UNIT 6 CRITICAL THINKING

At the end of this session:

YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CRITICAL THINKING AND APPLY THOSE PRINCIPLES TO DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING ORIENTATION AND ABILITY BOTH IN THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING AND WORKING SITUATIONS

UNDERSTAND THE STYLE AND PROCESS OF PROBLEM SOLVING AND USING A PROBLEM SOLVING CYCLE FRAMEWORK TO IMPROVE PROBLEM SOLVING EFFECTIVENESS

THINKING ABOUT OUR THINKING

MUCH OF OUR THINKING LEFT TO ITSELF IS BIASED, DISTORTED, UNIMFORMED, OR DOWNRIGHT PREJUDICED!

THE QUALITY OF OUR LIFE AND THAT WE PRODUCE, MAKE OR BUILD DEPENDS ON THE QUALITY OF OUR THINKING

SHODDY THINKING IS COSTLY, BOTH IN MONEY AND OUR QUALITY OF WORK AND LIFE

DEFINITION OF CT

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking about a subject, or problem in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them

ABILITIES OF A CRITICAL THINKER

According to Ennis, a competent critical thinker will do the following:

Judge the credibility of sources Identify conclusions, reasons, and assumptions Judge the quality of an argument, including the

acceptability of its reasons, assumptions, and evidence Develop and defend a position on an issue Ask appropriate clarifying questions Define terms in a way appropriate for the context Be open minded Try to be well informed Draw conclusions when warranted, but with caution

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING CT

The following 8points should be observed: Avoid making inaccurate generalisations, such as

women are too emotional Avoid oversimplifying complex problem Accept that diversity of opinions exists Remain open to new or stronger ideas Withhold judgement until you are sure Evaluate for yourself the opinions of authorities Ask questions for clarification when speaking with

someone who holds opposing views Avoid stereotyped thinking

PROBLEM SOLVING STYLE

Your problem solving style is influence by two dimensions namely TIMING and ANALYSIS

Arising from the TIMING dimension your style is either REACTIVE or ANTICIPATORY / PROACTIVE

Arising from the ANALYSIS dimension your style is either REFLECTIVE or IMPULSIVE

PROBLEM SOLVING STYLE GRID

Creative Procrastination

TIMINGReactive Anticipatory

Impulsive

ANALYSIS

Reflective

CreativeProcrastination

Extinct by Instinct Burning BridgesAhead of You

ParalysisByAnalysis

Premature Panic

Your problem solving style

The Four general extremes of problem solving styles are:

When you are overly REACTIVE, you tend to be PARALYSIS by ANALYSIS and EXTINCT byINSTINCT

When you are overly ANTICIPATORY, you tend to bePREMATURE PANIC and BURNING BRIDGESAHEAD of YOU

CREATIVE PROCRASTINATION

THE EFFECTIVE COMBINATION AND BALANCEOF TIMING AND ANALYSIS IS CRITICAL TOEFFECTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING.

DECISION MAKING SHOULD BE PREMEDIATEDRATHER THAN ACCIDENTAL DECISION MAKING

ACTIVITY

EXAMINE THIS MODEL THAT HAS JUST BEING PRESENTED AND ASSESS YOUR OWN PROBLEMSOLVING STYLE.

WHERE DOES YOUR GENERAL APPROACH TO SOLVING PROBLEM AND DECISION MAKINGFIT IN THE GRID?

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR EFFECTIVENESSIN THIS CRITICAL AREA OF FUNCTIONAL THINKING?

WHAT AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED?

PROBLEM SOLVING & THOUGHT PROCESSES

Psychologists have identified two distinctive thought processes associated with problem solving namely:

DIVERGENT THINKING and CONVERGENT THINKING

DIVERGENT THINKING

STATING THE PROBLEM IN VARIOUS FORMS

LOOKING AT IT FROM VARIOUS VIEW POINTS

QUESTIONING & REQUESTIONING BASIC FACTS

IDENTIFYING KEY FACTORS

GATHERING MORE FACTS AND IDEAS

GENERATING VARIOUS OPTIONS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM

CONVERGENT THINKING

NARROWS DOWN THE PROBLEM

CASTS OUT VARIOUS OPTIONS, SELECT FEW

ZEROS IN ON KEY FACTORS AND ANALYSES THEM

EVALUATES OPTIONS TO MAKE CHOICES

PROBLEM SOLVING CYCLE

OptionFinding

Problem Stating

Problem Finding

DecidingTakingAction

EvaluatingResults

REFLECTION

In your problem solving process, do you have a Framework that you systematically work throughin order to reach a convince state of mind that you have thoroughly investigated and dealt with the problem and resolved it?

What are some of the processes and steps in the above model that you are already practicing?

Which are the areas that you need to focus on and improve further?

De Bono’s SIX THINKING HATS

A powerful and effective tool used to examine decisions from a HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE.

It forces the user to move away from ‘in the box’ habitualthinking to the ‘out of the box’ and more rounded view and thinking of a situation under consideration

6 THINKING HATS

FOCUS ON FACT AVAILABLE

USING FEELINGS& EMOTIONS

CONSIDER THE NEGATIVE POINTS

6 THINKING HATS

THINK POSITIVELY, SEE BENEFITS

THINK FREELY, CREATIVITY, BRAIN STORM IDEAS

PROCESS CONTROL EXERCISE BY THE CHAIR

SEQUENCE?INITIAL

EACH OPTION

SEE IF THERE ARE MORE OPTIONS

WHICH OPTIONIS THE BEST

FINALROUND UP

ACTIVITY

Using 6 Thinking Hats technique attempt to problem Solved the following case:

The directors of a pharmaceutical company are looking at whether they should withdraw from the market a best selling drug due to a major defect in the packaging which may have serious side effects on the users.