CRITICAL THINKING

DEFINITION

 Broad definition: reasonable, reflecting

thinking that is focuses on deciding what to
believe or do
 Criteria:
 evaluative thinking
- Not necessarily negative
- Does not always lead to criticism
- Can lead to positive conclusion
WHY CT IS IMPORTANT

 Good thinking is important element of life

success
 Old standard in school cannot be the sole
means to judge the failure or success of
academic
 Might be differentiated from creative
thinking
 Need more future research and
implementation studies
CHANGES OF CT DEFINITION

 It has been changing since a decade ago

 Definition depend on expert from different
fields: Dominion of cognitive psychologist,
philosophers, behaviorally-oriented
psychologist and content specialist
 Each group made significant contribution
in critical thinking understanding
 Cognitive psychology- find the differences
between critical and creative thinking
CONT…

 Philosophy- ct is a process of thinking to a

standard. The process must be guided by
belief and impact of behavior or action
 Behavioral psychology- establish final
outcomes and methodologies to be used
by educator
 Content specialist- demonstrate how ct can
be taught in different content areas such as
reading, literature, mathematics and
science. It help student to grip specific
knowledge
PROBLEM WITH DEFINITION

1)labeling that good thinking is critical

thinking (provided by philosophers)
 Actually good thinking requires both
 Found that students were more successful
in problem solving when used techniques
associated with reason and logic as well
as creativity and divergence
2) Confusing that attitudes vs actual thinking
process (ex: emotion vs cognition or
feeling vs. reasoning
CONT….

 Thus; the proposed definition of ct: is the

disciplined mental activity of evaluating
arguments or proposition and making judgment
that can guide the development of beliefs and
taking actions.
 Why good definition of ct is important:
- can be compared to other forms of thinking
- Ex- non critical thinking in the form of habitual
thinking, brainstorming, creative thinking,
prejudicial thinking or emotive thinking
MODEL OF CRITICAL THINKING & ITS
MODIFICATION

 How the cognitive process create CT?

 The critical thinking propose that the cognitive
process involved affective, conative, belief and
behavioral aspect
 It’s method is evaluation of argumentation
 It’s tool is affective disposition
 It’s result are: confirm previous belief, new belief
establish, affective disposition to plan and take
action and activated conative component of goal
setting and self regulation
PERSONAL STRATEGIES FOR CRITICAL
THNIKING (taken from Cottrell S: 2005)

1) Make a quick reading to get the overall

view and check the initial response – and
see whether it proves true or runs
contradict to what you believe to be true
2) Compare what you read with what you
already know about the topic and with
experience
3) Make summary as you go along, hold the
overall argument in your head to make
sense of what comes next
4) Look for the author’s position or point of view
and asking ‘what are they trying to “sell me”?
5) As you read, check each section and ask
yourself if you know what it means. If not,
check again – sometimes it is more clearer
as you read for the second time. If it is still
unclear, remind yourself to come back to it
later as the rest of the passage may make it
clearer
6) Then read more carefully, seeing what
reasons the writers present and checking
whether you are persuaded by these
7) If you are persuaded, consider why? Is it
because they make use of experts in the
field? Is there research evidence that looks
thorough and convincing?
8)If you are not persuaded, then why not?
Whether you have good reasons for not being
convinced; or whether you have read other
material that contradicts it.
9) then, you create your own position, check
that your own point of view is convincing.
Could you support it if you were challenged?
Summary?