Critical Thinking Characteristics

 What is critical thinking?

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action"  

National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987

 Bloom's Taxonomy is a categorization and classification of the cognitive domain of learning into levels according to certain features. Critical thinking is considered a higher-order thinking skill since it is mainly focused on the skills to evaluate and analyze.

4 Characteristics of Critical Thinking

1.  Active listening: There are around 7 Ways we can improve our active listening skills. being an active listener is vital for having better communication. We can self-evaluate ourselves by doing a simple teamwork activity. we can then actively check ourselves to find whether we follow those simple methods to actively listen to our communicators.
2.  Having curiosity: According to studies it is proven that when we are curious, our brain is more prompt to learn and retain such information. This is the reason why we are able to remember things we like. But we must be humble and courageous enough to surrender to this uncertainty. Not knowing something is the starting point of learning. But most people tend to choose certainty over curiosity since curiosity may lead to hurt. Curiosity is a vital aspect of critical thinking, but one must know the right questions to ask because the right questions direct you to the correct or better solution.
3.  Being disciplined: "Critical thinking is a self-disciplined and self-guided action". A critical thinker should not jump to conclusions. They should not assume or speculate an answer to a problem. Instead, they should take a more disciplined path of action. Time should be taken to acquire the necessary information and know the facts behind the problem.
4. Having humility (be humble): A critical thinker should be open-minded. They must not be biased. They should not let their ego get the better of them. Being open-minded refers to an individual being open to other possible alternatives even when they already may have a certain conclusion or have an opinion on something. It is best to refer to the relevant evidence and then revise the current understanding of the matter.

Being able to step out of their comfort zone in order to view the matter in a different perspective is a good characteristic of a critical thinker.

Group Work - Discuss the solutions that can be handed over to the Sri Lankan cricket board to improve the quality of cricket

References

1. https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

2. https://citt.ufl.edu/resources/the-learning-process/designing-the-learning-experience/blooms-taxonomy/