what are the steps to critical thinking

How it works

Transform your enterprise with the scalable mindsets, skills, & behavior change that drive performance.

Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Accelerate the performance and potential of your agencies and employees.

See how innovative organizations use BetterUp to build a thriving workforce.

Discover how BetterUp measurably impacts key business outcomes for organizations like yours.

Daring Leadership Institute: a groundbreaking partnership that amplifies Brené Brown's empirically based, courage-building curriculum with BetterUp’s human transformation platform.

• What is coaching?

Learn how 1:1 coaching works, who its for, and if it's right for you.

Accelerate your personal and professional growth with the expert guidance of a BetterUp Coach.

Types of Coaching

Navigate career transitions, accelerate your professional growth, and achieve your career goals with expert coaching.

Enhance your communication skills for better personal and professional relationships, with tailored coaching that focuses on your needs.

Find balance, resilience, and well-being in all areas of your life with holistic coaching designed to empower you.

Discover your perfect match : Take our 5-minute assessment and let us pair you with one of our top Coaches tailored just for you.

Find your coach

Research, expert insights, and resources to develop courageous leaders within your organization.

Best practices, research, and tools to fuel individual and business growth.

View on-demand BetterUp events and learn about upcoming live discussions.

The latest insights and ideas for building a high-performing workplace.

• BetterUp Briefing

The online magazine that helps you understand tomorrow's workforce trends, today.

Innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, press, and more.

Founded in 2022 to deepen the understanding of the intersection of well-being, purpose, and performance

We're on a mission to help everyone live with clarity, purpose, and passion.

Join us and create impactful change.

Read the buzz about BetterUp.

Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce.

For Business

For Individuals

How to develop critical thinking skills

Jump to section

What are critical thinking skills?

How to develop critical thinking skills: 12 tips, how to practice critical thinking skills at work, become your own best critic.

A client requests a tight deadline on an intense project. Your childcare provider calls in sick on a day full of meetings. Payment from a contract gig is a month behind. 

Your day-to-day will always have challenges, big and small. And no matter the size and urgency, they all ask you to use critical thinking to analyze the situation and arrive at the right solution. 

Critical thinking includes a wide set of soft skills that encourage continuous learning, resilience , and self-reflection. The more you add to your professional toolbelt, the more equipped you’ll be to tackle whatever challenge presents itself. Here’s how to develop critical thinking, with examples explaining how to use it.

Critical thinking skills are the skills you use to analyze information, imagine scenarios holistically, and create rational solutions. It’s a type of emotional intelligence that stimulates effective problem-solving and decision-making . 

When you fine-tune your critical thinking skills, you seek beyond face-value observations and knee-jerk reactions. Instead, you harvest deeper insights and string together ideas and concepts in logical, sometimes out-of-the-box , ways. 

Imagine a team working on a marketing strategy for a new set of services. That team might use critical thinking to balance goals and key performance indicators , like new customer acquisition costs, average monthly sales, and net profit margins. They understand the connections between overlapping factors to build a strategy that stays within budget and attracts new sales. 

Looking for ways to improve critical thinking skills? Start by brushing up on the following soft skills that fall under this umbrella: 

• Analytical thinking: Approaching problems with an analytical eye includes breaking down complex issues into small chunks and examining their significance. An example could be organizing customer feedback to identify trends and improve your product offerings. 
• Open-mindedness: Push past cognitive biases and be receptive to different points of view and constructive feedback . Managers and team members who keep an open mind position themselves to hear new ideas that foster innovation . 
• Creative thinking: With creative thinking , you can develop several ideas to address a single problem, like brainstorming more efficient workflow best practices to boost productivity and employee morale . 
• Self-reflection: Self-reflection lets you examine your thinking and assumptions to stimulate healthier collaboration and thought processes. Maybe a bad first impression created a negative anchoring bias with a new coworker. Reflecting on your own behavior stirs up empathy and improves the relationship. 
• Evaluation: With evaluation skills, you tackle the pros and cons of a situation based on logic rather than emotion. When prioritizing tasks , you might be tempted to do the fun or easy ones first, but evaluating their urgency and importance can help you make better decisions. 

There’s no magic method to change your thinking processes. Improvement happens with small, intentional changes to your everyday habits until a more critical approach to thinking is automatic. 

Here are 12 tips for building stronger self-awareness and learning how to improve critical thinking: 

1. Be cautious

There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of skepticism. One of the core principles of critical thinking is asking questions and dissecting the available information. You might surprise yourself at what you find when you stop to think before taking action. 

Before making a decision, use evidence, logic, and deductive reasoning to support your own opinions or challenge ideas. It helps you and your team avoid falling prey to bad information or resistance to change .

2. Ask open-ended questions

“Yes” or “no” questions invite agreement rather than reflection. Instead, ask open-ended questions that force you to engage in analysis and rumination. Digging deeper can help you identify potential biases, uncover assumptions, and arrive at new hypotheses and possible solutions. 

3. Do your research

No matter your proficiency, you can always learn more. Turning to different points of view and information is a great way to develop a comprehensive understanding of a topic and make informed decisions. You’ll prioritize reliable information rather than fall into emotional or automatic decision-making. 

4. Consider several opinions

You might spend so much time on your work that it’s easy to get stuck in your own perspective, especially if you work independently on a remote team . Make an effort to reach out to colleagues to hear different ideas and thought patterns. Their input might surprise you.

If or when you disagree, remember that you and your team share a common goal. Divergent opinions are constructive, so shift the focus to finding solutions rather than defending disagreements. 

5. Learn to be quiet

Active listening is the intentional practice of concentrating on a conversation partner instead of your own thoughts. It’s about paying attention to detail and letting people know you value their opinions, which can open your mind to new perspectives and thought processes.

If you’re brainstorming with your team or having a 1:1 with a coworker , listen, ask clarifying questions, and work to understand other peoples’ viewpoints. Listening to your team will help you find fallacies in arguments to improve possible solutions.

6. Schedule reflection

Whether waking up at 5 am or using a procrastination hack, scheduling time to think puts you in a growth mindset . Your mind has natural cognitive biases to help you simplify decision-making, but squashing them is key to thinking critically and finding new solutions besides the ones you might gravitate toward. Creating time and calm space in your day gives you the chance to step back and visualize the biases that impact your decision-making. 

7. Cultivate curiosity

With so many demands and job responsibilities, it’s easy to seek solace in routine. But getting out of your comfort zone helps spark critical thinking and find more solutions than you usually might.

If curiosity doesn’t come naturally to you, cultivate a thirst for knowledge by reskilling and upskilling . Not only will you add a new skill to your resume , but expanding the limits of your professional knowledge might motivate you to ask more questions. 

You don’t have to develop critical thinking skills exclusively in the office. Whether on your break or finding a hobby to do after work, playing strategic games or filling out crosswords can prime your brain for problem-solving. 

9. Write it down

Recording your thoughts with pen and paper can lead to stronger brain activity than typing them out on a keyboard. If you’re stuck and want to think more critically about a problem, writing your ideas can help you process information more deeply.

