Critical thinking is a set of skills that involves disciplined, rational thinking and the use of evidence to make judgments. It can be applied to schoolwork, decision making, problem solving, and interpreting information from various sources. The document outlines different types of thinking and provides strategies for developing critical thinking skills, such as previewing texts, annotating, asking questions, and synthesizing information from multiple sources rather than just summarizing. Bloom's Taxonomy is referenced as a framework for critical thinking that involves different cognitive levels like remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

1. Critical Thinking

2. Critical Thinking
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Is hard
Takes Practice
Is a set of skills that everyone can develop
Is useful for all parts of your life, not just
school.

3. Thinking vs.
Critical Thinking
THINKING
adjective 1. rational; reasoning: People
are thinking animals.
2. thoughtful; reflective:
noun 3. thought; judgment, reflection: clear
thinking.
CRITICAL THINKING
noun disciplined thinking that is clear,
rational, open-minded, and informed by
evidence

4. Types of Thinking
• Ritual Thinking - things that we do with out being
aware
• Random Thinking – daydreaming or spontaneous
thoughts
• Appreciative thinking – awareness that we like
something
• Critical Thinking – making judgments; that is to say it is
the application of reason to a set of facts
– Reasoning – use of supposed truths as evidence in
support of other supposed truth.

5. Bloom’s Taxonomy

6. Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Remembering – memorization and recall
Understanding – grasping the meaning
Applying – using information in multiple ways
Analyzing – seeing patterns in information
Evaluating – comparing and discriminating
between ideas, assessing value of
information
• Creating – using old ideas to create new
ideas.

7. Critical Readers
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Preview the text
Look up unknown words
Slow Down
Annotate the text

8. Critical Thinking
• Underline important
information or key ideas
• Define words you don’t
know
• Make notes, expand on
what is offered in the
reading
• Ask questions as you read

9. Critical Writing
Summary vs. Synthesis
• Summary – extracting a main idea or central point and rewording the
information in a sentence or two
• Synthesizing – weaving together information from several sources
including your own prior knowledge

10. Being a Critical
Class Participant
Actively listen for: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
Connect the current lecture back to the reading, past lectures,
and life experiences
Use evidence to develop a better understanding
Ask questions that dive deeper into the material
Synthesize the material across many courses, draw conclusions
and make inferences
Evaluate the course material based on all of your knowledge.

11. Critical Thinking
in the “Real World”
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When voting
When making decisions about life
In every single job you will ever have
In problem solving
When talking with “trusted” professionals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzV1pNQUX5s

12. Processing Life Critically
1. Journal About it
2. Make a Pro/Con List
3. Talk it out
4. Do your research
5. Get some space

13. Left Brain/Right Brain

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