Stages of Critical Thinking

Associate Level Material

Appendix A

Stages of Critical Thinking

Complete the matrix by identifying the six stages of critical thinking, describing how to move from each stage to the next, and listing obstacles you may face as you move to the next stage of critical thinking.

|Stages of Critical Thinking |How to Move to the Next Stage |Obstacles to Moving to the Next Stage |
|EXAMPLE: |Examine my thinking to identify problems |Deceiving myself about the effectiveness of|
| |that affect my thinking. |my thinking |
|The Unreflective Thinker | | |
|The challenged thinker | |I do not consult any source other than |
| |I try to fix the problems in my thinking. |myself in how to change my way of thinking.|
|The beginning thinker |I realize that I need to get regular |I sometimes forget to think critically at |
| |practice in thinking. |all times. |
|The practicing thinker |. The more I practice, the better I get. |I do not practice enough. |
|The advanced thinker |I get extremely comfortable with critical |I cannot familiarize myself enough with the|
| |thinking because of all of the practice |concepts. |
|The master thinker |Critically thinking about every situation |I become too impatient to keep at it. |
| |is like second nature to me. |