My Ability To Be A Critical Thinker

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.

This article focused on the constant debate concerning the conditions in which students develop the skill of thinking critically. Being able to use critical thinking requires knowledge of facts and concepts about the subject matter. I found this article interesting because I think it is important that students develop critical thinking skills. Most scholarly articles tend to have an abstract that summarizes the papers entirety. Due to this this article is considered scholarly.

After completing all the exercises from the book. I generated a self-assessment of various things I learned about myself. Such as, what type of thinker I am and how well I use my critical and creative thinking skills in my daily routine. As well as, learning how to test my assumptions based off of my very own experiences as a critical thinker, along with learning how to make an inference in familiar situations from experiences.

To survive in such a multifaceted and diverse world we as people must possess the ability to think critically in highly complex situations. The world is an extremely challenging place, all of us are forced to adapt by constantly challenging existing principles and performing certain methods to ensure our growth both physically and mentally. Many claim that contemporary society needs a skill called critical thinking to adapt and survive. Critical thinking is a higher level of intellectual progression that makes use of diverse information, skills and attitudes in interpreting situations and confronting problems. Critical thinking is done

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

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.

In 1990, the American Philosophical Association defined critical thinking as “purposeful, self-regulatory process that results in reasoned judgment”. Critical thinking can be defined in a number of similar phrases that all seem to focus on the importance of conscious analysis. Our text starts off with the working phases of critical thinking as analyzing thinking, evaluating thinking, and improving thinking. The process of critical thought is cyclical and not linear. Being a “fair-minded critical thinker” is not a permanent attribute, and it must be consistently worked at as applying intellectual standards and elements of reasoning instead of emotion can be difficult. Overall, to be a strong critical thinker you must work toward strong intellectual traits such humility, courage, and integrity to better represent issues and or arguments.

What is critical thinking to you? To some it may mean making wiser choices, taking time to critically analyze a situation, or to just put greater thought in your everyday life. According to Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Pauls’ article, “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking”, critical thinking is defined as the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances. To us, critical thinking is a very important aspect of life and something we can all improve on. It allows us to think outside the box and put ourselves in others shoes and really look at things differently. We made sure to think about our own thinking habits while discussing these articles and to notice if we were ever being close-minded.

Bassham, G., Irwin, W., Nardone, H., & Wallace, J. (2002). Critical Thinking. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Publishing. Retrieved August 25, 2004 from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/350–Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making Web site: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp

The process of critical thinking requires you to ask more questions of both others and of yourself before a decision or determination is made. In order to successfully evaluate data in a critical manner, you must have a system in place to assess information as it is presented. In any situation whether you are having a conversation, observing others, or material you have read, you must be ready to probe deeper and ask the right question at the right time.

I knew that critical thinking was not one of my strengths. Critical thinking according to Elkins, (2004) needs the individual to give clear analysis rational thinking, and delivering critique. The above description was certainly something I would have to overcome. The sense of deflation, overwhelming, and frustration were all the feelings I rapidly started to suffer from. The reasoning behind feelings, is that I did not want to fail, and neither did I want my grades to be just a pass mark, as they had been increasing slightly in a percentage or two in my previous assignments. However, it has been identified that many learners have also had mixed feeling about their capabilities of a critical thinker according to Elkins, (2004). Irrational though

The text begins by introducing the general idea of what it is to think critically. The first sentence of this text is a personal remark “When we were in school” (2004) which instantly makes the reader remember their time in school and would be very relatable for many students. The author then goes on to talk about children as individuals and how naïve we all are into believing practically anything we could get our hands on. The second part of the text goes on to explain how individuals can be critical thinkers. The author tells the reader that to be a critical thinker, we must ask ourselves questions whilst skimming through the text and to think about how the author is presenting a specific idea. The text concludes with telling the reader the benefits of being a critical thinker, such as the idea of being able to “comprehend from a critical stance” (2004).

There are proposed reasons for the emphasis that is currently on critical thinking. Many factors can be related to this emphasis. They include the societal factors of economic shifts

The main concepts presented in the article are the varying definitions of each author on the concept of critical thinking. The information the author uses are definitions which are the opinions of varied authors and are similar in foundation in that to apply critical thinking one must be able to identify a problem, pose a question(s), provide valid supporting evidence, and come to a conclusion. Although the author’s definitions do not identify a problem, questions, evidence, or conclusions, the relationship Petress (2004) shows is that the reader must apply this process themselves as it is not always given. The information used does appear to be relevant, significant, and valid. The references the author listed does provide enough information for me to come to this conclusion. Since this work is a literature review and not a case study, numerical data are not necessary to determine validity of the information.

I show my strengths as a critical thinker when I work with other people and communicate with them. I am very outspoken when it comes to certain things but when you work with other people it can hinder your progress because you could have different ideas on how to do things or what to do and everyone wants things their way. I try to understand our situation and not be biased to my opinion but try to see other people’s point of view and conclude which way is best for my benefit and the groups. I focus more on what people are saying and see all possible outcomes and when things don’t go my way I still try to make things work even if we aren’t using my methods. during times like these I noticed certain characteristics that I display like I am