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CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking is a disciplined
approach to conceptualizing, evaluating,
analyzing and
synthesizing information from observation, experience, refection or reasoning. It can then
become the basis for action. Critical thinking is often associated with a willingness to imagine or
remain open to considering alternative perspectives, to integrate new or revised perspectives into
our
ways of thinking and acting, and with a commitment to participatory democracy and to
fostering criticality in others.
At
a basic level, the process of critical thinking involves:
•
gathering relevant information;
•
evaluating and questioning evidence;
•
drawing warranted conclusions and generalizations;
•
revising assumptions and hypotheses on the basis of wider experience.
The following are the steps that children can be guided through
and the skills they will
use in undertaking classroom activities:
1.
Process
the information derived from visual or from oral evidence. This could equally be
applied to information derived from reading primary source documents, data gathered from
a survey or questionnaire, or information collected from several secondary sources, such
as a selection of textbooks, encyclopedias or websites.
2.
Understand key
points, assumptions or hypotheses that structure investigation of the
evidence, or in
later activities, underlie the arguments.
3.
Analyse
how these key components, and the visual and oral evidence, ft together and relate
to each other.
4.
Compare
and explore the similarities and differences between individual images, or
between different personal accounts and memories.
5.
Synthesise
by bringing together different sources of information to construct an argument or
set of ideas. Make connections between the different sources that shape and support your
ideas.
6.
Evaluate
the
validity
and
reliability
of evidence in relation to your investigation, and how
the evidence supports or contradicts your assumptions and emerging ideas.
7.
Apply
the understanding gained by presenting an interpretation
in response to the
questions that underlay the investigation.
8.
Justify
ideas and interpretations in defending arguments about the conclusions reached
and implications identif
i
ed.
Bloom’s taxonomy of Education Goals has been one of the most influential
books among
teachers, who want to develop pupil’s critical thinking in the process of active teaching and
learning.