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"We don't even know what skills may be needed in
the years ahead. That is why we must train our young people in
the fundamental fields of knowledge, and equip them to
understand and cope with change. That is why we must give them
the critical qualities of mind and durable qualities of
character that will serve them in circumstances we cannot now
even predict."
John Gardner, "Excellence"
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"Education is not the filling of a
pail but the lighting of a fire." …W.
B. Yeats
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"The most important attitude that
can be formed is that of the desire to go on
Learning" … John Dewey
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“Children must be taught how to think,
not what to think.” Margaret Mead
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Definition |
Critical thinking is a
mental process of analyzing or
evaluating information. Such
information may be gathered from
observation, experience, reasoning,
or communication. Critical thinking
has its basis in intellectual values
that go beyond subject matter
divisions and include: clarity,
accuracy, precision, evidence,
thoroughness and fairness.
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Learning, Critical thinking, &
Our Nation's Future |
| "the future now belongs to
societies that organize themselves for learning ...
nations that want high income and full employment
must develop policies that emphasize the acquisition
of knowledge and skill be everyone, not just a
select few." Ray Marshall & Marc Tucker,
Thinking for a living: Education and the wealth of
Nations, 1992
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Hub of Critical thinking |
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Critical thinking is not an
isolated goal unrelated to other important goals in
education. Rather, it is a seminal goal which, done
well, simultaneously facilitates a rainbow of other
ends. It is best conceived, therefore, as the hub
around which all other educational ends cluster. For
example, as students learn to think more critically,
they become more proficient at historical,
scientific, and mathematical thinking. They develop
skills, abilities, and values critical to success in
everyday life. All of this assumes, of course, that
those who teach have a solid grounding in critical
thinking and in the teaching strategies essential to
it.
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Peddlers |
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In real life, people
sometimes make statements just to be speaking the
truth. But frequently they make statements, not
primarily (and maybe not even secondarily) to be
speaking the truth, but primarily in order to
get other people to accept them as true. Then we
call this peddling the statement, and we call the
those who peddle it the peddlers of it, and those
whom they want to accept it the consumers of the
statement. The context of this human
interaction is called a "context of persuasion", or
sometimes "the propositional marketplace" (since
there's no such word as "statemental".) |
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Teaching, Learning, and their counterfeits Mortimer
Adler |
| This alters our
understanding of
the distinction
between learning
by discovery and
learning by
instruction. If
the latter is
not to be
identified with
passive
absorption or
rote
memorization,
then the
distinction
divides all
active learning
into two
kinds-unaided
discovery,
discovery
without the aid
of teachers, on
the one hand;
and aided
discovery, or
discovery
deliberately
assisted by
teachers, on the
other. In both
cases, the
principal cause
of learning is
activity on the
part of the
learner engaged
in the process
of discovery;
when instruction
occurs, the
teacher is at
best only an
instrumental
cause operating
to guide or
facilitate the
process of
discovery on the
part of the
learner. To
suppose that the
teacher is ever
more than an
instrumental
cause is to
suppose that the
activity of a
teacher can by
itself suffice
to cause
learning to
occur in another
person even
though the
latter remains
entirely
passive. This
would view the
learner as a
patient being
acted upon
rather than as
an agent whose
activity is both
primary and
indispensable.
In contrast, the
instrumental
activity of the
teacher is
always secondary
and dispensable.
These basic
insights are
epitomized by
Socrates when,
in the
Theaetetus,
he describes his
role as a
teacher by
analogy with the
service
performed by a
midwife who does
nothing more
than assist the
pregnant mother
to give birth
with less pain
and more
assurance. So,
according to
Socrates, the
teacher assists
the inquiring
mind of the
learner to give
birth to
knowledge,
facilitating the
process of
discovery on the
learner's part
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Teaching,
like
farming
and
healing,
is a
cooperative
art.
Understanding
this,
Comenius
in
The
Great
Didactic
again
and
again
compares
the
cultivation
of
the
mind
with
the
cultivation
of
the
field;
so,
too,
Plato
compares
the
teacher's
art
with
the
physician's. |
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Elements of Critical thinking |
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Results: |
A
well-cultivated critical thinker:
- Raises
vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly
and precisely;
- Gathers
and assesses relevant information, using abstract
ideas to interpret it effectively;
- Comes to
well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them
against relevant criteria and standards;
- Thinks
open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought,
recognizing and assessing, as need be, their
assumptions, implications, and practical consequences;
and
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Communicates effectively with others in figuring out
solutions to complex problems.
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