CRITICAL THINKING

Skill	Critical Thinking
Definition:	Critical thinking is the analysis of facts to form a judgment. It is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas.
Purpose:	Critical thinking is about making the best possible decision by: 1. Considering all sides to a topic or issue, weighing the pros and cons 2. Making sure your own conclusions are not biased. 3. Making sure your judgment is not being affected by faulty reasoning or inaccurate information. 4. Basically, the purpose of critical thinking is to make sure your judgment is clear and objective when considering something. It can be hard to think critically when one has high emotional investment in the topic or issue at hand. For example, someone’s opinion on the morality of contentious topics (like abortion or capital punishment) is often highly charged with the way the topic makes them feel to such a degree that they might…
Description:	Critical Thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native ego centrism and socio centrism. From solving problems in class assignments to facing real world situations, Critical Thinking is a valuable skill for students to master. Critical Thinking skills teach a variety of skills that can be applied to any situation in life that calls for reflection, analysis and planning. Critical Thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. If you work in education, research, finance, management or the legal profession, then critical thinking is obviously important. But critical thinking skills are not restricted to a particular subject area. Being able to think well and solve problems systematically is an asset for any career. Critical Thinking is very important in the new knowledge economy. The global knowledge economy is driven by information and technology. One has to be able to deal with changes quickly and effectively. The new economy places increasing demands on flexible intellectual skills, and the ability to analyse information and integrate diverse sources of knowledge in solving problems. Good critical thinking promotes such thinking skills, and is very important in the fast-changing workplace.
Knowledge:	Critical thinking might be described as the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. In essence, critical thinking requires you to use your ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information. Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value. They will always seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not. Critical thinkers will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct.
Abilities:	The skills that we need in order to be able to think critically are varied and include: – observation, – analysis, – interpretation, – reflection, – evaluation, – inference, – explanation, – problem solving, and – decision making. Specifically we need to be able to: – think about a topic or issue in an objective and critical way. – identify the different arguments there are in relation to a particular issue. – evaluate a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is. – recognize any weaknesses or negative points that there are in the evidence or argument. – notice what implications there might be behind a statement or argument. – provide structured reasoning and support for an argument that we wish to make.
Tips for teachers:	Make sure your judgment is clear and objective when considering something. Debate – give students a topic (something as non-controversial as possible to start) and have one group of students debate one side of the argument and another debate the opposite. Make sure that there are some strict guidelines in order to avoid the degradation of the debate into a heated fight.
Sources / resources	https://classroom.synonym.com/benefits-critical-thinking-skills-3895.html https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html https://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/critical_thinking/