The Importance Of Critical Thinking In Education

When the Judge admonished the Jury, he told them they must reach a unanimous decision beyond a reasonable doubt. The "hero" of this movie appears to be Henry Fonda, the first juror to vote "not guilty". He kept challenging the evidence by saying "isn 't it possible?"...that the evidence was wrong. Do some critical thinking on this...using a good paragraph answer if "isn 't it possible?" is the same thing as "beyond a reasonable doubt." Start with a “yes” or “no” and then eleaborate.

Critical thought in the classroom has a unique opportunity to improve the quality of education in areas where other teaching and learning methods cannot. Because of its approach toward the actual content itself, thinking and application of the material take priority over the simple memorization of facts. As the Center for Critical Thinking’s Director of Research Richard Paul puts it, “It is thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better: more clear, more accurate, more relevant, more deep,

Critical thinking is when you think about a situation with a purpose and focusing on he problem. It calls on your experience, it incorporates creativity, analysis, and priority, and sorting to deal with a problem. Clinical reasoning is a more narrow or specific form of critical thinking. It is used when specific problems comes up, like which patient needs to be seen first or which patient is going to need more care. And clinical judgement is the end result of the critical thinking. It is a final decision on how to proceed. The three reasons why critical thinking skills are essential for students and nurses are 1) solving problems; 2) helping with test-taking; and 3) self-improvement and managing stress.

I believe the biggest reason Appalachian State University has theatre as a general education option is to enforce the critical thinking ability in their students. Appalachian is a liberal arts school and critical thinking is a major part of liberal arts. In fact, I think this was the main intention of the course was critical thinking, with this being the first assignment we did in this course. Along with critical thinking skills, we developed a higher skill for analyzing and creativity. I believe throughout my college experience these skills will be very useful to me. I mainly find this type of critical thinking, analyzing, and creativity better useful for English majors or majors that require an abundance of writing. Being a math major myself,

Having those strong critical thinking skills is very vital to this career. Critical thinking means that you have to make decisions based upon treatments, symptoms and changes that occur in a child’s state of health (educationcareerarticles.com, pg.2). You have to know what specific type of care each patient needs so you can diagnose any problems that may happen. Having patience is another strong quality at the top of the list. Dealing with kids can give someone a lot of stress just because they are all over the place sometimes which is where your patience ability has to kick in. Kids who are really young have a lack of trepidation meaning they rarely understand what’s going on around them (educationcareerarticles.com, pg.2).

“Those that use the Internet every day do the worst,” said Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, and author of “Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection,” The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at computer use amongst high schoolers in 31 nations and regions, and found that students who used computers more at school had both lower reading and lower math scores, as measured by PISA or Program for International Student Assessment. While reading our article in the CQ researcher on critical thinking, I learned that the US is on the brink of being lower than average in tests scores. The study done by PISA published September 15, 2015, was actually conducted back in 2012, when

Critical thinking can be taught through various strategies within the lesson or it can be taught explicitly as a standalone lesson. Teaching critical thinking to students as a standalone lesson is as popular as reading Shakespeare plays; it just doesn’t work, you don’t get the same outcome. Hence, I will focus on teaching critical thinking skills through different strategies. Current research shows that critical thinking helps students be more successful. Critical thinking helps students make better decisions in and outside of school, and it also helps them to properly analyze and evaluate information. Recently, the Common Core State Standards have emphasized that critical thinking is an interdisciplinary skill crucial for students’ educational success and decision making beyond school years. This is especially important in today’s society, where information is readily available via internet. Students must learn to properly identify faulty information. Stephen Norris, an educational researcher, states that if students have critical thinking skills they will be able to “partake rationally in the decision making of a democratic society, thus helping to sustain a democratic way of life” (p.22). Teaching critical thinking is a very difficult task, but by using effective strategies teachers will be able to help more students succeed academically and in life. Therefore, critical thinking needs to happen every day in the classroom. In order to effectively teach critical thinking,

As a result of the persisting, dramatic advancement of knowledge and technology in the medical field, it is absolutely essential that nurses embrace the idea that the learning process they began in nursing school, must continue throughout their entire career (Yildirim, Ozkahraman, & Karabudak, 2011, p. 176). The development and ongoing cultivation of critical thinking skills is central to their ability to take on new ideas and incorporate new information into their practices. The new era of healthcare ushered in both by technological advancements and by the Affordable Care Act is placing new and challenging demands on nurses. In order to succeed in the modern medical industry, nurses must be taught “...how to think, rather than [simply] what to think” (Yildirim, et al., 2011, p. 176).

Over time society and technology change, and so do our skills in almost about everything, for instance our survival skills. Learning to think critically and creatively, is the scientist’s uttermost skill to have. Scientists are able to correctly repeat data, identify problems, record observations, and plan experiments. Critical thinking is when you confront or approach a problem by making observations, ask questions, and use logic. Scientists use critical thinking, in problems that occur in their experiments. As a result of using critical thinking, in the problems we face everyday, it will help solve your problems.

One could say that critical thinking has some important political implications to it. Some say that the classroom should not try and teach critical thinking. In an article written by Sarah Benesch, from College of Staten Island and City University of New York, she found that a few people agreed that critical thinking should not be taught in the classroom. The people who share that

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.

Having important decisions in life can be very stressful and sometimes you have to evaluate all possible outcomes. The process of analyzing all outcomes of a problem is considered critical thinking. “Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it.” (TCTC.) A person also creates their own kind of thinking through cognitive bias. It refers to the systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may alter the idea. Individuals create their own social reality from their perception of the situation.

Classroom instruction of yesteryear involved the teacher to dictate information to students in hopes that they would recall and be able to use the knowledge when opportunity arises. Today’s classrooms are much different. Rather than providing problems and the information required to resolve them, students are given opportunities to explore, question, analyze, interpret, collaborate, experience, and more, to acquire knowledge and build critical thinking skills. The goal is for all students to develop these skills and when opportunity arises, transfer them into real-world situations.

"In the face of too much incoming information and too many people trying to convince us in today's world, the ability to think critically gains an ever greater saliency as a prime goal of student and teacher education"(Birjandi & Bagherkazemi, 2010, p.1). A major influence in critical thinking traces back to the work of the American educational philosopher John Dewey. To John Dewey, schools are laboratories of human development in arranged environments. Dewey held that the goal of education could only be development (or what he called "growth"); Education "means supplying the conditions which foster growth" (Dewey, 1916, as cited in Kuhn, 1999), not toward a predetermined end but rather in the direction of "an increase in the range and complexity of situations to which the child is capable of applying reasoned inquiry" (Cahan, 1994, as cited in Kuhn, 1999). In fact, the educator's task is seen as a process of connecting with the young child's interests and purposes, but that one could not stop there. Dewey said, "The real problem of intellectual education is the transformation of more or less casual curiosity and sporadic suggestion into attitudes of alert, cautious, and thorough inquiry" (Dewey, 1933, as cited in Kuhn, 1999).

To most people, thinking is simply just thinking. Often one does not break down their thought process, or worry if how they are thinking is appropriate, logical or beneficial; they are just thinking. All though simple thinking is better than not thinking at all, we all should become accustomed to critical thinking. As an upcoming student in the medical profession, the importance of critical thinking is essential. The medical field is full of mysteries and the unimaginable, so naturally, basic thinking will not be enough. After reading through this article, I believe that it can help develop critical thinking skills for people tremendously.