thinking.

Now that I have explained what critical thinking is and examined reasons why our generation is not offered the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills, I will identify strategies in which critical thinking skills can be reintegrated into everyday life.

The first four stages of critical thinking development are, the unreflective thinker, the challenged thinker, the beginning thinker, and the practicing thinker. When it comes to the unreflective thinker, "we are unaware of significant problems in our thinking" (Paul & Elder, 2012 P.28). An unreflective thinker doesn't question their beliefs or decisions, due to the fact that they lack intellectual standards. The unreflective thinker does not realize that they are lacking skills. Egocentric tendencies play a dominant role in this type of thinking for the reason that, they lack skills and motivation to notice how self-centered and prejudice they are. The next stage is the challenged thinker, meaning "that we become aware of problems in our

What I’ve learned from this class, is critical thinking strategies or tools, which I can use to assess my community needs through survey and data collecting. This class also taught me to remain unbiased when performing a needs/risk assessment within a community. It has taught me to appreciate my community for what it has to offer and that the people in the community, makes it culturally unique. The proper way to assess my own community’s strengths and weakness, is by utilizing demographic assessment, neighborhood/safety inventory, windshield survey, and population health scavenger hunt, which is the critical thinking strategies that the stimulation has taught me.

According to the critical thinking processes, I would like to improve the following four critical thinking habits and skills.

It was a blistering hot afternoon in Iraq as a squadron of soldiers cleared the palace of potential enemy forces. Private Jones stumbled upon a stack of gold bars stacked neatly in a corner. Private Jones began to place the bars in his pack when Sergeant Wilson saw what was going on. Sergeant Wilson surveyed the situation and ordered Private Jones to return the gold as this was both against the rules and morally wrong. Sergeant Wilson knew he made the right decision and Private Jones would be dealt with later. While not everyone follows the rules critical thinking and ethics are bonded together.

The world today is facing surmountable problems that seem out of control and feels as if there is no end to the issues. Our troubles are political, social and economical to name a few. One needs to become a critical thinker in order to get the most out of life for themselves as well as others. However the problem to becoming a critical thinker in this world is the information we as a people are receiving. Today because of the internet and other major networking devices too much information can be easily accessed at our fingertips. Knowing what is true and being able to decipher what is false can greatly affect the decisions a person makes. Most subject matters like obesity and healthcare to name a few are deemed as absolute and people accept

Each day we are faced with new problems and issues that requires us to use our critical thinking skills. No matter how small or big the issue is, you always have to think and analyze the situation and come up with the best method that will help solve the problem. Sometimes critical thinking can seem like a hard goal to achieve but in fact, it is not. According to Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, in order to be a successful problem solver you must have factual knowledge and expertise in thinking (Ruggiero). I have not always been a good critical thinker, and there has been times where I did not know where to start to solve a problem. I would get frustrated and just give up on whatever it was that I could not solve, which was an example of a poor thinker.

Yes, I am to continue improving my critical thinking skills. I will continue to employ all of the strategies that I have learned in this course. For example, I will continue to ask questions. I will also define and eliminate all the external and internal barriers that keep me from thinking for myself. Latly, I will reamin neutral at all time, and control all ssumptions and biases that might affect my critical thinking in a negative way.

Developing critical thinking and communication skills can be learned by doing many activities. Some not as fun as others, such as a research paper. In my History class at the beginning of the year, our professor broke the bad news of writing a research paper that would be due near the end of the semester. That small anxiety attack hits you, but quickly vanishes after you realize you have plenty of time. Then the time comes closer and the professor begins to urge you to begin selecting a topic for your paper. What I have learned when selecting a research topic is to choose something that is interesting to you or something you are passionate about. I used this when choosing my topic. Like most research papers or scholarly papers, you are required

Critical thinking is very important to life and to students in school. After reading critical thinking college success on the Lumen website I think defining the problem, examining arguments and clarify thinking are the best strategies. I am more then likely to use these three strategies when dealing with critical thinking. Critical thinking also allow you to express your point of view.

Understanding and using critical thinking is very important. Critical thinking is not something that is taught as we grow up at home, it is a personal skill that we have automatically.