Critical Thinking Skills
hen today's university student is asked to apply critical thinking skills to a specific social problem, does that student understand what is being asked and how to go about applying critical thinking skills? hen questions from the professor involve, for example, the current dilemma in the United States Congress -- Democrats and Republicans engaged in a near-constant standoff when it comes to ideology and legislation -- does the typical university student understand how to approach those questions utilizing critical thinking skills? This paper investigates what the average student probably knows about critical thinking, what he or she should know, and how that student can become more effective in scholarship using critical thinking skills.

ONE: Address a Topic hile Embracing Critical Thinking Skills

hat are critical thinking skills? How are they taught?

An Australian university -- the University of ollongong -- presents for its students a meaningful definition: "It can be thought…...

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Works Cited

Bensley, Alan D. Crowe, Deborah S., Bernhardt, Paul, Buckner, Camille, and Allman, Amanda

L. (2010). Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking Skills for Argument Analysis in Psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 37(2), 91-96.

Cotter, Ellen M., and Tally, Carrie Sacco. (2009). Do Critical Thinking Exercises Improve

Critical Thinking Skills? Educational Research Quarterly, 33(2), 3-11.

Critical Thinking in Humanities
Essential Characteristics of Critical Thinking in Humanities

We, the students of humanities, are aware that critical thinking and inquire are essential for our discipline. But what does it really mean? How do we understand and exercise critical thinking? The readings in this class taught me that critical thinking is learn best from real life experiences of people who have struggled and fought for freedom and liberation of the mind. In the writings of Levi, Haffner, Sartre, Woolf, and Delillo we see the recurring theme of struggle for freedom and liberation of humanity's mental world. Whether it is for struggle against patriarchy, or whether it is against Nazi tyranny or likewise against rampant consumerism, the authors continuously discuss or allude to the absolute importance of critically engaging with what is going on around us. In this paper, I plan to discuss these authors as critical thinkers by using a…...

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References

DeLillo, D. (1985) White Noise. New York: Viking.

Haffner, S. (2002) A Memoir. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

Levi, P. (1958) Survival in Auschwitz, trans. By Stuart Woolf. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Manchester University Faculty of Humanities Study Skills Website. Retrieved on 9 Dec. 2011, from  http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/essentials/reading/critical_thinking.html

Critical Thinking and Society Exercise:
Critical thinking is a process that is used by individuals on a daily basis though many people use it without realizing it. Critical thinking can basically be defined as the process of exercising or involving skilled observation or judgment. This process requires the use of a variety of cognitive skills and intellectual capabilities to evaluate arguments, overcome personal biases and prejudices, and make intelligent and reasonable decisions (Huebner, 2013). Critical thinking is important in today's world because it contributes to accuracy, depth, fairness, relevance, precision, clarity, and logical correctness. Therefore, it is important for every individual to think creatively and critically, especially when facing challenges.

Situation equiring Critical Thinking:

A good situation that could have involved the use of critical thinking for a better outcome is the development of tourist tax in Alaska in 2009. Generally, Alaska's economy during summer time is usually driven by tourists visiting the…...

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References:

Bradner, T. (2009, August 29). Tourist Tax May Cost State Dearly. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

from  http://www.adn.com/2009/08/29/915964/tourist-tax-may-cost-state-dearly.html 

Huebner, T. (2013). Linguistics 21: Language and Thinking. Retrieved from San Jose State

University website:  http://www.sjsu.edu/people/thom.huebner/courses/Ling21/s0/Ling%2021%20-%20lecture%201%20-%20Logical%20Thinking.ppt

Critical thinking is the rationally closely controlled process of aggressively and competently conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and assessing information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. It involves the scrutiny of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning, purpose, problem, or question, assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinking is incorporated in a family of interwoven forms of thinking, such as scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking. And, of course, there are forces of influences on these types of thinking. Some of the forces of influences are cultures, race, religion, gender, ethics, and birth order.
When problem solving, it is very important to use critical thinking to make clear decisions And, when a person is a manager,…...

