Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies

Most of us are not what we could be. We are less. We have great capacity. But most of it is dormant; most is undeveloped. Improvement in thinking is like improvement in basketball, in ballet, or in playing the saxophone. It is unlikely to take place in the absence of a conscious commitment to learn. Development in thinking requires a gradual process requiring plateaus of learning and just plain hard work. How, then, can we develop as critical thinkers? First, we must understand that there are stages required for development as a critical thinker: We develop through these stages if we: In this article, we will explain 9 strategies that any motivated person can use to develop as a thinker. There is nothing magical about our ideas. First Strategy: Use “Wasted” Time. The key is that the time is “gone” even though, if we had thought about it and considered our options, we would never have deliberately spent our time in the way we did. When did I do my worst thinking today? Go to top

Critical Thinking Guide Critical thinking is a skill, so develop the following habits to help develop your critical thinking skills: Check the requirements of your courses What are the lecturers' expectations of their students? Read strategically Look at the title, abstract, summary, introduction, and conclusion of your readings to decide whether you need to read all of the text, only some of it, or whether you can skip it altogether. Make notes as you read Make notes as you read, using your own words. Work with classmates to discuss ideas You should always write your own assignments, but you can improve your understanding by discussing ideas and information with your peers and your tutors. Write regularly about your own ideas Write regularly about your own ideas, thoughts and feelings on a topic. Find your voice Express your ideas and do not be afraid to take risks.

Critical Thinking Model 1 To Analyze Thinking We Must Identify and Question its Elemental Structures Standard: Clarityunderstandable, the meaning can be grasped Could you elaborate further? Could you give me an example? Could you illustrate what you mean? Standard: Accuracyfree from errors or distortions, true How could we check on that? Standard: Precisionexact to the necessary level of detail Could you be more specific? Standard: Relevancerelating to the matter at hand How does that relate to the problem? Standard: Depthcontaining complexities and multiple interrelationships What factors make this a difficult problem? Standard: Breadthencompassing multiple viewpoints Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Standard: Logicthe parts make sense together, no contradictions Does all this make sense together? Standard: Significancefocusing on the important, not trivial Is this the most important problem to consider? Standard: FairnessJustifiable, not self-serving or one-sided Think About... State the Question

Teaching Information Literacy Now Last week, a new study from Stanford University revealed that many students are inept at discerning fact from opinion when reading articles online. The report, combined with the spike in fake and misleading news during the 2016 election, has school librarians, including me, rethinking how we teach evaluation of online sources to our students. How can we educate our students to evaluate the information they find online when so many adults are sharing inaccurate articles on social media? While social media isn’t the only reason for the surge in fake news over the last 10 years, it’s certainly making it harder for information consumers of every age to sort through fact and fiction. Until now, I have taught web evaluation the same way every year: I start by introducing students to the CARS method of web evaluation (similar to the CRAAP test), using tools to evaluate credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and factual support. Rethinking how we teach evaluation Read laterally. Switch it up.

Five Laws of MIL Five Laws of Media and Information Literacy We are travelling towards the universality of books, the Internet and all forms of “containers of knowledge”. Media and information literacy for all should be seen as a nexus of human rights. They are inspired by the Five Laws of Library Science proposed by S. For more context to the Five Laws of MIL, please see related chapter in the MIL Yearbook 2016 published by UNESCO, Media and Information Literacy: Reinforcing Human Rights, Countering Radicalization and Extremism. Law One Information, communication, libraries, media, technology, the Internet as well as other forms of information providers are for use in critical civic engagement and sustainable development. Law Two Every citizen is a creator of information/knowledge and has a message. Law Three Information, knowledge, and messages are not always value neutral, or always independent of biases. Law Four Law Five Media and information literacy is not acquired at once. (Click to enlarge)