Developing Critical Thinking
Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking
Introduction
1. The issue of developing critical thinking skills in students was primarily derived from the work of Benjamin Bloom who identified six levels of cognitive functioning, with each subsequent level indicating higher cognitive ability. Knowledge focuses on remembering and reciting information. Comprehension focuses on interpreting and comparison of previously learned information. Application focuses on applying acquired knowledge, techniques, and rules in such a way as to foster solutions to a problem. Analysis involves the use of critical thinking skills to break down information into parts and understanding how each part relates to the whole. An example would be categorization. Synthesis involves the use of critical thinking skills to form a new and original integration of the whole. This is evidenced by students finding alternative solutions to a given …show more content…
Strategy Six: Deal with Your Egocentrism. Egocentric thinking is found in the disposition in human nature to think with an automatic subconscious bias in favor of oneself. On a daily basis, you can begin to observe your egocentric thinking in action by contemplating questions like these: Under what circumstances do I think with a bias in favor of myself? Did I ever become irritable over small things? Did I do or say anything “irrational” to get my way? Did I try to impose my will upon others? Did I ever fail to speak my mind when I felt strongly about something, and then later feel resentment? Once you identify egocentric thinking in operation, you can then work to replace it with more rational thought through systematic self-reflection, thinking along the lines of: What would a rational person feel in this or that situation? What would a rational person do? How does that compare with what I want to do? (Hint: If you find that you continually conclude that a rational person would behave just as you behaved you are probably engaging in
Introduction
1. The issue of developing critical thinking skills in students was primarily derived from the work of Benjamin Bloom who identified six levels of cognitive functioning, with each subsequent level indicating higher cognitive ability. Knowledge focuses on remembering and reciting information. Comprehension focuses on interpreting and comparison of previously learned information. Application focuses on applying acquired knowledge, techniques, and rules in such a way as to foster solutions to a problem. Analysis involves the use of critical thinking skills to break down information into parts and understanding how each part relates to the whole. An example would be categorization. Synthesis involves the use of critical thinking skills to form a new and original integration of the whole. This is evidenced by students finding alternative solutions to a given …show more content…
Strategy Six: Deal with Your Egocentrism. Egocentric thinking is found in the disposition in human nature to think with an automatic subconscious bias in favor of oneself. On a daily basis, you can begin to observe your egocentric thinking in action by contemplating questions like these: Under what circumstances do I think with a bias in favor of myself? Did I ever become irritable over small things? Did I do or say anything “irrational” to get my way? Did I try to impose my will upon others? Did I ever fail to speak my mind when I felt strongly about something, and then later feel resentment? Once you identify egocentric thinking in operation, you can then work to replace it with more rational thought through systematic self-reflection, thinking along the lines of: What would a rational person feel in this or that situation? What would a rational person do? How does that compare with what I want to do? (Hint: If you find that you continually conclude that a rational person would behave just as you behaved you are probably engaging in