Characteristics of a Critical Thinker
It was said in the lesson that we do 3 things with new information, we delete it, we distort it to fit in our lives, and we personalize it because it has value in our lives, My question is, Wouldn't distorting and personalizing be opposite sides of the same coin? Just seems to me that based upon the information that a person could get and be able to critical think, there would be very minimal differences between the two.
Brian,
I agree. These are the individuals that can think through a situation and come up with possible solutions. It is a growth process that critical thinkers need to embrace as they develop their skills in this area.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Growth, Change and the Ability To Adapt are all parts of the critical thinking equation. The best thinkers are the ones that can embrace all three in my opinion.
Gashaw,
One of the challenges of being an instructor is trying to understand if our students are understanding what we are teaching. You make a good point about personalizing and distorting being a part of receiving and using new information.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I was thinking the same where we personalize and distort the info to fit our lives we are giveing it value. It looks that the two are the opposit sides of the same coin.
Thank you for sharing.
E.,
I like the approach you are taking in helping your students to develop their critical thinking skills. You are right on with the objective assessment aspect of critical thinking. Once that is done then time can be spent on developing potential solutions to the problem.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In an attempt to both get my students thinking and to capture their attention, I share an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show. We see an argument between Rob and Laura from three perspectives: Rob's, Laura's, and one of their pet fish's. I ask my students, "Why the fish?" They correctly answer that it's the objective point of view. That is, what really happened. While that's certainly true, I've come to embrace the idea that the fish reminds us that all experience/reality is mediated. Even when we are an eyewitness, reality is going through our own imperfect perception. So, yes, almost everything is distorted in one way or another. Critical thinking helps us get as close to the truth as is humanly possible.
Cambria,
Very good point. As the ongoing influx of sensory information continues to impose neverending change to our knowledgebase, the cycle will continue. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I agree. However, growth and change in thinking, ideally the goal for a critical thinker must come from disequilibrium followed by balance and equilibrium again. It is through this constant intake of new information the development of schema to understand the input that we can begin to form new opinions based in fact and logic.
Christopher,
Your point is well taken. In some instances personalizing will include a distortion so it will fit in our predetermined framework. However, sometimes it may be personalized without distortion because of its value as it exists. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
