Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
1st semester
Doctorate degree
2018-2019
Critical Thinking
By : Elham M. Elsiedy
Aml Kamal
Sabah mohamed
Supervized by Prof.Dr. Samia
Adam
OBJECTIVES
OUTLINE:
Introduction.
Definitions:
o Thinking.
o Critical thinking.
o Critical thinking skills.
Importance of critical thinking
Types of thinking.
dimensions of critical thinking
o Cognitive skills and
o Affective dispositions
Critical thinking approaches
Critical thinking process.
Critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking standards
Barriers to critical thinking
Characteristics of critical thinker.
Teaching strategies that can be used to promote
critical thinking
CRITICAL THINKING
INTRODUCTION.
The word “critical” comes from the Greek word kritikos, meaning “critic”.
To be critical means to question, to make sense of, to analyze. By being critical,
one examines his or her own thinking and the thinking of others. The term
“critical” is often thought of in a negative, destructive way; however, using it to
describe thinking can portray a positive process in which one challenges one’s
thinking and the thinking of others (Chaffee, 1994).
Critical thinking theoreticians agree that the intellectual roots for
critical thinking primarily began with Socrate’s form of questioning. Many
definitions about critical thinking are presented by some experts. Ennis (2015)
states that critical thinking is a way of reflective thinking that makes sense or that
is based on logic focusing on determining what to believe and to do.
Critical thinking has two dimensions, critical thinking skills and critical
thinking disposition. While the first dimension emphasizes on cognitive strategies,
the second dimension focuses on the attitudinal elements and the internal motives
for problem solving. Critical thinking skills are kind of cognitive skills by nature.
An ideal critical thinker must possess such skills. Without a positive attitude
toward critical thinking, critical thinking never occurs or if it does, it is below the
standard levels. As such, having a tendency for critical thinking is a critical part of
critical thinking (Mahbobi et al., 2013).
DEFINITIONS:
Thinking
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the practice of processing information in the most
skillful, accurate and rigorous manner possible leading to the most reliable, logical
and trustworthy conclusion upon which one can make responsible decisions about
one’s life behavior and actions (Indar, 2017).
Critical thinking skill is the process of using the mind to search for meaning
and understanding of a case that is seen, heard, remembered, or read, make
considerations and decisions, solve problems. There are six aspects of critical
thinking skill and indicators, The indicators and the aspects of critical thinking
skill include formulating problems, giving arguments, making deduction, making
induction, evaluating, and to deciding and implementing (Nurisya, 2017).
IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING
TYPES OF THINKING
Creative thinking
Critical thinking
Creative thinking
Critical thinking
Use filter approach we evaluate the clarity of argument, release out
hypothesis , check for consistencies and note the congruence of the logic from one
step to another
Although there are varying definitions for critical thinking, the definitions
described above reflect certain unique elements. Critical thinking is associated
with elements such as knowledge, active argumentation, reasoning, initiative,
intuition, application, analyzing complex meanings, identification of problems,
envisioning alternatives and making contingency related value judgments.
Critical thinking is substantially larger than the sum of its parts, because it
is a process that promotes attitudes to continuously explore, redefine or
understand. All these factors contribute to a process of purposeful reasoned
interaction between a person and their interaction with a situation or surrounding
circumstances. Bittner and Tobin explain that the critical thinking process is
multifaceted and further state that “it is similar to an umbrella under which many
types of thinking flow, depending on the situation”
The highest three levels here (analysis, synthesis and evaluation) are
believed to represent critical thinking ,this approach seems more advantageous in
terms of applicability to education as it relies on years of observations classroom
experiences and student learning (Ekinci, 2017).
Bloom categorized intellectual behavior into six levels of thinking,
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The
hierarchical progression identifies the lower level to higher level of cognitive
processing; the first three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy require basic recognition
such as knowledge, comprehension and application, while the other three levels
require students to use higher order thinking skills where higher order thinking
skills of analyses, synthesis and evaluation are applied by students in their
learning process. Gradually, through that experience, students become problem
solver, thoughtful decision maker and life-long learner (Sulaiman et al., 2017).
Analysis, the process of analysis of the concept took place based on its
substitute terms and related concepts, attributes, antecedents, implications and
involves five stages. In the first stage, the concept of interest was identified, in the
second stage, the works were identified using the search strategy, in the third
stage, for collection of the relevant data, identification of the attributes and the
contextual concept in the fourth stage, for analysis basis of the data and
identification of their characteristics, in the fifth stage, implications or hypotheses
for continuity of the development of the concept were listed (Carbogim, 2016).
2 Analysis Analysis means to break down, examine, or otherwise explore the issues, available
information, arguments, etc. With analysis, we must manipulate, process, or otherwise
make active changes to the inputs to make better sense of them.
3 Evaluation To evaluate means to determine the merit, value, efficacy, advantages, worth,
authenticity, validity, impact, or significance, of something (e.g., the evidence, claims,
assumptions, biases, perspectives, etc.)
4 Inference This broad term covers reasoning coupled with the use of evidence and standards that
together are necessary for synthesizing, coming to a conclusion, making decisions,
identifying alternatives, generalizing, planning, predicting, etc.
5 Explanation Communicate the outcomes of thinking such as stating results, justifying procedures,
(Communication) explaining meaning, presenting arguments, etc. This is considered critical thinking
because of the mental processes involved in designing a well written (or spoken)
message.
6 Self-regulation During all of the above (and sometimes following the thinking as well), reflect, self-
(Metacognition) examine, pose questions about thinking, self-correct, etc.
Muhlisin, A., Susilo, H., Amin, M. & Rohman, F. (2016): Improving critical thinking skills of college students
through RMS model for learning basic concepts in science. Asia-Pacific Forum. Science Learning and Teaching
Article 17(1),5-6
There are a variety of teaching strategies that instructors can use to improve
student learning. It is of great importance to select appropriate teaching strategies
in nurse education to make the training more appealing and more effective (Jie,
2016).
Scaffolding, a strategy commonly used to develop CT skills within the
context of the infusion method is the use of scaffolding. In an educational setting,
scaffolding refers to a temporary and supportive structure provided by the teacher
to help students accomplish a task that they otherwise would not have been able to
accomplish at all or as readily. Scaffolding can also assist students by reducing
frustration and enabling them to become independent learners with less stress
(O'Connor, 2014).
Mind map can be used together with other techniques that suit to the
philosophy of constructivism. This technique relies on images or graphics and
their interrelationship with pictures, words, numbers, logics, and colors forming it
a unique way. Mind map is a technique that stimulates the left and right brains that
functions to make thinking process more visible, to give comprehensive and detail
illustration of a thing all together, to ease in organizing, understanding information
effectively and systematically and to develop creative and innovative thinking
skills as well as strengthening memories (Fuad et al., 2017).