The document provides information about critical thinking, including: - Defining critical thinking and explaining why it is important. - Describing key attributes of critical thinkers such as managing ambiguity, alternative thinking, and learning from mistakes. - Suggesting ways to improve critical thinking like keeping track of ideas, asking questions, engaging in hobbies, and learning about new topics. - Introducing the "Six Hats" method for analyzing ideas from different perspectives including blue, white, red, black, yellow, and green hats. The summary captures the main topics and essential information from the document in 3 sentences.

1. Critical Thinking
Name: Anand Shah

2. • Connect 9 dots without lifting your hands and only using 4 straight lines
2
Ice Breaker
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. . .
. . .

3. • What is Critical Thinking (CT)
• Why do we need Critical Thinking
• Key Styles & attributes of Critical thinker
• Examples & Activities
• How to improve Critical Thinking
• Problem solving skills
• Summary
3
Agenda

4. 4
A1 – Active Listening/Reading

5. • Survey outcome - When the students were five years old, 92% of them were
found to be “very creative.” By age ten, that figure had dropped to 37%. When
the children were fifteen, they were tested again. At this age, the number of
children deemed “very creative” had dropped to 12%. Finally, the same
students were tested in college. How many were found to be “very creative” at
this age? Only 2%!
• Focus on improved outcomes that are faster, better, cheaper and of higher
quality is what continuous improvement is all about.
• Quick Creative Analytical Thinking
• What are the factors that affect our Critical
thinking and creativity?
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What is CT?

6. 6
What & Why?
Innovation
Jugad – An Alternative
thinking Managed
Necessity is mother of all
inventions

7. • Do not dare to self confuse
Styles and Attributes
• Manage Ambiguity

8. • Keep It Simple
Styles and Attributes
• Implicit decision making

9. • Future orientation
Styles and Attributes
• Flexibility

10. • Out of the box
Styles and Attributes
• Alternative Thinking

11. • Trial & Error
• Failed over & over and hence
succeeded!
Styles and Attributes
• No Perfection

12. • Multiple View Point
Styles and Attributes
• Win-Win

13. • Trust
Styles and Attributes
• Learn Unlearn & Relearn

14. • Confidence
Styles and Attributes
• Positivity

15. • Observation
Styles and Attributes
• Listening

16. • Reasoning
Styles and Attributes
• Questioning

17. • Passion
Styles and Attributes
• Versatile

18. • Seize opportunity
Styles and Attributes
• Clear our plate

19. • Use your imagination, experience and observation to think about.
• There is no right or wrong answers. Lets enhance our thinking cap.
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A2 – What would happen if

20. HOW TO IMPROVE CT?
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21. • Keep track of your ideas at all
times. Many times ideas come at
unexpected times. If an idea is
not written down within 24
hours it will usually be forgotten
• Pose new questions to yourself
every day. An inquiring mind is a
creatively active one that
enlarges its area of awareness.
• Engage in creative hobbies.
Hobbies can also help you relax.
An active mind is necessary for
creative growth.
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How to Improve

22. • Have courage and self-
confidence. Be a paradigm
pioneer. Assume that you can
and will indeed solve the
problem Persist and have the
tenacity to overcome obstacles
that block the solution pathway.
• Learn to know and understand
yourself. Deepen your self-
knowledge by learning your real
strengths, skills, weaknesses,
dislike, biases, expectations,
fears and prejudices.
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How to Improve

23. • Avoid rigid, set patterns of doing
things. Overcome biases and
preconceived notions by looking
at the problem from a fresh view
point, always developing at least
two or more alternative
solutions to your problem.
• Be open and receptive to ideas
(yours and others). New ideas
are fragile; keep them from
breaking by seizing on the
tentative, half formed concepts
and possibilities and developing
them.
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How to Improve

24. • Adopt a risk taking attitude. Fear
of failure is the major
impediment to generating
solutions which are risky (i.e.,
small chance of succeeding) but
would have a major impact if
they are successful. Outlining the
ways you could fail and how you
would deal with these failures
will reduce this obstacle to
creativity.
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How to Improve

25. • Keep your sense of humour
active and ongoing
• Be alert in your observations.
Look for similarities, differences,
as well as unique and
distinguishing features in
situations and problems.
• Learn about things outside your
specialty. Use cross-fertilization
to bring ideas and concepts from
one field or specialty to another.
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How to Improve

26. • Managing Blue – Accountable – what is the subject? what are we thinking
about? what is the goal? Can look at the big picture.
• Manage the thinking process, focus, next steps, action plans
• Information White – FYI – considering purely what information is available,
what are the facts?
• Data, facts, information known or needed.
• Emotions Red – Sensitive – intuitive or instinctive gut reactions or statements
of emotional feeling (but not any justification)
• Feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition.
• Discernment Black – Practical – logic applied to identifying reasons to be
cautious and conservative. Practical, realistic.
• Difficulties, potential problems. Why something may not work.
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How to Improve - De Bono Six hats thinking

27. • Optimistic response Yellow – Dynamic – logic applied to identifying benefits,
seeking harmony. Sees the brighter, sunny side of situations.
• Values and benefits. Why something may work.
• Creativity Green – Value added – statements of provocation and investigation,
seeing where a thought goes. Thinks creatively, out of the box.
• Creativity - possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas.
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How to Improve - De Bono Six hats thinking Cont…

28. • Answer each question for each list below.
• To make it more challenging, try answering as quickly as you can against
another person.
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A3 – You Name It! - Observations

29. • The rules and laws we have in life are meant to guide us and protect us, and to
keep order in our society. Imagine that you get to make 2 rules that everyone in
the world must follow.
• What rules would you make and why?
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A4 – You know the rules - Leadership

30. • Part of life is being able to strike a healthy balance between our needs and our
wants.
• It’s also about focusing on what we consider to be truly important.
• Imagine you can have any 3 things that you want.
• In return you must give away three things that you already have.
• What do you want and what will you give away, and why?
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A5 – Making Choices - Decisions

31. 1. You are conducting a tour for aliens who
are visiting earth and observing humans.
You’re all in their spaceship when you fly
over a cricket stadium. One of the aliens
is confused, and turns to you for help. Try
answering these questions:
• What is a game, and why do humans
• play them?
• What are “teams” and why are they so
• important for humans to be part of?
• Why is it these games seem to get
• more attention than other matters on
• your planet, like disease and poverty?
• Why do humans get so emotional
• and even violent when watching
• games?
• What would happen if no human
• could ever play these games again?
2. You are chatting with a group of aliens on a tour of
a local library. While you all mingle, one of the aliens
picks up a volume about the history of global war
and conflict. The alien turns to you and
asks you these questions:
• What is war and why do humans
• wage it upon each other?
• Humans seem to feel that warfare is
• often the only way to resolve conflict.
• Why is this so?
• How do you decide who wins and
• who loses? How do you know this is
• accurate?
• How does warfare affect those who
• can’t or won’t participate?
• What legacy do you feel these wars will
• provide for your future generations?
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Activities – Asking Questions

32. 32
Questions