Dimensions of Critical Thinking - Essay Example

? The importance of critical thinking in the learning process Introduction Critical thinking is the major pillar upon which the learning process is building up. “John Dewey, the American philosopher, psychologist and educator is widely regarded as the father of modern critical thinking tradition” (Fisher, 2002, p.2). It is a process to make judgments about what to believe, what to disbelieve, what to do and what should not be done. In other words, critical thinking helps a person to make sound judgments in his pursuit to know the realities. It should be noted that learning is a multifaceted and complex process. Knowledge, understanding, skills development, attitude development, synthesis, analysis, comprehension etc are some of the major elements of learning. Knowledge and understanding represents the surface level learning whereas the skills development, attitude development, synthesis, analysis and comprehension etc are the symbols of deep learning. Critical thinking is necessary for the occurrence of deep learning. According to Pavlovich, (2007), Describing the experience, analysis of the experience, creation of new meanings and understandings and actions for change are the four major dimensions of critical thinking (Pavlovich, 2007, p.284). This paper analyses the importance of these dimensions in critical thinking process. Dimensions of critical thinking “The first dimension is the manner in which experience act as the context for personal learning. Reflection begins with asking the key questions that describe experience” (Pavlovich, 2007, p.283). It is often said that experience is the best teacher than anything else in this world. For example, a child who suffers burns from a candle flame may never tries to touch the flame again. What he knows from this experience is that candle flame or fire is extremely dangerous and it may present painful experience. It is not necessary that he may develop deep understanding from this experience. He knows the fact that fire is dangerous and it should not be allowed to come in contact with the body. However, it is not necessary that he may develop sound knowledge about the various other aspects of fire from this experience. Every coin has two sides. The child who suffers burns from the candle flame may think about the problems associated with fire. At the same time, fire is a useful entity for the human bad side. Critical thinking is the only way for a person to judge the goods and evils associated with things in this world. The second dimension outlined by Pavlovich, (2007) is the mental activity that reviews experience (Pavlovich, 2007, p.283). Moon (1999) defined critical thinking as a “mental process with purpose and /or outcome in which manipulation of meaning applied is applied to relatively complicated or unstructured ideas in learning” (p.155). It is not necessary that two people who suffered the same problem may learn similar facts. For example, everybody knows that smoking is injurious to health. Plenty of people died in this world because of smoking related diseases. However, only few people stopped smoking after realizing the dangers associated with smoking. There are plenty of people who continue smoking even after realizing the dangers. This is because of the differences in the mental activities of different people. Some people are ready to learn from the experiences whereas others are reluctant to learn from experiences. Some people think on long term basis whereas others think on short term basis. Those who stopped smoking can be labeled as long term thinkers whereas those who continue smoking can be labeled as short term thinkers. Paul & Elder (2002) have mentioned that “short term thinking, which leads to quick fix solutions, is largely the rule of the day” (Paul & Elder, 2002, p.5). On the other hand, long term thinking helps a person to secure his future even if he faces some short term problems. For example, a poor manager may fire an employee who underperforms, whereas a smart manager guide the employee to improve his performance. While firing an employee, a manager is using the quick fix strategy. He may realize the dangers of such strategy only later when the company faces shortage of workers. On the other hand, a smart manager encourages or motivate the employee to perform well and thereby reduces the employee turnover rate. Critical thinking abilities helped the smart manager to think about the consequences of firing an employee. In short, mental activity plays an important role in the learning process. The third dimension is the emotional discomfort emerging out from the mental activity structured around an experience (Pavlovich, 2007, p.283). It is not necessary that all the experiences present happy memories to a person. In fact, a person may go through plenty of good and bad experiences until he finishes his life. It is important to avoid responses motivated by emotions when a person faces good or bad experiences. It is often said that a person’s wisdom should control his emotions to think properly. For example, there are plenty of people who commit suicide when they face bitter experiences. On the other hand, there are lot of people who convert their bitter experiences into better opportunities. Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking is one best example for this. The first stage of the critical thinking is triggered by an awareness of uncomfortable feelings and thoughts. The second stage involves a clinical analysis of the situation, which is constructive and involves an examination of feelings and knowledge. It may be that when a person initially analyses his/her existing knowledge and applies other knowledge, an explanation of that unique situation may be possible (Atkins & Murphy, 1993, p.11). Sometimes we cannot trust even our eyes. I have seen the wife of my friend taking a cup of tea with another person. First instance, I thought that she might have an illegal affair with that person. However, after an extended observation, I realized that the person with her was none other than her brother. In short, our senses may cheat us times. What we see and hear may not be correct always. Only after the careful analysis of the inputs presented by the senses, one can find out the truths. Critical thinking helps us to realize what is realistic and unrealistic. Critical and creative thinking are interrelated. Creative thinking is the process we use to develop ideas that are unique, useful and worthy of further elaboration whereas critical thinking is the process we use to reflect on assess and judge the assumption underlying our own and others ideas and efforts (Critical thinking & Creative thinking, n.d.). For example, “By the bold and running use of metaphor, a poet will amplify and give us not the thing itself, but the reverberation and reflection which taken into his mind” (Van Mannen 1990, p.49). The intention of a poet is to convey the idea strongly into the minds of readers. For that purpose, he may exaggerate things. It should be noted that the themes of many of the modern films are unrealistic. The hero often fights with four or five people and win it. In real life such things are impossible. Fourth dimension is taking action to change behavior as a consequence of contemplation of experience (Pavlovich, 2007, p.283). Learning from experience can change behavior in future. As mentioned earlier, a smoker may stop smoking once he watches people suffering from smoking related coronary problems or cancer. Critical thinking is, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. “It is both reflective and evaluative-and raises the possibility that both the critical thinker and her milieu will be challenged, unsettled, and perhaps changed” (Rethinking Critical Thinking - Values And Attitudes, n.d). Conclusions Describing the experience, analysis of the experience, creation of new meanings and understandings and actions for change are the major dimensions of critical thinking. Critical thinking helps us what to believe, what to disbelieve, what to do and what should not be done. References Atkins S & Murphy K. 1993. Reflection: a review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1993,18,1188-1192 Critical thinking & Creative thinking, n.d. ,[Online] Available at: http://www.engin.umich.edu/~cre/probsolv/strategy/crit-n-creat.htm [accessed 03 October 2012] Fisher, A. (2002). Critical Thinking. Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 1, 2001) Lynch R. A. N.D. Rethinking Critical Thinking - Values And Attitudes,[Online] Available at: http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=510 [accessed 03 October 2012] Moon J.A.1999. Reflection in learning and professional development. Theory and Practice. London. Kogan Page. Pavlovich K 2007. The development of reflective practice through student journals. Higher education research and development. 26 (3): p. 281-295 Van Manen M. 1990. Researching Lived Experience: SUNY Press, 1990 Read More