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Becoming a Critical Thinker

When I first started my journey into thinking about my thinking, I truly thought that I was an excellent critical thinker. My jobs in social services and nonprofits required me to use my best judgement and reflect on the circumstances in front of me. Reading Learning to Think Things Through and The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking empowered me with criteria to use in analyzing my own thinking. The 8+ Elements of Reasoning, and Essential Intellectual Traits are tools I can now use to ensure that my thinking is in fact sound, reflective, and critical (Nosich, 2012; Paul & Elder, 2020). Reflecting on my thinking process when I started this study, my thinking was not in fact critical thinking at all. Just this weekend, I came across an article at forbes.com by Siegel (2020 June 30) that resonated with me:
    
There’s an old saying that I’ve grown quite fond of recently: you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into. When most of us “research” an issue, what we are actually doing is:
  • formulating an initial opinion the first time we hear about something,
  • evaluating everything we encounter after that through that lens of our gut instinct,
  • finding reasons to think positively about the portions of the narrative that support or justify our initial opinion,
  • and finding reasons to discount or otherwise dismiss the portions that detract from it (para. 6).

The timeliness of this article is no coincidence. I felt like the author was speaking directly to me about how my thinking process looked before I started studying it intently. Today’s landscape is marked by political, ideological, and moral divisions. In today’s world it seems like having a well-defended position is more important than having reasoned to reach a fair-minded and logical conclusion. Having these elements of reasoning and traits at my disposal that I can use to reflect on my thinking, I am confident that I can and have already begun to change the way I think. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking that I can quite literally keep in my back pocket is an invaluable resource. This guide contains a “Checklist for Reasoning” and several templates for analyzing logic which are tangible and realistic guides that can help me orient my thought and ensure that future thinking happens in a way that honors the elements of reasoning and maintains the intellectual traits I’ve learned (Paul & Elder, 2020). 

Not only do I have these texts to look back on as I continue my practice of thinking critically, I also have access to a dedicated group that I’ve been working with over the past three months. In this group we check in weekly about our intentions and aspirations. We hold each other accountable to these intentions, and now they can hold me accountable to these intellectual virtues. Aside from my personal friends, my Supervisor at work recently graduated with a MS in Leadership degree from Embry-Riddle and is familiar with the work that I am studying. I plan to reflect with her on how we can bring critical thinking into our work space and hold each other and our team to the highest intellectual standards. 


References

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Siegel, E. (2020, July 30). You must not 'do your own research' when it comes to science. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/07/30/you-must-not-do-your-own-research-when-it-comes-to-science/

A500.5.2.RB Becoming a Critical Thinker

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