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Characteristics of a Critical Thinker | Origin: ED116

This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:

Critical Thinking Processes and Applications --> Characteristics of a Critical Thinker

Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.

I think people forget one of the biggest benifits of attending a post secondary school is, discipline. I mean learning is always a top objective, but combining all of the aspects of school, it brings together the students ability to show being disciplined to be succesful. It encompasses many qualities needed to become succesful. Long term gratification instead of instrant which is where this society is going, so even if had equally qualified candidiates for a job, I would prefer the candidate who attended school even if it was in another discipline as going to school itslef shows many strong qualities. 

 

Discipline, Questioning, Reasoning and Judjement are all important contributing factors to being a good Critical Thinker and for survival.

Some of these have become "naturally challenging" areas for all of us in modern society. We have an expectancy of safety and of our basic needs to be met. We are more and more inclined to seek instant gratification and less willing to put forth effort and practice discipline. 

In many areas of life, and education is no exception, it's more about what we like and enjoy doing than it is about what's good for us and what brings results and adequate growth. 

 

"It is interesting that politicians on both the national and state levels are constantly complaining that students are not graduating with problem solving skills. They say students of today cannot think critically and yet these politicians have passed a federal law that requires standardized testing of all students. " --> oh, yes! One might say that the passign of these laws is a sign of poor critical thinking. 

Critical thinking is an ongoing learning process.  teachers need to develop lessons with this in mind

The section on discipline was especially impactful. It is important we help students develop in this area.  

Reasoning, questioning. discipline, Judgment are all things that help us help our students become better critical thinkers.

It is up to the instructor to guide reasoning, ask in depth questions and the practice thereof, show discipline through our work and by example and move towards objective judgment without using inferences or assumptions to lead us to making good decisions.

confidence is needed to become a great critial thinker. As your expeirence and confidence grow over time, your critial thinking skills will naturally increase as well.

 

Critical Thinking is a preliminary step to ethical decision making. It's not just thinking something through. Ultilmately a decision has to be made and acted upon. That's the practical impact of critical thinking.

 

I like to use the Socratic approach, especially in clinicals.

 

The thing that stood out to me the most is that discipline can be trained.  While many students will find the task a bit burdensome at first, the more they are required to use this in school the easier it will be for them to apply the process in their daily and professional life.

Self-dicipline is an important component of critical thinking.  Critical thinkers develop a pattern of inquiry which can be used in all types of situations.

 

I will incorporate more questioning into my teaching style.

When teaching, I need to take time to slow down and ask the students more questions in order to help develope their critical thinking skills. 

 

I thought the discipline section was interesting, as well as the questioning section. The cyclical nature of critical thinking requires all the elements work in order to reach articulate, viable solutions to problems. Questioning is certainly something that needs to be encouraged more in education. Without it, we can't learn from our mistakes or dissapate confusion and misunderstanding. The discipline section was a breath of fresh air, given how instant-gratification-based our society is. I'm glad to know folks are still trying to incorporate it to develop strong critical thinkers.

Critical thinking is very important

Our educational system is not set up to create students who use reason and judgment appropriately. They are fed information and then tested on that information in a standardized format that is easy to grade. It does not gives us real insight into what the student knows. It gives us insight into the fact that the student read and memorized and was successful (or not) with regurgitating the information fed them. To be real world problem solvers, we must approach them differently. We must present them problems as well as the skills needed to solve those problems and the time to work through the issues at hand. We can't expect critical thinking to develop from a lecture and a book. 

Characteristics of a critical thinker:gain new information and apply it often, skills for good judgment to make appropriate repsonses.

This can be applied in the academia to enrich the learning experinec of students.

 

 

Questioning as a teaching and learning technique engages students and helps them to explore information

The concept of discipline - the investment of time, effort, and application stood out to me the most.  I think this attribute is what sets successful students apart from unsuccessful students.  If we can help develop this skill in our students, I believe they can learn to apply the right amount of effort to achieve any goal.  The other thing to consider, is that judgment, another important component of critical thinking, is developed through extensive experience.  This is something our students usually don't have at the outset in our particular field of study, and it is through providing opportunities to experience real-life situations through service learning and fieldwork experience, that we can help our students develop this skill, as well.

Critical thinking is a process. I will forge better questions.

 

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