Personal Reflection
HUM/114
07/05/2012
University of Phoenix
Personal Reflection Paper
What is critical thinking? In this assignment I will discuss what critical thinking is and how I have developed as a person with my critical thinking skills. I will also reevaluate my skills and give a formal and concise reason behind why I decided to change my level of critical thinking. 1. What is critical thinking? a. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. 2. What are the three most significant things that you learned about critical thinking during this course?
The three most significant things I have learned about critical thinking are as follows: b. Clarify Your Thinking i. Be on the look-out for vague, fuzzy, formless, blurred thinking. Try to figure out the real meaning of what people are saying. Look on the surface. Look beneath the surface. Try to figure out the real meaning of important news stories. Explain your understanding of an issue to someone else to help clarify it in your own mind. Practice summarizing in your own words what others say. Then ask them if you understood them correctly. You should neither agree nor disagree with what anyone says until you (clearly) understand them.
c. Stick to the Point ii. Be on the lookout for fragmented thinking, thinking that leaps about with no logical connections. Start noticing when you or others fail to stay focused on what is relevant. Focus on finding what will aid you in truly solving a problem. When someone brings up a point (however true) that doesn’t seem pertinent to the issue at hand, ask, “How is what you are saying relevant to the issue?” When you are working through a problem, make sure you stay focused on what
07/05/2012
University of Phoenix
Personal Reflection Paper
What is critical thinking? In this assignment I will discuss what critical thinking is and how I have developed as a person with my critical thinking skills. I will also reevaluate my skills and give a formal and concise reason behind why I decided to change my level of critical thinking. 1. What is critical thinking? a. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. 2. What are the three most significant things that you learned about critical thinking during this course?
The three most significant things I have learned about critical thinking are as follows: b. Clarify Your Thinking i. Be on the look-out for vague, fuzzy, formless, blurred thinking. Try to figure out the real meaning of what people are saying. Look on the surface. Look beneath the surface. Try to figure out the real meaning of important news stories. Explain your understanding of an issue to someone else to help clarify it in your own mind. Practice summarizing in your own words what others say. Then ask them if you understood them correctly. You should neither agree nor disagree with what anyone says until you (clearly) understand them.
c. Stick to the Point ii. Be on the lookout for fragmented thinking, thinking that leaps about with no logical connections. Start noticing when you or others fail to stay focused on what is relevant. Focus on finding what will aid you in truly solving a problem. When someone brings up a point (however true) that doesn’t seem pertinent to the issue at hand, ask, “How is what you are saying relevant to the issue?” When you are working through a problem, make sure you stay focused on what