Above and Beyond with Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
CONTENTS 1 Think About It 2 The Art of Asking Questions 10 3 Finding Answers 20 4 Mindful Thinking 30 5 Evaluating Arguments 36 6 Taking Charge 42 Glossary 46 Learning more 47 Index 48
I THINK mourn What Is Critical thinking Critical thinking is a way of solving problems and making decisions by asking questions If you were asked to name the main parts of gathering information and using logic to a tree could you do it Your answer might make sense of that information If you make include roots trunk branches and leaves a decision using critical thinking you can be or needles How do you know this is the confident in your decision because you have answer You might have memorized the evidence to back up your reasoning Practicing parts of a tree in a science class searched critical thinking helps you come up with useful for the answer on Google or even looked solutions to problems directly at a tree This question does not require critical thinking because the question is simple and so is the answer If you ask a lot of people this question many of them would come up with the same answer What if you were asked a different question How do people depend on plants Would this be an easy question to answer If you ask a lot of people this question it's unlikely that anyone will have exactly the same answer This is because the question requires you to observe and analyze the ways plants are used by people These are critical thinking skills Critical thinking can be approached in many different ways It requires you to give evidence and an explanation to explain your
What Do You Really Think It takes effort to think critically There are times when you have to evaluate claims made by others Other times you have to defend your own claims This requires you to think critically about your own perspective For example I think this music lesson is boring Are you having trouble understanding and is that why you find it boring Is it boring because you just don't like the piece you are learning Or is the lesson boring because you are daydreaming about playing in a band instead CRITICAL THINKING IS A CRUCIAL SKILL IN THE 21ST CENTURY 21st Century Skills Our digitally interconnected world is always changing and evolving To keep up and be successful we have to be lifelong learners which means that we must be constantly learning how to think in new and innovative ways The Partnership for 21st Century Learning is an organization that has identified four essential skills that students need to build to achieve their goals at school at work and in their personal lives They are the 4Cs communication collaboration creativity and critical thinking Each skill is important on its own but combining the four together in our everyday lives is the key to success in a 21st century