The act of recording ideas on paper can also improve your memory . Ideas are more likely to linger in the background of your mind, leading to deeper thinking that informs your decision-making process. 

10. Speak up

Take opportunities to share your opinion, even if it intimidates you. Whether at a networking event with new people or a meeting with close colleagues, try to engage with people who challenge or help you develop your ideas. Having conversations that force you to support your position encourages you to refine your argument and think critically. 

11. Stay humble

Ideas and concepts aren’t the same as real-life actions. There may be such a thing as negative outcomes, but there’s no such thing as a bad idea. At the brainstorming stage , don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Sometimes the best solutions come from off-the-wall, unorthodox decisions. Sit in your creativity , let ideas flow, and don’t be afraid to share them with your colleagues. Putting yourself in a creative mindset helps you see situations from new perspectives and arrive at innovative conclusions. 

12. Embrace discomfort

Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable . It isn’t easy when others challenge your ideas, but sometimes, it’s the only way to see new perspectives and think critically.

By willingly stepping into unfamiliar territory, you foster the resilience and flexibility you need to become a better thinker. You’ll learn how to pick yourself up from failure and approach problems from fresh angles. 

Thinking critically is easier said than done. To help you understand its impact (and how to use it), here are two scenarios that require critical thinking skills and provide teachable moments. 

Scenario #1: Unexpected delays and budget

Imagine your team is working on producing an event. Unexpectedly, a vendor explains they’ll be a week behind on delivering materials. Then another vendor sends a quote that’s more than you can afford. Unless you develop a creative solution, the team will have to push back deadlines and go over budget, potentially costing the client’s trust. 

Here’s how you could approach the situation with creative thinking:

• Analyze the situation holistically: Determine how the delayed materials and over-budget quote will impact the rest of your timeline and financial resources . That way, you can identify whether you need to build an entirely new plan with new vendors, or if it’s worth it to readjust time and resources. 
• Identify your alternative options: With careful assessment, your team decides that another vendor can’t provide the same materials in a quicker time frame. You’ll need to rearrange assignment schedules to complete everything on time. 
• Collaborate and adapt: Your team has an emergency meeting to rearrange your project schedule. You write down each deliverable and determine which ones you can and can’t complete by the deadline. To compensate for lost time, you rearrange your task schedule to complete everything that doesn’t need the delayed materials first, then advance as far as you can on the tasks that do. 
• Check different resources: In the meantime, you scour through your contact sheet to find alternative vendors that fit your budget. Accounting helps by providing old invoices to determine which vendors have quoted less for previous jobs. After pulling all your sources, you find a vendor that fits your budget. 
• Maintain open communication: You create a special Slack channel to keep everyone up to date on changes, challenges, and additional delays. Keeping an open line encourages transparency on the team’s progress and boosts everyone’s confidence. 

Scenario #2: Differing opinions 

A conflict arises between two team members on the best approach for a new strategy for a gaming app. One believes that small tweaks to the current content are necessary to maintain user engagement and stay within budget. The other believes a bold revamp is needed to encourage new followers and stronger sales revenue. 

Here’s how critical thinking could help this conflict:

• Listen actively: Give both team members the opportunity to present their ideas free of interruption. Encourage the entire team to ask open-ended questions to more fully understand and develop each argument. 
• Flex your analytical skills: After learning more about both ideas, everyone should objectively assess the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. Analyze each idea's risk, merits, and feasibility based on available data and the app’s goals and objectives. 
• Identify common ground: The team discusses similarities between each approach and brainstorms ways to integrate both idea s, like making small but eye-catching modifications to existing content or using the same visual design in new media formats. 
• Test new strategy: To test out the potential of a bolder strategy, the team decides to A/B test both approaches. You create a set of criteria to evenly distribute users by different demographics to analyze engagement, revenue, and customer turnover. 
• Monitor and adapt: After implementing the A/B test, the team closely monitors the results of each strategy. You regroup and optimize the changes that provide stronger results after the testing. That way, all team members understand why you’re making the changes you decide to make.

You can’t think your problems away. But you can equip yourself with skills that help you move through your biggest challenges and find innovative solutions. Learning how to develop critical thinking is the start of honing an adaptable growth mindset. 

Now that you have resources to increase critical thinking skills in your professional development, you can identify whether you embrace change or routine, are open or resistant to feedback, or turn to research or emotion will build self-awareness. From there, tweak and incorporate techniques to be a critical thinker when life presents you with a problem.

Understand Yourself Better:

Big 5 Personality Test

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

How divergent thinking can drive your creativity

What’s convergent thinking how to be a better problem-solver, 8 creative solutions to your most challenging problems, critical thinking is the one skillset you can't afford not to master, can dreams help you solve problems 6 ways to try, how emotions affect learning: the impact of emotions, what is lateral thinking 7 techniques to encourage creative ideas, 17 memorization techniques to sharpen your memory & recall, how different learning styles make a difference at work, betterup named a 2019 “cool vendor” in human capital management: enhancing employee experience by gartnerup your game: a new model for leadership, 7 critical teamwork skills and how to develop them, what is creative thinking and how can i improve, 6 big picture thinking strategies that you'll actually use, what are analytical skills examples and how to level up, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

3100 E 5th Street, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78702

• Platform Overview
• Integrations
• Powered by AI
• BetterUp Lead™
• BetterUp Manage™
• BetterUp Care®
• Sales Performance
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Case Studies
• Why BetterUp?
• About Coaching
• Find your Coach
• Career Coaching
• Communication Coaching
• Personal Coaching
• News and Press
• Leadership Team
• Become a BetterUp Coach
• BetterUp Labs
• Center for Purpose & Performance
• Leadership Training
• Business Coaching
• Contact Support
• Contact Sales
• Privacy Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Trust & Security
• Cookie Preferences

• The Big Think Interview
• Your Brain on Money
• Explore the Library
• The Universe. A History.
• The Progress Issue
• A Brief History Of Quantum Mechanics
• 6 Flaws In Our Understanding Of The Universe
• Michio Kaku
• Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Michelle Thaller
• Steven Pinker
• Ray Kurzweil
• Cornel West
• Helen Fisher
• Smart Skills
• High Culture
• The Present
• Hard Science
• Special Issues
• Starts With A Bang
• Everyday Philosophy
• The Learning Curve
• The Long Game
• Perception Box
• Strange Maps
• Free Newsletters
• Memberships

How to think effectively: Six stages of critical thinking

Credit: Elder / Paul

• Researchers propose six levels of critical thinkers: Unreflective thinkers, Challenged thinkers, Beginning thinkers, Practicing thinkers, Advanced thinkers, and Master thinkers.
• The framework comes from educational psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul.
• Teaching critical thinking skills is a crucial challenge in our times.

The coronavirus has not only decimated our populations, its spread has also attacked the very nature of truth and stoked inherent tensions between many different groups of people, both at local and international levels. Spawning widespread conspiracy theories and obfuscation by governments, the virus has also been a vivid demonstration of the need for teaching critical thinking skills necessary to survive in the 21st century. The stage theory of critical thinking development, devised by psychologists Linda Elder and Richard Paul , can help us gauge the sophistication of our current mental approaches and provides a roadmap to the thinking of others.

