The essence of critical thinking can apply one’s sense of reason and logic to ideas, perspectives, and situations that have not been investigated before. The skill of critical thinking, which is often taught as a technique to “better” review, entails a way of thinking and, more significantly, a style of learning that encompasses improving one’s way of thinking about one’s way of thinking. Understanding how one’s cognitive processes might be enhanced is essential to developing critical thinking skills. The study of critical thinking is predicated on a straightforward premise: by identifying one’s strengths and shortcomings, one may focus on developing and preserving the former while addressing the latter. A critical thinker is someone who can zero in on a problem, dissect an argument, evaluate the reliability of a source, form and justify value judgments, articulate and refine their position, provide adequate evidence for their claims, and creatively imagine and integrate the logic of their work with consideration for alternative perspectives.
Critical thinking necessitates a series of actions to comprehensively understand an issue or topic, such as gathering relevant information, posing pertinent questions, and evaluating potential responses. The ability to distinguish between fact and opinion and draw a fair and objective conclusion are all hallmarks of critical thinking, how a person thinks about things and whether they believe it’s the primary focus. The method matters more than the result. As part of the procedure, you’ll need to identify assumptions and weigh potential alternatives. When you’re a student, critical thinking requires you to examine or reflect on your understanding of past, present, and future situations.
Among the critical thinkers I’ve studied, John Dewey stands out for his insistence that the only way to find out if a proposed solution is good is to put it into practice. Since De Bono presumably focuses on the everyday sense of the word “thinking,” he lacks a direct analogue to this stage. In contrast, all this work on improving our capacity for critical thinking is for nought if it does not change how we operate. And Dewey argues that by carrying out our strategy, we gain insight, allowing us to approach the following problem with more understanding than we had previously. I also became familiar with the work of Ruggiero, another critical thinker, who argues that thinking is not necessarily a deliberate process. One’s conscious thoughts are determined by factors operating below conscious awareness. For instance, the typical commute to work may become so routine that you no longer need to remember each landmark along the way consciously. A lack of critical thinking underlies this way of thinking. The mind is operating on auto-pilot here. According to Ruggiero, critical thinking is better attuned to thinking when one tries to solve problems, examine situations, or come to a conclusion. They can make decisions based on data, evidence, experience, and research; they check to make sure the assumptions they are using are correct and sound, and they consider the consequences of their decisions after arriving at them through reasoning.
Teachers who emphasize critical thinking in the classroom give their pupils more agency over their education. Students who use critical thinking skills approach course material with more significant consideration and effectiveness, pose more difficult questions, and engage more actively in the learning process. Students who learn to think critically are more likely to use those abilities throughout their adult lives. The knowledge they gain from this course could alter their life in every way possible. Academic and professional achievement is enhanced by cultivating critical thinking skills. By honing these abilities, students are better able to make critical academic and personal choices, and their worldviews broaden as a result. Problem-solving, decision-making, solid judgment, and in-depth analysis are all users with the ability to think critically. A significant and quantifiable competitive advantage exists for businesses that can attract, retain, and develop the most vital critical thinkers.
When applied in the workplace, critical thinking can influence people’s lives in either a good or negative way depending on the decisions made. Because enterprises always need to take some action, choices are frequently handled and distributed to employees without giving them much thought. Employees and supervisors are encouraged to observe a variety of scenarios, consider all potential answers, and then settle on a plan of action when they engage in the practice of critical thinking. This process can be a time-consuming one, and it requires input from a variety of different people working at varying levels within the business. It benefits employees and management whenever the practice is modelled and promoted from the top to the bottom of the organizational structure. Using critical thinking abilities is a benefit not just for employees but also for leadership—the workplace benefits from introducing novel concepts and systematic processes when employees think critically. For instance, when tackling a problem-solving issue that appears at work, a common reaction is to assume that it falls into a preconceived category. This can be a very misleading assumption, though. In critical thinking, there are no assumptions made. When applied in the workplace, critical thinking eliminates the tendency to quickly label every problem as a result of something that has occurred in the past. Employees are encouraged to think about ways to handle issues that go beyond the traditional answers that have been proposed, to look for novel ideas, and to search for new perspectives. The application of critical thinking as a strategy for the resolution of issues, the development of new products, or the improvement of existing processes can free thought in a variety of different ways. In addition, critical thinking extends its consideration of the influence beyond a single stage of the decision-making process.
Once more, the ability to think critically can be taken from the classroom to the working world. The power of an individual worker to make effective, well-thought-out, and tested judgments that impact day-to-day life in the workplace is evidence that critical thinking skills may be transferred from one person to another. A good number of these decisions affect the decision-making processes of other workers and have repercussions beyond the person who made them.
Therefore, critical thinking is required everywhere to establish democratic governments and validate scientific claims. Theories need to be supported by a body of knowledge. The members of a society must develop their sense of morality (by engaging in critical thought, of course!) for that society to operate at an optimal level.
References
WILHITE, Z. B. (2021). LEARNING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS BEYOND THE 21ST CENTURY FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY COURSES.
Murawski, L. M. (2014). Critical Thinking in the Classroom… and Beyond. Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 10(1), 25-30.
Kay, K., & Greenhill, V. (2011). Twenty-first-century students need 21st-century skills. In Bringing schools into the 21st century (pp. 41-65). Springer, Dordrecht.
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