It would also create intensifying competition, which would force purveyors of e-books to increase the quality of their products and services. In all, it would have the ultimate positive benefit of supporting the development of virtual reading.
Customer choices

As it has been previously mentioned, Kindle is not the first electronic reader, but it is the most popular one. Having observed the triumphs of Amazon, other producers are striving to enter the market and get a share of the profits. This will materialize in more customer choices, but also intensifying levels of competition, which will reduce the e-readers' price, enhance its quality and the complementary features, all to culminate with a greater access to the product. Barnes and Noble's Nook allows users to transfer books and also incorporates touch-screen navigation (Gallagher, 2009).

Save the environment

Electronic readers are more environmentally friendly than books. First of all, they save trees by no longer requiring…...

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Works Cited:

Biggs, J., 10 Reasons to Buy a Kindle 2… and 10 Reasons Not to, Crunch Gear, 2009,   / last accessed on October 29, 2009http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/25/10-reasons-to-buy-a-kindle-2-and-10-reasons-not-to 

Eisenmann, T., Stuart, T.E., Chakravorti, B., Dessain, V., Harrow, S., Corsi, E., Orange: Read&Go, Harvard Business School, March 5, 2009

Gallagher, D., Amazon Fights to Keep Kindle on Top of E-Book Crowd, Market Watch, 2009,   last accessed on October 29, 2009http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazons-kindle-faces-tougher-market-this-season-2009-10-23 

Smith, P., Amazon Kindle's Impact on Book Sales, it World,   last accessed on October 29, 2009http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/62479/amazon-kindles-impact-book-sales 

Critical Thinking From a Philosophic Application
It is often said that critical thinking is a way we humans think but not specifically what we humans are thinking about. Philosophers and Psychologists all seem to concur on the fact that we take the critical thinking process and utilize it as an ongoing progression that may stem from a simple observation or some unanswered question. In other words, the process of critical thinking is something that never truly ends, yet it often creates additional or more questions or provides an avenue for new levels of curiosity, open-mindedness, skepticism, or persistent reasoning.

This report aims to present more insights into the process of critical thinking from a philosophic point-of-view. The report tries to answer various questions like what is the importance of critical thinking, what elements of the process are essential, what tactics do people use to guide the complete thinking process. Critical thinking over…...

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References

Chance, P. (1986). Thinking in the classroom: A survey of programs. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Coe UGA. (n.d.). 100 Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century. Retrieved on March 14, 2005, from  http://www.coe.uga.edu/echd/counpsy/eminentpsychologists_new.htm#rosenthal 

Davis, William Eric (2003). "A Kind Word For Theory X: Or Why So Many Newfangled Management Techniques Quickly Fail." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: July.

Ennis, R. (1992). Critical thinking: What is it? Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society Denver, Colorado, March 27-30. Retrieved on March 14, 2005, from http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/PES/92_docs/Ennis.HTM.

Normally, the level of performance that this employee demonstrated was so poor as to warrant a written warning, the first step in the process towards dismissal. However, I applied my critical thinking skills to the situation. The person's current behavior was inconsistent with her past behavior. I decided to gather information. The next morning I noticed that she was late again, and I monitored her behavior. I continued monitoring over the course of the day. I now had more information to go on, but it was not enough. I caller her in to speak to her directly. Information gathering is essential to critical thinking. I learned that she had some profound personal issues that were distracting her, and making it difficult for her either to be punctual or to perform at an acceptable level. I gathered more information from my fellow team leaders about the best ways to handle such…...

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Works Cited:

Scriven, M. & Paul, R. (1987). Critical thinking as defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. Foundation for Critical Thinking. Retrieved March 14, 2010 from  http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutct/define_critical_thinking.cfm 

Schachter, D. (2006). The importance of good decision-making. Information Outlook. Retrieved March 14, 2010 from  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_4_10/ai_n16533561/

adical retraining of staff was clearly necessary, but there was a need to avoid the mistakes of the past in the way training sessions were structured.
Several approaches were considered. One solution was that management could improve 'quality control' of the worker's performance with customers. Management would inform the workers their phone conversations would be recorded and screened so this would not seem like a 'gotcha' method of enforcement. Screening would theoretically act as an incentive to improve performance, and problem employees would have personal meetings with supervisor to improve their demeanor with customers. However, there was concern that this would merely result in even lower morale amongst the workers. I pointed out that it was necessary, in customer service, to seem enthusiastic and caring, and the sense of being watched in a punitive way might prevent egregious errors from happening, but would not result in the type of responsive…...