The researchers identified six predictable levels of critical thinkers, from ones lower in depth and effort to the advanced mind-masters, who are always steps ahead.

As the scientists write , moving up on this pyramid of thinking “is dependent upon a necessary level of commitment on the part of an individual to develop as a critical thinker.” Using your mind more effectively is not automatic and “is unlikely to take place “subconsciously.” In other words – you have to put in the work and keep doing it, or you’ll lose the faculty.

Here’s how the stages of intellectual development break down:

Unreflective thinker

These are people who don’t reflect about thinking and the effect it has on their lives. As such, they form opinions and make decisions based on prejudices and misconceptions while their thinking doesn’t improve.

Unreflective thinkers lack crucial skills that would allow them to parse their thought processes. They also do not apply standards like accuracy, relevance, precision, and logic in a consistent fashion.

How many such people are out there? You probably can guess based on social media comments. As Elder and Paul write , “it is perfectly possible for students to graduate from high school, or even college, and still be largely unreflective thinkers.”

Challenged thinker

This next level up thinker has awareness of the importance of thinking on their existence and knows that deficiencies in thinking can bring about major issues. As the psychologists explain, to solve a problem, you must first admit you have one.

People at this intellectual stage begin to understand that “high quality thinking requires deliberate reflective thinking about thinking”, and can acknowledge that their own mental processes might have many flaws. They might not be able to identify all the flaws, however.

A challenged thinker may have a sense that solid thinking involves navigating assumptions, inferences, and points of view, but only on an initial level. They may also be able to spot some instances of their own self-deception. The true difficulty for thinkers of this category is in not “believing that their thinking is better than it actually is, making it more difficult to recognize the problems inherent in poor thinking,” explain the researchers.

Thinkers at this level can go beyond the nascent intellectual humility and actively look to take control of their thinking across areas of their lives. They know that their own thinking can have blind spots and other problems and take steps to address those, but in a limited capacity.

Beginning thinker

Beginning thinkers place more value in reason, becoming self-aware in their thoughts. They may also be able to start looking at the concepts and biases underlying their ideas. Additionally, such thinkers develop higher internal standards of clarity, accuracy and logic, realizing that their ego plays a key role in their decisions.

Another big aspect that differentiates this stronger thinker – some ability to take criticism of their mental approach, even though they still have work to do and might lack clear enough solutions to the issues they spot.

Practicing thinker

This more experienced kind of thinker not only appreciates their own deficiencies, but has skills to deal with them. A thinker of this level will practice better thinking habits and will analyze their mental processes with regularity.

While they might be able to express their mind’s strengths and weaknesses, as a negative, practicing thinkers might still not have a systematic way of gaining insight into their thoughts and can fall prey to egocentric and self-deceptive reasoning.

How do you get to this stage? An important trait to gain, say the psychologists, is “intellectual perseverance.” This quality can provide “the impetus for developing a realistic plan for systematic practice (with a view to taking greater command of one’s thinking).”

“We must teach in such a way that students come to understand the power in knowing that whenever humans reason, they have no choice but to use certain predictable structures of thought: that thinking is inevitably driven by the questions, that we seek answers to questions for some purpose, that to answer questions, we need information, that to use information we must interpret it (i.e., by making inferences), and that our inferences, in turn, are based on assumptions, and have implications, all of which involves ideas or concepts within some point of view,” explain Elder and Paul.

One doesn’t typically get to this stage until college and beyond, estimate the scientists. This higher-level thinker would have strong habits that would allow them to analyze their thinking with insight about different areas of life. They would be fair-minded and able to spot the prejudicial aspects in the points of view of others and their own understanding.

While they’d have a good handle on the role of their ego in the idea flow, such thinkers might still not be able to grasp all the influences that affect their mentality.

Advanced thinker

The advanced thinker is at ease with self-critique and does so systematically, looking to improve. Among key traits required for this level are “intellectual insight” to develop new thought habits, “ intellectual integrity” to “recognize areas of inconsistency and contradiction in one’s life,” intellectual empathy ” to put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, and the “ intellectual courage” to confront ideas and beliefs they don’t necessarily believe in and have negative emotions towards.

Master thinker

This is the super-thinker, the one who is totally in control of how they process information and make decisions. Such people constantly seek to improve their thought skills, and through experience “regularly raise their thinking to the level of conscious realization.”

A master thinker achieves great insights into deep mental levels, strongly committed to being fair and gaining control over their own egocentrism.

Such a high-level thinker also exhibits superior practical knowledge and insight, always re-examining their assumptions for weaknesses, logic, and biases.

And, of course, a master thinker wouldn’t get upset with being intellectually confronted and spends a considerable amount of time analyzing their own responses.

“Why is this so important? Precisely because the human mind, left to its own, pursues that which is immediately easy, that which is comfortable, and that which serves its selfish interests. At the same time, it naturally resists that which is difficult to understand, that which involves complexity, that which requires entering the thinking and predicaments of others,” write the researchers.

So how do you become a master thinker? The psychologists think most students will never get there. But a lifetime of practicing the best intellectual traits can get you to that point when “people of good sense seek out master thinkers, for they recognize and value the ability of master thinkers to think through complex issues with judgment and insight.”

The significance of critical thinking in our daily lives, especially in these confusing times, so rife with quick and often-misleading information, cannot be overstated. The decisions we make today can truly be life and death.

• Product overview
• All features
• Latest feature release
• App integrations

CAPABILITIES

• project icon Project management
• Project views
• Custom fields
• Status updates
• goal icon Goals and reporting
• Reporting dashboards
• asana-intelligence icon Asana AI
• workflow icon Workflows and automation
• portfolio icon Resource management
• Capacity planning
• Time tracking
• my-task icon Admin and security
• Admin console
• Permissions
• list icon Personal
• premium icon Starter
• briefcase icon Advanced
• Goal management
• Organizational planning
• Project intake
• Resource planning
• Product launches
• View all uses arrow-right icon

Featured Reads

• Work management resources Discover best practices, watch webinars, get insights
• Customer stories See how the world's best organizations drive work innovation with Asana
• Help Center Get lots of tips, tricks, and advice to get the most from Asana
• Asana Academy Sign up for interactive courses and webinars to learn Asana
• Developers Learn more about building apps on the Asana platform
• Community programs Connect with and learn from Asana customers around the world
• Events Find out about upcoming events near you
• Partners Learn more about our partner programs
• Asana for nonprofits Get more information on our nonprofit discount program, and apply.
• Project plans
• Team goals & objectives
• Team continuity
• Meeting agenda
• View all templates arrow-right icon
• Collaboration |
• How to build your critical thinking ski ...

How to build your critical thinking skills in 7 steps (with examples)

Critical thinking is, well, critical. By developing critical thinking skills, you improve your ability to analyze information and come to the best decision possible. In this article, we cover the basics of critical thinking, as well as the seven steps you can use to implement the full critical thinking process.

Critical thinking comes from asking the right questions to come to the best conclusion possible. Strong critical thinkers analyze information from a variety of viewpoints in order to identify the best course of action.

