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How to build critical thinking skills for better decision-making
It’s simple in theory, but tougher in practice – here are five tips to get you started.
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Have you heard the riddle about two coins that equal thirty cents, but one of them is not a nickel? What about the one where a surgeon says they can’t operate on their own son?
Those brain teasers tap into your critical thinking skills. But your ability to think critically isn’t just helpful for solving those random puzzles – it plays a big role in your career.
An impressive 81% of employers say critical thinking carries a lot of weight when they’re evaluating job candidates. It ranks as the top competency companies consider when hiring recent graduates (even ahead of communication ). Plus, once you’re hired, several studies show that critical thinking skills are highly correlated with better job performance.
So what exactly are critical thinking skills? And even more importantly, how do you build and improve them?
What is critical thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate facts and information, remain objective, and make a sound decision about how to move forward.
Does that sound like how you approach every decision or problem? Not so fast. Critical thinking seems simple in theory but is much tougher in practice, which helps explain why 65% of employers say their organization has a need for more critical thinking.
In reality, critical thinking doesn’t come naturally to a lot of us. In order to do it well, you need to:
- Remain open-minded and inquisitive, rather than relying on assumptions or jumping to conclusions
- Ask questions and dig deep, rather than accepting information at face value
- Keep your own biases and perceptions in check to stay as objective as possible
- Rely on your emotional intelligence to fill in the blanks and gain a more well-rounded understanding of a situation
So, critical thinking isn’t just being intelligent or analytical. In many ways, it requires you to step outside of yourself, let go of your own preconceived notions, and approach a problem or situation with curiosity and fairness.
It’s a challenge, but it’s well worth it. Critical thinking skills will help you connect ideas, make reasonable decisions, and solve complex problems.
7 critical thinking skills to help you dig deeper
Critical thinking is often labeled as a skill itself (you’ll see it bulleted as a desired trait in a variety of job descriptions). But it’s better to think of critical thinking less as a distinct skill and more as a collection or category of skills.
To think critically, you’ll need to tap into a bunch of your other soft skills. Here are seven of the most important.
Open-mindedness
It’s important to kick off the critical thinking process with the idea that anything is possible. The more you’re able to set aside your own suspicions, beliefs, and agenda, the better prepared you are to approach the situation with the level of inquisitiveness you need.
That means not closing yourself off to any possibilities and allowing yourself the space to pull on every thread – yes, even the ones that seem totally implausible.
As Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D. writes in a piece for Psychology Today , “Even if an idea appears foolish, sometimes its consideration can lead to an intelligent, critically considered conclusion.” He goes on to compare the critical thinking process to brainstorming . Sometimes the “bad” ideas are what lay the foundation for the good ones.
Open-mindedness is challenging because it requires more effort and mental bandwidth than sticking with your own perceptions. Approaching problems or situations with true impartiality often means:
- Practicing self-regulation : Giving yourself a pause between when you feel something and when you actually react or take action.
- Challenging your own biases: Acknowledging your biases and seeking feedback are two powerful ways to get a broader understanding.
Critical thinking example
In a team meeting, your boss mentioned that your company newsletter signups have been decreasing and she wants to figure out why.
At first, you feel offended and defensive – it feels like she’s blaming you for the dip in subscribers. You recognize and rationalize that emotion before thinking about potential causes. You have a hunch about what’s happening, but you will explore all possibilities and contributions from your team members.
Observation
Observation is, of course, your ability to notice and process the details all around you (even the subtle or seemingly inconsequential ones). Critical thinking demands that you’re flexible and willing to go beyond surface-level information, and solid observation skills help you do that.
Your observations help you pick up on clues from a variety of sources and experiences, all of which help you draw a final conclusion. After all, sometimes it’s the most minuscule realization that leads you to the strongest conclusion.
Over the next week or so, you keep a close eye on your company’s website and newsletter analytics to see if numbers are in fact declining or if your boss’s concerns were just a fluke.
Critical thinking hinges on objectivity. And, to be objective, you need to base your judgments on the facts – which you collect through research. You’ll lean on your research skills to gather as much information as possible that’s relevant to your problem or situation.
Keep in mind that this isn’t just about the quantity of information – quality matters too. You want to find data and details from a variety of trusted sources to drill past the surface and build a deeper understanding of what’s happening.
You dig into your email and website analytics to identify trends in bounce rates, time on page, conversions, and more. You also review recent newsletters and email promotions to understand what customers have received, look through current customer feedback, and connect with your customer support team to learn what they’re hearing in their conversations with customers.
The critical thinking process is sort of like a treasure hunt – you’ll find some nuggets that are fundamental for your final conclusion and some that might be interesting but aren’t pertinent to the problem at hand.
That’s why you need analytical skills. They’re what help you separate the wheat from the chaff, prioritize information, identify trends or themes, and draw conclusions based on the most relevant and influential facts.
It’s easy to confuse analytical thinking with critical thinking itself, and it’s true there is a lot of overlap between the two. But analytical thinking is just a piece of critical thinking. It focuses strictly on the facts and data, while critical thinking incorporates other factors like emotions, opinions, and experiences.
As you analyze your research, you notice that one specific webpage has contributed to a significant decline in newsletter signups. While all of the other sources have stayed fairly steady with regard to conversions, that one has sharply decreased.
You decide to move on from your other hypotheses about newsletter quality and dig deeper into the analytics.
One of the traps of critical thinking is that it’s easy to feel like you’re never done. There’s always more information you could collect and more rabbit holes you could fall down.
But at some point, you need to accept that you’ve done your due diligence and make a decision about how to move forward. That’s where inference comes in. It’s your ability to look at the evidence and facts available to you and draw an informed conclusion based on those.
When you’re so focused on staying objective and pursuing all possibilities, inference can feel like the antithesis of critical thinking. But ultimately, it’s your inference skills that allow you to move out of the thinking process and onto the action steps.
You dig deeper into the analytics for the page that hasn’t been converting and notice that the sharp drop-off happened around the same time you switched email providers.
After looking more into the backend, you realize that the signup form on that page isn’t correctly connected to your newsletter platform. It seems like anybody who has signed up on that page hasn’t been fed to your email list.
Communication
3 ways to improve your communication skills at work
If and when you identify a solution or answer, you can’t keep it close to the vest. You’ll need to use your communication skills to share your findings with the relevant stakeholders – like your boss, team members, or anybody who needs to be involved in the next steps.
Your analysis skills will come in handy here too, as they’ll help you determine what information other people need to know so you can avoid bogging them down with unnecessary details.
In your next team meeting, you pull up the analytics and show your team the sharp drop-off as well as the missing connection between that page and your email platform. You ask the web team to reinstall and double-check that connection and you also ask a member of the marketing team to draft an apology email to the subscribers who were missed.
Problem-solving
Critical thinking and problem-solving are two more terms that are frequently confused. After all, when you think critically, you’re often doing so with the objective of solving a problem.
The best way to understand how problem-solving and critical thinking differ is to think of problem-solving as much more narrow. You’re focused on finding a solution.
In contrast, you can use critical thinking for a variety of use cases beyond solving a problem – like answering questions or identifying opportunities for improvement. Even so, within the critical thinking process, you’ll flex your problem-solving skills when it comes time to take action.
Once the fix is implemented, you monitor the analytics to see if subscribers continue to increase. If not (or if they increase at a slower rate than you anticipated), you’ll roll out some other tests like changing the CTA language or the placement of the subscribe form on the page.
5 ways to improve your critical thinking skills
Beyond the buzzwords: Why interpersonal skills matter at work
Think critically about critical thinking and you’ll quickly realize that it’s not as instinctive as you’d like it to be. Fortunately, your critical thinking skills are learned competencies and not inherent gifts – and that means you can improve them. Here’s how:
- Practice active listening: Active listening helps you process and understand what other people share. That’s crucial as you aim to be open-minded and inquisitive.
- Ask open-ended questions: If your critical thinking process involves collecting feedback and opinions from others, ask open-ended questions (meaning, questions that can’t be answered with “yes” or “no”). Doing so will give you more valuable information and also prevent your own biases from influencing people’s input.
- Scrutinize your sources: Figuring out what to trust and prioritize is crucial for critical thinking. Boosting your media literacy and asking more questions will help you be more discerning about what to factor in. It’s hard to strike a balance between skepticism and open-mindedness, but approaching information with questions (rather than unquestioning trust) will help you draw better conclusions.
- Play a game: Remember those riddles we mentioned at the beginning? As trivial as they might seem, games and exercises like those can help you boost your critical thinking skills. There are plenty of critical thinking exercises you can do individually or as a team .
- Give yourself time: Research shows that rushed decisions are often regrettable ones. That’s likely because critical thinking takes time – you can’t do it under the wire. So, for big decisions or hairy problems, give yourself enough time and breathing room to work through the process. It’s hard enough to think critically without a countdown ticking in your brain.
Critical thinking really is critical
The ability to think critically is important, but it doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It’s just easier to stick with biases, assumptions, and surface-level information.
But that route often leads you to rash judgments, shaky conclusions, and disappointing decisions. So here’s a conclusion we can draw without any more noodling: Even if it is more demanding on your mental resources, critical thinking is well worth the effort.
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How to build your critical thinking skills in 7 steps (with examples)
Critical thinking is, well, critical. By building these skills, you improve your ability to analyze information and come to the best decision possible. In this article, we cover the basics of critical thinking, as well as the seven steps you can use to implement the full critical thinking process.
Critical thinking comes from asking the right questions to come to the best conclusion possible. Strong critical thinkers analyze information from a variety of viewpoints in order to identify the best course of action.
Don’t worry if you don’t think you have strong critical thinking abilities. In this article, we’ll help you build a foundation for critical thinking so you can absorb, analyze, and make informed decisions.
What is critical thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability to collect and analyze information to come to a conclusion. Being able to think critically is important in virtually every industry and applicable across a wide range of positions. That’s because critical thinking isn’t subject-specific—rather, it’s your ability to parse through information, data, statistics, and other details in order to identify a satisfactory solution.
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Top 8 critical thinking skills
Like most soft skills, critical thinking isn’t something you can take a class to learn. Rather, this skill consists of a variety of interpersonal and analytical skills. Developing critical thinking is more about learning to embrace open-mindedness and bringing analytical thinking to your problem framing process.
In no particular order, the eight most important critical thinking skills are:
Analytical thinking: Part of critical thinking is evaluating data from multiple sources in order to come to the best conclusions. Analytical thinking allows people to reject bias and strive to gather and consume information to come to the best conclusion.
Open-mindedness: This critical thinking skill helps you analyze and process information to come to an unbiased conclusion. Part of the critical thinking process is letting your personal biases go and coming to a conclusion based on all of the information.
Problem solving : Because critical thinking emphasizes coming to the best conclusion based on all of the available information, it’s a key part of problem solving. When used correctly, critical thinking helps you solve any problem—from a workplace challenge to difficulties in everyday life.
Self-regulation: Self-regulation refers to the ability to regulate your thoughts and set aside any personal biases to come to the best conclusion. In order to be an effective critical thinker, you need to question the information you have and the decisions you favor—only then can you come to the best conclusion.
Observation: Observation skills help critical thinkers look for things beyond face value. To be a critical thinker you need to embrace multiple points of view, and you can use observation skills to identify potential problems.
Interpretation: Not all data is made equal—and critical thinkers know this. In addition to gathering information, it’s important to evaluate which information is important and relevant to your situation. That way, you can draw the best conclusions from the data you’ve collected.
Evaluation: When you attempt to answer a hard question, there is rarely an obvious answer. Even though critical thinking emphasizes putting your biases aside, you need to be able to confidently make a decision based on the data you have available.
Communication: Once a decision has been made, you also need to share this decision with other stakeholders. Effective workplace communication includes presenting evidence and supporting your conclusion—especially if there are a variety of different possible solutions.
7 steps to critical thinking
Critical thinking is a skill that you can build by following these seven steps. The seven steps to critical thinking help you ensure you’re approaching a problem from the right angle, considering every alternative, and coming to an unbiased conclusion.
First things first: When to use the 7 step critical thinking process
There’s a lot that goes into the full critical thinking process, and not every decision needs to be this thought out. Sometimes, it’s enough to put aside bias and approach a process logically. In other, more complex cases, the best way to identify the ideal outcome is to go through the entire critical thinking process.
The seven-step critical thinking process is useful for complex decisions in areas you are less familiar with. Alternatively, the seven critical thinking steps can help you look at a problem you’re familiar with from a different angle, without any bias.
If you need to make a less complex decision, consider another problem solving strategy instead. Decision matrices are a great way to identify the best option between different choices. Check out our article on 7 steps to creating a decision matrix .
1. Identify the problem
Before you put those critical thinking skills to work, you first need to identify the problem you’re solving. This step includes taking a look at the problem from a few different perspectives and asking questions like:
What’s happening?
Why is this happening?
What assumptions am I making?
At first glance, how do I think we can solve this problem?
A big part of developing your critical thinking skills is learning how to come to unbiased conclusions. In order to do that, you first need to acknowledge the biases that you currently have. Does someone on your team think they know the answer? Are you making assumptions that aren’t necessarily true? Identifying these details helps you later on in the process.
