Time and Critical Thinking
It does seem that time is important to critical thinking. And lack of time is why many of us do not engage in critical thinking. This is even more true when information is so readily available on the internet. Ironically, it shows why critical thinking is just that important. Sure there is info on the internet but we really need to know what info is useful, usable, valid and credible. Which of course requires critical thinking. So things come full circle. Socrates is smiling somewhere.
Steven,
This is an ever increasing problem with our students. Goggling a problem is way different than solving a problem as we know. Convincing them of such is a real challenge. I use a lot of case studies with my students that force them to work through possible solutions and to think for themselves and not just hit the search button.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Many of my students think that they do not have to learn anything. They seem to think that they can google anything and the answer they need will just pop up. They do not understand the need to think the problem thru and then arrive at their own solution. The ability to critially think and then problem solve seems alien to them.
Katrina,
Yes, it is becoming more and more difficult as the diverging perspectives increase at such a high rate of speed. It is often difficult to identify the motives for the posted information from different authors unless you research their individual backgrounds. - - Validating information is becoming much more timeconsuming and difficult as publishing on the Internet becomes easier and easier to look legitimate.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I agree with the time factor in critical thinking. We have so much information at our fingertips, and so many (especially on the internet) look "official", which can be misleading when trying to validate information. We definitely need to find the time to carefully choose and research so that we don't continue to pass on invalid information.
Ian,
Yes, you are so very correct. It's not the access to information that is the problem anymore. The validation is one of the biggest problems. There is so much information these days and people can 'cherry pick' the data to support almost any position. We probably will need to just keep on keeping on, and smile too. ;-]
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
