Critical Thinking: We must question and seek existential answers
CRITICAL THINKING: it is a purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to an observation, experience, verbal, or written expression.
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. Critical thinking has been the subject of much debate and reflection since the time of the first Greek philosophers and has continued to be a topic of discussion in the modern era, for example, the ability to recognize fake news.
Someone with critical thinking skills:
:: Understands the links between ideas.
:: Determines the importance and relevance of the arguments.
:: Recognizes builds and evaluates arguments.
:: Identifies inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
:: Address problems consistently and systematically.
:: Reflects on the justification of their assumptions, beliefs, and values.
Luigi Giussani, founder of the “Communion and Liberation” movement describes in one of his books: “The current mentality, unfortunately, teaches young people to follow things only to the extent that they already think they are acceptable, and no more than that. Thus, this evidential “presence” is treated as a basis for stating one’s concerns and assumptions, and not as something to be faithfully followed. This explains the strange inability of some young people to assert their being. This fear of asserting itself comes directly from the lack of involvement and discernment that characterizes most people’s lives ”.
The skills to have critical thinking
The skills we need to be able to think critically are varied and include observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem-solving, and decision making.
Specifically, we need to be able to:
:: Think about a topic or subject objectively.
:: Identify the different arguments that exist concerning a specific problem.
:: Assess a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is.
:: Recognize any weaknesses or negatives that exist in the evidence or argument.
:: Observe what implications there may be behind a statement or argument.
:: Provide structured reasoning and support for an argument we wish to make.
The critical thinking process
You should be aware that we cannot think critically all the time. Sometimes we think about almost everything, except critically, especially when our self-control is affected by anger, hurt, or joy. On the other hand, the good news is that, since our critical thinking capacity varies according to our current mentality, most of the time we can learn to improve this capacity, developing certain routine activities and applying them to all the challenges that they introduce themselves. After understanding this theory and improving our critical thinking skills, persistence, and practice are highly required.
Try this exercise to help you start thinking critically.
* Think of something someone recently told you. Then ask yourself the following questions:
:: Who said that? (Someone you know? Someone in authority or power? Is it important to know who said it?)
:: What did they tell you? (Did they give facts or opinions? Did they provide all the facts? Did they stop saying something?)
:: Where did they say that? (Was it in public or in private? Did others have a chance to respond and provide more details?)
:: When did they say that? (Was it before, during, or after an important event? Is timing important?)
:: Why did they say that? (Did they explain the reasoning behind their opinion? Were they trying to make someone look good or bad?)
:: How did they say that? (Were they happy or sad, angry or indifferent? Did they write or say that? Can you understand what was said?)
:: What are you trying to achieve? (One of the most important aspects of critical thinking is deciding what you want to achieve and then making a decision based on several possibilities).
Once you have clarified this objective, you should use it as a starting point in all future situations that require reflection and possibly more decisions.
Forming thinking beings
As educators, we don’t teach what to think, we teach how to think. When children move from egocentric thinking to someone else’s perspective, they are beginning to develop metacognition. The next step is to realize that they can change their thinking. When they find themselves frustrated and stuck with a challenge, they will have to change how they are thinking about the problem to solve it.
Ranker.com lists the greatest minds of all time, throughout history. This list represents the most influential thinkers in various disciplines, classified in a way that represents the power of their ideas and their impact on the world. Wiser men and women include leading philosophers, physicists, famous poets, thinkers, teachers, physiologists, artists, inventors, engineers, the world’s most irreplaceable CEOs, economists and politicians, and those whose talents span many fields of study.
Being able to help change a person’s perspective on solving a problem is a life skill. Being able to approach a problem in different ways is true innovation — a trait we value, but we don’t focus on how it develops. We just assume that some people have this ability, this innate talent.
We can educate children aware of their thinking, we can encourage our children to engage in flexible thinking and innovative thinking.
In my work as an educator, I have always encouraged children to be critical thinkers — who do not simply accept something presented to them. That when faced with a “truth”, they have more questions than answers. I want them to be innovative. Children who try something different, a new way, maybe a better way. Children who can think for themselves and who accept that others think differently from them. Children who recognize that different ways of thinking often bring people together to solve a problem.
Bloom’s taxonomy, named after Benjamin Bloom, a psychologist who in 1956 developed the questioning classification according to six levels of higher-level thinking. Bloom’s Taxonomy was revised in 2001. Most, if not all, teachers are taught to use it in preparing lesson objectives for their students. However, most parents do not practice this technique when talking to their children. If it’s good for teachers, it’s certainly good for parents.
As educators, we must encourage our children to think for themselves. We want them to have the necessary skills to listen, analyze, and interpret the information that will be a constant part of their lives. Memory and understanding are part of this process, but to be successful in further processing, this flow of knowledge requires higher-level techniques.
Here are some examples of how to use Bloom’s Taxonomy:
Most questions asked of children fall within the level of
Recall or Understanding. I encourage parents to move to a higher-order in taxonomy by questioning their children, which are Bloom’s next four levels. These include:
Applying: Ask your child how he would solve a particular problem in real life. Ask them why they think something is meaningful. Ask your child to continue a story or predict what would happen in a given situation.
Analyzing: Ask your child to identify reasons or causes for real-life stories. Encourage him to conduct an interview or survey. Have your child draw a flow chart, family tree, or paper to draw a real-life situation.
Assessing: ask your child to form and defend an opinion on an issue. Children, especially teenagers, are very good at this. Example: encourage your child to write a letter to an editor or evaluate a character’s actions in a story.
Creating: ask your child to gather a lot of old information to form a new idea. For example, creating, designing, or inventing a new item, proposal, or plan. This requires creativity and the ability to think abstractly.
If we want our children to thrive in this complex world, we need to teach them to think. Critical thinking is not just for young people, of course. If you consider yourself a lifelong learner, question yourself, test your assumptions.
We can all improve and support critical thinking by asking us extra questions each day.
SOURCES
www.conceitos.de
www.forbes.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.ted.com
www.ranker.com