2. Research
At this point, you likely have a general idea of the problem—but in order to come up with the best solution, you need to dig deeper.
During the research process, collect information relating to the problem, including data, statistics, historical project information, team input, and more. Make sure you gather information from a variety of sources, especially if those sources go against your personal ideas about what the problem is or how to solve it.
Gathering varied information is essential for your ability to apply the critical thinking process. If you don’t get enough information, your ability to make a final decision will be skewed. Remember that critical thinking is about helping you identify the objective best conclusion. You aren’t going with your gut—you’re doing research to find the best option
3. Determine data relevance
Just as it’s important to gather a variety of information, it is also important to determine how relevant the different information sources are. After all, just because there is data doesn’t mean it’s relevant.
Once you’ve gathered all of the information, sift through the noise and identify what information is relevant and what information isn’t. Synthesizing all of this information and establishing significance helps you weigh different data sources and come to the best conclusion later on in the critical thinking process.
To determine data relevance, ask yourself:
How reliable is this information?
How significant is this information?
Is this information outdated? Is it specialized in a specific field?
4. Ask questions
One of the most useful parts of the critical thinking process is coming to a decision without bias. In order to do so, you need to take a step back from the process and challenge the assumptions you’re making.
We all have bias—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unconscious biases (also known as cognitive biases) often serve as mental shortcuts to simplify problem solving and aid decision making. But even when biases aren’t inherently bad, you must be aware of your biases in order to put them aside when necessary.
Before coming to a solution, ask yourself:
Am I making any assumptions about this information?
Are there additional variables I haven’t considered?
Have I evaluated the information from every perspective?
Are there any viewpoints I missed?
5. Identify the best solution
Finally, you’re ready to come to a conclusion. To identify the best solution, draw connections between causes and effects. Use the facts you’ve gathered to evaluate the most objective conclusion.
Keep in mind that there may be more than one solution. Often, the problems you’re facing are complex and intricate. The critical thinking process doesn’t necessarily lead to a cut-and-dry solution—instead, the process helps you understand the different variables at play so you can make an informed decision.
6. Present your solution
Communication is a key skill for critical thinkers. It isn’t enough to think for yourself—you also need to share your conclusion with other project stakeholders. If there are multiple solutions, present them all. There may be a case where you implement one solution, then test to see if it works before implementing another solution.
7. Analyze your decision
The seven-step critical thinking process yields a result—and you then need to put that solution into place. After you’ve implemented your decision, evaluate whether or not it was effective. Did it solve the initial problem? What lessons—whether positive or negative—can you learn from this experience to improve your critical thinking for next time?
Depending on how your team shares information, consider documenting lessons learned in a central source of truth. That way, team members that are making similar or related decisions in the future can understand why you made the decision you made and what the outcome was.
Example of critical thinking in the workplace
Imagine you work in user experience design (UX). Your team is focused on pricing and packaging and ensuring customers have a clear understanding of the different services your company offers. Here’s how to apply the critical thinking process in the workplace in seven steps:
Start by identifying the problem
Your current pricing page isn’t performing as well as you want. You’ve heard from customers that your services aren’t clear, and that the page doesn’t answer the questions they have. This page is really important for your company, since it’s where your customers sign up for your service. You and your team have a few theories about why your current page isn’t performing well, but you decide to apply the critical thinking process to ensure you come to the best decision for the page.
Gather information about how the problem started
Part of identifying the problem includes understanding how the problem started. The pricing and packaging page is important—so when your team initially designed the page, they certainly put a lot of thought into it. Before you begin researching how to improve the page, ask yourself:
Why did you design the pricing page the way you did?
Which stakeholders need to be involved in the decision making process?
Where are users getting stuck on the page?
Are any features currently working?
Then, you research
In addition to understanding the history of the pricing and packaging page, it’s important to understand what works well. Part of this research means taking a look at what your competitor’s pricing pages look like.
Ask yourself:
How have our competitors set up their pricing pages?
Are there any pricing page best practices?
How does color, positioning, and animation impact navigation?
Are there any standard page layouts customers expect to see?
Organize and analyze information
You’ve gathered all of the information you need—now you need to organize and analyze it. What trends, if any, are you noticing? Is there any particularly relevant or important information that you have to consider?
Ask open-ended questions to reduce bias
In the case of critical thinking, it’s important to address and set bias aside as much as possible. Ask yourself:
Is there anything I’m missing?
Have I connected with the right stakeholders?
Are there any other viewpoints I should consider?
Determine the best solution for your team
You now have all of the information you need to design the best pricing page. Depending on the complexity of the design, you may want to design a few options to present to a small group of customers or A/B test on the live website.
Present your solution to stakeholders
Critical thinking can help you in every element of your life, but in the workplace, you must also involve key project stakeholders . Stakeholders help you determine next steps, like whether you’ll A/B test the page first. Depending on the complexity of the issue, consider hosting a meeting or sharing a status report to get everyone on the same page.
Analyze the results
No process is complete without evaluating the results. Once the new page has been live for some time, evaluate whether it did better than the previous page. What worked? What didn’t? This also helps you make better critical decisions later on.
Critically successful
Critical thinking takes time to build, but with effort and patience you can apply an unbiased, analytical mind to any situation. Critical thinking makes up one of many soft skills that makes you an effective team member, manager, and worker. If you’re looking to hone your skills further, read our article on the 25 project management skills you need to succeed .
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How Asana uses work management for smoother creative production
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Critical Thinking and Decision-Making - What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking and decision-making -, what is critical thinking, critical thinking and decision-making what is critical thinking.
Critical Thinking and Decision-Making: What is Critical Thinking?
Lesson 1: what is critical thinking, what is critical thinking.
Critical thinking is a term that gets thrown around a lot. You've probably heard it used often throughout the years whether it was in school, at work, or in everyday conversation. But when you stop to think about it, what exactly is critical thinking and how do you do it ?
Watch the video below to learn more about critical thinking.
Simply put, critical thinking is the act of deliberately analyzing information so that you can make better judgements and decisions . It involves using things like logic, reasoning, and creativity, to draw conclusions and generally understand things better.
This may sound like a pretty broad definition, and that's because critical thinking is a broad skill that can be applied to so many different situations. You can use it to prepare for a job interview, manage your time better, make decisions about purchasing things, and so much more.
The process
As humans, we are constantly thinking . It's something we can't turn off. But not all of it is critical thinking. No one thinks critically 100% of the time... that would be pretty exhausting! Instead, it's an intentional process , something that we consciously use when we're presented with difficult problems or important decisions.
Improving your critical thinking
In order to become a better critical thinker, it's important to ask questions when you're presented with a problem or decision, before jumping to any conclusions. You can start with simple ones like What do I currently know? and How do I know this? These can help to give you a better idea of what you're working with and, in some cases, simplify more complex issues.
Real-world applications
Let's take a look at how we can use critical thinking to evaluate online information . Say a friend of yours posts a news article on social media and you're drawn to its headline. If you were to use your everyday automatic thinking, you might accept it as fact and move on. But if you were thinking critically, you would first analyze the available information and ask some questions :
- What's the source of this article?
- Is the headline potentially misleading?
- What are my friend's general beliefs?
- Do their beliefs inform why they might have shared this?
After analyzing all of this information, you can draw a conclusion about whether or not you think the article is trustworthy.
Critical thinking has a wide range of real-world applications . It can help you to make better decisions, become more hireable, and generally better understand the world around you.
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5.3: Using Critical Thinking Skills- Decision Making and Problem Solving
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Introduction
In previous lessons, you learned about characteristics of critical thinkers and information literacy. In this module, you will learn how to put those skills into action through the important processes of decision making and problem solving.
As with the process of developing information literacy, asking questions is an important part of decision making and problem solving. Thinking is born of questions. Questions wake us up. Questions alert us to hidden assumptions. Questions promote curiosity and create new distinctions. Questions open up options that otherwise go unexplored. Besides, teachers love questions.
We make decisions all the time, whether we realize it or not. Even avoiding decisions is a form of decision making. The student who puts off studying for a test until the last minute, for example, might really be saying, “I’ve decided this course is not important” or “I’ve decided not to give this course much time.”
Decisions are specific and lead to focused action. When we decide, we narrow down. We give up actions that are inconsistent with our decision.
In addition to decision making, critical thinking skills are important to solving problems. We encounter problems every single day, and having a solid process in place is important to solving them.
At the end of the lesson, you will learn how to put your critical thinking skills to use by reviewing an example of how critical thinking skills can help with making those everyday decisions.
Using Critical Thinking Skills: Asking Questions
Questions have practical power. Asking for directions can shave hours off a trip. Asking a librarian for help can save hours of research time. Asking how to address an instructor—by first name or formal title—can change your relationship with that person. Asking your academic advisor a question can alter your entire education. Asking people about their career plans can alter your career plans.
You can use the following strategies to develop questions for problem solving and decision making:
Ask questions that create possibilities. At any moment, you can ask a question that opens up a new possibility for someone.
- Suppose a friend walks up to you and says, “People just never listen to me.” You listen carefully. Then you say, “Let me make sure I understand. Who, specifically, doesn’t listen to you? And how do you know they’re not listening?”
- Another friend tells you, “I just lost my job to someone who has less experience. That should never happen.” You respond, “Wow, that’s hard. I’m sorry you lost your job. Who can help you find another job?”
- A relative seeks your advice. “My mother-in-law makes me mad,” she says. “You’re having a hard time with this person,” you say. “What does she say and do when you feel mad at her? And are there times when you don’t get mad at her?”
These kinds of questions—asked with compassion and a sense of timing—can help people move from complaining about problems to solving them.
Discover new questions. Students sometimes say, “I don’t know what questions to ask.” Consider the following ways to create questions about any subject you want to study or about any
area of your life that you want to change:
- Let your pen start moving. Sometimes you can access a deeper level of knowledge by taking out your pen, putting it on a piece of paper, and writing down questions—even before you know what to write. Don’t think. Just watch the pen move across the paper. Notice what appears. The results might be surprising.
- Ask about what’s missing . Another way to invent useful questions is to notice what’s missing from your life and then ask how to supply it. For example, if you want to take better notes, you can write, “What’s missing is skill in note taking. How can I gain more skill in taking notes?” If you always feel rushed, you can write, “What’s missing is time. How do I create enough time in my day to actually do the things that I say I want to do?”
- Pretend to be someone else. Another way to invent questions is first to think of someone you greatly respect. Then pretend you’re that person. Ask the questions you think she would ask.
- What can I do when ... an instructor calls on me in class and I have no idea what to say? When a teacher doesn’t show up for class on time? When I feel overwhelmed with assignments?
- How can I ... take the kind of courses that I want? Expand my career options? Become much more effective as a student, starting today?
- When do I ... decide on a major? Transfer to another school? Meet with an instructor to discuss an upcoming term paper?
- What else do I want to know about ... my academic plan? My career plan? My options for job hunting? My friends? My relatives? My spouse?
- Who can I ask about ... my career options? My major? My love life? My values and purpose in life?
Many times you can quickly generate questions by simply asking yourself, “What else do I want to know?” Ask this question immediately after you read a paragraph in a book or listen to someone speak.
Start from the assumption that you are brilliant. Then ask questions to unlock your brilliance.
Using Critical Thinking Skills in Decision Making
As you develop your critical thinking skills, you can apply them as you make decisions. The following suggestions can help in your decision-making process:
Recognize decisions. Decisions are more than wishes or desires. There’s a world of difference between “I wish I could be a better student” and “I will take more powerful notes, read with greater retention, and review my class notes daily.” Deciding to eat fruit for dessert instead of ice cream rules out the next trip to the ice cream store.
Establish priorities. Some decisions are trivial. No matter what the outcome, your life is not affected much. Other decisions can shape your circumstances for years. Devote more time and energy to the decisions with big outcomes.
Base decisions on a life plan. The benefit of having long-term goals for our lives is that they provide a basis for many of our daily decisions. Being certain about what we want to accomplish this year and this month makes today’s choices more clear.
Balance learning styles in decision making. To make decisions more effectively, use all four modes of learning explained in a previous lesson. The key is to balance reflection with action, and thinking with experience. First, take the time to think creatively, and generate many options. Then think critically about the possible consequences of each option before choosing one. Remember, however, that thinking is no substitute for experience. Act on your chosen option, and notice what happens. If you’re not getting the results you want, then quickly return to creative thinking to invent new options.
Choose an overall strategy. Every time you make a decision, you choose a strategy—even when you’re not aware of it. Effective decision makers can articulate and choose from among several strategies. For example:
- Find all of the available options, and choose one deliberately. Save this strategy for times when you have a relatively small number of options, each of which leads to noticeably different results.
- Find all of the available options, and choose one randomly. This strategy can be risky. Save it for times when your options are basically similar and fairness is the main issue.
- Limit the options, and then choose. When deciding which search engine to use, visit many search sites and then narrow the list down to two or three from which to choose.
Use time as an ally. Sometimes we face dilemmas—situations in which any course of action leads to undesirable consequences. In such cases, consider putting a decision on hold. Wait it out. Do nothing until the circumstances change, making one alternative clearly preferable to another.
Use intuition. Some decisions seem to make themselves. A solution pops into your mind, and you gain newfound clarity. Using intuition is not the same as forgetting about the decision or refusing to make it. Intuitive decisions usually arrive after we’ve gathered the relevant facts and faced a problem for some time.