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Reference

Paul, Richard. Critical Thinking: How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World

Dillon Beach: Foundation for Critical Thinking, 1995.

Excerpt retrieved March 25, 2010 at  http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/accelerating-change.cfm 

Schafersman, Steven. (1991). An introduction to critical thinking. Free Inquiry.

A work experience of mine from a few years ago demonstrates this pretty clearly. It was the Christmas shopping season and I was working in a small toy store where we offered gift wrapping, and where we still wrote out the receipts by hand (no barcode scanners or computerized registers). There was a line form the register counter at the back of the store to the entrance, a pile of gifts on the back counter being wrapped, and the manager has just gone to lunch when one of the registers went berserk.
I wasn't officially in charge, but as the most senior employee there I knew we had to do something. The register couldn't be used, but we had a huge mass of people waiting to buy their presents. Most of them would be getting wrapped, I assumed from experience, and most of the people having their presents wrapped would…...

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References

Alwasilah, a. (2002). "Critical thinking crucial to global success." Jakarta Post May 2, pp. 7.

Elder, L. & Paul, R. (2002). "Critical thinking: Distinguishing between inferences and assumptions." Journal of developmental education 25(3), pp. 34-5.

Elder, L. & Paulr, R. (2006). Critical Thinking:Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life. New York: Prentice Hall.

Kirby, G. & Goodpaster, J. (2007). Thinking. New York: Prentice Hall.

Critical Thinking arriers
At the core of every learning process is the involvement of the mind in analysis and critical thinking. Essential to this is the active participation of the brain to communicate its judgment, assumptions, sense, and logical reasoning. There are several strategies an individual may implement to sharpen his critical thinking skills. Focusing the intellect on a particular subject requiring critical thinking may facilitate the smooth flow of ideas. Such may also enable the mind to dig deeper on the subject. However, in contrast to these strategies, there are also aspects that may hinder the mind to carry out an effective critical thinking. Such hindrances are called critical thinking barriers.

Critical thinking barriers may be classified into types. Two of which can be classified as either barriers related to the subject or ideas, and barriers that are dependent to the perception or concept of the thinking individual. An instance of…...

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Bibliography

Critical Thinking Strategies.

Retrieved August 21, 2003, from The National Teaching and Learning Forum.

Web site: http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/103chap7.pdf

Critical Thinking and the Media
Critical thinking is a skill that enables us to evaluate information from our sources. Today, the majority of information we process comes from some types of media, including television, radio show, newspapers and the Internet. The relationship between critical thinking and the media is an important one, as it helps us to decipher what is true and what is not. Critical thinking helps us assess information that may be deliberately misleading so that an accurate conclusion can be made on a subject or issue.

The relationship between critical thinking and the media is strongly influenced by media literacy, which refers to being literate about forms of media and understanding how to watch and listen carefully and think critically. Critical thinking skills are necessary in today's media age in order to be able to "read" all the media messages that are informing, entertaining and selling to us every…...

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Bibliography

Ennis, Robert. (1962). A Concept of Critical Thinking. Harvard Educational Review, Winter 1962: p. 38.

Critical Thinking about BiotechnologyBiotech Educational Web-Based Resource, developed by Canola Info

Critical Thinking Self-Analysis
I always assumed that psychology was a bunch of mumbo jumbo related to Freud and sexuality. I always thought that I was a decent learner, prior to taking this course. I now see that I have the potential to be an excellent learner if I simply make the effort. Cognitively, I thought that this assignment and the article it is based on would be dull due to the length of both. Behaviorally, this fact made procrastinate a little bit. Affectively, I dreaded doing the work initially for the assignment. However, I now know that my own self-efficacy is greater than I anticipated.

Bandura's purpose in writing this article was largely to empower people. eading the article certainly served as a means to empower me, since it taught me different mechanisms I have related to my own self-efficacy. I actually believe that this effect is the purpose for which this…...

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References

Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V.S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H.

Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998).

Elder, L. (2007) Thinkers guide to analytic thinking: How to take thinking apart and what to look for when you do. Foundation for Critical Thinking: Dillon Beach, CA.

