LEARNING 101Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

• Is hard• Takes Practice• Is a set of skills that everyone can

develop• Is useful for all parts of your life, not

just school.

THINKING adjective 1. rational; reasoning: People are thinking animals. 2. thoughtful; reflective: noun 3. thought; judgment, reflection: clear thinking.  

CRITICAL THINKINGnoun disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence

Thinking vs. Critical Thinking

• Ritual Thinking - things that we do with out being aware

• Random Thinking – daydreaming or spontaneous thoughts

• Appreciative thinking – awareness that we like something

• Critical Thinking – making judgments; that is to say it is the application of reason to a set of facts– Reasoning – use of supposed truths as

evidence in support of other supposed truth.

Types of Thinking

Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Remembering – memorization and recall• Understanding – grasping the meaning• Applying – using information in multiple

ways• Analyzing – seeing patterns in information• Evaluating – comparing and discriminating

between ideas, assessing value of information

• Creating – using old ideas to create new ideas.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Preview the text • Look up unknown words• Slow Down • Annotate the text

Critical Readers

• Underline important information or key ideas

• Define words you don’t know

• Make notes, expand on what is offered in the reading

• Ask questions as you read

Critical Thinking

Summary vs. Synthesis • Summary – extracting a main idea or central point and

rewording the information in a sentence or two• Synthesizing – weaving together information from several

sources including your own prior knowledge

Critical Writing

Actively listen for: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How

Connect the current lecture back to the reading, past lectures, and life experiences

Use evidence to develop a better understanding

Ask questions that dive deeper into the material

Synthesize the material across many courses, draw conclusions and make inferences

Evaluate the course material based on all of your knowledge.

Being a Critical Class Participant

• When voting• When making decisions about life • In every single job you will ever have• In problem solving• When talking with “trusted”

professionals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzV1pNQUX5s

Critical Thinking in the “Real World”

1. Journal About it 2. Make a Pro/Con List

3. Talk it out 4. Do your research 5. Get some space

Processing Life Critically

Left Brain/Right Brain

Questions? 315 Sage HallPhone - 940-369-7006

Email - Learning.Center@unt.eduWebsite - http://learningcenter.unt.edu/