Evaluate your decision. Hindsight is a source of insight. After you act on a decision, observe the consequences over time. Reflect on how well your decision worked and what you might have done differently.
Think of choices. This final suggestion involves some creative thinking. Consider that the word decide derives from the same roots as suicide and homicide . In the spirit of those words, a decision forever “kills” all other options. That’s kind of heavy. Instead, use the word choice , and see whether it frees up your thinking. When you choose , you express a preference for one option over others. However, those options remain live possibilities for the future. Choose for today, knowing that as you gain more wisdom and experience, you can choose again.
Using Critical Thinking Skills in Problem Solving
Think of problem solving as a process with four Ps : Define the problem , generate possibilities ,
create a plan , and perform your plan.
Step 1: Define the problem. To define a problem effectively, understand what a problem is—a mismatch between what you want and what you have. Problem solving is all about reducing the gap between these two factors.
Tell the truth about what’s present in your life right now, without shame or blame. For example: “I often get sleepy while reading my physics assignments, and after closing the book I cannot remember what I just read.”
Next, describe in detail what you want. Go for specifics: “I want to remain alert as I read about physics. I also want to accurately summarize each chapter I read.”
Remember that when we define a problem in limiting ways, our solutions merely generate new problems. As Albert Einstein said, “The world we have made is a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far. We cannot solve problems at the same level at which we created them” (Calaprice 2000).
This idea has many applications for success in school. An example is the student who struggles with note taking. The problem, she thinks, is that her notes are too sketchy. The logical solution, she decides, is to take more notes; her new goal is to write down almost everything her instructors say. No matter how fast and furiously she writes, she cannot capture all of the instructors’ comments.
Consider what happens when this student defines the problem in a new way. After more thought, she decides that her dilemma is not the quantity of her notes but their quality . She adopts a new format for taking notes, dividing her notepaper into two columns. In the right-hand column, she writes down only the main points of each lecture. In the left-hand column, she notes two or three supporting details for each point.
Over time, this student makes the joyous discovery that there are usually just three or four core ideas to remember from each lecture. She originally thought the solution was to take more notes. What really worked was taking notes in a new way.
Step 2: Generate possibilities. Now put on your creative thinking hat. Open up. Brainstorm as many possible solutions to the problem as you can. At this stage, quantity counts. As you generate possibilities, gather relevant facts. For example, when you’re faced with a dilemma about what courses to take next semester, get information on class times, locations, and instructors. If you haven’t decided which summer job offer to accept, gather information on salary, benefits, and working conditions.
Step 3: Create a plan. After rereading your problem definition and list of possible solutions, choose the solution that seems most workable. Think about specific actions that will reduce the gap between what you have and what you want. Visualize the steps you will take to make this solution a reality, and arrange them in chronological order. To make your plan even more powerful, put it in writing.
Step 4: Perform your plan. This step gets you off your chair and out into the world. Now you actually do what you have planned.
Ultimately, your skill in solving problems lies in how well you perform your plan. Through the quality of your actions, you become the architect of your own success.
When facing problems, experiment with these four Ps, and remember that the order of steps is not absolute. Also remember that any solution has the potential to create new problems. If that happens, cycle through the four Ps of problem solving again.
Critical Thinking Skills in Action: Thinking About Your Major, Part 1
One decision that troubles many students in higher education is the choice of a major. Weighing the benefits, costs, and outcomes of a possible major is an intellectual challenge. This choice is an opportunity to apply your critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. The following suggestions will guide you through this seemingly overwhelming process.
The first step is to discover options. You can use the following suggestions to discover options for choosing your major:
Follow the fun. Perhaps you look forward to attending one of your classes and even like completing the assignments. This is a clue to your choice of major.
See whether you can find lasting patterns in the subjects and extracurricular activities that you’ve enjoyed over the years. Look for a major that allows you to continue and expand on these experiences.
Also, sit down with a stack of 3 × 5 cards and brainstorm answers to the following questions:
- What do you enjoy doing most with your unscheduled time?
- Imagine that you’re at a party and having a fascinating conversation. What is this conversation about?
- What kind of problems do you enjoy solving—those that involve people? Products? Ideas?
- What interests are revealed by your choices of reading material, television shows, and other entertainment?
- What would an ideal day look like for you? Describe where you would live, who would be with you, and what you would do throughout the day. Do any of these visions suggest a possible major?
Questions like these can uncover a “fun factor” that energizes you to finish the work of completing a major.
Consider your abilities. In choosing a major, ability counts as much as interest. In addition to considering what you enjoy, think about times and places when you excelled. List the courses that you aced, the work assignments that you mastered, and the hobbies that led to rewards or recognition. Let your choice of a major reflect a discovery of your passions and potentials.
Use formal techniques for self-discovery. Explore questionnaires and inventories that are designed to correlate your interests with specific majors. Examples include the Strong Interest Inventory and the Self-Directed Search. Your academic advisor or someone in your school’s career planning office can give you more details about these and related assessments. For some fun, take several of them and meet with an advisor to interpret the results. Remember inventories can help you gain self-knowledge, and other people can offer valuable perspectives. However, what you do with all this input is entirely up to you.
Critical Thinking Skills in Action: Thinking About Your Major, Part 2
As you review the following additional suggestions of discovering options, think about what strategies you already use in your own decision-making process. Also think about what new strategies you might try in the future.
Link to long-term goals. Your choice of a major can fall into place once you determine what you want in life. Before you choose a major, back up to a bigger picture. List your core values, such as contributing to society, achieving financial security and professional recognition, enjoying good health, or making time for fun. Also write down specific goals that you want to accomplish 5 years, 10 years, or even 50 years from today.
Many students find that the prospect of getting what they want in life justifies all of the time, money, and day-to-day effort invested in going to school. Having a major gives you a powerful incentive for attending classes, taking part in discussions, reading textbooks, writing papers, and completing other assignments. When you see a clear connection between finishing school and creating the life of your dreams, the daily tasks of higher education become charged with meaning.
Ask other people. Key people in your life might have valuable suggestions about your choice of major. Ask for their ideas, and listen with an open mind. At the same time, distance yourself from any pressure to choose a major or career that fails to interest you. If you make a choice solely on the basis of the expectations of other people, you could end up with a major or even a career you don’t enjoy.
Gather information. Check your school’s catalog or website for a list of available majors. Here is a gold mine of information. Take a quick glance, and highlight all the majors that interest you. Then talk to students who have declared these majors. Also read the descriptions of courses required for these majors. Do you get excited about the chance to enroll in them? Pay attention to your gut feelings.
Also chat with instructors who teach courses in a specific major. Ask for copies of their class syllabi. Go to the bookstore and browse the required texts. Based on all of this information, write a list of prospective majors. Discuss them with an academic advisor and someone at your school’s career-planning center.
Invent a major. When choosing a major, you might not need to limit yourself to those listed in your school catalog. Many schools now have flexible programs that allow for independent study. Through such programs, you might be able to combine two existing majors or invent an entirely new one of your own.
Consider a complementary minor. You can add flexibility to your academic program by choosing a minor to complement or contrast with your major. The student who wants to be a minister could opt for a minor in English; all of those courses in composition can help in writing sermons. Or the student with a major in psychology might choose a minor in business administration, with the idea of managing a counseling service some day. An effective choice of a minor can expand your skills and career options.
Think critically about the link between your major and your career. Your career goals might have a significant impact on your choice of major.
You could pursue a rewarding career by choosing among several different majors. Even students planning to apply for law school or medical school have flexibility in their choice of majors. In addition, after graduation, many people tend to be employed in jobs that have little relationship to their major. And you might choose a career in the future that is unrelated to any currently available major.
Critical Thinking Skills in Action: Thinking About Your Major, Part 3
Once you have discovered all of your options, you can move on to the next step in the process— making a trial choice.
Make a Trial Choice
Pretend that you have to choose a major today. Based on the options for a major that you’ve already discovered, write down the first three ideas that come to mind. Review the list for a few minutes, and then choose one.
Evaluate Your Trial Choice
When you’ve made a trial choice of major, take on the role of a scientist. Treat your choice as a hypothesis, and then design a series of experiments to evaluate and test it. For example:
- Schedule office meetings with instructors who teach courses in the major. Ask about required course work and career options in the field.
- Discuss your trial choice with an academic advisor or career counselor.
- Enroll in a course related to your possible major. Remember that introductory courses might not give you a realistic picture of the workload involved in advanced courses. Also, you might not be able to register for certain courses until you’ve actually declared a related major.
- Find a volunteer experience, internship, part-time job, or service-learning experience related to the major.
- Interview students who have declared the same major. Ask them in detail about their experiences and suggestions for success.
- Interview people who work in a field related to the major and “shadow” them—that is, spend time with those people during their workday.
- Think about whether you can complete your major given the amount of time and money that you plan to invest in higher education.
- Consider whether declaring this major would require a transfer to another program or even another school.
If your “experiments” confirm your choice of major, celebrate that fact. If they result in choosing a new major, celebrate that outcome as well.
Also remember that higher education represents a safe place to test your choice of major—and to change your mind. As you sort through your options, help is always available from administrators, instructors, advisors, and peers.
Choose Again
Keep your choice of a major in perspective. There is probably no single “correct” choice. Your unique collection of skills is likely to provide the basis for majoring in several fields.
Odds are that you’ll change your major at least once—and that you’ll change careers several times during your life. One benefit of higher education is mobility. You gain the general skills and knowledge that can help you move into a new major or career field at any time.
Viewing a major as a one-time choice that determines your entire future can raise your stress levels. Instead, look at choosing a major as the start of a continuing path that involves discovery, choice, and passionate action.
As you review this example of how you can use critical thinking to make a decision about choosing your major, think about how you will use your critical thinking to make decisions and solve problems in the future.
Critical Thinking Definition, Skills, and Examples
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Critical thinking refers to the ability to analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment. It involves the evaluation of sources, such as data, facts, observable phenomena, and research findings.
Good critical thinkers can draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information, and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve problems or make decisions. Employers prioritize the ability to think critically—find out why, plus see how you can demonstrate that you have this ability throughout the job application process.
Why Do Employers Value Critical Thinking Skills?
Employers want job candidates who can evaluate a situation using logical thought and offer the best solution.
Someone with critical thinking skills can be trusted to make decisions independently, and will not need constant handholding.
Hiring a critical thinker means that micromanaging won't be required. Critical thinking abilities are among the most sought-after skills in almost every industry and workplace. You can demonstrate critical thinking by using related keywords in your resume and cover letter, and during your interview.
Examples of Critical Thinking
The circumstances that demand critical thinking vary from industry to industry. Some examples include:
- A triage nurse analyzes the cases at hand and decides the order by which the patients should be treated.
- A plumber evaluates the materials that would best suit a particular job.
- An attorney reviews evidence and devises a strategy to win a case or to decide whether to settle out of court.
- A manager analyzes customer feedback forms and uses this information to develop a customer service training session for employees.
Promote Your Skills in Your Job Search
If critical thinking is a key phrase in the job listings you are applying for, be sure to emphasize your critical thinking skills throughout your job search.
Add Keywords to Your Resume
You can use critical thinking keywords (analytical, problem solving, creativity, etc.) in your resume. When describing your work history , include top critical thinking skills that accurately describe you. You can also include them in your resume summary , if you have one.
For example, your summary might read, “Marketing Associate with five years of experience in project management. Skilled in conducting thorough market research and competitor analysis to assess market trends and client needs, and to develop appropriate acquisition tactics.”
Mention Skills in Your Cover Letter
Include these critical thinking skills in your cover letter. In the body of your letter, mention one or two of these skills, and give specific examples of times when you have demonstrated them at work. Think about times when you had to analyze or evaluate materials to solve a problem.
Show the Interviewer Your Skills
You can use these skill words in an interview. Discuss a time when you were faced with a particular problem or challenge at work and explain how you applied critical thinking to solve it.
Some interviewers will give you a hypothetical scenario or problem, and ask you to use critical thinking skills to solve it. In this case, explain your thought process thoroughly to the interviewer. He or she is typically more focused on how you arrive at your solution rather than the solution itself. The interviewer wants to see you analyze and evaluate (key parts of critical thinking) the given scenario or problem.
Of course, each job will require different skills and experiences, so make sure you read the job description carefully and focus on the skills listed by the employer.
Top Critical Thinking Skills
Keep these in-demand critical thinking skills in mind as you update your resume and write your cover letter. As you've seen, you can also emphasize them at other points throughout the application process, such as your interview.
Part of critical thinking is the ability to carefully examine something, whether it is a problem, a set of data, or a text. People with analytical skills can examine information, understand what it means, and properly explain to others the implications of that information.
- Asking Thoughtful Questions
- Data Analysis
- Interpretation
- Questioning Evidence
- Recognizing Patterns
Communication
Often, you will need to share your conclusions with your employers or with a group of colleagues. You need to be able to communicate with others to share your ideas effectively. You might also need to engage in critical thinking in a group. In this case, you will need to work with others and communicate effectively to figure out solutions to complex problems.