Glaser, E.M. (1941) An experiment in the development of critical thinking. Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1941).

Critical Thinking and Statistics
Statistics is an approach to research in which case data collected from a sample is used to draw conclusions about the population. To this end, statistics provides a crucial basis for decision-making, in addition to understanding population complexities. However, in the light of all their usefulness, statistics have one major flaw that cannot be overlooked -- since their creation is done by human beings and the counting and analyses therein based solely on human definitions, statistics can neither be regarded as magical, nor can they be taken as being always true. In this regard, statistics can mislead a reader as much as they can educate, and can lie just as much as they can depict the truth. The key to discerning good and bad statistics lies in the evaluation approach chosen; naivety and cynicism make people lose a great deal, but a critical mind-set leads a person…...

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Works Cited

Best, Joel. "4- Critical Thinking about Statistics." Comcast. Web. 7 May 2014 http://jfk83.home.comcast.net/~jfk83/Best-critical-statistics.pdf

Ganio, Lisa. "Teaching Critical Thinking (in Statistics) for Natural Resource Education." 8th Biennial Conference on University Education in Natural Resources. Utah State University, 2010. Web. 7 May 2014  http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=cuenr 

Schield, Milo. "Statistical Literacy: Thinking Critically About Statistics." The Inaugural Issue of the Journal of Significance. 1999. Web. 7 May 2014  http://web.augsburg.edu/~schield/milopapers/984statisticalliteracy6.pdf

Although we were all in the same situation together, one of my fellow employees took this sudden abuse very personally. She thought that she was being punished for what she thought was her "laziness" earlier during the year. She was suffering from an illness and had to take a significant amount of paid leave, along with all her available sick leave, in order to recover sufficiently to return to work. She perceived the manager as not very understanding of her situation at the time, and was now telling herself that this was the reason for the sudden odd behavior. egardless of the fact that I attempted to convince her otherwise, she simply did not listen to reason, and let her emotions do the reasoning for her.
The outcome of the situation was that I eventually spoke to the manager to find out what was going on. He explained that upper…...

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Reference

Diestler, S. (2009). Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User Friendly Manual, fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 2009.

4. Abstract sequential thought

The third category is commonly referred to as the abstract sequential style of thinking. This is essentially a combination of the two thinking styles discussed above. This type of thinking tends to view the world on terms of larger concepts and situations, and it is prone to theoretical considerations. However, this form of thinking also makes use of logic and reason to organize the concepts, generalizations and abstract thoughts. This style makes it easy for these thinkers to "… zoom in on what's important, such as key points and significant details. Their thinking processes are logical, rational and intellectual" (Four Types Of Thinking Style, para. 8)

5. Workplace examples

The most common workplace example of rational and sequential thinking in an organization or business is inventory or stock taking. The decision to buy more stock is a result of a logical and rational analysis of the amount of stock…...

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References

CS:Concrete Sequential. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from http://www.cgribben.com/psych/cs.html

Four Types Of Thinking Style. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from  http://lrobertson.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/wk-2-four-types-of-thinking-style.doc 

Learning Styles. 'Gregoric Learning Styles', section 5. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from  http://www.ware.k12.ga.us/superintendent/08-09%20Goal%20Presentations/Curriculum/Learning%20Styles.pdf 

UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENT THINKING STYLES. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from  http://www.humanlinks.com/orgsn/thinking_styles.htm

There are four different philosophical approaches in education: idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism.  While each of these four philosophical approaches can be seen in parts of modern-day education, realism is probably the most pervasive current philosophical influence.

Realism developed from the teachings of Aristotle and can be thought of as concerning objective facts.  While different people may perceive things in various ways, the objective truth of an event does not change.  This emphasis on rational thought means that realism underpins much of what we think of as truth. 

Realism is reflected in educational approaches that teach critical thinking skills....

A surprising number of factors contribute to church leadership.  While many people think that either knowledge of religion or adherence to religious principles are the two most important characteristics in a church leader, they are often secondary to actual leadership characteristics.  Servant leadership has served as a model for the ideal Christian leader, both in and out of the church, but on its own is not enough to be an effective leader for the church.  Leaders have to incorporate some other management principles to be truly effective. 

Church Leadership Essay Topics and Essay....