1. What is critical thinking?
a. critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. 2. What are the three most significant things that you learned about critical thinking during this course? The three most significant things I have learned about critical thinking are as follows: b. Clarify Your Thinking
i. Look out for vague or blurred thinking. Try to figure out the real meaning of what people are saying. Look on the surface and beneath and try to figure out the real meaning of important stories. Explain your understanding of an issue to someone else to help clarify it in your mind. Practice summarizing in your own words what others are saying. You can also ask question and clarify if you understood them correctly. You should neither agree nor disagree with what anyone says until you have a full understanding. c. Stick to the Point
ii. Be on the lookout for thinking that leaps in your mind with no logical connections. Stay focused on what is relevant. Focus on finding what will help solve the problem. When someone brings up a point that doesn’t seem pertinent to the issue at hand, ask, questions like “How is what you are saying relevant to the issue?” When you are working through a problem, make sure you stay focused on what helps address the problem and not allow your mind to wander to things that don’t matter. Don’t allow others to stray from the main issue. d. Be Reasonable
The Term Paper on Critical Issues For The United States
Deliberation suggests careful thought or reflection, consideration of alternatives, but may also imply public discussion, processes working toward collective judgments. For different reasons, liberals and their critics would agree that deliberation is central to citizenship. For liberals, deliberation in the public sphere is instrumental to the purposes and interests of free individuals, combining ...
iii. A key step to being a critical thinker is the ability to change one’s mind when given good reason to change. Good thinkers want to change their thinking when they discover better thinking. They can be moved by a reason. Few are willing to change their minds once set on a particular idea. Few are willing to suspend their beliefs to fully hear the views of those with which they disagree. 3. How has your critical thinking changed since starting this course? e. My thinking has changed in that I am no longer biased or only a one directional thinker. I now expand my mind and try to see from others point of views.
4. Re-evaluate your stage of development in critical thinking and why you placed yourself in that stage. If your rating has changed since Week One, explain why you think this change occurred. f. My rating has change since week one because now I consider myself more of an advanced thinker. I am not quite at the master thinker stage and I may never reach that stage, however, I have a much better perspective and knowledge of my way of thinking than I did going into this course. 5. How do you plan to move yourself from your current stage of development in critical thinking to the stage of master thinker? g. I plan to follow all the stages of being a critical thinker closely and establish good habits of thought. I will also strive to continually to be fair-minded and listen to all points of view.