- Active Listening
- Collaboration
- Explanation
- Interpersonal
- Presentation
- Verbal Communication
- Written Communication
Critical thinking often involves creativity and innovation. You might need to spot patterns in the information you are looking at or come up with a solution that no one else has thought of before. All of this involves a creative eye that can take a different approach from all other approaches.
- Flexibility
- Conceptualization
- Imagination
- Drawing Connections
- Synthesizing
Open-Mindedness
To think critically, you need to be able to put aside any assumptions or judgments and merely analyze the information you receive. You need to be objective, evaluating ideas without bias.
- Objectivity
- Observation
Problem Solving
Problem-solving is another critical thinking skill that involves analyzing a problem, generating and implementing a solution, and assessing the success of the plan. Employers don’t simply want employees who can think about information critically. They also need to be able to come up with practical solutions.
- Attention to Detail
- Clarification
- Decision Making
- Groundedness
- Identifying Patterns
More Critical Thinking Skills
- Inductive Reasoning
- Deductive Reasoning
- Noticing Outliers
- Adaptability
- Emotional Intelligence
- Brainstorming
- Optimization
- Restructuring
- Integration
- Strategic Planning
- Project Management
- Ongoing Improvement
- Causal Relationships
- Case Analysis
- Diagnostics
- SWOT Analysis
- Business Intelligence
- Quantitative Data Management
- Qualitative Data Management
- Risk Management
- Scientific Method
- Consumer Behavior
Key Takeaways
- Demonstrate that you have critical thinking skills by adding relevant keywords to your resume.
- Mention pertinent critical thinking skills in your cover letter, too, and include an example of a time when you demonstrated them at work.
- Finally, highlight critical thinking skills during your interview. For instance, you might discuss a time when you were faced with a challenge at work and explain how you applied critical thinking skills to solve it.
University of Louisville. " What is Critical Thinking ."
American Management Association. " AMA Critical Skills Survey: Workers Need Higher Level Skills to Succeed in the 21st Century ."
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Critical, Lateral, & Creative Thinking
Critical thinking & problem-solving, introduction.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrected. In other words, it is a thought process that involves the evaluation, assessment, and reinterpretation of your own or others’ ideas and thought processes. Critical thinking requires effort and dedication, but pays dividends for the time invested.
Critical thinking comes into play in a wide variety of circumstances. As a citizen of a democracy, it is important to think critically and do background research each time an election is coming up or when there is a news story about which you want to be more informed. As a student, you want to think critically about near term options, such as what courses to take, and longer term decisions, such as how to plan your degree and whether the degree you’re planning should be directed toward current employment, future employment, or your own academic interest that may or may not be related to a current or potential career.
Critical thinking involves analysis, or breaking something (a concept, an argument, a piece of information) down into its parts in order to understand and evaluate it, as a prelude to accepting or rejecting it. You’re expected to think critically when you’re asked to analyze an article for a college assignment, for example, and offer your own opinion on its validity. You also think critically when you analyze real-life situations such as moving your residence, changing jobs, or buying a car.
View the following videos on critical thinking, which further define the concept and offer some steps to apply in order to think critically and solve problems.
What are the key concepts of this video?
What examples do you have of the following?
- creating your own solution to an unexpected problem
- using pros and cons to make a decision
- making assumptions about a person
- unthinkingly applying a bias
The first two concepts often have positive outcomes, while the last two concepts may result in negative outcomes. Most likely you will have done all four of these things subconsciously in the workplace or other situations.
This video offers one (of many) ways to consider something critically:
- formulate your question
- gather your information
- apply the information (consider biases, assumptions)
- consider the implications
- explore other points of view
Both videos emphasize the need to consider a question, problem, action, or issue consciously and planfully, breaking it into its parts and considering the parts, before putting them back together with a reasoned solution or multiple potential, reasoned solutions.
Just for fun, here’s a short video on assumptions, a concept related to critical thinking.
initial learning activity
First, read and view information on the Lateral & Creative Thinking page of this text.
Then, write a brief essay (4-5 pages) applying critical, lateral, and creative thinking skills to the solution of a real problem. Use the following format:
- Identify a problem at work or with a community group, or any group or situation in which you are involved (family, friends, daily commuters on the same bus, etc.). In a few paragraphs, explain the problem.
- In another few paragraphs, analyze the problem. What are the component parts of the problem? Are there inherent assumptions and/or biases involved?
- In another few paragraphs, offer some possible solutions that you can identify immediately and logically. Identify and discuss the pros and cons of each immediate and logical solution.
- Then, try to think differently about the problem by applying lateral and creative approaches. You may want to identify the positives, negatives, and interesting aspects of the problem. You may want to consider solutions that could only happen “in your wildest dreams.” Brainstorm, and/or create a persona and ask yourself “how would X approach this problem?” Apply these and techniques suggested by the article and videos to posit at least one or more different solutions to the problem. Explain these different solutions in another few paragraphs, and posit what would need to be in place in order to enact this more creative solution.
- Conclude by reflecting on this exercise in a final few paragraphs. What did you learn about your own thought processes by completing this activity? How might you apply what you learned to your academic studies?
Submit: essay applying thinking skills
in-depth learning activity
Then, read the publication, Robot-Ready: Human + Skills for the Future of Work . (You may have read excerpts from this in other sections of this text.)
The authors of Robot-Ready assert a number of things, including that:
- Human skills will be more valued in the workplace of the future.
- Human skills are often best taught through liberal arts courses in college.
- Educators and employers do not yet have a common language for discussing the same skill sets.
- Education needs to become more problem-based in order to help develop the “both/and” that will be required in the workplace of the future (both technical knowledge and human skills).
Consider these assertions critically. Do you accept the evidence provided? What assumptions, if any, are inherent in the information? What biases, if any, are inherent in the information? Is there enough data to back up the assertion, and is that data valid?
Then choose one assertion that you feel is sound, based on your analysis. Apply critical (and lateral and creative) thinking processes to problem-solve and project a way of enacting the concept asserted. For example:
- How might you propose teaching one of the human skills in the workplace?
- How can a liberal arts college course be more obvious in its focus on human skills so that students get a sense of the real-world application of learning gained from that course?
- How might you propose that employers and educators collaborate?
- Consider a college course you already completed, one in which you learned what the authors of Robot-Ready would consider “technical knowledge.” How might you revise a learning activity in the course to make it more problem-based?
- your analysis
- your problem-solving proposal for enacting one of the concepts asserted
Related college Learning Goals
Active Learning: Assess and build upon previous learning and experiences to pursue new learning, independently and in collaboration with others.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Evaluate, analyze, synthesize and critique key concepts and experiences, and apply diverse perspectives to find creative solutions to problems concerning human behavior, society and the natural world.
For more information, see the College Learning Goals Policy .
- Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving. Authored by : Susan Oaks; adapted from team work by Nan Travers (lead), Cathy Davison, Elaine Handley, Linda Jones, Jessica Kindred, Gohar Marikyan, Lynette Nickleberry, Susan Oaks, Eileen O'Connor. Project : Educational Planning. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
- first two paragraphs under the heading Critical Thinking. Authored by : Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson. Provided by : Metaliteracy.com. Located at : https://sites.google.com/view/metaliteracy/empowered-learner/critical-thinker/reevaluate . Project : Metaliteracy Badges. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
- Critical Thinking video. Located at : https://youtu.be/6OLPL5p0fMg . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
- 5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking. Authored by : Samantha Agoos. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItUGF8GdTw&t=5s . License : Other . License Terms : Youtube video
- The Danger of Assumptions. Authored by : Elaine Powell. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjv_5X9FpVE&t=3s . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
- image of male face with question marks. Authored by : geralt. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/en/man-boy-face-view-direction-479670/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
More From Forbes
13 Easy Steps To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills
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With the sheer volume of information that we’re bombarded with on a daily basis – and with the pervasiveness of fake news and social media bubbles – the ability to look at evidence, evaluate the trustworthiness of a source, and think critically is becoming more important than ever. This is why, for me, critical thinking is one of the most vital skills to cultivate for future success.
Critical thinking isn’t about being constantly negative or critical of everything. It’s about objectivity and having an open, inquisitive mind. To think critically is to analyze issues based on hard evidence (as opposed to personal opinions, biases, etc.) in order to build a thorough understanding of what’s really going on. And from this place of thorough understanding, you can make better decisions and solve problems more effectively.
To put it another way, critical thinking means arriving at your own carefully considered conclusions instead of taking information at face value. Here are 13 ways you can cultivate this precious skill:
1. Always vet new information with a cautious eye. Whether it’s an article someone has shared online or data that’s related to your job, always vet the information you're presented with. Good questions to ask here include, "Is this information complete and up to date?” “What evidence is being presented to support the argument?” and “Whose voice is missing here?”
2. Look at where the information has come from. Is the source trustworthy? What is their motivation for presenting this information? For example, are they trying to sell you something or get you to take a certain action (like vote for them)?
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3. Consider more than one point of view. Everyone has their own opinions and motivations – even highly intelligent people making reasonable-sounding arguments have personal opinions and biases that shape their thinking. So, when someone presents you with information, consider whether there are other sides to the story.
4. Practice active listening. Listen carefully to what others are telling you, and try to build a clear picture of their perspective. Empathy is a really useful skill here since putting yourself in another person's shoes can help you understand where they're coming from and what they might want. Try to listen without judgment – remember, critical thinking is about keeping an open mind.
5. Gather additional information where needed. Whenever you identify gaps in the information or data, do your own research to fill those gaps. The next few steps will help you do this objectively…
6. Ask lots of open-ended questions. Curiosity is a key trait of critical thinkers, so channel your inner child and ask lots of "who," "what," and "why" questions.
7. Find your own reputable sources of information, such as established news sites, nonprofit organizations, and education institutes. Try to avoid anonymous sources or sources with an ax to grind or a product to sell. Also, be sure to check when the information was published. An older source may be unintentionally offering up wrong information just because events have moved on since it was published; corroborate the info with a more recent source.
8. Try not to get your news from social media. And if you do see something on social media that grabs your interest, check the accuracy of the story (via reputable sources of information, as above) before you share it.
9. Learn to spot fake news. It's not always easy to spot false or misleading content, but a good rule of thumb is to look at the language, emotion, and tone of the piece. Is it using emotionally charged language, for instance, and trying to get you to feel a certain way? Also, look at the sources of facts, figures, images, and quotes. A legit news story will clearly state its sources.
10. Learn to spot biased information. Like fake news, biased information may seek to appeal more to your emotions than logic and/or present a limited view of the topic. So ask yourself, “Is there more to this topic than what’s being presented here?” Do your own reading around the topic to establish the full picture.
11. Question your own biases, too. Everyone has biases, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. The trick is to think objectively about your likes and dislikes, preferences, and beliefs, and consider how these might affect your thinking.
12. Form your own opinions. Remember, critical thinking is about thinking independently. So once you’ve assessed all the information, form your own conclusions about it.
13. Continue to work on your critical thinking skills. I recommend looking at online learning platforms such as Udemy and Coursera for courses on general critical thinking skills, as well as courses on specific subjects like cognitive biases.
Read more about critical thinking and other essential skills in my new book, Future Skills: The 20 Skills & Competencies Everyone Needs To Succeed In A Digital World . Written for anyone who wants to surf the wave of digital transformation – rather than be drowned by it – the book explores why these vital future skills matter and how to develop them.
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Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
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Critical thinking is a type of systematic thinking that is used to solve problems using logic. The first step is to gather the information needed to help you solve your problem. You start by analyzing and evaluating sources for authority to give you the best shot at finding something truthful and unbiased. Watch Out For information overload. Access to information is easier than ever these days, and it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all. As you conduct your research, keep your information organized by filtering, synthesizing, and distilling it. And keep your effort timeboxed. Start broad enough to obtain a wide berth, like a fisherman casting a large net into an ocean. This helps find multiple points of view. But don’t spend more time than necessary. Practicing collecting what is sufficient to answer your questions.
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Classroom Q&A
With larry ferlazzo.
In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.
Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking
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(This is the first post in a three-part series.)
The new question-of-the-week is:
What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?
This three-part series will explore what critical thinking is, if it can be specifically taught and, if so, how can teachers do so in their classrooms.
Today’s guests are Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
You might also be interested in The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom .
Current Events
Dara Laws Savage is an English teacher at the Early College High School at Delaware State University, where she serves as a teacher and instructional coach and lead mentor. Dara has been teaching for 25 years (career preparation, English, photography, yearbook, newspaper, and graphic design) and has presented nationally on project-based learning and technology integration:
There is so much going on right now and there is an overload of information for us to process. Did you ever stop to think how our students are processing current events? They see news feeds, hear news reports, and scan photos and posts, but are they truly thinking about what they are hearing and seeing?
I tell my students that my job is not to give them answers but to teach them how to think about what they read and hear. So what is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom? There are just as many definitions of critical thinking as there are people trying to define it. However, the Critical Think Consortium focuses on the tools to create a thinking-based classroom rather than a definition: “Shape the climate to support thinking, create opportunities for thinking, build capacity to think, provide guidance to inform thinking.” Using these four criteria and pairing them with current events, teachers easily create learning spaces that thrive on thinking and keep students engaged.
