how to improve critical thinking

how to improve critical thinking

How to Improve Critical Thinking

1. Introduction

Defining critical thinking is a difficult task, but it is of utmost importance for the disability educator. Dahl (1998) offers this definition, “the purposeful self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which the judgment is based.” This definition is comprehensive and provides an overview of criteria for judgment, but to clarify the idea in simpler terms helps us to decipher the components involved in critical thinking. Evidential suggests the need for information comprehension and analysis. It’s important to have an accurate, objective understanding of what you are judging upon. Conceptual and methodological considerations suggest the necessity of critical thinking to resolve complex questions, tests, and problems, ideal for learning experiences. Inference and explanation hint at the need for reasoning and justification of judgment. Criteria involves awareness of standards used to judge quality and finally contextual consideration recognizes the different ways of thinking in different subjects and situations. This comprehensive analysis of Dahl’s definition suggests the best way to judge the extent of a critical thinker is to consider the quality of their judgments in relation to the criteria presented above. This can serve as a basis to translate the elements of criterion-related judgment into criterion-related goals for critical thinking.

Improving critical thinking: ‘Most important is to teach critical thinking to everyone’

When we think, we can create a representation of the activity of our minds. We produce the thoughts and suggest the ideas that are usually asked about something. At its root, critical thinking involves the development of prior understandings (implicit or explicit), which when assessed and scrutinized improves the quality of judgment. The intellectual roots of critical thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable over two millennia to teachings and discussions of Socrates, who discovered that people often didn’t clarify their thinking or follow up on the important implications of their thought. He established the importance of seeking evidence, closely examining reasoning and assumptions, analyzing basic concepts, and tracing implications not only of what is believed but also of what is done. His particular concern was with the idea of doing with consideration or thought, of knowing what one is doing. This is the spirit of critical thought and this is the method of critical thinking.

2. Understanding Critical Thinking

Finally, improving your thinking skills helps you make better decisions. Critical thinking has been the subject of much debate and thought since the time of early Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates and has continued to be a subject of discussion into the modern age. The ability to think critically about a matter of idea in order to solve a problem is what is considered reasoning. Socrates and others thought a lot about what it means to think, what the ideal method of thinking is, and how to teach think this. Today, many teachers are taking.

Secondly, the benefit of improving critical thinking skills is that they will make an everlasting difference on the way you accept any given idea. You will learn to analyze what is said or written in a more objective way and without accepting everything as gospel. This is very beneficial in this information era. Today we are bombarded with information, and this is often a designed attempt to sway our opinions with commercial propaganda. Critical thinking enables us to separate the biased from the unbiased, the truthful from the lies, and the evidence from the assumptions. In this sense, critical thinking is a liberating force in a world of given problems.

When you learn critical thinking skills, it benefits you in several positive ways. Firstly, well and broadly it is applied. When you learn how to think critically, it must be understood that this is a tool that can be used in any situation. This means that it can then be applied in your life, studies, and work. Now when do you think critically, simple, you do it when you are making decisions. People from any given career use it when problem-solving. A lawyer will review and analyze evidence to build a case. A Dr. will diagnose a patient considering symptoms and medical history. A mechanic will troubleshoot an engine by considering how all the components work and how they may be related. Are all these examples problem-solving? Yes, they are, and critical thinking is problem-solving. People think critically because they want the end result to be as accurate as possible. When using critical thinking to make decisions, you must be confident that one solution is the best, and this is when you are benefiting. Imagine you diagnose your car engine correctly, you’re effectively saving time and money that you may have spent on unnecessary parts and labor.

Critical thinking can seem like such an abstract term that you don’t practically use. However, this could not be farther from the truth. Critical thinking is frequently used in problem-solving, decision making, and thinking critically. The all-important aspect of critical thinking is that it can be applied to any situation or problem. This means that it can be used to better your life and can provide you with a foundation for making personal decisions and problem-solving.

3. Strategies for Developing Critical Thinking Skills

One of the basic strategies in critical thinking is to start small. In order to build up to higher order thinking, a student learning any subject can begin at the lower levels. Remembering, understanding and applying simple problems which do not require a great deal of insight is a good first step. This gives a student a firm grounding on which to base a higher level of analytical thinking. As a student becomes more adept at the simple steps, they can start to use their discretion for more complex problems. An example of this is to solve simple maths equations using the trial and improvement method, and then moving on to mathematical proofs. The understanding is that the higher level of thinking will not be unjustified if the lower level of understanding is insufficient to support it.

There are many strategies that can be used to hone critical thinking skills. These can be broken down into steps, beginning with a critical analysis of given information, to using that information to form an assertion, with the aim of producing a logical solution to a problem. Below, we’ll explore a number of these strategies that can be used to improve critical thinking, as well as how to implement them.

4. Applying Critical Thinking in Everyday Life

Critical thinking is also useful in problem solving which can take place at any given time. Problem solving will usually be an internal debate. One may not wish to bother anyone else with the problem or involve them in it, and that is just fine because it can give a chance to practice a deeper form of critical thinking personal to the individual. Problem solving can be viewed as a ladder, where it is more beneficial to think over and plan the solution instead of quickly jumping to a conclusion which may not be the best option available. A bit of careful planning on the bottom of the ladder will lead to a more efficient and wise decision making at the top. This method can be compared to a key point of good critical thinking, where applying careful planning and thought can sometimes prevent a re-happening of the same problem in the future. It is obvious that the best way to improve critical thinking in problem solving is to apply the thinking to a real problem and see if it yields the result you desired.

What exactly we do and say can be utilized when we apply critical thinking in everyday decision making. To put it in a more subtle fashion, if you find yourself moving to a new town to take a new job, it can be well for you to sit with your friends and create a list of the pluses and minuses of the different decisions you could make. First, the decision to move to the new town, and then the decision to take the new job. Then, one must think over what decision would be the best by selecting the option with the most pluses and the least minuses.

5. Conclusion

So, we have established that understanding the foundation on which thoughts are constructed is the first step in improving critical thinking. We can now see why critical thinking techniques are important and how it can be beneficially applied to our most intimate and personal thoughts. The importance of understanding the logic and arguments used in both our inner attempts to understand and the attempts of others, can to without saying, improve our ability to think critically. The 18th century historian and philosopher David Hume stated in his A Treatise of Human Nature, “All the perceptions of the human mind resolve themselves into two distinct kinds, which I shall call impressions and ideas…The difference betwixt these consists in the degrees of force and liveliness, with which they strike upon the mind, and make their way into our thought or consciousness” (Hume). Hume here distinctly separates thoughts into two categories based on their complexity, impressions being the more forceful and lively perceptions, while ideas are less forceful perceptions of impressions attained through memory and imagination. Hume distinguishes the two with the previous being the very complex result of the latter. He goes on further to say that in isolating these thoughts we can separate the good from the bad, “For it is this, which draws the line betwixt the clear and obscure, the distinct and indistinct, the determinate and indeterminate” (Hume). We can see from Hume’s distinctions about thought that understanding the dynamics between how thoughts form from perceptions and further into complex ideas is crucial to judging their quality and logic. This in itself is a valuable application of critical thinking to an area most will take for granted, the reason being the dissatisfaction arising from the confusion of personal thoughts and ideas. With a clearer understanding of how thoughts form, it can then be possible to evaluate the inferences that lead to certain conclusions from thought patterns. This can be equally applied to finding the cause of certain emotional reactions and behaviour which are also results of thoughts.