Don’t worry if you don’t think you have strong critical thinking skills. In this article, we’ll help you build a foundation for critical thinking so you can absorb, analyze, and make informed decisions. 

What is critical thinking? 

Critical thinking is the ability to collect and analyze information to come to a conclusion. Being able to think critically is important in virtually every industry and applicable across a wide range of positions. That’s because critical thinking isn’t subject-specific—rather, it’s your ability to parse through information, data, statistics, and other details in order to identify a satisfactory solution. 

Definitions of critical thinking

Various scholars have provided definitions of critical thinking, each emphasizing different aspects of this complex cognitive process:

Michael Scriven , an American philosopher, defines critical thinking as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide to belief and action."

Robert Ennis , professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, describes critical thinking as "reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do."

Diane Halpern , a cognitive psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, defines it as "the use of cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome."

Decision-making tools for agile businesses

In this ebook, learn how to equip employees to make better decisions—so your business can pivot, adapt, and tackle challenges more effectively than your competition.

8 essential critical thinking skills to develop

Critical thinking is essential for success in everyday life, higher education, and professional settings. The handbook "Foundation for Critical Thinking" defines it as a process of conceptualization, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information.

In no particular order, here are eight key critical thinking abilities that can help you excel in any situation:

1. Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking involves evaluating data from multiple sources in order to come to the best conclusions. Analytical thinking allows people to reject cognitive biases and strive to gather and analyze intricate subject matter while solving complex problems. Analytical thinkers who thrive at critical thinking can:

Identify patterns and trends in the data

Break down complex issues into manageable components

Recognize cause-and-effect relationships

Evaluate the strength of arguments and evidence

Example: A data analyst breaks down complex sales figures to identify trends and patterns that inform the company's marketing strategy.

2. Open-mindedness

Open-mindedness is the willingness to consider new ideas, arguments, and information without prejudice. This critical thinking skill helps you analyze and process information to come to an unbiased conclusion. Part of the critical thinking process is letting your personal biases go, taking information at face value and coming to a conclusion based on multiple points of view .

Open-minded critical thinkers demonstrate:

Willingness to consider alternative viewpoints

Ability to suspend judgment until sufficient evidence is gathered

Receptiveness to constructive criticism and feedback

Flexibility in updating beliefs based on new information

Example: During a product development meeting, a team leader actively considers unconventional ideas from junior members, leading to an innovative solution.

3. Problem-solving

Effective problem solving is a cornerstone of critical thinking. It requires the ability to identify issues, generate possible solutions, evaluate alternatives, and implement the best course of action. This critical thinking skill is particularly valuable in fields like project management and entrepreneurship.

Key aspects of problem-solving include:

Clearly defining the problem

Gathering relevant information

Brainstorming potential solutions

Evaluating the pros and cons of each option

Implementing and monitoring the chosen solution

Reflecting on the outcome and adjusting as necessary

Example: A high school principal uses problem-solving skills to address declining student engagement by surveying learners, consulting with higher education experts, and implementing a new curriculum that balances academic rigor with practical, real-world applications.

4. Reasoned judgment

Reasoned judgment is a key component of higher order thinking that involves making thoughtful decisions based on logical analysis of evidence and thorough consideration of alternatives. This critical thinking skill is important in both academic and professional settings. Key aspects reasoned judgment include:

Objectively gathering and analyzing information

Evaluating the credibility and relevance of evidence

Considering multiple perspectives before drawing conclusions

Making decisions based on logical inference and sound reasoning

Example: A high school science teacher uses reasoned judgment to design an experiment, carefully observing and analyzing results before drawing conclusions about the hypothesis.

5. Reflective thinking

Reflective thinking is the process of analyzing one's own thought processes, actions, and outcomes to gain deeper understanding and improve future performance. Good critical thinking requires analyzing and synthesizing information to form a coherent understanding of a problem. It's an essential critical thinking skill for continuous learning and improvement.

Key aspects of reflective thinking include:

Critically examining one's own assumptions and cognitive biases

Considering diverse viewpoints and perspectives

Synthesizing information from various experiences and sources

Applying insights to improve future decision-making and actions

Continuously evaluating and adjusting one's thinking processes

Example: A community organizer reflects on the outcomes of a recent public event, considering what worked well and what could be improved for future initiatives.

6. Communication

Strong communication skills help critical thinkers articulate ideas clearly and persuasively. Communication in the workplace is crucial for effective teamwork, leadership, and knowledge dissemination. Key aspects of communication in critical thinking include:

Clearly expressing complex ideas

Active listening and comprehension

Adapting communication styles to different audiences

Constructing and delivering persuasive arguments

Example: A manager effectively explains a new company policy to her team, addressing their concerns and ensuring everyone understands its implications.

7. Research

Critical thinkers with strong research skills gather, evaluate, and synthesize information from various sources of information. This is particularly important in academic settings and in professional fields that require continuous learning. Effective research involves:

Identifying reliable and relevant sources of information

Evaluating the credibility and bias of sources

Synthesizing information from multiple sources

Recognizing gaps in existing knowledge

Example: A journalist verifies information from multiple credible sources before publishing an article on a controversial topic.

8. Decision-making

Effective decision making is the culmination of various critical thinking skills that allow an individual to draw logical conclusions and generalizations. It involves weighing options, considering consequences, and choosing the best course of action. Key aspects of decision-making include:

Defining clear criteria for evaluation

Gathering and analyzing relevant information

Considering short-term and long-term consequences

Managing uncertainty and risk

Balancing logic and intuition

Example: A homeowner weighs the costs, benefits, and long-term implications before deciding to invest in solar panels for their house.

How to develop critical thinking skills in 7 steps

Critical thinking is a skill that you can build by following these seven steps. The seven steps to critical thinking help you ensure you’re approaching a problem from the right angle, considering every alternative, and coming to an unbiased conclusion.

First things first: When to use the 7 step critical thinking process

There’s a lot that goes into the full critical thinking process, and not every decision needs to be this thought out. Sometimes, it’s enough to put aside bias and approach a process logically. In other, more complex cases, the best way to identify the ideal outcome is to go through the entire critical thinking process. 

The seven-step critical thinking process is useful for complex decisions in areas you are less familiar with. Alternatively, the seven critical thinking steps can help you look at a problem you’re familiar with from a different angle, without any bias. 

If you need to make a less complex decision, consider another problem solving strategy instead. Decision matrices are a great way to identify the best option between different choices. Check out our article on 7 steps to creating a decision matrix .

1. Identify the problem or question

Before you put those critical thinking skills to work, you first need to identify the problem you’re solving. This step includes taking a look at the problem from a few different perspectives and asking questions like: 

What’s happening? 

Why is this happening? 

What assumptions am I making? 

At first glance, how do I think we can solve this problem? 

A big part of developing your critical thinking skills is learning how to come to unbiased conclusions. In order to do that, you first need to acknowledge the biases that you currently have. Does someone on your team think they know the answer? Are you making assumptions that aren’t necessarily true? Identifying these details helps you later on in the process. 

