Quick Write

What is critical thinking? Write for two minutes.

What is Critical Thinking?

Quality of Thinking, Quality of Life

What do you think it means to improve your thinking to improve your life?

30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living Through Critical Thinking

Critical thinking, in a rich sense of the term, is self-guided disciplined thought that attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fairminded way.

From our textbook.

Critical comes from the Greek word krinein, meaning “to separate, to choose”; above all, it implies conscious inquiry (4).

Conscious also means to be awake or aware. This suggests that by examining our reasoning, we can understand the basis of our judgments and decisions – ultimately, so that we can make better ones.

According to Google:

Critical Thinking – the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.

Critical Thinking

According to our textbook, to think critically, you must question not only the beliefs and assumptions of others, but also one’s own beliefs and assumptions (5).

  • Identify important problems.
  • Explore relevant issues.
  • Evaluate available evidence.
  • Consider the implications of the decisions.

Critical thinking is NOT collecting information to support established conclusion.

  • Survey, considering as many perspectives as possible.
  • Analyze, identifying and then separating out the parts of the problem.
  • Evaluate, judging the merit of various ideas, claims, and evidence.

Why is it important?

Texas GOP wants to get rid of critical thinking. 

Weekly Journals

Every week, you will locate an article, news report, social media post, or ??? related in some way to the class discussion or readings. 

  1. First, summarize the text, explaining how you are understanding what they are saying.
  2. Second, respond to the article using the skills we will be working on in class.

About 250 words. Reply to the post on the blog or type and print it out to hand in by Monday

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2BR02B Solution

The proposal asks that we define a problem and come up with a solution that we can implement to the problem. It is important in critical thinking to think thought the decisions. If you come up with a solution, you have to think of the implications it will have. Will it lead to problems in the future? While we may not be able to predict with certainty if it will cause problems, we can think through it and anticipate some possible negative outcomes.

Kurt Vonnegut – 2BR02B

Homework

  • Read Chapter 1, Critical Thinking
  • Week 1 journal response