Each of us is bombarded with information everyday we encounter new facts and opinions. In books, newspapers, and in the internet, writers present ideas they want us to accept.
In all areas of knowledge, there are issues in which experts in those fields disagree. Readers face the tough job of deciding what authority to believe.
Learning new critical-thinking skills is like learning new physical skills. You cannot learn simply by being told what to do or by watching others. You have to practice and practice frequently, and both will be rewarding and a lotof hard work. However, acquiring the habit of critical thinking would initially take a lot of practice.
Depth of instruction means teaching higher level thinking related to significant concepts and themes. Problems to significant concepts and themes problems connecting ideas across discipline all meant to extend understanding, find answers, foster generalization, and create new knowledge. Thinking skills for facing problems and decisions require courage to think for oneself requires lifelong commitment.
The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, trustful of reason, flexible, and honest in facing personal biases. He is well-informed, open-minded, fair-minded in evaluation, and prudent in making adjustment. He is orderly in complex matters, reasonable in selection of activities, diligent in seeking relevant information, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry.
Enhancement of the quality of the ability of students to think is a fundamental aspect of instruction at all school levels. That is why teachers are very much concerned with the ability of students to solve problems and to think beyond simple recall of facts and information. Teachers are concerned with the development and enhancement of critical thinking being interested in programs of the development of critical thinking teachers have been occupied and enhance higher order thinking at all school levels.
Critical thinking is responsible thinking that facilities good judgment because it is based and relies on criteria, and is therefore self-correcting and sensitive to context. Reliance of critical thinking on criteria indicates that it is well founded, structured, and reinforced.
By: Gloria P. Lumanglas | Teacher III | Lamao Elementary School | Limay, Bataan
