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Critical thinking

Critical thinking. Concepts and tools. Adapted from Paul & Elder (2009) The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and tools. Foundation for Critical Thinking.

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Critical thinking

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  1. Critical thinking Concepts and tools Adapted from Paul & Elder (2009) The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and tools. Foundation for Critical Thinking

  2. “Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.” (Paul & Elder, 2009, p. 2)

  3. Elements of thought include • Clarity • Accuracy/Precision/Relevance • Depth • Breadth • Significance/Fairness • Effective communication • Problem solving abilities • Overcoming egocentrism and sociocentrism

  4. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Purpose • What am I trying to accomplish? • Why is my central aim? Purpose?

  5. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Questions • What question am I raising? • What question am I addressing? • Am I considering the complexities of the question?

  6. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Information • What information I using in coming to my conclusion? • What experience have I had to support this claim? • What information do I need to settle the question?

  7. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Inferences/Conclusions • How did I reach this conclusion? • Is there another way to interpret the information?

  8. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Concepts • What is the main idea here? • Can I explain the idea?

  9. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Assumptions • What am I taking for granted? • What assumption(s) has/have led me to this conclusion?

  10. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Implications/Consequences • What am I implying? • If someone accepted my position, what would be the implication?

  11. Questions Using Elements of Thought: Points of View • From what point of view am I looking at this issue? • Is there another point of view I should consider?

  12. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING REASONING

  13. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING REASONING

  14. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING REASONING

  15. STAGES OF CRITICAL THINKING DEVELOPMENT

  16. EGOCENTRIC THINKING • Egocentric Thinking – The unrealistic but confident sense that we have fundamentally figured out the way things actually are, and that we have done this objectively.

  17. EGOCENTRIC THINKING • “IT’S TRUE BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT.” – • I assume that what I believe is true even though I have never questioned the basis for many of my beliefs. • “IT’S TRUE BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IT.” – • I assume that the dominant belief of the groups to which I belong are true, even though I have never questioned the basis for those beliefs.

  18. EGOCENTRIC THINKING • “IT’S TRUE BECAUSE I WANT TO BELIEVE IT.” - • I believe in whatever puts me (or the groups I belong to) in a positive light. I believe what “feels good”, what does not require me to change my thinking any significant way, and what does not require me to admit I have been or may be wrong.

  19. EGOCENTRIC THINKING • “IT’S TRUE BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IT.” – • I have a strong desire to maintain beliefs that I have long held, even though Ihave not seriously considered the extent to which those beliefs are justified by the evidence. • “IT’S TRUE BECAUSE IT IS IN MY SELFISH INTEREST TO BELIEVE IT.” – • I believe whatever justifies my getting more power, money, or personal advantage, even though these beliefs are not grounded in sound reasoning or evidence.

  20. SOCIOCENTRIC THINKING • Sociocentric Thinking – dominant prejudices of a society or culture (“culture-bound”). This is the hallmark of an uncritical society. It is challenged (and diminished) only when replaced by cross-cultural, fair-minded thinking.

  21. SOCIOCENTRIC THINKING • Uncritical tendency to place one’s culture, nation, religion above all others • Uncritical tendency to select self-serving positive descriptions of ourselves and negative descriptions of those who think differently from us • Uncritical tendency to internalize group norms and beliefs, take on group identities, and act as we are expected to act – without the least sense that what we are doing might reasonably be questioned

  22. SOCIOCENTRIC THINKING • Tendency to blindly conform to group restrictions (many of which are arbitrary or coercive). • Failure to think beyond the traditional prejudices of one’s culture • Failure to study and internalize the insights of other cultures (improving the breadth and depth of one’s thinking)

  23. SOCIOCENTRIC THINKING • Failure to distinguish universal ethics from relativistic cultural requirements and taboos • Failure to realize that mass media in every culture shapes the news from the point of view of that culture • Failure to think historically and anthropologically (be trapped in current ways of thinking) • Failure to see sociocentric thinking as a significant impediment to intellectual development

  24. Critical thinking Concepts and tools APPLY THESE CONCEPTS AND TOOLS AND YOU WILL DO WELL IN THIS CLASS

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