2. Gather relevant information

At this point, you likely have a general idea of the problem—but in order to come up with the best solution, you need to dig deeper. 

During the research process, collect information relating to the problem, including data, statistics, historical project information, team input, and more. Make sure you gather information from a variety of sources, especially if those sources go against your personal ideas about what the problem is or how to solve it.

Gathering varied information is essential for your ability to apply the critical thinking process. If you don’t get enough information, your ability to make a final decision will be skewed. Remember that critical thinking is about helping you identify the objective best conclusion. You aren’t going with your gut—you’re doing research to find the best option

3. Analyze and evaluate data

Just as it’s important to gather a variety of information, it is also important to determine how relevant the different information sources are. After all, just because there is data doesn’t mean it’s relevant. 

Once you’ve gathered all of the information, sift through the noise and identify what information is relevant and what information isn’t. Synthesizing all of this information and establishing significance helps you weigh different data sources and come to the best conclusion later on in the critical thinking process. 

To determine data relevance, ask yourself:

How reliable is this information? 

How significant is this information? 

Is this information outdated? Is it specialized in a specific field? 

4. Consider alternative points of view

One of the most useful parts of the critical thinking process is coming to a decision without bias. In order to do so, you need to take a step back from the process and challenge the assumptions you’re making. 

We all have bias—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unconscious biases (also known as cognitive biases) often serve as mental shortcuts to simplify problem solving and aid decision making. But even when biases aren’t inherently bad, you must be aware of your biases in order to put them aside when necessary. 

Before coming to a solution, ask yourself:

Am I making any assumptions about this information? 

Are there additional variables I haven’t considered? 

Have I evaluated the information from every perspective? 

Are there any viewpoints I missed?

5. Draw logical conclusions

Finally, you’re ready to come to a conclusion. To identify the best solution, draw connections between causes and effects. Use the facts you’ve gathered to evaluate the most objective conclusion. 

Keep in mind that there may be more than one solution. Often, the problems you’re facing are complex and intricate. The critical thinking process doesn’t necessarily lead to a cut-and-dry solution—instead, the process helps you understand the different variables at play so you can make an informed decision. 

6. Develop and communication solutions

Communication is a key skill for critical thinkers. It isn’t enough to think for yourself—you also need to share your conclusion with other project stakeholders. If there are multiple solutions, present them all. There may be a case where you implement one solution, then test to see if it works before implementing another solution. 

This process of communicating and sharing ideas is key in promoting critical thinking abilities within a team or organization. By encouraging open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, you create an environment that fosters the development of critical thinking skills in others.

7. Reflect and learn from the process

The seven-step critical thinking process yields a result—and you then need to put that solution into place. After you’ve implemented your decision, evaluate whether or not it was effective. Did it solve the initial problem? What lessons—whether positive or negative—can you learn from this experience to improve your critical thinking for next time? 

By engaging in this metacognitive reflective thinking process, you're essentially teaching critical thinking skills to yourself, refining your methodology with each iteration. This reflective practice is fundamental in developing a more robust and adaptable approach to problem-solving.

Depending on how your team shares information, consider documenting lessons learned in a central source of truth. That way, team members that are making similar or related decisions in the future can understand why you made the decision you made and what the outcome was.

Critical thinking examples in the workplace

Imagine you work in user experience design (UX). Your team is focused on pricing and packaging and ensuring customers have a clear understanding of the different services your company offers. Here’s how to apply the critical thinking process in the workplace in seven steps: 

Step 1: Start by identifying the problem

Your current pricing page isn’t performing as well as you want. You’ve heard from customers that your services aren’t clear, and that the page doesn’t answer the questions they have. This page is really important for your company, since it’s where your customers sign up for your service. You and your team have a few theories about why your current page isn’t performing well, but you decide to apply the critical thinking process to ensure you come to the best decision for the page. 

Gather information about how the problem started

Part of identifying the problem includes understanding how the problem started. The pricing and packaging page is important—so when your team initially designed the page, they certainly put a lot of thought into it. Before you begin researching how to improve the page, ask yourself: 

Why did you design the pricing page the way you did? 

Which stakeholders need to be involved in the decision making process? 

Where are users getting stuck on the page?

Are any features currently working?

Step 2: Then gather information and research

In addition to understanding the history of the pricing and packaging page, it’s important to understand what works well. Part of this research means taking a look at what your competitor’s pricing pages look like. 

Ask yourself: 

How have our competitors set up their pricing pages?

Are there any pricing page best practices? 

How does color, positioning, and animation impact navigation? 

Are there any standard page layouts customers expect to see? 

Step 3: Organize and analyze information

You’ve gathered all of the information you need—now you need to organize and analyze it. What trends, if any, are you noticing? Is there any particularly relevant or important information that you have to consider? 

Step 4: Consider alternative viewpoints to reduce bias

In the case of critical thinking, it’s important to address and set bias aside as much as possible. Ask yourself: 

Is there anything I’m missing? 

Have I connected with the right stakeholders? 

Are there any other viewpoints I should consider? 

Step 5: Determine the most logical solution for your team

You now have all of the information you need to design the best pricing page. Depending on the complexity of the design, you may want to design a few options to present to a small group of customers or A/B test on the live website.

Step 6: Communicate your solution to stakeholders

Critical thinking skills can help you in every element of your life, but in the workplace, you must also involve key project stakeholders . Stakeholders help you determine next steps, like whether you’ll A/B test the page first. Depending on the complexity of the issue, consider hosting a meeting or sharing a status report to get everyone on the same page. 

Step 7: Reflect on the results

No process is complete without evaluating the results. Once the new page has been live for some time, evaluate whether it did better than the previous page. What worked? What didn’t? This also helps you make better critical decisions later on.

Tools and techniques to improve critical thinking skills

Understanding how to improve critical thinking skills has become a cornerstone of personal and professional growth in the 21st century. Recognizing the importance of critical thinking, experts across various disciplines have contributed valuable insights and methodologies. Here are some notable contributions from experts and institutions in the field:

Mind mapping: A visual approach to critical thinking skills

Mind mapping is a visual technique that helps organize and structure information. It's particularly useful for synthesizing complex ideas and identifying connections between different concepts. The benefits of mind mapping include:

Enhancing creativity by encouraging non-linear thinking

Improving memory and retention of information

Facilitating brainstorming and idea generation

Providing a clear overview of complex topics

To create a mind map:

Start with a central idea or concept.

Branch out with related sub topics or ideas.

Use colors, symbols, and images to enhance visual appeal and memorability.

Draw connections between related ideas across different branches.

Mind mapping can be particularly effective in project planning , content creation, and studying complex subjects.

The Socratic Method: Deepening critical thinking skills

The Socratic Method, named after the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, involves asking probing questions to stimulate critical thinking and illuminate ideas. This technique is widely used in higher education to teach critical thinking. Key aspects of the Socratic Method include:

Asking open-ended questions that encourage deeper reflection

Challenging assumptions and preconceived notions

Exploring the implications and consequences of ideas

Fostering intellectual curiosity and continuous inquiry

The Socratic Method can be applied in various settings:

In education, to encourage students to think deeply about subject matter

In business, it is important to challenge team members to consider multiple points of view.

