Tuliakova K.

The National Technical University of Ukraine

“Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking was described by Richard W. Paul (1994) Critical thinking — or its synonyms “analytical thinking” - is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing so that you can make better decisions and generally understand things better. [1] That things can come from sources such as: 1) Observation 2) Experience 3) Reflection 4) Reasoning 5) Communication

John Dewey is one of many educational leaders who recognized that a curriculum aimed at building thinking skills would benefit the individual learner. The description of the more external and obvious aspects of the fact John Dewey called thinking. [2,22]

Critical thinking should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of other people. Also a person with a good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking. The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. The abilities are classified according to five different categories: [3, 17]

I. Elementary Clarification 1. Focusing on a question 2. Analyzing arguments 3. Asking and answering questions of clarification

II. Basic Support 4. Judging the credibility of a source 5. Observing and judging observation reports.

III. Inference 6. Deducing and judging deductions 7. Inducing and judging inductions 8. Making and judging value statements

IV. Advanced Clarification 9. Defining terms and judging definitions 10. Identifying assumptions

V. Strategy and Tactics 11. Deciding on an action 12. Interacting with others

Teachers have to be involved in shaping the discussion on critical thinking. At high school, most learning occurs at the levels of Knowledge, Understanding and Application. For example, you may be expected to learn the names and properties of chemical elements (knowledge), understand why some react with others (understanding) and conduct experiments (application).

Critical thinking provides you with an approach to information that can be very valuable and very much expected of a university graduate. It enables you:

· to take on an amount of information

· to pick out the theories and arguments

· to be able to communicate and justify the point of view that you have taken.

There are some examples of developing critical thinking skills.

- Body Sculpting—Using Theatre to Explore Important Ideas

Students are given time to consider their feelings on a thought-provoking abstract or concrete image. Next, they come up with words that describe their reactions —trapped, free, angry, joyful, etc. They are then paired up and one person is the sculptor, while the other is the “clay.” The sculptor poses the clay into a form that artfully displays the word they wish to portray. Guidelines:

1. Sculptors can either physically mold the “clay” or act as a mirror for them to show the “clay” the position/image they want.

2. Images can be concrete or abstract.

3. Sculptors must treat their clay with gentleness and respect (very important!).

4. There are no wrong answers; whatever image you get is fine.

5. All body sculpting must be done in silence.

- K-W-L Charts—Assessing What We Know/What We Still Want to Learn

Charts to document “What I Know” and “What I Want to Know” and, after learning has occurred, “What I Learned.”

- Reader’s Theater In groups, create a dramatic script based on the ideas within a given text. Do not script word for word. The idea is to get off the page and represent the idea in the students’ own words.

Critical thinking is not simply a matter of thinking the way the teacher does on any given day. There may be disagreement. Participants’ views or opinions may not change. However, even in disagreement, there will be reasoned judgments. At some point we say, ‘‘Fair enough,’’ and continue on in the classroom, as in life.

Critical thinking is about understanding and acting, perhaps in new ways. Like language learning itself, critical thinking can be a great and even daunting challenge and responsibility, not only for students but for teachers as well. However, it is a trend well worth keeping in fashion. [4,22]

Employers will look for thinking skills in university graduates, with many seeing it as more important to have these skills than to have subject knowledge in that area of work.

In order to live a meaningful life and to structure our lives accordingly, we need to justify and reflect on our values and decisions. Critical thinking provides the tools for this process of self-evaluation.

Reference:

1. Walters, Kerry (1994). Re-Thinking Reason. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 181–98.

2. Dewey, John. (1910). How we think. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Co. 250 p

3. The Goal of Critical Thinking: from Educational Ideal to Educational Reality.

Debbie Walsh, Ph.D. and Richard W Paul, Ph.D. American Federation of Teachers Educational Issues Department. 67 p.

4. John Beaumont. A Sequence of Critical Thinking Tasks . Borough of Manhattan Community College. City University of New York. p. 22