What kind of thinker are you - Essay Example

What Kind of Thinker are You Critical thinking is the intellectual process of gathering, analysing and conceptualising information that is got from observation, experience, reasoning or communication to guide a person’s actions and what he believes, it involves the ability to solve problems systematically, understanding logical connections between ideas, detecting inconsistencies and mistakes in reasoning, and reflecting one one’s believes and values.Critical thinking mainly involves a set of skills that a critical thinker has mastered or uses, they include observation, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation and meta-cognition.

Critical thinkers usually tend to be self-disciplined, self-directed, self-monitoring and self-corrective; they raise crucial questions about an issue then go ahead to formulate questions clearly and precisely to come up with the most effective way of reasoning (Hills, 2011).There are six stages in critical thinking that include; the unreflective thinker who is not aware of the significant flaws in his way of thinking, the confronted thinker who are aware of problems in their way of reasoning.

The third stage is that of the novice thinker, who is aware of the problems in his thought process and tries to improve his thinking although this type of thinker is not consistent, proactive thinker is the fourth phase where the thinker acknowledges there is need to have a regular and consistent training in order to improve their thinking process. The fifth phase if that of the advanced thinker where the individuals begin to advance in their thinking process due to the amount of practise they have put in place and the final phase is the master thinker where an individual becomes skilful and insightful, he is analytical and reflective in his thinking process.

Another area of critical thinking that was key in learning was the procedure of becoming a critical thinker, the various way that an individual can develop his thinking process through the six phases of critical thinking to become a master thinker. The importance of the critical thinking can also not be underrated in the learning process as it explains how and where the process of critical thinking is useful.My critical thinking has changed since starting the study of critical thinking in that I did not initially acknowledge my thinking process was flawed but after learning about the process of critical thinking, I now realise the flaws in my thinking.

My stage of development has been that of an unreflective thinker, this is informed by the fact I was quick at making assumptions, forming ideas and drawing inferences form certain point of view without necessarily reflecting or analysing the information. However, with the knowledge of my thinking pattern, I have improved to the phase of novice thinker where I am trying to improve my thinking process but not very consistently (Moore & Parker, 2007).In order to develop the art of critical thinking the first step is acknowledging the fact that there is a problem with your way of thinking.

Form here you have to work consistently in improving your thinking skills. In trying to be a master thinker, I have to be clear, precise and relevant in my thinking, thinking beyond the obvious, being logical and fair minded as well as applying critical thinking skill in listening, writing or writing.ReferencesHills, D. (2011). Critical thinking. Richmond: TrotmanMoore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2007). Critical thinking. Boston: McGraw Hill.