Evolution of Critical Thinking: a Journey of Self-Discovery

• What is critical thinking?
• What are the three most significant things that you learned about critical thinking during this class?
• How has your critical thinking changed since starting this course?
• Reevaluate your stage of development in critical thinking and why you placed yourself in that stage. If your rating has changed since Week One, explain why you think this change occurred.
• How do you plan to move yourself from your current stage of development in critical thinking to the stage of master thinker?

Format your paper consistent with Associate Level Writing Style Handbook guidelines.

According to Ruggiero (2012), thinking is any mental activity that helps formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or fulfill a desire to understand. Critical thinking enables us to recognize a wide range of subjective analysis of otherwise objective data, and to evaluate how well each analysis might meet our needs (Kurland, 2000). From the definitions, we see that there is a big difference between thinking and critically thinking.

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As human beings we think all day, every day. We think about what we are going to wear in the morning, what task we have to complete at work, what we have to do after work, and even what we have to do the next day. When you are critically thinking, you are analyzing and breaking things down. For instance, when someone presents an idea to you at work. When that idea is presenting to you, you immediately begin to dissect the idea; how it will benefit, what is the systematics, what will it take to get the idea approved, etc.

The three most significant things that I have learned about critical thinking during this class are the kind of thinker I am, the steps to take to not let my habits hinder my thinking and telling the difference between an issue and a problem. The beginning of the class was an eye-opener to me. Since I had taken the CAP class at my previous education institution, I never thought about what kind of thinker I was. This class has made me see that I am still a beginner thinker; trying to improve without regular practice (Ruggiero, 2012). Chapter three taught me many things about myself also. There were things that I knew I did out of habit but did not know that sometimes my habits hinder my thinking capabilities. I never took the time to distinguish the difference between an issue and a problem.

After going through week 5, I learned that they are both different although they go hand in hand. My critical thinking has changed since starting this class because now I am able to understand the importance of critical thinking and how to use it appropriately. The stage of development that I placed myself in at the beginning of this course has changed slightly. I went from a “beginner thinker” to a “practicing thinker”.

This change has occurred because I went from trying to improve without regular practice to acknowledging the practices and including them in my daily critical thinking. I plan to more myself from being a “practicing thinker” to a “master thinker” by using all my skills acquired from the practices and involving them in my everyday thinking. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in Humanities/111. With the skills and practices that I have learned in this course, I am able to work more efficient in my upcoming courses.

References

1. Kurland, D. (2000). What is Critical Thinking?. On CriticalReading.com. Retrieved from http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm
2. Ruggiero, V. (2012). In The Art of Thinking: A Guide to Critical and Creative Thought, Tenth Edition, Chapter 1 and 3.