The ability to think is an innate action that, for the most part, all people possess. Nonetheless, not everybody has the ability or knowledge of how to develop this quality into something greater and beneficial. Critical thinking is not inherent; rather the skills necessary to think analytically must be learned and practiced with an open mind. It involves listening with the intent of understanding others, drawing conclusions based on strong evidence and asking curiously about the situation. Not only must one be willing to evaluate a situation slowly and thoroughly, but one must also respect the views of others and accept the possibility of being wrong.
This is the definition that can help everyone in the workplace. Critical thinking is not an automatic thought process, it is a skill that everyone needs to be educated on sometime in their life. Most people base their decisions on their own
Critical Thinking Critical Thinking is defined as an objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. The steps in the critical thinking process are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. There are many ways to use critical thinking. One way I use it daily is in parenting.
“Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also” (2 Corinthians 8:7). I have gratitude towards God for gifting me with so many outstanding capabilities. I show my thankfulness by aiding to the necessities of others. I have been blessed with not only the advantage of wanting to learn, but also the motivation to succeed with the guidance of God. My goal is to be sincere in everything that I accomplish in and out of school.
Session 1 Reflection The choice to attend Colorado Christian University (CCU) has been a huge mental debate for me. In high school I was always very into business classes, the why and how a business functions, which lead to me earning my Associates Degree in business in August 2007 from Lamar Community College (LCC). I unfortunately have not had the opportunity to put that degree to much use. This lead me to the debate of a career change. With the influence of teaching children’s church I have decided to go back to college and earn a Early Childhood Education degree to hopefully teach preschool.
This form of thinking wasn’t really made crucial to me until I got to college where I had to think and analyze more on subjects, topics, and people than their face value. Critical thinking allows us to think genuinely for ourselves and not inherit and become dominated by anyone’s own
(2012). Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net. The skills needed for critical thinking is first learning how to apply fair-mined thinking to your daily life. Fair-minded thinking produces better judgement and decisions, which yields successfulness in our life.
The dream of going to college has been present since I remember. However, I lived in a low income household in Spain, and at that time my family was going through a great depression, lack of financial stability, and my parent’s relationship was not at its best; consequently, the idea of having another expense was not a priority for the family, needless to say that college was not an option. Nevertheless, life has given me the opportunity to review my priorities, make new choices and as a result, I decided to pursue a higher education. I became a displaced homemaker after my divorce in 2008 in Washington State, when I decided to move away and start a new life in Colorado. We were only us, my daughter and me.
Critical thinking is an important skill in academics and life. It is difficult because it requires an active mind, and as a result there are many natural mental barriers to utilizing it. A time when critical thinking was challenging for me was when I was debating the necessity of going to college with a close friend. This was in sophomore year when we were beginning to seriously contemplate our future lives after high school. In this debate, I took the side that college was necessary in order to be successful in life; my friend believed there were other paths one could take and still achieve the same level of success through other avenues like trade schools or apprenticeships.
In fact, because of the internet and social networking system, many people nowadays live in a world where an enormous amount of information are being exchanged. Therefore, each individual has the responsibility to evaluate the information carefully. In other words, critical thinking abilities seem to becoming important even in daily life. According to a survey conducted by Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), 93% of the employers answered that they expect their job candidates to have the abilities to think critically (Liberal Arts 2). This data suggest that having critical thinking abilities will be valued as useful not only in college but also in society.
Some topics that will be discussed in this paper will be how an individual can apply the top three critical thinking skills at work, school, and throughout everyday life. Likewise, the other items that will be clarified is the meaning of each of these critical thinking skills. The top three critical thinking skills are to analyze, synthesize, and to evaluate. These skills are a central facet of everyday life and to know how to properly use them will help in the long run. Each of these skills build off each other and it would be good to know what these skills mean in their entirety.
It was difficult getting to where I am currently with trying to understand who I was? And who I am? Why I was going through what I was going through? How to understand and interpret what felt almost alien. It wasn’t until after getting into the University of South Carolina as a Biology major that I knew that that wasn’t what I was meant to be doing.
Around this time during the midst of my senior year at Windham High School I felt invincible. I was not entirely sure what my senior year had in store for me, never mind my future. My mind was on getting as far away from my hometown as possible, smiling at new faces, and learning from passionate professors. This was my idea of college; being surrounded by people who want to learn as bad as I, wanting to absorb information as bad as they want to breath. When it was time to make my final decision, I decided to attend Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire.
Furthermore, I became a Sunday school teacher to teach and inform aspiring children about the bible. I chose to be a role model for the little children, and, now, I choose to be a role model for the student in my
Tim van Gelder, in his answering the same question said Critical thinking is hard to do and requires a deliberate effort to engage at and even at that, it takes years of practicing and continuous dedication to get good at it. (Van Gelder,T. 2004). Therefore, we should not expect undergrads or graduates whose course focus are rather on grasping concepts, theories, exercises and many reviews of materials to in the midst of these, to engage in Critical thinking(CT). 3. Critical thinking, is a high cognetive skill that needs to be learned by practice like playing chess or Tennis and most times when it is taught in Higher institutions, it is taught as a concept for students to grasp once, while hoping they can develop the practice on their own.