Critical Thinking: An Overview

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Critical ThinkingAn Overview

• Presented By
• Sarah T. Aikin

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Critical Thinking

• Many people would sooner die than think. In
  fact, they do.
• -Bertrand Russell
• (quoted in Macmillan, 1989)

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What is Critical Thinking (CT)?

• Critical Thinking differs from Problem Solving
• Problem Solving focuses on specialized, domain
  specific problems while Critical Thinking deals
  with general, multi-domain problems.
• Problem Solving is used to solve external states
  of affairs while CT is often directed towards
  internal states.

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Three Definitions of CT

• Reflective
• Better
• Process vs. Product

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CT Definition 1

• Reflective thinking focused on deciding what to
  believe or do (Ennis, 1987).
• Reflective in that the focus is on gaining a
  better understanding rather than solving a
  problem.
• Focused in that the thinking is about something
  we want to understand better.
• Decisions are the ultimate goal of CT
• Our own Beliefs and Motives are often the thing
  we want to understand.

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CT Definition 2

• Better Thinking (Perkins, 1987, 2001)
• CT improves our ability to gather, interpret,
  evaluate, and select information in order to make
  informed choices.

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CT Definition 3

• Distinguishing between thinking that is directed
  at adopting versus clarifying a goal (Nickerson,
  1987).
• CT emphasizes the process not the product of
  decision-making.

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The Component Skills in Critical Thinking

• Two Major Classes of CT activities (Ennis, 1987)
• Dispositions The affective, dispositional traits
  one brings to the thinking task such as
  open-mindedness, the attempt to be well-informed,
  and sensitivity to others.
• Abilities The actual cognitive capacities
  including focusing, analyzing, and judging.

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Enniss Taxonomy 12 Skills of CT

• Focusing on the Question
• Analyzing Arguments
• Asking and Answering Questions of Clarification
• Judging the Credibility
• Observing and Judging Observational Reports
• Deducing and Judging Inductions

• Making Value Judgments
• Defining Terms and Judging Definitions
• Identifying Assumptions
• Deducing an Action
• Deciding on an Action
• Interaction with Others

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An Alternative Analysis of CT

• Problem If we focus on analyzing CT into
  separate sub-skills, we may obscure the most
  important aspects of what CT entails, i.e. the
  critical examination of beliefs, motives, and
  actions.
• An Alternative List of General Skills for CT is
  Offered by Halpern, et al. (1997, 1998)
• Knowledge
• Inference
• Evaluation
• Metacognition

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General Skills for CT DefinedKnowledge

• Knowledge The information we use such as domain
  expertise and strategies that allows us to think
  critically about tasks, evaluate and judge new
  beliefs and views, and analyze our goals and
  objectives.

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General Skills for CT DefinedInference

• Inference The ability to make meaningful,
  insightful connections between two or more units
  of knowledge through strategies such as deduction
  and induction.

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General Skills for CT DefinedTypes of Inference

• Deduction Reaching specific conclusions from
  given information. Conclusions are limited in
  that they cannot include any data that is not
  already included in the information being
  evaluated.
• Example Syllogisms
• If Jane goes to the market, then it is not
  raining.
• Jane goes to the market.
• Therefore, it is not raining.

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General Skills for CT DefinedTypes of Inference
continued

• Induction Reaching general conclusions from
  given or inferred information. Conclusions may go
  beyond the given data by going from the
  particular to the general. Theory development and
  hypothesis testing is a type of induction.
• Example
• The Sun came up today.
• The sun came up yesterday.
• The Sun has come up every day in the past.
• Therefore, the sun will come up again tomorrow.

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General Skills For CT DefinedEvaluation

• Evaluation The sub-skills of Analyzing, Judging,
  Weighing, and Making Value-Judgments about
  situations that affect our decision making.

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General Skills For CT DefinedMetacognition

• Metacognition Refers to the internal monitor
  allowing us to gauge the coherency, adequacy, and
  reasonableness of our beliefs and inferences.

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Intelligence and Critical Thinking

• Perkins has suggested a Model of Critical
  Thinking as a relationship between three aspects
  of intelligence Power, Knowledge, and Tactics.

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Perkins Model Of CT
POWER
TACTICS
KNOWLEDGE
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Perkinss 3 Component Model

• Power refers to the basic and individually
  specific intellectual aptitudes between people
  and within the person.
• Knowledge refers to the things we already know in
  the form of domain specific or general
  information we already have at our disposal.
• Tactics refer to the mental strategies we utilize
  in order to facilitate the cognitive task at hand.

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Tactics and Thinking Frames

• Thinking Frames Guides or structures which
  organize and support CT, providing the
  organizational structures for understanding new
  information and learning new skills (Perkins,
  1987).
• Examples Mathematics, Scientific Method,
  Epistemological Beliefs, Behaviorism

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Three Stages in Thinking Frame Development

• Acquisition
• Automaticity
• Transfer

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Frame Stages continued

• Acquisition refers to the learning and then
  utilization of a particular thinking frame.
  Thinking frames are acquired through direct
  teaching and modeling.

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Frame Stages continued

• Automaticity refers to the ability to access and
  utilize the frame automatically. Frames become
  automatic through extensive use and practice.

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Frame Stages continued

• Transfer refers to the ability to utilize a
  particular frame in novel situations or with new
  information.
• High-road Transfer occurs when thinkers
  conscientiously take the particular principles
  utilized by some thinking frame and abstract them
  so that they may be used in novel contexts.
• Low-road Transfer occurs automatically without
  conscious awareness which leads to difficulties
  in understanding the thinking frame and, hence,
  limits the ability to transfer the frame to new
  contexts.

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Teaching Critical Thinking

• Perkins (1987) has suggested that the best means
  of improving CT, given the Three Component Model
  of Critical Thinking, is to focus on teaching
  Thinking Frames.
• This emphasis is based on the fact that
• Power is an innate ability and very difficult to
  change
• The process of increasing ones Knowledge base is
  very time consuming

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Teaching Critical Thinking continued

• Teaching specific Tactics in the form of Thinking
  Frames takes relatively less time and is
  efficientonce a frame has been learned, one can
  use high-road transfer to apply the frame to
  multiple situations, thus improving Critical
  Thinking Skills globally.

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Critical Thinking and Wisdom Sternbergs
Balance Theory of Wisdom

• The Balance Theory of Wisdom includes Three
  Components Tacit Knowledge, Values, and Goals.
• Tacit Knowledge consists in procedural thinking
  strategies that may be learned without guidance
  or instruction.
• Values are the particular attitudes and
  dispositions that guide individuals as they
  maneuver through and change with their
  environment.
• Goals are desired outcomes that reflect the
  common good.

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Sternbergs Theory Continued

• Wisdom is defined as the willingness to use ones
  CT skills and knowledge in the most valid and
  accurate manner possible. It is the process of
  utilizing Tacit Knowledge to guide adaptive
  Values in ways that achieve the goal of improving
  the common good. Developing wisdom in individuals
  helps to balance book-smarts with everyday
  knowledge and facilitates the use of thinking in
  the community as a responsible citizen
  (Sternberg, 2001).