The Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Student Sucess

A 2005 report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrated the need for efforts to promote critical thinking by highlighting the disparity between the 93% of higher education faculty that perceive critical thinking to be an essential learning outcome and the 6% of undergraduate seniors that actually demonstrated critical thinking proficiency.

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.

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

Voltaire once said, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking” (“Voltaire Quotes”) What Voltaire intended to convey was that extensive and critical thinking can allow people to arrive at rational solutions to problems. This is one of the reasons why the significance of thinking critically has become a popular issue that is discussed about in educational systems nowadays. It is imperative that students develop critical thinking skills and not just blindly be taught what to think, but rather how to think. Pure memorization will not lead to authentic learning; instead, encouraging critical thinking is what will help students evaluate problems and make reasonable decisions. As humans are susceptible to emotions, critical

In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.

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.

Critical thinking is the process that you use in order to apply a memorized concept or term to a situation. The ability to think critically is necessary for college students preparing for the work force because they will have to be able to develop new ideas for their area because many fields are moving so quickly, they constantly need to be making progress. This skill is developed by changing the way you learn information and how you practice and use it.

Throughout the course of the modernization of education, critical thinking has, figuratively, taken a backseat in regards to the content that is required to be taught. Oftentimes, attempts at thinking critically about a given topic are either hastily addressed or entirely dismissed seeing as they subvert from the status quo or do not ‘fit’ within an arbitrary time limit allotted by the curriculum. Students under the current education system are then subjugated to a routine in which their individual thoughts/opinions are replaced with facts/figures or ‘knowledge’. While students can excel within these academic disciplines, they are often at a loss in terms of critical thinking skills because it was not a focal point of their ‘education’.

“Psychologists and scientists are critical thinkers because they question everything around them and they are always asking questions.” (2013, pg.3) Critical thinking can be used in everyday situations and events that happen throughout ones day. For example, how a teenager tackles a project on how the earth rotates around the sun. The student first has to have motivation and be excited about his topic. “When an individual experiences happiness or enjoyment in a given activity, he or she is most likely to do better than if not excited or motivated.” (2008, pg.11) For the student to become a critical thinker in this scenario, first he has to reflect on it. He should really think hard about what he is going to research. Once he discovers his topic, he needs to make sure that is what he really desires to do his project on. His choice is an independent variable and the outcome, his grade, will be the dependent variable. After he thinks extensively and thoroughly about what he wants his project to be, the student needs to ask questions. In my opinion, this is an

According to Supon, one of the fundamental purposes of teaching critical thinking is to enhance the abilities of students to become critical thinkers. Corporate leaders, educational researchers, employers, and parents have continually pushed teachers to assist their students in the development of critical thinking ability. Critical thinking is a skill that ?involved not only knowledge of content by also concept formation and analysis, reasoning and drawing conclusions, recognizing and avoiding contradiction, and other essential cognitive activities? (Supon, 1998).

Critical thinking is a significant and essential topic in recent education. The strategy of critical thinking skills helps identify areas in one's courses as the suitable place to highlight, expand and use some problems in exams that test students' critical thinking skills.

Education plays an imperative role in developing these skills. Young and Warren (2011), in their review of the education literature, stated that a number of cross-sectional research studies have shown that a student’s critical thinking ability can improve while at college. While Parcarella and Terenzini (2005) approximate that a student can improve their critical thinking skills by 63% by the end of their sophomore year. According to Hurt (2007) these skills must be developed consistently, purposefully and rationally over time to enable students to appropriately respond to the intricate issues that the working environment

Brookfield (1987, p.6) defines critical thinking as “a process that involves a frequent questioning of assumptions”. This essay will argue that critical thinking is a necessary skill in regards to university and the workplace environment. This essay will firstly focus on the use of critical thought as it relates to university study. Secondly it will discuss the use of critical thought as it relates to employability. Lastly a conclusion will be made on the above discussed.

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.