Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr Aderonke Manuwa-Olumide
WACP/CM Update Course on Leadership & Management, December 14th-18th,2009
18 December 2009
John Aheto
18 December 2009
John Aheto
Critical Thinkers
When we become critical thinkers: We develop an awareness of the assumptions under which we, and others, think, plan, and act. We learn to pay attention to the context and environment in which our ideas, attitudes, plans, and actions are generated.
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Critical Thinkers -2
When we become critical thinkers: We become skeptical of quick-fix solutions, of single answers to problems, and of claims to universal truths. We also become open to realistic alternative ways of looking at and behaving in the world.
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CRITICAL THINKING
In essence, critical thinking is a selfdirected, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It requires rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command over their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities, and It requires commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentricism
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CRITICAL THINKING
The ability to think critically is important for our lives in many different ways, especially in the professions, business, education, and training. When we are critical thinkers within our professional, business, political, and intimate relationships, we learn to see our actions through the critical eyes of others.
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CRITICAL THINKING
At our workplaces, we seek to exercise democratic control over workplace functions and organization and to take initiative in designing the form and content of our plans and activities. We become aware of the potential for distortions and biases in depictions of our private and public words and actions.
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CRITICAL THINKING
Generally, we value freedom, we practice democracy, we encourage a tolerance of diversity, and we hold in check the demagogic tendencies of others. As a dimension of learning, however, critical thinking in adulthood has been neglected in the educational and training literature and practice.
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John Aheto
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CRITICAL THINKING
Thinking critically involves reflecting on the assumptions underlying our and others ideas and actions, and contemplating alternative ways of thinking, acting, and living. It is one of the important ways in which we become responsible adults, professionals, students, citizens.
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John Aheto
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CRITICAL THINKING
When we think critically: We come to our judgments, choices, ideas, conclusions, decisions, etc. for ourselves, instead of letting others do these on our behalf. We personally become actively engaged in creating our own and preferred personal, professional, and social worlds.
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CRITICAL THINKING
When we think critically: We refuse to relinquish our responsibility for making the choices and decisions that determine our individual and collective futures to those who presume to know what is in our best interests the customers or clients or tax payers.
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John Aheto
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CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking is for all professionals, leaders, managers, and educators who seek to understand and develop skills of critical thinking in their colleagues, clients, learners, and peers. In professional functions, critical thinking is useful for those trying to understand how people can be challenged to become more questioning, less accepting, and more involved in controlling their own lives, destiny, and workplaces.
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CRITICAL THINKING
The components of critical thinking can be recognized in peoples actions. Critical thinking encourages us, our colleagues, and our clients to take a critical look at what we are doing, why we are doing it, what alternatives we might and should consider, and how we can learn from all this critical scrutiny.
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John Aheto
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CRITICAL THINKING
The ability to be critically reflective is one significant criterion we use when judging whether a person is mature, whether a society is democratic, whether an entity is effective, or whether there is compliance. People must connect their private lives with broadened social forces. We need to model the kinds of critical, reflective attitudes and behaviors we seek to encourage in others. We need to challenge the assumptions and bases through criteria analysis, critical questioning, critical incidents, role play, and crisis-decision simulation.
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CRITICAL THINKING
We must also explore the range of techniques for encouraging people to imagine plausible alternatives to their familiar ways of thinking and living. These include future-invention technique, the development of preferred scenarios, and the use of esthetic triggers to help people break free from habitual ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting.
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CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking can be recognized in the context of our personal relationships, work activities, and political involvements. It entails more than the skills of logical analysis It also involves calling into question the assumptions underlying our customary, habitual ways of thinking and acting and then being ready to think and act differently on the basis of robust critical questioning.
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CRITICAL THINKING
Without critical thinking, our personal relationships become stale, our workplaces remain stagnant or remain organized as they were decades ago, and our organizational involvements dwindle to the point of total nonparticipation or irrelevance A critically informed populace of critical thinkers is more likely to productively participate in all forms of professional and democratic activities.
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John Aheto
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COMPONENTS OF CRITICAL THINKING Identifying and challenging assumptions Challenging the importance of context (hidden and uncritically assimilated assumptions) in everything we do Imagining and exploring viable alternatives Developing and using professional reflective skepticism
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Develop yourself as a critical thinker Affirm critical thinkers self-worth Listen attentively to critical thinkers Show that you support critical thinkers efforts Reflect and mirror critical thinkers ideas and actions Motivate people to think critically
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Regularly evaluate progress Help critical thinkers to create networks Be a critical teacher of others Make people aware of how they learn critical thinking Actively model critical thinking
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CHECKLIST FOR REASONING ELEMENTS OF THOUGHT All REASONING: 1. Has a Purpose 2. Is an attempt to Figure something out, settle some Issues or Question, solve some Problem 3. Is based on Assumptions 4. Is done from some Point Of View
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UNIVERSAL INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS OF THINKING (1) Universal intellectual standards of thinking are standards which must be applied to thinking whenever one is interested in checking the quality of thinking and reasoning about a problem, issue, or situation To think critically, entails having command over these standards
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THE RESULT
A well-cultivated critical thinker/professional: Raises vital questions, issues, and problems; formulating them clearly and precisely. Gathers and assesses relevant data and information, using abstract ideas to interpret them effectively. Comes to well-reasoned, sound conclusions and solutions; testing them against relevant criteria and universal standards.
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MASTER THINKER: good habits of thought are becoming second nature and automatic
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