One successful technique I use is the FIRE Write. Students are given a quote, a paragraph, an excerpt, or a photo from the headlines. Students are asked to F ocus and respond to the selection for three minutes. Next, students are asked to I dentify a phrase or section of the photo and write for two minutes. Third, students are asked to R eframe their response around a specific word, phrase, or section within their previous selection. Finally, students E xchange their thoughts with a classmate. Within the exchange, students also talk about how the selection connects to what we are covering in class.
There was a controversial Pepsi ad in 2017 involving Kylie Jenner and a protest with a police presence. The imagery in the photo was strikingly similar to a photo that went viral with a young lady standing opposite a police line. Using that image from a current event engaged my students and gave them the opportunity to critically think about events of the time.
Here are the two photos and a student response:
F - Focus on both photos and respond for three minutes
In the first picture, you see a strong and courageous black female, bravely standing in front of two officers in protest. She is risking her life to do so. Iesha Evans is simply proving to the world she does NOT mean less because she is black … and yet officers are there to stop her. She did not step down. In the picture below, you see Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a Pepsi. Maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal, except this was Pepsi’s weak, pathetic, and outrageous excuse of a commercial that belittles the whole movement of people fighting for their lives.
I - Identify a word or phrase, underline it, then write about it for two minutes
A white, privileged female in place of a fighting black woman was asking for trouble. A struggle we are continuously fighting every day, and they make a mockery of it. “I know what will work! Here Mr. Police Officer! Drink some Pepsi!” As if. Pepsi made a fool of themselves, and now their already dwindling fan base continues to ever shrink smaller.
R - Reframe your thoughts by choosing a different word, then write about that for one minute
You don’t know privilege until it’s gone. You don’t know privilege while it’s there—but you can and will be made accountable and aware. Don’t use it for evil. You are not stupid. Use it to do something. Kendall could’ve NOT done the commercial. Kendall could’ve released another commercial standing behind a black woman. Anything!
Exchange - Remember to discuss how this connects to our school song project and our previous discussions?
This connects two ways - 1) We want to convey a strong message. Be powerful. Show who we are. And Pepsi definitely tried. … Which leads to the second connection. 2) Not mess up and offend anyone, as had the one alma mater had been linked to black minstrels. We want to be amazing, but we have to be smart and careful and make sure we include everyone who goes to our school and everyone who may go to our school.
As a final step, students read and annotate the full article and compare it to their initial response.
Using current events and critical-thinking strategies like FIRE writing helps create a learning space where thinking is the goal rather than a score on a multiple-choice assessment. Critical-thinking skills can cross over to any of students’ other courses and into life outside the classroom. After all, we as teachers want to help the whole student be successful, and critical thinking is an important part of navigating life after they leave our classrooms.
‘Before-Explore-Explain’
Patrick Brown is the executive director of STEM and CTE for the Fort Zumwalt school district in Missouri and an experienced educator and author :
Planning for critical thinking focuses on teaching the most crucial science concepts, practices, and logical-thinking skills as well as the best use of instructional time. One way to ensure that lessons maintain a focus on critical thinking is to focus on the instructional sequence used to teach.
Explore-before-explain teaching is all about promoting critical thinking for learners to better prepare students for the reality of their world. What having an explore-before-explain mindset means is that in our planning, we prioritize giving students firsthand experiences with data, allow students to construct evidence-based claims that focus on conceptual understanding, and challenge students to discuss and think about the why behind phenomena.
Just think of the critical thinking that has to occur for students to construct a scientific claim. 1) They need the opportunity to collect data, analyze it, and determine how to make sense of what the data may mean. 2) With data in hand, students can begin thinking about the validity and reliability of their experience and information collected. 3) They can consider what differences, if any, they might have if they completed the investigation again. 4) They can scrutinize outlying data points for they may be an artifact of a true difference that merits further exploration of a misstep in the procedure, measuring device, or measurement. All of these intellectual activities help them form more robust understanding and are evidence of their critical thinking.
In explore-before-explain teaching, all of these hard critical-thinking tasks come before teacher explanations of content. Whether we use discovery experiences, problem-based learning, and or inquiry-based activities, strategies that are geared toward helping students construct understanding promote critical thinking because students learn content by doing the practices valued in the field to generate knowledge.
An Issue of Equity
Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at The Possible Project, an out-of-school program that collaborates with youth to build entrepreneurial skills and mindsets and provides pathways to careers and long-term economic prosperity. She has been in the field of education for over 25 years as a middle and high school teacher, school coach, college professor, regional director of N.Y.C. Outward Bound Schools, and director of external research with EL Education:
Although critical thinking often defies straightforward definition, most in the education field agree it consists of several components: reasoning, problem-solving, and decisionmaking, plus analysis and evaluation of information, such that multiple sides of an issue can be explored. It also includes dispositions and “the willingness to apply critical-thinking principles, rather than fall back on existing unexamined beliefs, or simply believe what you’re told by authority figures.”
Despite variation in definitions, critical thinking is nonetheless promoted as an essential outcome of students’ learning—we want to see students and adults demonstrate it across all fields, professions, and in their personal lives. Yet there is simultaneously a rationing of opportunities in schools for students of color, students from under-resourced communities, and other historically marginalized groups to deeply learn and practice critical thinking.
For example, many of our most underserved students often spend class time filling out worksheets, promoting high compliance but low engagement, inquiry, critical thinking, or creation of new ideas. At a time in our world when college and careers are critical for participation in society and the global, knowledge-based economy, far too many students struggle within classrooms and schools that reinforce low-expectations and inequity.
If educators aim to prepare all students for an ever-evolving marketplace and develop skills that will be valued no matter what tomorrow’s jobs are, then we must move critical thinking to the forefront of classroom experiences. And educators must design learning to cultivate it.
So, what does that really look like?
Unpack and define critical thinking
To understand critical thinking, educators need to first unpack and define its components. What exactly are we looking for when we speak about reasoning or exploring multiple perspectives on an issue? How does problem-solving show up in English, math, science, art, or other disciplines—and how is it assessed? At Two Rivers, an EL Education school, the faculty identified five constructs of critical thinking, defined each, and created rubrics to generate a shared picture of quality for teachers and students. The rubrics were then adapted across grade levels to indicate students’ learning progressions.
At Avenues World School, critical thinking is one of the Avenues World Elements and is an enduring outcome embedded in students’ early experiences through 12th grade. For instance, a kindergarten student may be expected to “identify cause and effect in familiar contexts,” while an 8th grader should demonstrate the ability to “seek out sufficient evidence before accepting a claim as true,” “identify bias in claims and evidence,” and “reconsider strongly held points of view in light of new evidence.”
When faculty and students embrace a common vision of what critical thinking looks and sounds like and how it is assessed, educators can then explicitly design learning experiences that call for students to employ critical-thinking skills. This kind of work must occur across all schools and programs, especially those serving large numbers of students of color. As Linda Darling-Hammond asserts , “Schools that serve large numbers of students of color are least likely to offer the kind of curriculum needed to ... help students attain the [critical-thinking] skills needed in a knowledge work economy. ”
So, what can it look like to create those kinds of learning experiences?
Designing experiences for critical thinking
After defining a shared understanding of “what” critical thinking is and “how” it shows up across multiple disciplines and grade levels, it is essential to create learning experiences that impel students to cultivate, practice, and apply these skills. There are several levers that offer pathways for teachers to promote critical thinking in lessons:
1.Choose Compelling Topics: Keep it relevant
A key Common Core State Standard asks for students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.” That might not sound exciting or culturally relevant. But a learning experience designed for a 12th grade humanities class engaged learners in a compelling topic— policing in America —to analyze and evaluate multiple texts (including primary sources) and share the reasoning for their perspectives through discussion and writing. Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care about and connect with can ignite powerful learning experiences.
2. Make Local Connections: Keep it real
At The Possible Project , an out-of-school-time program designed to promote entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, students in a recent summer online program (modified from in-person due to COVID-19) explored the impact of COVID-19 on their communities and local BIPOC-owned businesses. They learned interviewing skills through a partnership with Everyday Boston , conducted virtual interviews with entrepreneurs, evaluated information from their interviews and local data, and examined their previously held beliefs. They created blog posts and videos to reflect on their learning and consider how their mindsets had changed as a result of the experience. In this way, we can design powerful community-based learning and invite students into productive struggle with multiple perspectives.
3. Create Authentic Projects: Keep it rigorous
At Big Picture Learning schools, students engage in internship-based learning experiences as a central part of their schooling. Their school-based adviser and internship-based mentor support them in developing real-world projects that promote deeper learning and critical-thinking skills. Such authentic experiences teach “young people to be thinkers, to be curious, to get from curiosity to creation … and it helps students design a learning experience that answers their questions, [providing an] opportunity to communicate it to a larger audience—a major indicator of postsecondary success.” Even in a remote environment, we can design projects that ask more of students than rote memorization and that spark critical thinking.
Our call to action is this: As educators, we need to make opportunities for critical thinking available not only to the affluent or those fortunate enough to be placed in advanced courses. The tools are available, let’s use them. Let’s interrogate our current curriculum and design learning experiences that engage all students in real, relevant, and rigorous experiences that require critical thinking and prepare them for promising postsecondary pathways.
Critical Thinking & Student Engagement
Dr. PJ Caposey is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, consultant, and author of seven books who currently serves as the superintendent of schools for the award-winning Meridian CUSD 223 in northwest Illinois. You can find PJ on most social-media platforms as MCUSDSupe:
When I start my keynote on student engagement, I invite two people up on stage and give them each five paper balls to shoot at a garbage can also conveniently placed on stage. Contestant One shoots their shot, and the audience gives approval. Four out of 5 is a heckuva score. Then just before Contestant Two shoots, I blindfold them and start moving the garbage can back and forth. I usually try to ensure that they can at least make one of their shots. Nobody is successful in this unfair environment.
I thank them and send them back to their seats and then explain that this little activity was akin to student engagement. While we all know we want student engagement, we are shooting at different targets. More importantly, for teachers, it is near impossible for them to hit a target that is moving and that they cannot see.
Within the world of education and particularly as educational leaders, we have failed to simplify what student engagement looks like, and it is impossible to define or articulate what student engagement looks like if we cannot clearly articulate what critical thinking is and looks like in a classroom. Because, simply, without critical thought, there is no engagement.
The good news here is that critical thought has been defined and placed into taxonomies for decades already. This is not something new and not something that needs to be redefined. I am a Bloom’s person, but there is nothing wrong with DOK or some of the other taxonomies, either. To be precise, I am a huge fan of Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance Framework. I have used that as a core element of my practice for years, and it has shaped who I am as an instructional leader.
So, in order to explain critical thought, a teacher or a leader must familiarize themselves with these tried and true taxonomies. Easy, right? Yes, sort of. The issue is not understanding what critical thought is; it is the ability to integrate it into the classrooms. In order to do so, there are a four key steps every educator must take.
- Integrating critical thought/rigor into a lesson does not happen by chance, it happens by design. Planning for critical thought and engagement is much different from planning for a traditional lesson. In order to plan for kids to think critically, you have to provide a base of knowledge and excellent prompts to allow them to explore their own thinking in order to analyze, evaluate, or synthesize information.
- SIDE NOTE – Bloom’s verbs are a great way to start when writing objectives, but true planning will take you deeper than this.
QUESTIONING
- If the questions and prompts given in a classroom have correct answers or if the teacher ends up answering their own questions, the lesson will lack critical thought and rigor.
- Script five questions forcing higher-order thought prior to every lesson. Experienced teachers may not feel they need this, but it helps to create an effective habit.
- If lessons are rigorous and assessments are not, students will do well on their assessments, and that may not be an accurate representation of the knowledge and skills they have mastered. If lessons are easy and assessments are rigorous, the exact opposite will happen. When deciding to increase critical thought, it must happen in all three phases of the game: planning, instruction, and assessment.
TALK TIME / CONTROL
- To increase rigor, the teacher must DO LESS. This feels counterintuitive but is accurate. Rigorous lessons involving tons of critical thought must allow for students to work on their own, collaborate with peers, and connect their ideas. This cannot happen in a silent room except for the teacher talking. In order to increase rigor, decrease talk time and become comfortable with less control. Asking questions and giving prompts that lead to no true correct answer also means less control. This is a tough ask for some teachers. Explained differently, if you assign one assignment and get 30 very similar products, you have most likely assigned a low-rigor recipe. If you assign one assignment and get multiple varied products, then the students have had a chance to think deeply, and you have successfully integrated critical thought into your classroom.
Thanks to Dara, Patrick, Meg, and PJ for their contributions!
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- v.31(1); 2021 Feb
Teaching Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills to Healthcare Professionals
Jessica a. chacon.
Department of Medical Education, Paul L Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, El Paso, TX USA
Herb Janssen
Associated data, introduction.
Determining approaches that improve student learning is far more beneficial than determining what can improve a professor’s teaching. As previously stated, “Lecturing is that mysterious process by which the contents of the note-book of the professor are transferred through the instrumentation of the fountain-pen to the note-book of the student without passing through the mind of either” [ 1 ]. This process continues today, except that the professor’s note-book has been replaced with a PowerPoint lecture and the student’s note-book is now a computer.
