GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills Description of Thinking Skills

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills2 What Is Thinking? Activity of the brain. Potential for communication 2 activities:- Gathering Information (Perception) Processing Information (Cognition) The action of using one's mind to produce thoughts Thinking involves mentally manipulating information,as when we form concepts, solve problems, reason, and make decisions

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills3 What is CT? "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action" (Scriven, 1996).Scriven, 1996 Available HTTP:

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills4 What does it mean to NOT thinking critically? Thinking critically does not mean simple criticism. The essence centers NOT on answering questions but on questioning answers! CT is not about being negative! We accept whatever we are told as truth w/o question. Learn to do something in a particular way because that is what we were told.

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills5 Characteristics of CT Critical thinking involves asking questions, defining a problem, examining evidence, analyzing assumptions and biases, avoiding emotional reasoning, avoiding oversimplification, considering other interpretations, and tolerating ambiguity. Sources:- Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1),

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills6 Questioning How do I know?Why? Fundamental to CT is Five levels of questioning : Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Source:

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills7 1.What are the reasons for ….? 2.How can … be used to ….? 3.What is an example of …? 4.Is …ethical or unethical? 5.If … occurs, then what happens? 6.What are the advantages or disadvantages of …? 7.What is the main argument or thesis of …?

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills8 Who Should Use CT? It is a life skill, everyone should use it. What kind of person would be apt to use their CT skills? Those with critical spirit! Those with a probing inquisitiveness, a keeness of mind, a zealous dedication to reason, and a hunger for reliable information.

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills9 Where and When? In a very real sense CT is pervasive. There is hardly a time or a place where it would not seem to be of use. Have purposes in mind. Wonder what’s true and what’s not. What to believe and what to reject. Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills10 Why is CT Important? Students today Actively engaged in surface learning. Passive receptors of information. Lack the ability to think independently. Does not demonstrate effective communication skills Students in the future Engaged in deep & meaningful learning. Thinkers. Educated person. Life long learners who can learn, unlearn and relearn throughout their lives

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills11 How to Develop CT Skills? Can critical thinking be taught? If “teach Z CT” means “make Z think critically”  If “help X acquire the ability to think critically” or “help X improve …”

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills12 Ideal Critical Thinker (Ennis, 1991) 1. Focus on a question Identify or formulate a question Identify or formulate criteria for judging possible answers 2. Analyse arguments Identify conclusions Identify stated and unstated reasons Identify and handle irrelevance See the structure of an argument Summarise 3. Ask and answer questions of clarification Why What is the main point? What would be an example? How does this apply to this case? What difference does it make?

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills13 Ideal Critical Thinker (Ennis, 1991) 4. Judge the credibility of a source Expertise Agreement among sources Reputation Ability to give reasons Corroboration 5. Explain conclusions Causal claims Interpretation of author’s intended meanings Reported definitions Claims about the beliefs and attitudes of people

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills14 Ideal Critical Thinker (Ennis, 1991) 6. Make and value judgments Typicality of data Breadth of coverage Acceptability of evidence Alternatives Balancing, weighing, deciding (Ennis, Robert H Critical thinking : a streamlined conception. Teaching Philosophy, 41(1), pp. 5-25)

GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 7 Description of Thinking Skills15 Characteristics of People who Excel at Critical Thinking What would someone be like who lacked those dispositions? Think about it!