In personal development, to examine one's own beliefs and decisions

Example: A high school teacher might use the Socratic Method to guide students through a complex ethical dilemma, asking questions like "What principles are at stake here?" and "How might this decision affect different stakeholders?"

SWOT analysis: Comprehensive critical thinking skills

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be applied to critical thinking. It helps in evaluating situations from multiple angles, promoting a more thorough understanding of complex issues. The components of SWOT analysis are:

Strengths: internal positive attributes or assets

Weaknesses: internal negative attributes or limitations

Opportunities: External factors that could be beneficial

Threats: External factors that could be harmful

To conduct a SWOT analysis:

Clearly define the subject of analysis (e.g., a project, organization, or decision).

Brainstorm and list items for each category.

Analyze the interactions between different factors.

Use the analysis to inform strategy or decision-making.

Example: A startup might use SWOT analysis to evaluate its position before seeking investment, identifying its innovative technology as a strength, limited capital as a weakness, growing market demand as an opportunity, and established competitors as a threat.

Critical thinking resources

The Foundation for Critical Thinking : Based in California, this organization offers a wide range of resources, including books, articles, and workshops on critical thinking.

The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking : This council provides guidelines and standards for critical thinking instruction and assessment.

University of Louisville : Their Critical Thinking Initiative offers various resources and tools that teach people how to develop critical thinking skills.

The New York Times Learning Network provides lesson plans and activities to help develop critical thinking skills through current events and news analysis.

Critical thinking frameworks and tools

Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework : Developed by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder, this framework provides a comprehensive approach to developing critical thinking skills.

Bloom's Taxonomy : While not exclusively for critical thinking, this classification system is widely used in education to promote higher-order thinking skills.

The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) : This assessment tool measures the disposition to engage in problems and make decisions using critical thinking.

The Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test : Developed by Robert Ennis, this test assesses a person's ability to appraise an argument and to formulate a written argument.

By incorporating these tools and techniques into regular practice, individuals can learn how to improve critical thinking skills, which leads to more effective problem-solving, decision-making, and overall cognitive performance.

The power of critical thinking skills

Critical thinking skills take time to build, but with effort and patience you can apply an unbiased, analytical mind to any situation. Critical thinking makes up one of many soft skills that makes you an effective team member, manager, and worker. If you’re looking to hone your skills further, read our article on the 25 project management skills you need to succeed .

FAQ: Critical thinking skills

What is being a critical thinker?

Being a critical thinker means possessing strong critical thinking skills that allow you to analyze information objectively and make reasoned judgments. It involves developing analytical skills and the capacity for critical thought. A critical thinker questions assumptions, considers multiple perspectives, and bases decisions on evidence rather than emotions or biases.

What are the 5 C's of critical thinking?

The 5 C's of critical thinking are the core skill sets that make you a better critical thinker:

Curiosity: Asking questions and seeking new information

Creativity: Generating innovative solutions and ideas

Clarity: Expressing thoughts and ideas clearly and precisely

Consistency: Maintaining logical coherence in arguments and reasoning

Commitment: Dedicating oneself to ongoing learning and improvement

These skills directly improve critical thinking and strengthen overall cognitive abilities. Understanding and practicing these 5 C's is a fundamental aspect of how to develop critical thinking skills effectively.

How do you demonstrate critical thinking?

Demonstrating critical thinking involves applying your skill set in various situations. This includes analyzing problems, evaluating information sources, considering multiple perspectives, and using evidence-based reasoning. Many employers highlight these qualities in job descriptions, as they value employees who can apply critical thought to workplace challenges.

What is a real-life example of critical thinking?

A real-life critical thinking example could be making a major purchase decision, such as buying a car. Here's how you might apply critical thinking skills:

Research: Gather information about different car models, prices, and features

Analysis: Compare and contrast options based on your needs and budget

Evaluation: Assess the reliability of information sources (e.g., consumer reports, user reviews)

Questioning: Ask car dealers probing questions about warranties, maintenance costs, and resale value

Consideration of alternatives: Explore options like leasing or public transportation

Decision-making: Weigh pros and cons to make an informed choice

Reflection: After the purchase, evaluate your decision-making process for future improvement

This critical thinking example demonstrates how critical thought can be applied to everyday situations.

Related resources

How to streamline compliance management software with Asana

10 tips to improve nonverbal communication

Scaling clinical trial management software with PM solutions

4 ways to establish roles and responsibilities for team success

Definition of Critical Thinking:

Description:

Critical thinking refers to the intellectual process of analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information and arguments in a systematic and objective manner. It involves the careful examination of facts, evidence, and reasoning to form rational and well-informed judgments.

Components:

Critical thinking includes several essential components:

• Analysis: The ability to break down complex information into its constituent parts and examine them systematically.
• Evaluation: The capacity to assess the credibility, accuracy, and reliability of information and arguments.
• Inference: The skill to draw logical and reasoned conclusions based on available evidence.
• Interpretation: The aptitude to comprehend and explain the meaning and significance of information and evidence.
• Explanation: The capability to clarify and justify one’s own thought processes and reasoning, explicitly stating the underlying assumptions and principles.
• Self-regulation: The discipline to monitor one’s own thinking, recognizing and challenging biases, prejudices, and assumptions.
• Open-mindedness: The willingness to consider alternative viewpoints, perspectives, and hypotheses without prejudice or preconceived notions.

Importance:

Critical thinking plays a vital role in various aspects of life, including education, personal and professional relationships, problem-solving, decision-making, and understanding complex issues. It enables individuals to think independently, make informed judgments, evaluate the reliability of information, and develop well-reasoned arguments.

Developing and applying critical thinking skills can lead to numerous benefits, such as:

• Improved problem-solving abilities and decision-making skills.
• Enhanced communication and argumentation skills.
• Strengthened comprehension and interpretation of information.
• Increased objectivity and rationality in thinking.
• Heightened creativity and innovation.
• Reduced vulnerability to manipulation and misinformation.
• Greater self-awareness and personal growth.

Work Life is Atlassian’s flagship publication dedicated to unleashing the potential of every team through real-life advice, inspiring stories, and thoughtful perspectives from leaders around the world.

Contributing Writer

Work Futurist

Senior Quantitative Researcher, People Insights

Principal Writer

Work Life is now on YouTube! Watch our new short documentary series here .

How to build critical thinking skills for better decision-making

It’s simple in theory, but tougher in practice – here are five tips to get you started.

Get stories like this in your inbox

Have you heard the riddle about two coins that equal thirty cents, but one of them is not a nickel? What about the one where a surgeon says they can’t operate on their own son?

Those brain teasers tap into your critical thinking skills. But your ability to think critically isn’t just helpful for solving those random puzzles – it plays a big role in your career. 

An impressive 81% of employers say critical thinking carries a lot of weight when they’re evaluating job candidates. It ranks as the top competency companies consider when hiring recent graduates (even ahead of communication ). Plus, once you’re hired, several studies show that critical thinking skills are highly correlated with better job performance.

