Commentary - Seven Ways to Develope Your Critical Thinking Skills
Commentary: "
Seven Ways to Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is not revered today as it should be. If you've ever stood up in front of an audience, whether adults or young people, and received nothing but blank stares when you ask for questions, then you know what I'm talking about. Maybe you need to revamp your presentation skills, but still the underlying problem is there. The signs are ominous…children who can only do math on a calculator, adults who vote for a candidate based solely upon party affiliation, soldiers who go off and fight wars in countries they've never heard of and can't point to on a map. In our fast-food like society, information is often given, and the receiver too often accepts such information uncritically. Well, I've developed a list of things we can all do to change this. Here are seven ways to develop your critical thinking skills:
1. Never stop asking questions - in our youth, we were all naturally curious and often drove people crazy asking "why", "why." At some point, many of us got discouraged from doing so, and we stopped. But we need to recover that aspect of childhood, for that curiosity was our attempt to engage in the first step of the critical thinking process, which is simply asking the question "why?"
2. Turn off the television - maybe not completely off, but try to reduce the number of hours spent watching t.v. It is an inherently one-way activity, devoid of interaction between you and whatever you are watching. It enables you to disengage your critical mind, your imagination, and simply watch and absorb. In high doses, this is not mentally healthy.
3. Read a good book of fiction - this automatically requires you to engage the imaginative resources of your mind. This imaginative mind is closely related to an open mind, which is a key element of critical thinking.
4. Read a good book of nonfiction - nonfiction addresses real life events, past and present. If these events were previously unknown to you, you learn and grow. If they are events with which you are familiar, you will undoubtedly be presented with a different viewpoint, forcing you to critique your own as well as the author's perspective. Again, you learn and grow.
5. Attend a lecture or seminar - balance your life of entertainment with some edutainment as well. You can often find highly interesting debates and discussions that will get you thinking and may answer questions you have now and encourage further questions based on the presentation you receive. You will also get to go head-to-head with a subject matter expert, flexing your own critical thinking muscles and seeing how theirs works as well.
6. Teach - teach something you are passionate about. All of us have some skill that we can pass on to someone. In doing so, we will inevitably be confronted with questions, forcing us to engage in some self-critique and reevaluate what we know, and ultimately learn more about the subject. More knowledge leads to more wisdom, and an increased ability to think critically.
7. Keep a Journal - recording your daily affairs puts your experiences down on paper, and allows you to later revisit and critique these experiences, often with a perspective somewhat different from the original moment. The static nature of ink on paper allows us to deal truthfully with our issues that may otherwise get clouded in self-denial and self-justification.
This, of course, is not an all-encompassing list. Feel free to expand upon it to your own benefit. Critique it as well. Maybe even meditate on it…hmmm, maybe that should be number eight!
Remember, "uncritical acceptance is destruction's keenest tool against the soul."
Seven Ways to Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is not revered today as it should be. If you've ever stood up in front of an audience, whether adults or young people, and received nothing but blank stares when you ask for questions, then you know what I'm talking about. Maybe you need to revamp your presentation skills, but still the underlying problem is there. The signs are ominous…children who can only do math on a calculator, adults who vote for a candidate based solely upon party affiliation, soldiers who go off and fight wars in countries they've never heard of and can't point to on a map. In our fast-food like society, information is often given, and the receiver too often accepts such information uncritically. Well, I've developed a list of things we can all do to change this. Here are seven ways to develop your critical thinking skills:
1. Never stop asking questions - in our youth, we were all naturally curious and often drove people crazy asking "why", "why." At some point, many of us got discouraged from doing so, and we stopped. But we need to recover that aspect of childhood, for that curiosity was our attempt to engage in the first step of the critical thinking process, which is simply asking the question "why?"
2. Turn off the television - maybe not completely off, but try to reduce the number of hours spent watching t.v. It is an inherently one-way activity, devoid of interaction between you and whatever you are watching. It enables you to disengage your critical mind, your imagination, and simply watch and absorb. In high doses, this is not mentally healthy.
3. Read a good book of fiction - this automatically requires you to engage the imaginative resources of your mind. This imaginative mind is closely related to an open mind, which is a key element of critical thinking.
4. Read a good book of nonfiction - nonfiction addresses real life events, past and present. If these events were previously unknown to you, you learn and grow. If they are events with which you are familiar, you will undoubtedly be presented with a different viewpoint, forcing you to critique your own as well as the author's perspective. Again, you learn and grow.
5. Attend a lecture or seminar - balance your life of entertainment with some edutainment as well. You can often find highly interesting debates and discussions that will get you thinking and may answer questions you have now and encourage further questions based on the presentation you receive. You will also get to go head-to-head with a subject matter expert, flexing your own critical thinking muscles and seeing how theirs works as well.
6. Teach - teach something you are passionate about. All of us have some skill that we can pass on to someone. In doing so, we will inevitably be confronted with questions, forcing us to engage in some self-critique and reevaluate what we know, and ultimately learn more about the subject. More knowledge leads to more wisdom, and an increased ability to think critically.
7. Keep a Journal - recording your daily affairs puts your experiences down on paper, and allows you to later revisit and critique these experiences, often with a perspective somewhat different from the original moment. The static nature of ink on paper allows us to deal truthfully with our issues that may otherwise get clouded in self-denial and self-justification.
This, of course, is not an all-encompassing list. Feel free to expand upon it to your own benefit. Critique it as well. Maybe even meditate on it…hmmm, maybe that should be number eight!
Remember, "uncritical acceptance is destruction's keenest tool against the soul."
posted by Robert at 2:58 PM
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