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1. Critical Thinking Skills

2. Critical Thinking? Reflect on the question What is Critical thinking? Critical thinking is what a college education is all about. In many high schools, the emphasis tends to be on “lower-order thinking.” Students are simply expected to passively absorb information and then repeat it back on tests. In college, by contrast, the emphasis is on fostering “higher-order thinking”: the active, intelligent evaluation of ideas and information. Instead of teaching the students what to think, the focus is on how to think. —that is, how to become independent, self-directed thinkers and learners. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” —Martin Luther King Jr. “It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” — Alec Bourne

3. Definitions of Critical Thinking Robert Ennis’s classic definition: Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. Matthew Lipman’s definition: Critical thinking is skillful, responsible thinking that is conducive to good judgment because it is sensitive to context, relies on criteria, and is self-correcting. Richard Paul’s definition: Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking, while you’re thinking, in order to make your thinking better.

4. Meaning of the world critical in Critical Thinking… Often when we use the word critical we mean “negative and fault-finding But ‘critical’ does not merely mean finding fault or expressing dislike. ‘Critical’, ‘criticism’ and ‘critic’ all originate from the ancient Greek word kritikos , meaning able to judge, discern or decide. In this sense, ‘critical also means giving a fair and unbiased opinion of something. In modern English, a ‘critic’ is someone whose job it is to make evaluative judgements, for example about films, books, music or food. Remember, being critical and thinking critically are not the same thing.

5. Critical Thinking is … Critical thinking is a higher order of thinking: it is the practice of using a number of different advanced thinking skills in a variety of complex ways. Critical thinking focuses on thought: it looks at how facts are proven, arguments are formed, conclusions are reached, not just what the facts, argument or conclusion may be. Critical thinking is self-reflexive: it involves reflecting on, questioning and testing your own thinking processes. Critical thinking is discipline-specific: it engages in particular forms of reasoning, such as mathematical reasoning, historical analysis or literary interpretation, which are specific to a particular discipline.

6. Critical Thinking Standards… Good critical thinking meets the criteria of these intellectual values: Clarity Accuracy Precision Consistency Relevance Sound Evidence Logical correctness Depth Breadth Fairness

7. How to think Critically? 1. We Begin With the Right Approach Reason: We base our thinking in logic, not feelings. Self-Awareness: We pay attention to our own and others’ assumptions, biases and perspectives. Integrity: We care about doing our intellectual work honestly and accurately rather than about being right. Discipline: We put effort into doing our work comprehensively and precisely. Open-mindedness: We consider alternatives and other points of view.

8. How to think Critically? 2. We Look Deeper and Farther There are countless ways in which we look deeper and farther when thinking critically. For example, we look deeper when we make inferences about an argument’s hidden assumptions and values. We look farther when we connect a study to theories in our discipline. We always think about the implications and importance of what we find.

9. How to think Critically? 3. We Ask Complex Questions We develop and pose questions that help us look deeper and more broadly and that require a variety of thinking processes to answer. We generate specific, complex questions based on what exactly we are thinking about, starting with basic critical inquiry: Who is the implied audience? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this? What are the different possible solutions to this problem and which seems most effective? What is the nature of the relationship between this and that? What exactly is the logical flaw in this reasoning? Is this really relevant to that? If not, where does the connection break down? What are the underlying assumptions and values?

10. How to think Critically? 4. We Answer Questions Using a Variety of Thinking Processes Analysis: breaking something into parts to better understand the parts and the whole (identifying, classifying, categorizing, comparing) Synthesis: making connections between the parts and the whole to see the pattern of relationships (organizing, connecting, designing, predicting) Interpretation: examining the connection (s) between the parts and the whole to make inferences about the implications and meanings of the pattern(s) (associating, inferring, decoding) Evaluation: forming judgments about meanings, qualities and values (justifying, critiquing, verifying, deciding)

11. How to think Critically? 5. We Reflect on How We Are Answering the Questions Throughout the process, we ask ourselves questions such as: Is that clear or is there still some confusion I need to clarify? Is that really true? Do I need to be more specific or detailed? How is that connected to the central focus? Am I thinking about this in a complex enough way or should I go deeper and further in my thinking? Do I need to consider a bigger framework or a different point of view?

12. Descriptions Descriptions : they report information about something, but they don't perform any kind of reasoning - and nor do they pass judgement on or analyze the information they contain. This is an essential element of academic writing but it is used to set the background and to provide evidence rather than to develop argument. When thinking descriptively you are informing your reader of things that they need to know to understand and follow your argument but you are not transforming that information in any way. This is usually thinking about things you have read, done (often as part of reflective writing) or observed. Descriptive writing focuses on answering the ‘what?’ ‘when’ and ‘who’ type questions.

13. Table comparing functions of descriptive and critical writing Descriptive writing Critical writing States what happened Identifies the significance of what happened States what something is like Evaluates the strengths and weakness of something Gives the story so far Analyses how the story so far impacts on the current state Says how to do something Analyses why things are done a certain way Explains what a theory says Shows why a theory is relevant. Identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a theory in practice.  Explains how something works Indicates why something will work (best) Notes the method used Identifies whether a method was suitable or appropriate

14. Table comparing functions of descriptive and critical writing Lists details Evaluates the relative significance of details Lists in any order Structures information in order of importance States links between items Shows the relevance of links between pieces of information Gives evidence Argues a case according to the evidence Provides information for comparison Makes a reasoned judgement on provided information Gives information Draws conclusions Says when something occurred Identifies why the timing is of importance Identifies the different components of something Weighs up the importance of component parts States options Gives reasons for selecting each option Descriptive writing Critical writing

15. Inference Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word infer means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that in Europe dates at least to Aristotle (300s BCE). Deduction is inference deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true, with the laws of valid inference being studied in logic. Induction is inference from particular evidence to a universal conclusion. The process by which a conclusion is inferred from multiple observations is called inductive reasoning. The conclusion may be correct or incorrect, or correct to within a certain degree of accuracy, or correct in certain situations. Conclusions inferred from multiple observations may be tested by additional observations.

16. Examples of inductive and deductive reasoning Deductive reasoning "All spiders have eight legs. A tarantula is a spider. Therefore, tarantulas have eight legs." For deductive reasoning to be sound, the hypothesis must be correct. It is assumed that the statements, "All spiders have eight legs" and "a tarantula is a spider" are true. Therefore, the conclusion is logical and true. Inductive reasoning In inductive inference, we go from the specific to the general. We make many observations, discern a pattern, make a generalization, and infer an explanation or a theory "Penguins are birds. Penguins can't fly. Therefore, all birds can't fly."