So what exactly are critical thinking skills? And even more importantly, how do you build and improve them? 

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate facts and information, remain objective, and make a sound decision about how to move forward.

Does that sound like how you approach every decision or problem? Not so fast. Critical thinking seems simple in theory but is much tougher in practice, which helps explain why 65% of employers say their organization has a need for more critical thinking. 

In reality, critical thinking doesn’t come naturally to a lot of us. In order to do it well, you need to:

• Remain open-minded and inquisitive, rather than relying on assumptions or jumping to conclusions
• Ask questions and dig deep, rather than accepting information at face value
• Keep your own biases and perceptions in check to stay as objective as possible
• Rely on your emotional intelligence to fill in the blanks and gain a more well-rounded understanding of a situation

So, critical thinking isn’t just being intelligent or analytical. In many ways, it requires you to step outside of yourself, let go of your own preconceived notions, and approach a problem or situation with curiosity and fairness.

It’s a challenge, but it’s well worth it. Critical thinking skills will help you connect ideas, make reasonable decisions, and solve complex problems.

7 critical thinking skills to help you dig deeper

Critical thinking is often labeled as a skill itself (you’ll see it bulleted as a desired trait in a variety of job descriptions). But it’s better to think of critical thinking less as a distinct skill and more as a collection or category of skills. 

To think critically, you’ll need to tap into a bunch of your other soft skills. Here are seven of the most important. 

Open-mindedness

It’s important to kick off the critical thinking process with the idea that anything is possible. The more you’re able to set aside your own suspicions, beliefs, and agenda, the better prepared you are to approach the situation with the level of inquisitiveness you need. 

That means not closing yourself off to any possibilities and allowing yourself the space to pull on every thread – yes, even the ones that seem totally implausible.

As Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D. writes in a piece for Psychology Today , “Even if an idea appears foolish, sometimes its consideration can lead to an intelligent, critically considered conclusion.” He goes on to compare the critical thinking process to brainstorming . Sometimes the “bad” ideas are what lay the foundation for the good ones. 

Open-mindedness is challenging because it requires more effort and mental bandwidth than sticking with your own perceptions. Approaching problems or situations with true impartiality often means:

• Practicing self-regulation : Giving yourself a pause between when you feel something and when you actually react or take action.
• Challenging your own biases: Acknowledging your biases and seeking feedback are two powerful ways to get a broader understanding. 

Critical thinking example

In a team meeting, your boss mentioned that your company newsletter signups have been decreasing and she wants to figure out why.

At first, you feel offended and defensive – it feels like she’s blaming you for the dip in subscribers. You recognize and rationalize that emotion before thinking about potential causes. You have a hunch about what’s happening, but you will explore all possibilities and contributions from your team members.

Observation

Observation is, of course, your ability to notice and process the details all around you (even the subtle or seemingly inconsequential ones). Critical thinking demands that you’re flexible and willing to go beyond surface-level information, and solid observation skills help you do that.

Your observations help you pick up on clues from a variety of sources and experiences, all of which help you draw a final conclusion. After all, sometimes it’s the most minuscule realization that leads you to the strongest conclusion.

Over the next week or so, you keep a close eye on your company’s website and newsletter analytics to see if numbers are in fact declining or if your boss’s concerns were just a fluke. 

Critical thinking hinges on objectivity. And, to be objective, you need to base your judgments on the facts – which you collect through research. You’ll lean on your research skills to gather as much information as possible that’s relevant to your problem or situation. 

Keep in mind that this isn’t just about the quantity of information – quality matters too. You want to find data and details from a variety of trusted sources to drill past the surface and build a deeper understanding of what’s happening. 

You dig into your email and website analytics to identify trends in bounce rates, time on page, conversions, and more. You also review recent newsletters and email promotions to understand what customers have received, look through current customer feedback, and connect with your customer support team to learn what they’re hearing in their conversations with customers.

The critical thinking process is sort of like a treasure hunt – you’ll find some nuggets that are fundamental for your final conclusion and some that might be interesting but aren’t pertinent to the problem at hand.

That’s why you need analytical skills. They’re what help you separate the wheat from the chaff, prioritize information, identify trends or themes, and draw conclusions based on the most relevant and influential facts. 

It’s easy to confuse analytical thinking with critical thinking itself, and it’s true there is a lot of overlap between the two. But analytical thinking is just a piece of critical thinking. It focuses strictly on the facts and data, while critical thinking incorporates other factors like emotions, opinions, and experiences. 

As you analyze your research, you notice that one specific webpage has contributed to a significant decline in newsletter signups. While all of the other sources have stayed fairly steady with regard to conversions, that one has sharply decreased.

You decide to move on from your other hypotheses about newsletter quality and dig deeper into the analytics. 

One of the traps of critical thinking is that it’s easy to feel like you’re never done. There’s always more information you could collect and more rabbit holes you could fall down.

But at some point, you need to accept that you’ve done your due diligence and make a decision about how to move forward. That’s where inference comes in. It’s your ability to look at the evidence and facts available to you and draw an informed conclusion based on those. 

When you’re so focused on staying objective and pursuing all possibilities, inference can feel like the antithesis of critical thinking. But ultimately, it’s your inference skills that allow you to move out of the thinking process and onto the action steps. 

You dig deeper into the analytics for the page that hasn’t been converting and notice that the sharp drop-off happened around the same time you switched email providers.

After looking more into the backend, you realize that the signup form on that page isn’t correctly connected to your newsletter platform. It seems like anybody who has signed up on that page hasn’t been fed to your email list. 

Communication

3 ways to improve your communication skills at work

If and when you identify a solution or answer, you can’t keep it close to the vest. You’ll need to use your communication skills to share your findings with the relevant stakeholders – like your boss, team members, or anybody who needs to be involved in the next steps.

Your analysis skills will come in handy here too, as they’ll help you determine what information other people need to know so you can avoid bogging them down with unnecessary details. 

In your next team meeting, you pull up the analytics and show your team the sharp drop-off as well as the missing connection between that page and your email platform. You ask the web team to reinstall and double-check that connection and you also ask a member of the marketing team to draft an apology email to the subscribers who were missed. 

Problem-solving

Critical thinking and problem-solving are two more terms that are frequently confused. After all, when you think critically, you’re often doing so with the objective of solving a problem.

The best way to understand how problem-solving and critical thinking differ is to think of problem-solving as much more narrow. You’re focused on finding a solution.

In contrast, you can use critical thinking for a variety of use cases beyond solving a problem – like answering questions or identifying opportunities for improvement. Even so, within the critical thinking process, you’ll flex your problem-solving skills when it comes time to take action. 

Once the fix is implemented, you monitor the analytics to see if subscribers continue to increase. If not (or if they increase at a slower rate than you anticipated), you’ll roll out some other tests like changing the CTA language or the placement of the subscribe form on the page.

