A Sense of Doubt blog post #3054 - Critical Thinking Compendium

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3054 - Critical Thinking Compendium


Just a quick share today because yesterday's post took A LOT of time (two years and then multiple hours over the last four or five days).

It's also good to follow-up a post on Critical Race Theory and the actions to ban it with a post on CRITICAL THINKING because that's a thing that's obviously needed and kind of missed by so many who think they have the power of right behind them.

English Department

Everett Community College

Critical Thinking Compendium

 

Francis Bacon (c/o Joyce Walker)

Read not to contradict nor to believe, but to weigh and consider.

 

Roger Berger

I'm somewhat concerned with the emphasis on critical thinking.  It's important, but ultimately, in the classes I teach, I'm interested in improving students' quality of mind, especially that quality which can manifest itself through writing and speaking, so I can't say that I necessarily ask for critical thinking, as I think you're defining it, in every paper or assignment.  

 

Kevin Craft

Critical thinking involves the ability to collect and evaluate information from a variety of sources, to hold contrary or even contradictory ideas in the mind simultaneously, to anticipate and incorporate refutations to one’s own viewpoints into one’s writing, to recognize the multiplicity of perspectives that informs and advances writing about complex subjects.

 

Charles Fischer

Critical thinking is analogous to Kant's idea of enlightenment, which he defines as a person's "emergence from (their) self-imposed immaturity."  For Kant, this maturity means the reliance on an external or outside authority as the source of your knowledge about yourself and the world.  "Dare to know," he commands his readers.  Use your reason!  Free yourself from your dependence on what others tell you is the truth about the world.  Such a liberation, of course, is difficult, but it involves learning to use your "understanding" instead of blindly accepting the claims of another.  It is a form of Emersonian self-reliance.  Or, to quote the great Morpheus,  "But I can only show you the door, you are the one who has to walk through it."

 

Holly Hill

Writing which demonstrates the students' engagement with and refection on events, experiences, and texts; specifically, they can summarize, support, connect, compare, synthesize, evaluate, analyze, apply, question, and argue effectively.  It can take many forms, fiction or non-fiction, and shows a flexible, inquiring mind.

 

Diane Ripper

Critical thinking involves questioning what you are told and what you
read, challenging the assertion (or position) of someone else, and
seeing a pattern within and between previously unrelated facts,
incidents, or thoughts.

 

 

 

Josh Searle

In my portfolio, I have a section devoted to critical thinking.  Basically, I look for critical thinking in three ways: metacognition, measured through my students' portfolio 'entry slips'; strategic choices made during revision, identified by having rough drafts and final drafts together in student portfolios; and students' capacity to a) effectively synthesize multiple pieces of evidence into a coherent analysis/argument and/or b) effectively utilize literary devices and detail to construct a compelling controlling idea — this is measured on my scoring rubric.

 

Phebe Shen

The ability to evaluate something, be it an idea/piece of writing, etc, in a logical and objective manner, breaking it down into parts if necessary.

 

Regina Zull

In an essay I believe critical thinking includes weighing evidence, analyzing and evaluating the evidence and composing a response that clearly presents the evidence and analysis in a persuasive form.  It could also include self-evaluation in the form of revision and peer-evaluation in the form of critiques.  Frankly, any exercise that asks the student to apply knowledge as opposed to regurgitating it is critical thinking.  For example, a quiz asking students to determine if citation standards are being followed appropriately in a paragraph requires critical thinking.  Reciting those standards does not.

 

From the Web (via Marcia Huntington):

 

Reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.

 

The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit.

http://www.insightassessment.com/dex.html

Exploring questions about and solutions for issues which are not clearly defined and for which there are no clear-cut answers.

http://aaahq.org/aecc/intent/glossary.htm

Reflective thought and a tolerance for ambiguity. http://web.uccs.edu/bethelstudenthandbook/definition_of_curriculum_terms.htm

Purposeful, reflective reasoning, and analysis used to form beliefs and guide decision-making.

http://www1.indstate.edu/nursing/organization/glossary.htm

The careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim.

http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/ct/ch01/glossary.htm

 

Barack Obama (c/o George Packer, NYer 11/17/08):

“Instead, Sunstein suggested as the governing philosophy of an Obama Presidency the idea of ‘deliberative democracy.’ The phrase appears in The Audacity of Hope, where it denotes a conversation among adults who listen to one another, who attempt to persuade one another by means of argument and evidence, and who remain open to the possibility that they could be wrong.”

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2306.29 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2918 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.