critical thinking power point

Introduction to Critical
Thinking


Do You Agree With This Statement?
“Some people study all their life and at their
death they have learned everything except
to THINK”
THINK
– Francois Domergue

Why?


Why does IU have this course?
To

help you improve your
Thinking Skills 

HOW TO
THINK!


Introduction to Critical Thinking
1. What is Thinking?

2. Types of Thinking

7. Characteristics of
a Critical Thinker

6. Barriers to
Critical Thinking

3. What is
Critical Thinking?

4. Critical Thinking
Standards

5. Benefits of
Critical Thinking



What is Thinking?
Why doesn’t SHE like me?
Why doesn’t HE like me?

As you start asking questions and seek answers, you are in fact thinking.



Types of Thinking
• Analyzing
• Evaluating
• Reasoning

Problem
ProblemSolving

Solving
Decision
DecisionMaking
Making
New
Ideas

Critical
Thinking

Left

Right

Creative
Thinking



What is Critical Thinking?
WARNING: THIS MAN IS NOT
THINKING CRITICALLY!!


What is Critical Thinking?


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Critical thinking is the general term given to a wide range of

cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed:
to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments
and truth claims,
to discover and overcome personal prejudices and
biases,
to formulate and present convincing reasons in support
of conclusions; and
to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to
believe and what to do.
(textbook: page 1)

Cognitive, intellectual : thuộc về nhận thức, trí óc. Prejudice: định kiến an unfair and
unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge.
Bias: thành kiến often supporting or opposing a particular person or thing in an unfair way by
allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment


What is Critical Thinking?
• Analyzing
• Evaluating
• Reasoning

Critical
Thinking

Don’t need to
memorize
definitions! Just
understand and
practice the core

critical thinking
skills
emphasized in
this course.

Problem
Problem Solving
Solving
Decision
Decision Making
Making

Left

Right



Critical Thinking Standards (CTS)
The most significant critical (intellectual)
thinking standards:
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Clarity
Accuracy
Precision
Relevance
Depth
Breadth
Logic
Fairness


CTS - Clarity
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Could you elaborate further on that
point?
Could you express that point in another
way?
Could you give me an illustration?
Could you give me an example?

Clarity is the gateway standard


Clarity
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Clarity is a gateway standard, If a statement is
unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or
relevant. In fact we cannot tell anything about it
because we do not yet know what it is saying.
Exploratory questions related to the Clarity Standard:
Is my thinking clear?
Do I need to elaborate my thinking more?
Do I need to provide an illustration of what I mean?
Do I need to give an example from everyday life?


CTS – Accuracy
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Is that really true?
How could we check that?
How could we find out if that is true?
This chicken
weighs over
300 pounds.

A statement can be clear but not accurate


Accuracy
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- A statement can be clear, but not accurate as in,
“Most cats are over 100lbs in weight.”
Questions related to evaluating the accuracy of
thinking include:
Is my thinking accurate?
How could I check to see if this is true?
How could I find out if this is correct?
How can I verify for accuracy?


CTS – Precision
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Could you give more details?
Could you be more specific?

Yao Ming is
TALL!

A statement can be both clear and accurate,
but not precise


Precision
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Precision - A statement can be both clear and
accurate, but not precise as in, “John is
overweight.” Is he 1lb or 500lbs over weight?
Questions useful in assessing precision:
Is my thinking as precise as it needs to be?
Do I need to be more specific?
Do I need to give more detail?
Do I need to be more exact?


CTS – Relevance
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How is that connected to the question?
How does that bear on the issue?
I studied hard all
semester, therefore I
should get A+.

A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise,
but not relevant to the question at issue.


Relevance
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A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise, but
not be relevant to the issue.
Questioning the relevance:
Is my thinking relevant to the issue?
How does that relate to the question at hand?
How does this information bear upon the problem I
am concerned with?
How does this information help me deal effectively
with the issue?
He is handsome. Therefore, he will pass the Cal 1 test.

CTS – Depth
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How does your answer address the
complexities in the question?
How are you taking into account the
problems in the question?
Is that dealing with the most significant
factors?

A statement can be clear, accurate,
precise, and relevant, but superficial.


Depth
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A statement can be clear, accurate, precise,
and relevant, yet superficial.

Questions useful for evaluating depth of our
critical thinking:
What factors make up this difficult problem?
What are the complexities of this issue?
What are the difficulties I need to deal with?
Is my thinking taking into account the different
perspectives I need to consider?


CTS – Breadth
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Do we need to consider another point of view?
Is there another way to look at this question?
What would this look like from a conservative
standpoint?
What would this look like from the point of view
of...?
You got 0 marks for
Headache!
!!

“Participation”, because you
didn’t participate in the
class discussion at all.

A line of reasoning may be clear, accurate,
precise, relevant, and deep, but lack breadth.