In 1910, the Flexner report noted that didactic lectures were antiquated and should be left to a time when “professors knew and students learned” [ 2 ]. Approximately 100 years later, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) affirmed Flexner’s comment and suggested that student learning must involve active components [ 3 ]: It seems somewhat obscured that almost 100 years separated these two statements.
Our strategy requires the following: student engagement in the learning process; a curriculum that develops a foundation for each student’s knowledge acquisition; focusing primarily on student learning instead of professor teaching; helping enable students develop critical thinking skills; and encouraging students to develop “expertise” in their chosen discipline.
Six fundamental topics that play a role in the development of a health sciences student’s critical thinking ability will be described. In “Section I,” these topics will be discussed independently, highlighting the importance of each. In “Section II: Proposed Curriculum and Pedagogy to Improve Student Learning,” the topics will be united into a practical approach that can be used to improve student learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.
Foundation Knowledge
Students use mnemonics to provide a foundation for new information. Although mnemonics help students associate information that they want to remember with something they already know, students learn tads of information that is not placed into a practical, meaningful framework developed by the student [ 4 , 5 ]. This commentary highlights the problem of recalling facts when these facts are presented in isolation. The responsibility for this resides not with the student, but with a curriculum that teaches isolated facts, instead of integrated concepts.
A taxonomy for significant learning presented by Dr. Fink emphasizes the need to develop foundational knowledge before additional information can be learned in an effective manner [ 6 ]. He provides suggestions on developing specific learning goals in given courses. Two of his most important criteria are (1) the development of a foundation of knowledge and (2) helping students “learn how to learn” [ 6 ].
Learning Approaches and Abilities
Howard Gardner introduced the concept of multiple intelligences in the 1980s [ 7 ]. Gardner expanded this idea to include intelligence in the areas of (1) Verbal-linguistic, (2) Logical-mathematical, (3) Spatial-visual, (4) Bodily-kinesthetic, (5) Musical, (6) Interpersonal, (7) Intrapersonal personal, (8) Naturalist, and (9) Existential. He concluded that students gifted in certain areas will be drawn in that direction due to the ease with which they excel. While it is important to recognize these differences, it is crucial to not ignore the need for student development in areas where they are less gifted. For example, students gifted in mathematics who fail to develop intrapersonal and interpersonal skills will more likely become recluse, limiting their success in real-world situations [ 7 , 8 ]. Similar examples can also be found in the medical world [ 7 , 8 ].
Based on Gardner’s work, it seems evident that students admitted to our health sciences schools will arrive with different skills and abilities. Despite this, educators are required to produce graduates who have mastered the competencies required by the various accrediting agencies. Accomplishing this task demands sensitivity to the students’ different abilities. While the curriculum remains focused on the competencies students must demonstrate when training is complete. Creating this transition using a traditional lecture format is difficult, if not impossible.
Active Engagement
In 1910, Flexner suggested that didactic lecture is important; however, it should be limited only to the introduction or conclusion of a given topic [ 2 ]. Flexner stated that students should be given the opportunity to experience learning in a context that allowed them to use scientific principles rather than empirical observations [ 2 ]. Active engagement of the student in their learning process has been recently promoted by the LCME [ 3 ]. This reaffirmation of Flexner’s 1910 report highlights the incredibly slow pace at which education changes.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is an active process that, when applied appropriately, allows each of us to evaluate our own activities and achievements. Critical thinking also allows an individual to make minor, mid-course corrections in thinking, instead of waiting until disastrous outcomes are unavoidable.
Educators in Allied Health and Nursing have included critical thinking as part of their curriculum for many years [ 9 ]. Medical educators, on the other hand, have not fully integrated critical thinking as part of their curriculum [ 10 , 11 ].
Bloom’s taxonomy has often been used to define curriculum [ 12 ]. The usefulness and importance of Bloom’s taxonomy is not to be underestimated; however, its limitations must also be addressed. As Bloom and his colleagues clearly stated, their taxonomy describes behavioral outcomes and is incapable of determining the logical steps through which this behavior was developed [ 12 ]. Bloom highlights this shortcoming in his initial book on the cognitive domain. He described two students who solved the same algebra problem. One student does this by rote memory, having been exposed to the problem previously, while the other student accomplishes the task by applying mathematical principles. The observer has no way of knowing which approach was used unless they have prior knowledge of the students’ background [ 12 ]. The importance of this distinction becomes apparent in medical problem-solving.
Contextual Learning
Enabling students to learn in context is critical; however, trying to teach everything in context results in a double-edged sword [ 13 ]. On the one hand, learning material in context helps the student develop a solid foundation in which the new information can be built. On the other hand, the educator will find it impossible to duplicate all situations the student will encounter throughout his or her career as a healthcare provider. This dilemma again challenges the educator to develop a variety of learning situations that simulate real-world situations. It seems that “in context” can at best be developed by presenting a variety of patients in a variety of different situations.
In the clinical setting, the physician cannot use a strict hypothesis-driven study on each patient, but must treat patients using the best, most logical treatment selected based on his or her knowledge and the most reliable information.
Development of Expertise
Several researchers have studied the characteristics required of expert performance, the time required to obtain these traits, and the steps that are followed as an individual’s performance progresses from novice to expert.
Studies involving expert physicians have provided data that can be directly used in our attempt to improve curriculum and pedagogy in the healthcare profession. Patel demonstrated that medical students and entry-level residents can recall a considerable amount of non-relevant data while the expert cannot [ 14 ]. Conversely, the expert physician has a much higher level of relevant recall, suggesting they have omitted the non-relevant information and retained only relevant information that is useful in their practice. Using these methods, the expert physicians produce accurate diagnosis in almost 100% of cases, while the medical students can achieve only patricianly correct or component diagnosis only [ 14 ].
In the healthcare setting, both methods are used. The expert physicians will use forward reasoning when the accuracy of the data allows this rapid problem-solving method. When the patient’s conditions cannot be accurately described using known information, the expert diagnostician will resort to the slower hypothesis-driven, backward reasoning approach. In this manner, the highest probability of achieving an accurate diagnosis in the shortest time will be realized [ 14 ].
Section II: Proposed Curriculum and Pedagogy to Improve Student Learning
The following section will outline several distinct but interrelated approaches to accomplish the six educational principles discussed above. The topics will be highlighted as they apply to the specific topic and each section will be comprised of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.
Developing a Knowledge Base Using Active Learning Sensitive to Students’ Abilities
Students admitted into healthcare training programs come from various backgrounds. This is both a strength for the program and a challenge for the educator. The strength is recognized in the diversity the varied backgrounds bring to the class and ultimately the profession. The challenge for the educator is attempting to provide each student with the material and a learning approach that will fit their individual ability and knowledge level. The educator can provide prerequisite objectives that identify the basic knowledge required before the student attempts the more advanced curriculum. Scaffolding questions can also be provided that allow students to determine their mastery of these prerequisite objectives. Briefly, scaffolding questions are categorized based on complexity. Simple, factual questions are identified with a subscript “0” (i.e. 1. 0 , 2. 0 , etc.). Advanced questions have a subscript suggesting the estimated number of basic concepts that must be included/combined to derive the answer.
Using technology to provide these individual learning opportunities online allows each student to address his or her own potential deficits. Obviously, those who find their knowledge lacking will need to spend additional time learning this information; however, using technology, this can be accomplished without requiring additional class time. This approach will decrease learning gaps for students, while excluding unnecessarily repeating material known by others.
The curriculum is divided into two parts: (1) content and (2) critical thinking/problem-solving skills. The basic knowledge and factual content can be provided online. Students are expected to learn this by actively engaging the material during independent study. This saves classroom or small-group sessions for interaction where students can actively learn critical thinking/problem-solving skills.
The curriculum should be designed so that students can start at their own level of understanding. The more advanced students can identify the level appropriate for themselves and/or review the more rudimentary information as needed. As shown by previous investigators, experts omit non-relevant information so that they can focus on appropriate problem-solving. Requiring students to learn by solving problems or exploring case studies will be emphasized when possible.
Technology can be used to deliver the “content” portion of the curriculum. Voice-over PowerPoints and/or video clips made available online through WebCT or PodCast will allow each student to study separately or in groups at their own rate, starting at their own level of knowledge. The content delivered in this fashion will complement the handout and/or textbook information recommended to the students. This will provide the needed basic information that will be used as a foundation for the development of critical thinking and problem-solving. The flipped classroom and/or team-based learning can both be used to help facilitate this type of learning. [ 15 ]
Student Assessments
It is imperative for students to know whether they have mastered the material to the extent needed. This can be accomplished by providing online formative evaluations. These will not be used to determine student performance; however, the results will be provided to the educator to determine the class’s progress and evaluation of the curriculum.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills in the Classroom or Small-Group Setting
Critical thinking skills are essential to the development of well-trained healthcare professionals. These skills are not “taught” but must be “learned” by the student. The educator provides learning experiences through which the students can gain the needed skills and experience. Mastery of the content should be a responsibility placed on the student. Information and assistance are given to the students, but students are held accountable for learning the content. This does not indicate that the educator is freed from responsibility. In fact, the educator will most likely spend more time planning and preparing, compared to when didactic lectures were given; however, the spotlight will be placed on the student. Once the learning modules are developed, they can be readily updated, allowing the educators to improve their sessions with each evaluation.
Curriculum designed to help student students develop critical thinking/problem-solving skills should be learned in context. During the introductory portions of the training, this can be accomplished by providing problem-based scenarios similar to what will be expected in the later clinical setting. The transition to competency-based evaluation in many disciplines has made this a virtual necessity. Critical thinking/problem-solving skills should emphasize self-examination. It should teach an individual to accomplish this using a series of steps that progress in a logical fashion, stressing that critical thinking is a progression of logical thought, not an unguided process.
The methods of teaching critical thinking can be traced back to the dialectic methods used by Socrates. Helping the students learn by posing questions remains an effective tool. Accomplishing this in a group setting also provides each student with the opportunity to learn, not only from their mistakes and accomplishments, but from the mistakes and accomplishments of others. Scenario questions can be presented in a manner similar to those found in many board and licensure exams. This exposes students to material in a format relevant to the clinical setting and to future exams. In larger groups, PowerPoint presentation of scenario questions can be used. Team-based learning (TBL) is useful in encouraging individual self-assessment and peer-peer instruction, while also providing an opportunity for the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. After the Individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) exam, students work together to answer the Group Readiness Assurance Test (gRAT). Following this, relevant material is covered by clinicians and basic scientists working together and questions asked using an audience response system. This has been useful in encouraging individual self-assessment and peer-peer instruction while also providing an opportunity for the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Formative assessment of the students will be given in the class session. This can be accomplished using an audience response system. This gives each individual a chance to determine their own critical thinking skill level. It will prevent the “Oh, I knew that” response from students who are in denial of their own inabilities. Summative assessment in the class will be based on the critical thinking skills presented in the classroom or small-group setting. As mentioned earlier, the students will be evaluated on their ability to think critically and to problem-solve. This will by necessity include evaluation of content knowledge—but only as it pertains to the critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This will be made clear through the use of objectives that describe both content and critical thinking.
Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills in Simulation Centers and Clinics
The development of critical thinking skills in healthcare is somewhat unique. In chess, students can start playing using the same tools employed by the experts (the chess board); however, in healthcare, allowing students to make medical decisions is ethically inappropriate and irresponsible. Simulations centers allow students to gain needed experience and confidence without placing patients at risk. Once the students have mastered simulation center experiences and acquired the needed confidence, they can participate in patient diagnosis under the watchful eye of the expert healthcare professional.
The student’s curriculum now becomes the entire knowledge base of each healthcare discipline. This includes textbooks and journal articles. Students are required to come well prepared to the clinics and/or hospital having developed and in-depth understanding of each patient in their care.
Each day, the expert healthcare provider, serving as a mentor, will provide formative evaluation of the student and his/her performance. Mentors will guide the student, suggesting changes in the skills needed to evaluate the patients properly. In addition, standardized patients provide an excellent method of student/resident evaluation.
Summative evaluation is in the form of subject/board exams. These test the student’s or resident’s ability to accurately describe and evaluate the patient. The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is used to evaluate the student’s ability to correctly assess the patient’s condition. Thinking aloud had been previously shown as an effective tool for evaluating expert performance in such settings [ 16 ]. Briefly, think aloud strategies require the student to explain verbally the logic they are using to combine facts to arrive at correct answers. This approach helps the evaluator to determine both the accuracy of the answer and if the correct thought process was followed by the student.
If the time required to develop an expert is a minimum of ten years, what influence can education have on the process?
Education can:
- Provide the student with a foundation of knowledge required for the development of future knowledge and skills.
- Introduce the student to critical thinking and problem-solving techniques.
- Require the student to actively engage the material instead of attempting to learn using rote memory only.
- Assess the performance of the student in a formative manner, allowing the lack of information of skills to be identified early, thus reducing the risk of failure when changes in study skills are more difficult and/or occur too late to help.
- Provide learning in a contextual format that makes the information meaningful and easier to remember.
- Provide training in forward reasoning and backward reasoning skills. It can relate these skills to the problem-solving techniques in healthcare.
- Help students develop the qualities of an expert healthcare provider.
Authors’ Contributions
The authors wrote and contributed to the final manuscript.
Data Availability
Compliance with ethical standards.
