Critical Thinking

Paul & Elder(2007) state that critical thinking is an art of analyzing and evaluating the learning that takes place in our daily life. It enables a person to formulate purposeful question and gather and assess the relevant information. He comes to conclusions and tests them against preset criteria and rethinks about other alternatives. He communicates with others in finding the solution of complex problems.

A critical thinker always identifies the exact problem or asks for clarity or illustration. He thinks about the accuracy of the statement. He verifies the statement and for precision he seeks the problem to be specific. Relevancy is another issue that always strikes to the mind of critical thinker. He ensures that the quantitative and qualitative aspect of the statement. A statement might look very simple and can be said in a few words like “Say no to smoking.” A critical thinker always considers the complexities of the problem and goes into the breadth and depth of any statement. He evaluates and analyses the statement from others’ view point and ultimately comes to logical conclusion in which different thoughts are combined appropriately.   

Learning is a complex process. It can become long lasting if a learner develops critical thinking. The leaner will gain confidence and get better engaged in the learning process if he knows the answers of three questions:

              1.       What?

              2.       Why?

              3.       How?

Although these questions are equally important in learning but a learner develop critical thinking when he asks himself and the educator “Why.”

References:

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2007). The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts and tools. Retrieved from

http://www.d.umn.edu/~jetterso/documents/CriticalThinking.pdf