Critical thinking is an important element of all qualified fields and academic disciplines (by referencing their respective sets of permissible questions, evidence sources, criteria, etc.). Within the structure of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves the careful acquisition and reading of information and use of it to reach a well-justified conclusion. The concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by reflecting upon the nature of that function. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking, biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their application to disciplines requires a process of philosophical contextualization.
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The key to seeing the significance of critical thinking in academics is in understanding the significance of critical thinking in learning. There are two meanings to the learning of this content. The first occurs when learners (for the first time) construct in their minds the basic ideas, principles, and theories that are inherent in content. This is a process of internalization. The second occurs when learners effectively use those ideas, principles, and theories as they become relevant in learners’ lives. This is a process of application. Good teachers cultivate critical thinking (intellectually engaged thinking) at every stage of learning, including initial learning. For students to learn content, intellectual engagement is crucial. All students must do their own thinking, their own construction of knowledge. Good teachers recognize this and therefore focus on the questions, readings, activities that stimulate the mind to take ownership of key concepts and principles underlying the subject. Critical thinking employs not only logic (either formal or, much more often, informal) but also broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness.
One good advantage in critical thinking for university students is that ideas or information could be easily gotten from anywhere and anyone. It shouldn’t be a surprise to know that even a madman could be responsible for the provision of valuable information needed in an important project. This means that anyone could be a source to unanswered questions that has proved difficult to find. Students who neglect people’s ideas end up missing a whole lot of valuable points which could have been of great assistance to them. Universities are known to be resourceful places where people could easily communicate with each other, meaning that it won’t be difficult to extract information from people. Students could have group discussions, quiz and other social activity to extract knowledge from one another. So far, this aspect of critical thinking has critical thinking skills have helped a lot of students. In the process communicating with people, critical thinking can help students get along with each other. This is because if a person can evaluate a situation from a point of view other than his own, he or she will get a better knowledge on why people do what they do. Social conflict that is gotten from poor areas joining heads together can be avoided by this. This could widen a student’s social life and lead to better discussion with others.
Conversely, the strong-sense critical thinker skillfully enters into the logic of problems and issues to see the problem for what it is without egocentric and/or socio-centric bias. Thus conceived, the strong-sense mind seeks to actively, systematically, reflectively, and fair-mindedly create insight with sensitivity to expose and address the many obstacles that compromise high quality thought and learning. Using strong critical thinking we might evaluate an argument, for example, as worthy of acceptance because it is valid and based on true premises. Upon reflection, a speaker may be evaluated as a credible source of knowledge on a given topic.
Critical thinking can occur whenever one judges, decides, or solves a problem; in general, whenever one must figure out what to believe or what to do, and do so in a reasonable and reflective way. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening can all be done critically or uncritically. Critical thinking is crucial to becoming a close reader and a substantive writer. Expressed in most general terms, critical thinking is a way of taking up the problems of life.
Critical thinking seems to be very important and relevant in every aspect of a students learning in a university institution. This is so because a university is a place where learning and discussions of different sort takes place. It is necessary to make every enquiry and research needed for a sound education and not just depending on the teacher’s lectures. Most students accept all they hear because of the laziness they bore and do not bother to make researches, ask questions or make appropriate inquires for more knowledge. This is a very wrong approach for tackling issues or learning because not everything one is being told or thought is hundred percent right. Teachers tend to make mistakes sometimes and it’s the job of the student to make researches after every lesson to assure that everything thought in the lecture class is fully right. In the process of doing that, one could have the opportunity to learn new things and not just hanging on or sticking to what is being thought in lectures classes.
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Critical thinking is not a matter of accumulating information. A person with a good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking. A critical thinker is able to deduce consequences from what he knows, and he knows how to make use of information to solve problems, and to seek relevant sources of information to inform himself. Critical thinking should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of other people. Although critical thinking skills can be used in exposing fallacies and bad reasoning, critical thinking can also play an important role in cooperative reasoning and constructive tasks. Critical thinking can help us acquire knowledge, improve our theories, and strengthen arguments. We can use critical thinking to enhance work processes and improve social institutions. Some people believe that critical thinking hinders creativity because it requires following the rules of logic and rationality, but creativity might require breaking rules. This is a misconception. Critical thinking is quite compatible with thinking out-of-the-box, challenging consensus and pursuing less popular approaches. If anything, critical thinking is an essential part of creativity because we need critical thinking to evaluate and improve our creative ideas.
When you ask students to define critical thinking, they will often refer to this type of puzzle or brainteaser. And although developing critical thinking skills will help students solve this puzzle, critical thinking skills will also help students as they face crucial decisions in education and in life. Students, and all of us, are bombarded with ideas and with people trying to persuade us to accept the ideas they are promoting. You only have to turn on a television talk show to see this in action. At least when watching a talk show, the viewer is given some background information about the speaker’s credentials or lack of credentials and is usually aware of the personal bias that the speaker brings to the topic. The advent of the computer information age has presented us with a new challenge: a wealth of information distributed with few restrictions and often limited information about the author of the material. With the increasing use of web-based technology to gather and interpret information, teaching critical thinking skills to students is even more important.
Critical thinking skills can help nurses apply the process of examination. Nurses through critical thinking skills can question, evaluate, and reconstruct the nursing care process by challenging the established theory and practice. Critical thinking skills can helps nurse problem solve, reflect, and make a conclusive decision about the current situation they face. Critical thinking creates new possibilities for the development of the nursing knowledge. Due to the socio cultural, environmental, and political issues that are affecting healthcare delivery, it would be helpful to embody new techniques in nursing. Nurses can acquire critical thinking skills through the Socratic method of dialogue and reflection. Critical thinking also is considered important for human rights education for toleration. The Declaration of Principles on Tolerance adopted by UNESCO in 1995 affirms that “education for tolerance could aim at countering factors that lead to fear and exclusion of others, and could help young people to develop capacities for independent judgment, critical thinking and ethical reasoning
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