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
50 Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Examples
Critical thinking and problem solving are essential skills for success in the 21st century. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information, evaluate evidence, and draw logical conclusions. Problem solving is the ability to apply critical thinking to find effective solutions to various challenges. Both skills require creativity, curiosity, and persistence. Developing critical thinking and problem solving skills can help students improve their academic performance, enhance their career prospects, and become more informed and engaged citizens.
Sanju Pradeepa
In today’s complex and fast-paced world, the ability to think critically and solve problems effectively has become a vital skill for success in all areas of life. Whether it’s navigating professional challenges, making sound decisions, or finding innovative solutions, critical thinking and problem-solving are key to overcoming obstacles and achieving desired outcomes. In this blog post, we will explore problem-solving and critical thinking examples.
Table of Contents
Developing the skills needed for critical thinking and problem solving.
It is not enough to simply recognize an issue; we must use the right tools and techniques to address it. To do this, we must learn how to define and identify the problem or task at hand, gather relevant information from reliable sources, analyze and compare data to draw conclusions, make logical connections between different ideas, generate a solution or action plan, and make a recommendation.
The first step in developing these skills is understanding what the problem or task is that needs to be addressed. This requires careful consideration of all available information in order to form an accurate picture of what needs to be done. Once the issue has been identified, gathering reliable sources of data can help further your understanding of it. Sources could include interviews with customers or stakeholders, surveys, industry reports, and analysis of customer feedback.
After collecting relevant information from reliable sources, it’s important to analyze and compare the data in order to draw meaningful conclusions about the situation at hand. This helps us better understand our options for addressing an issue by providing context for decision-making. Once you have analyzed the data you collected, making logical connections between different ideas can help you form a more complete picture of the situation and inform your potential solutions.
Once you have analyzed your options for addressing an issue based on all available data points, it’s time to generate a solution or action plan that takes into account considerations such as cost-effectiveness and feasibility. It’s also important to consider the risk factors associated with any proposed solutions in order to ensure that they are responsible before moving forward with implementation. Finally, once all the analysis has been completed, it is time to make a recommendation based on your findings, which should take into account any objectives set out by stakeholders at the beginning of this process as well as any other pertinent factors discovered throughout the analysis stage.
By following these steps carefully when faced with complex issues, one can effectively use critical thinking and problem-solving skills in order to achieve desired outcomes more efficiently than would otherwise be possible without them, while also taking responsibility for decisions made along the way.
What Does Critical Thinking Involve: 5 Essential Skill
Problem-solving and critical thinking examples.
Problem-solving and critical thinking are key skills that are highly valued in any professional setting. These skills enable individuals to analyze complex situations, make informed decisions, and find innovative solutions. Here, we present 25 examples of problem-solving and critical thinking. problem-solving scenarios to help you cultivate and enhance these skills.
Ethical dilemma: A company faces a situation where a client asks for a product that does not meet quality standards. The team must decide how to address the client’s request without compromising the company’s credibility or values.
Brainstorming session: A team needs to come up with new ideas for a marketing campaign targeting a specific demographic. Through an organized brainstorming session, they explore various approaches and analyze their potential impact.
Troubleshooting technical issues : An IT professional receives a ticket indicating a network outage. They analyze the issue, assess potential causes (hardware, software, or connectivity), and solve the problem efficiently.
Negotiation : During contract negotiations, representatives from two companies must find common ground to strike a mutually beneficial agreement, considering the needs and limitations of both parties.
Project management: A project manager identifies potential risks and develops contingency plans to address unforeseen obstacles, ensuring the project stays on track.
Decision-making under pressure: In a high-stakes situation, a medical professional must make a critical decision regarding a patient’s treatment, weighing all available information and considering potential risks.
Conflict resolution: A team encounters conflicts due to differing opinions or approaches. The team leader facilitates a discussion to reach a consensus while considering everyone’s perspectives.
Data analysis: A data scientist is presented with a large dataset and is tasked with extracting valuable insights. They apply analytical techniques to identify trends, correlations, and patterns that can inform decision-making.
Customer service: A customer service representative encounters a challenging customer complaint and must employ active listening and problem-solving skills to address the issue and provide a satisfactory resolution.
Market research : A business seeks to expand into a new market. They conduct thorough market research, analyzing consumer behavior, competitor strategies, and economic factors to make informed market-entry decisions.
Creative problem-solvin g: An engineer faces a design challenge and must think outside the box to come up with a unique and innovative solution that meets project requirements.
Change management: During a company-wide transition, managers must effectively communicate the change, address employees’ concerns, and facilitate a smooth transition process.
Crisis management: When a company faces a public relations crisis, effective critical thinking is necessary to analyze the situation, develop a response strategy, and minimize potential damage to the company’s reputation.
Cost optimization : A financial analyst identifies areas where expenses can be reduced while maintaining operational efficiency, presenting recommendations for cost savings.
Time management : An employee has multiple deadlines to meet. They assess the priority of each task, develop a plan, and allocate time accordingly to achieve optimal productivity.
Quality control: A production manager detects an increase in product defects and investigates the root causes, implementing corrective actions to enhance product quality.
Strategic planning: An executive team engages in strategic planning to define long-term goals, assess market trends, and identify growth opportunities.
Cross-functional collaboration: Multiple teams with different areas of expertise must collaborate to develop a comprehensive solution, combining their knowledge and skills.
Training and development : A manager identifies skill gaps in their team and designs training programs to enhance critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
Risk assessment : A risk management professional evaluates potential risks associated with a new business venture, weighing their potential impact and developing strategies to mitigate them.
Continuous improvement: An operations manager analyzes existing processes, identifies inefficiencies, and introduces improvements to enhance productivity and customer satisfaction.
Customer needs analysis: A product development team conducts extensive research to understand customer needs and preferences, ensuring that the resulting product meets those requirements.
Crisis decision-making: A team dealing with a crisis must think quickly, assess the situation, and make timely decisions with limited information.
Marketing campaign analysis : A marketing team evaluates the success of a recent campaign, analyzing key performance indicators to understand its impact on sales and customer engagement.
Constructive feedback: A supervisor provides feedback to an employee, highlighting areas for improvement and offering constructive suggestions for growth.
Conflict resolution in a team project: Team members engaged in a project have conflicting ideas on the approach. They must engage in open dialogue, actively listen to each other’s perspectives, and reach a compromise that aligns with the project’s goals.
Crisis response in a natural disaster: Emergency responders must think critically and swiftly in responding to a natural disaster, coordinating rescue efforts, allocating resources effectively, and prioritizing the needs of affected individuals.
Product innovation : A product development team conducts market research, studies consumer trends, and uses critical thinking to create innovative products that address unmet customer needs.
Supply chain optimization: A logistics manager analyzes the supply chain to identify areas for efficiency improvement, such as reducing transportation costs, improving inventory management, or streamlining order fulfillment processes.
Business strategy formulation: A business executive assesses market dynamics, the competitive landscape, and internal capabilities to develop a robust business strategy that ensures sustainable growth and competitiveness.
Crisis communication: In the face of a public relations crisis, an organization’s spokesperson must think critically to develop and deliver a transparent, authentic, and effective communication strategy to rebuild trust and manage reputation.
Social problem-solving: A group of volunteers addresses a specific social issue, such as poverty or homelessness, by critically examining its root causes, collaborating with stakeholders, and implementing sustainable solutions for the affected population.
Problem-Solving Mindset: How to Achieve It (15 Ways)
Risk assessment in investment decision-making: An investment analyst evaluates various investment opportunities, conducting risk assessments based on market trends, financial indicators, and potential regulatory changes to make informed investment recommendations.
Environmental sustainability: An environmental scientist analyzes the impact of industrial processes on the environment, develops strategies to mitigate risks, and promotes sustainable practices within organizations and communities.
Adaptation to technological advancements : In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, professionals need critical thinking skills to adapt to new tools, software, and systems, ensuring they can effectively leverage these advancements to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Productivity improvement: An operations manager leverages critical thinking to identify productivity bottlenecks within a workflow and implement process improvements to optimize resource utilization, minimize waste, and increase overall efficiency.
Cost-benefit analysis: An organization considering a major investment or expansion opportunity conducts a thorough cost-benefit analysis, weighing potential costs against expected benefits to make an informed decision.
Human resources management : HR professionals utilize critical thinking to assess job applicants, identify skill gaps within the organization, and design training and development programs to enhance the workforce’s capabilities.
Root cause analysis: In response to a recurring problem or inefficiency, professionals apply critical thinking to identify the root cause of the issue, develop remedial actions, and prevent future occurrences.
Leadership development: Aspiring leaders undergo critical thinking exercises to enhance their decision-making abilities, develop strategic thinking skills, and foster a culture of innovation within their teams.
Brand positioning : Marketers conduct comprehensive market research and consumer behavior analysis to strategically position a brand, differentiating it from competitors and appealing to target audiences effectively.
Resource allocation: Non-profit organizations distribute limited resources efficiently, critically evaluating project proposals, considering social impact, and allocating resources to initiatives that align with their mission.
Innovating in a mature market: A company operating in a mature market seeks to innovate to maintain a competitive edge. They cultivate critical thinking skills to identify gaps, anticipate changing customer needs, and develop new strategies, products, or services accordingly.
Analyzing financial statements : Financial analysts critically assess financial statements, analyze key performance indicators, and derive insights to support financial decision-making, such as investment evaluations or budget planning.
Crisis intervention : Mental health professionals employ critical thinking and problem-solving to assess crises faced by individuals or communities, develop intervention plans, and provide support during challenging times.
Data privacy and cybersecurity : IT professionals critically evaluate existing cybersecurity measures, identify vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to protect sensitive data from threats, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.
Process improvement : Professionals in manufacturing or service industries critically evaluate existing processes, identify inefficiencies, and implement improvements to optimize efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.
Multi-channel marketing strategy : Marketers employ critical thinking to design and execute effective marketing campaigns across various channels such as social media, web, print, and television, ensuring a cohesive brand experience for customers.
Peer review: Researchers critically analyze and review the work of their peers, providing constructive feedback and ensuring the accuracy, validity, and reliability of scientific studies.
Project coordination : A project manager must coordinate multiple teams and resources to ensure seamless collaboration, identify potential bottlenecks, and find solutions to keep the project on schedule.
These examples highlight the various contexts in which problem-solving and critical-thinking skills are necessary for success. By understanding and practicing these skills, individuals can enhance their ability to navigate challenges and make sound decisions in both personal and professional endeavors.
Conclusion:
Critical thinking and problem-solving are indispensable skills that empower individuals to overcome challenges, make sound decisions, and find innovative solutions. By honing these skills, one can navigate through the complexities of modern life and achieve success in both personal and professional endeavors. Embrace the power of critical thinking and problem-solving, and unlock the door to endless possibilities and growth.
- Problem solving From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Critical thinking From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The Importance of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills for Students (5 Minutes)
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As a leader, your team and organization rely on you to have good judgement and make the right decision with the information you have. Good decisions are the product of strong critical thinking skills and thoughtful problem solving. And like all skills, you can learn, practice, and get better at them. In this course, Dr. Eric Zackrison helps you do just that. He shows how to critically assess the source of information and how to determine the right approach to take. Eric also demonstrates strategies for approaching both simple and complex problems, and details taking your team through the entire life cycle of a challenging decision. He also imparts an understanding of common traps people fall into when solving problems, both individually and as a team. After this course, you’ll have the tools to approach your next problem more critically and solve it more effectively.
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10 Examples of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Disclaimer : We sometimes use affiliate links in our content. For more information, visit our Disclaimer Page .
Problem-solving and critical thinking are two essential skills you can possess in life. They can be applied to any situation and are necessary for success in your personal and professional life.
This blog post will provide ten examples of critical thinking and problem solving to see how these skills are implemented. We hope this will help you understand these concepts better and apply them in everyday life!
What are critical thinking and problem-solving?
As part of the critical thinking process, knowledge is challenged to discover the truth. During this process, knowledge and information are reviewed to make an informed decision.
Problem-solving involves using critical thinking abilities to identify problems and determine the best solution. To solve a problem, you must use creative thinking, regardless of whether you are trying to fix a broken appliance or solve a complex math problem.
Both skills are essential for success in school, work, and everyday life. It also helps you to differentiate between fact and opinion and to question information presented to you.
10 Great Examples of Critical Thinking
Here are ten great examples of critical thinking and problem-solving in action.
1. Assessing Your Own Actions
Self-evaluation is critical for improving your overall performance. When you engage in reflective thinking or try to evaluate yourself, you analyze what went wrong and how you can improve in the future. Then, you attempt to understand what happened and figure out what you need to change to get different results.
Constantly trying to improve your performance is essential for success in any field. However, without self-evaluation, it would be difficult to identify areas where you need to improve or make changes.
2. Staff Conflicts Resolved by HR Managers
In any organization, employees will invariably have disagreements. In many cases, the HR manager steps in to solve the problem.
For example, if two employees are arguing about a project deadline, the HR manager would need to listen to both sides, determine the source of the disagreement, and then decide how to proceed.
In this case, the HR manager might need to issue a new deadline or provide additional resources. As a result, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are essential for HR managers.
