Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking Skills, Essay Example

Abstract

The paper identifies and describes three strategies used to develop critical thinking skills. The ways of using each strategy are discussed. Specific examples are provided. The paper proves critical thinking skills to be an essential component of one’s personal and professional success.

Plan of Action

Critical thinking is one of the most popular topics in modern literature. The basic goal of teaching and developing critical thinking is to help individuals to deal with real-world difficulties and complexities more effectively. There is nothing extraordinary about having effective critical thinking skills: everyone is capable of improving his (her) thinking abilities. Internalizing intellectual standards, keeping an intellectual journal, and dealing with egocentrism are the three basic strategies I will use to develop, improve, and sustain my critical thinking abilities.

Critical thinking is defined as “correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world” (Schafersman, 1991). Individuals can apply to a variety of strategies and solutions, to improve their critical thinking skills. One of the strategies I will use to develop and improve my critical thinking abilities is through the internalization of intellectual standards. Put simply, I will try to develop a better awareness of the basic intellectual standards, including accuracy, precision, logicalness, and depth (Paul & Elder, 2001). In practice, I will devote one week to the development of one particular intellectual standard, e.g. accuracy. I will work out the strategies I need to follow, to become clearer in my expressions. I will notice and analyze the instances when others are unclear in what they are trying to say (Paul & Elder, 2001). Another week will be devoted to the development of logicalness. Here, I will establish logical ties between facts and arguments, communicate my ideas and concepts logically and precisely, provide examples to make my logic clear and understandable to others, and explain why I build my logic some specific and no other way. In a similar fashion, I will devote each week to one specific intellectual standard, to master all critical thinking skills needed to succeed in life.

Keeping an intellectual journal will add value to the process of internalizing intellectual standards. Paul and Elder (2001) assert that an intellectual journal is an excellent way to critically analyze each problematic situation and to dig beneath its surface. I will follow Paul and Elder’s (2001) recommendations, and my intellectual journal will have the following format: the description of the situation, the description of my response, the analysis of this response, and critical assessment. I will try to make one journal entry every day. I am confident that we face dozens of problematic situations every day. These situations require critical analysis and reasonable response. Assessment will be the most important part of my journal: here, I will try to define what I would have done differently if I had had a chance to re-live the situation. The intellectual journal will become an excellent prism of personal self-analysis. However, I feel that egocentrism can turn into a serious obstacle in my way to becoming an excellent critical thinker.

Dealing with egocentric thinking will be the third strategy I use to improve my critical thinking abilities. Egocentric thinking is the integral component of the human disposition (Paul & Elder, 2001). Egocentrism is deeply into the human character – a form of automatic subconscious bias that makes humans think in favor of themselves (Paul & Elder, 2001). To combat egocentrism in my attitudes toward the world and people, I will try to evaluate the extent, to which I am egocentric. I will evaluate how irritated I feel upon meeting people, events, and viewpoints that go against my principles and views. For example, can I accept the multiplicity of opinions and viewpoints for granted, or will I try to impose my personal point of view on others? Will I account for individual differences in judging one and the same event, or will I push people to reconsider the event through my own lens? These are the simple questions that will help me to critically evaluate how egocentric my actions and judgments are, and what I can do to replace egocentrism with more rational decisions. All three strategies will help me to develop a new critical thinking framework, which will enhance the quality and objectivity of my decisions on a daily basis.

Conclusion

Critical thinking is one of the most popular topics in modern literature. There is nothing extraordinary about having excellent critical thinking skills – all individuals have to do is to choose the best strategy and to be persistent and regular in their striving to improve their critical thinking abilities. Internalizing intellectual standards, keeping an intellectual journal, and combating egocentrism will become the three strategies I use to improve my critical thinking skills. These strategies will help me to develop a new critical thinking framework and to enhance the quality and objectivity of my decisions on a daily basis.

References

Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2001). Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your learning and  your life. Pearson.

Schaferman, S.D. (1991). An introduction to critical thinking. Retrieved September 03, 2010 from http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html