3. Planning a tactical operation by a military officer
Critical thinking is essential in making quick and effective decisions in military settings. One critical thinking example is an army officer working on tactical plans for extracting fellow soldiers from a dangerous military zone.
This situation requires logical thinking on the part of the army officer to find an effective method of getting the soldiers out of the danger zone while minimizing casualties.
4. A professor guides students to fresh ideas through creative questioning
The process of creative questioning can promote critical thinking because it fosters creativity. To force students to think more deeply about a subject, the professor asks open-ended questions requiring students to think more deeply about the topic.
They must determine what information is relevant and how best to share it. Students can also develop analytical thinking by analyzing arguments.
As a result, they develop the ability to think critically about complex issues and to express their ideas clearly and persuasively.
5. Thesis Defense by a Master’s Student
Writing a thesis requires critical thinking skills to select and organize information, conduct research, perform calculations, and draw conclusions.
In addition, you must be able to communicate your findings clearly and concisely to contribute to the body of knowledge in your field.
By demonstrating critical thinking and clear communication, you can show that you have the skills necessary to make a valuable contribution to scholarship in your area.
6. Coach discovering new tactics during a timeout
Being able to think on your feet and adapt to changing circumstances is a valuable skill in any context, but it is essential for basketball coaches. This might mean calling a timeout to reassess the team’s strategy if things are not going well.
The coach will look for new tactics to exploit the opposing team’s weaknesses in such cases. This requires being able to assess potential risks and identify opportunities quickly.
7. Organizing content ideas by a writer
Any writer knows that good writing requires more than just stringing a few sentences together. It requires critical thinking skills and careful planning.
To produce an influential article, writers must be able to sort through the vast amount of information available on any given topic and select only the most relevant and accurate information. They must also be able to organize this information in a way that is logical and easy to follow.
8. Interview preparation for applicants
One of the most important critical thinking skills examples is the ability to apply logic to solve problems. If you are going to an interview for a job, you must use the necessary thinking skills to be successful.
In addition, practicing answering questions and thinking on your feet will help you be less nervous and more confident during the interview. So if you want to land the job, brush up on your critical thinking skills before the following discussion.
9. Choosing a career
Choosing the right career path certainly takes time. So as a critical thinker, you weigh the pros and cons of every option.
For instance, if you’re considering taking up a job in a private organization, you think about the potential benefits such as job security and a steady income.
However, you also consider the drawbacks such as long hours and limited creativity. Finally, after thoroughly evaluating all the options, you make a decision that you believe is best for you.
10. Detectives Analyzing a Crime Scene Using Their Observational Ability
Police detectives play an essential role in solving crimes. To be successful, detectives must have critical thinking and solid skills. They need to be able to observe a crime scene and identify clues that will help them solve the case.
Additionally, they must be able to inquire and deduce information from the evidence logically. Without strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, police detectives could not solve crimes effectively.
Related: Design Thinking
Tips to Boost Your Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
Here are some ways to boost your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
→ Identify and analyze the problem
Anyone who wants to form an opinion on a particular issue should conduct extensive research and analysis. This will help to ensure that the idea is based on facts rather than emotions or personal bias.
One approach is to break the problem into smaller pieces and analyze each part separately. This will help to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue as a whole. Then, with enough information and careful analysis, it is possible to form an informed opinion on any topic.
→ Be aware of your biases
People have biases that they need to deal with throughout their lives. By being aware of one’s preference, one can check their own thought process and make sure they are not thinking in a particular way.
If people are unaware of their own biases, they will not be able to identify when their thoughts might be distorted. Without this awareness, engaging in practical critical thinking would be difficult, if not impossible.
→ Ask for advice
To solve problems effectively, it is essential to have a strong sense of how to acquire knowledge. This means seeking advice when you are not sure about what you know. If you don’t know something, ask someone that knows. The more information you have, the better conclusion you can draw.
→ Think for yourself
Thinking for yourself is one of the most critical skills you can possess. Just because someone is an expert on a subject doesn’t mean they’re always right.
It’s essential to be able to question information and look at it from different perspectives. Only then can you form your own opinion on the matter.
Related: List of Skills for Resume
Critical thinking and problem-solving are two essential skills that can be used in any situation. By understanding these concepts better, you can apply them in your personal and professional life to achieve success. We hope this blog post has helped you see how these skills are implemented and how they can benefit you.
Have you tried using critical thinking and problem-solving in your own life? Tell us about it in the comment section below!
What is an example of critical thinking in real life?
One of the best examples of critical thinking in real life is solving problems in a professional setting. When you encounter an issue at work, you need to be able to think critically to solve it effectively. This means considering all of the relevant information and coming up with creative solutions.
How do you show critical thinking examples?
Here are a few ideas: • Share an example of when you had to analyze a complex problem and devise a creative solution. • Describe a situation where you had to weigh multiple competing data points and make an informed decision. • Tell a story about a time when you had to think outside the box to succeed. • Explain how you approached and tackled a difficult task or project that required careful planning and execution. • Describe how you react when faced with challenges or obstacles; do you tend to see them as opportunities for learning?
What are two examples of critical thinking questions?
Two examples of critical thinking questions are: • Are there any alternative explanations that could account for the evidence? • How likely is it that each of these explanations is true?
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Developing critical thinking skills in kids.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Learning to think critically may be one of the most important skills that today's children will need for the future. In today’s rapidly changing world, children need to be able to do much more than repeat a list of facts; they need to be critical thinkers who can make sense of information, analyze, compare, contrast, make inferences, and generate higher order thinking skills.
Building Your Child's Critical Thinking Skills
Building critical thinking skills happens through day-to-day interactions as you talk with your child, ask open-ended questions, and allow your child to experiment and solve problems. Here are some tips and ideas to help children build a foundation for critical thinking:
- Provide opportunities for play . Building with blocks, acting out roles with friends, or playing board games all build children’s critical thinking.
- Pause and wait. Offering your child ample time to think, attempt a task, or generate a response is critical. This gives your child a chance to reflect on her response and perhaps refine, rather than responding with their very first gut reaction.
- Don't intervene immediately. Kids need challenges to grow. Wait and watch before you jump in to solve a problem.
- Ask open-ended questions. Rather than automatically giving answers to the questions your child raises, help them think critically by asking questions in return: "What ideas do you have? What do you think is happening here?" Respect their responses whether you view them as correct or not. You could say, "That is interesting. Tell me why you think that."
- Help children develop hypotheses. Taking a moment to form hypotheses during play is a critical thinking exercise that helps develop skills. Try asking your child, "If we do this, what do you think will happen?" or "Let's predict what we think will happen next."
- Encourage thinking in new and different ways. By allowing children to think differently, you're helping them hone their creative problem solving skills. Ask questions like, "What other ideas could we try?" or encourage your child to generate options by saying, "Let’s think of all the possible solutions."
Of course, there are situations where you as a parent need to step in. At these times, it is helpful to model your own critical thinking. As you work through a decision making process, verbalize what is happening inside your mind. Children learn from observing how you think. Taking time to allow your child to navigate problems is integral to developing your child's critical thinking skills in the long run.
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432: One of the world's leading experts on strategy and innovation, Vijay “VG” Govindarajan. How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving
Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 432, an interview with the coauthor of Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future. In Fusion Strategy, world-renowned innovation guru Vijay Govindarajan and digital strategy expert Venkat Venkatraman offer a first-of-its-kind playbook that will help industrial companies combine what they do best—create physical products—with what digitals do best—use algorithms and AI to parse expansive, interconnected datasets—to make strategic connections that would otherwise be impossible. Vijay “VG” Govindarajan is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts on strategy and innovation. He is the Coxe Distinguished Professor, a Dartmouth-wide chair, at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a former Marvin Bower Fellow at Harvard Business School. Govindarajan is the author of the bestselling books Reverse Innovation and Three-Box Solution. Get Vijay’s book here: https://rb.gy/2vq6rx Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo
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Problem-solving. Critical thinking and problem-solving are two more terms that are frequently confused. After all, when you think critically, you're often doing so with the objective of solving a problem. The best way to understand how problem-solving and critical thinking differ is to think of problem-solving as much more narrow.
The first step to enhancing your critical thinking and problem solving skills is to think about them, become aware of them, then you can actively practice to improve them. Critical thinking and problem-solving are two important "soft" or essential skills hiring managers are looking for. According to a Linkedin survey, 57% of business ...
Open-mindedness: This critical thinking skill helps you analyze and process information to come to an unbiased conclusion. Part of the critical thinking process is letting your personal biases go and coming to a conclusion based on all of the information. Problem solving: Because critical thinking emphasizes coming to the best conclusion based ...
Critical thinking. This is a mode of thinking, compared to problem-solving, which is a set of solution-oriented strategies. Since critical thinking strengthens your reasoning, it makes it easier to learn new skills, including problem-solving. Working on your critical thinking can also help you understand yourself better, including your value ...
It makes you a well-rounded individual, one who has looked at all of their options and possible solutions before making a choice. According to the University of the People in California, having critical thinking skills is important because they are [ 1 ]: Universal. Crucial for the economy. Essential for improving language and presentation skills.
Definition. Simply put, critical thinking is the act of deliberately analyzing information so that you can make better judgements and decisions. It involves using things like logic, reasoning, and creativity, to draw conclusions and generally understand things better. This may sound like a pretty broad definition, and that's because critical ...
Using Critical Thinking Skills in Problem Solving. Think of problem solving as a process with four Ps: Define the problem, generate possibilities,. create a plan, and perform your plan.. Step 1: Define the problem. To define a problem effectively, understand what a problem is—a mismatch between what you want and what you have.
Critical thinking involves asking questions, defining a problem, examining evidence, analyzing assumptions and biases, avoiding emotional reasoning, avoiding oversimplification, considering other interpretations, and tolerating ambiguity. Dealing with ambiguity is also seen by Strohm & Baukus (1995) as an essential part of critical thinking ...
This course is part of the Professional Skills for the Workplace Specialization. When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization. Learn new concepts from industry experts. Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool. Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects.
Solving Problems with Creative and Critical Thinking. Module 1 • 3 hours to complete. This module will help you to develop skills and behaviors required to solve problems and implement solutions more efficiently in an agile manner by using a systematic five-step process that involves both creative and critical thinking.
Show the Interviewer Your Skills . ... Problem-solving is another critical thinking skill that involves analyzing a problem, generating and implementing a solution, and assessing the success of the plan. Employers don't simply want employees who can think about information critically. They also need to be able to come up with practical solutions.
Top 5 critical thinking skills. Here are five common and impactful critical thinking skills you might consider highlighting on your resume or in an interview: 1. Observation. Observational skills are the starting point for critical thinking. People who are observant can quickly sense and identify a new problem.
Step 7: Evaluate progress. The final step when employing critical thinking to problem-solving is to evaluate the progress of the solution. Since critical thinking demands open-mindedness, analysis, and a willingness to change one's mind, it is important to monitor how well the solution has actually solved the problem in order to determine if ...
Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrected. In other words, it is a thought process that involves the evaluation, assessment, and reinterpretation of your own or others' ideas and thought processes. Critical thinking requires effort and dedication, but pays dividends for the time invested.
Try to listen without judgment - remember, critical thinking is about keeping an open mind. 5. Gather additional information where needed. Whenever you identify gaps in the information or data ...
Critical thinking helps people solve problems systematically using facts and data. It involves going through a process of gathering information, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing the information to help solve problems in a timely manner. Logic plays a predominant role in critical thinking, because the goal of critical thinking is to solve ...
Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care ...
He also imparts an understanding of common traps people fall into when solving problems, both individually and as a team. After this course, you'll have the tools to approach your next problem ...
Team-based learning (TBL) is useful in encouraging individual self-assessment and peer-peer instruction, while also providing an opportunity for the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. After the Individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) exam, students work together to answer the Group Readiness Assurance Test (gRAT).
These skills enable individuals to analyze complex situations, make informed decisions, and find innovative solutions. Here, we present 25 examples of problem-solving and critical thinking. problem-solving scenarios to help you cultivate and enhance these skills. Ethical dilemma: A company faces a situation where a client asks for a product ...
Good decisions are the product of strong critical thinking skills and thoughtful problem solving. And like all skills, you can learn, practice, and get better at them. In this course, Dr. Eric Zackrison helps you do just that. He shows how to critically assess the source of information and how to determine the right approach to take.
Here are ten great examples of critical thinking and problem-solving in action. 1. Assessing Your Own Actions. Self-evaluation is critical for improving your overall performance. When you engage in reflective thinking or try to evaluate yourself, you analyze what went wrong and how you can improve in the future.
Problem-solving is a systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, and solving problems. This process can help you enhance your critical thinking skills. To improve your problem-solving ability ...
How to solve a problem: Insights for critical thinking, problem-solving, and success in college by Kelling J. Donald, New York, NY, CRC Press, 2023, 152 pp., £18.39 (paperback), ISBN 9781032203614
Here are some tips and ideas to help children build a foundation for critical thinking: Provide opportunities for play. Building with blocks, acting out roles with friends, or playing board games all build children's critical thinking. Pause and wait. Offering your child ample time to think, attempt a task, or generate a response is critical.
Show The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving, Ep 432: One of the world's leading experts on strategy and innovation, Vijay "VG" Govindarajan. How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future - Mar 18, 2024.