5 ways to improve your critical thinking skills

Beyond the buzzwords: Why interpersonal skills matter at work

Think critically about critical thinking and you’ll quickly realize that it’s not as instinctive as you’d like it to be. Fortunately, your critical thinking skills are learned competencies and not inherent gifts – and that means you can improve them. Here’s how:

• Practice active listening: Active listening helps you process and understand what other people share. That’s crucial as you aim to be open-minded and inquisitive.
• Ask open-ended questions: If your critical thinking process involves collecting feedback and opinions from others, ask open-ended questions (meaning, questions that can’t be answered with “yes” or “no”). Doing so will give you more valuable information and also prevent your own biases from influencing people’s input.
• Scrutinize your sources: Figuring out what to trust and prioritize is crucial for critical thinking. Boosting your media literacy and asking more questions will help you be more discerning about what to factor in. It’s hard to strike a balance between skepticism and open-mindedness, but approaching information with questions (rather than unquestioning trust) will help you draw better conclusions. 
• Play a game: Remember those riddles we mentioned at the beginning? As trivial as they might seem, games and exercises like those can help you boost your critical thinking skills. There are plenty of critical thinking exercises you can do individually or as a team . 
• Give yourself time: Research shows that rushed decisions are often regrettable ones. That’s likely because critical thinking takes time – you can’t do it under the wire. So, for big decisions or hairy problems, give yourself enough time and breathing room to work through the process. It’s hard enough to think critically without a countdown ticking in your brain. 

Critical thinking really is critical

The ability to think critically is important, but it doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It’s just easier to stick with biases, assumptions, and surface-level information. 

But that route often leads you to rash judgments, shaky conclusions, and disappointing decisions. So here’s a conclusion we can draw without any more noodling: Even if it is more demanding on your mental resources, critical thinking is well worth the effort.

Advice, stories, and expertise about work life today.

The Ultimate Guide To Critical Thinking

Disclosure: this page may contain affiliate links to select partners. We receive a commission should you choose to make a purchase after clicking on them. Read our affiliate disclosure.

Table Of Contents

The basic process of critical thinking, improving your critical thinking skills, critical thinking and social media, critical thinking and the mainstream media, critical thinking and improving mental health, critical thinking in everyday life.

Critical thinking is the foundation of rationality and independent thought.

Developing this vital skill allows a person to not only see the world through clearer eyes, but to reach reasonable conclusions and make better decisions in their life .

It is one’s ability to think objectively without the influence of one’s own biases, prejudices, personal feelings, or opinions and come to a conclusion solely on factual, objective information.

A critical thinker is someone who can draw logical connections between actions and reactions, troubleshoot and systematically solve problems, and detect common mistakes in the reasoning of arguments – including their own.

The critical thinker is a person who is more easily able to understand themselves and their motivations for feeling and believing the things that they do.

They are also willing and able to entertain and understand multiple perspectives of an argument before making their own decisions.

Many people mistake critical thinking for the collection of knowledge. A degree does not necessarily mean that the person is a good critical thinker, though many people credit college education with developing their critical thinking skills.

A critical thinker is more agile. They tend to use the knowledge they possess to identify weaknesses in their reasoning and seek out new information that will allow them to make a more informed decision.

They are typically not afraid to ask questions or change their opinions when presented with new information.

Another common misconception is that critical thinking means to be overly skeptical or critical of what other people are saying or doing. Though it can be used to tear through weak arguments or bad reasoning, it can also be used to help persuade and build in a more positive direction.

Critical thinking is a valuable tool for personal or professional success because it helps us make sounder decisions from a rational place rather than acting on how we feel.

There are those – often artists and creative types – who feel deeply that placing rules and restrictions on one’s thinking limits their ability to be creative. That isn’t necessarily so.

In fact, critical thinking pairs well with creative thinking when trying to build a large or long-term project. If it is not well ordered and organized, a project or idea can be broken to pieces from the stress when it finally reaches a real world application.

The guidelines and rules of critical thinking can serve to guide our thoughts. If we know, by virtue of the knowledge that we have, that some facet of a project won’t work out, we can deduce that we need a better solution rather than relying on what we know or seeking a shortcut.

That leads a creator down different roads that they may not have previously considered before.

People perceive and think of the world in different ways. The following steps present the basic process of critical thinking, but should really only be used as a guideline and a place to start developing or improving on those skills.

Analysis and problem solving is best done in a methodical way, so you can develop a habit to build on and hone further.

It can also help you identify any weaker points in your thinking so you can work on developing those further too.

1. Identification and clarification.

Identification and clarification of the problem or subject gives us our place to start. You can’t solve a problem or scrutinize information unless you identify what you are trying to accomplish.

Examples of identification and clarification may include:

– Is this news headline or article biased? The news and media, particularly opinion-editorials, will often be written from a perspective that is not neutral.

– Is this factoid presented in a way that is meant to evoke emotion? Advertisers and influencers may write or speak in such a way as to evoke an emotional reaction to influence the way you think about what you are viewing.

– Is this social media meme honestly representing the subject matter? Almost everything shared around on social media will have some emotional bias to it, often purposefully put there to play on fear or anger.

– Is this problem that I’m looking at the actual problem or is it something else? The problem in front of you isn’t always the actual problem. The low morale in a workplace may not be because the job is bad, but because management is bad. Things aren’t always what they seem on the surface.

2. Investigation and research.

Once you’ve identified what you’re actually looking for, it’s time to research and investigate the components of the thing that you are scrutinizing. How do you go about that?

– Identify the source. Ideally, you want to track the piece of information back to where it came from to see how it originated.

Is it just a problem that developed? Is it a piece of information that’s been carefully crafted by a think-tank or marketing firm with an agenda? Does anyone stand to gain anything by you or other people believing it?

In regard to personal interactions, it’s always worthwhile to double-check on their claims. Trust, but verify.

– Look for third-party information on the claim. Ideally, you want to look for neutral, unbiased third-party information about the claim.

Where can you find that? Articles from the Associated Press, Reuters, and the BBC are a good start. Websites that are from .gov and .edu domains are usually valid.

The blogs of attorneys and doctors can be valuable as well, because reputation is so important in their respective fields so they tend to scrutinize what represents them well.

Legitimate online journals and Google Scholar can be used to find studies for further information.

Any language that includes emotional appeals in the writing or material is not likely to be a good source.

3. Identify bias, either personal or external.

Identifying outside bias is much easier than identifying personal bias.

A person really needs to be in tune with who they are, what they believe, and why they believe it to be able to identify their own bias in their perceptions of a piece of information or a problem.

Again, we come back to emotions. How do you feel about the piece of information or problem? Does it invoke anger? Sadness? Excitement? Hopefulness? Why does it invoke those emotions? And are those emotions causing you to not see the other angles of the situation?

Emotion is a quick, easy way to tell that you may be influenced by your own beliefs rather than objective facts.

Of course, there are some things that we are so raw about that it is impossible to be completely objective, and that’s okay.

Just being aware of the bias and striving to not use it as a basis of your examination, judgment, and decision making will give you a much greater edge in your critical thinking.

4. Inference and conclusion.

Data and information does not always come with a clean, foregone conclusion attached to it. Most of the time, you will need to draw your own conclusions from the information that is available.

The more valid information you can gather before drawing your conclusion, the more likely it is that your conclusion will land in the general area of correct. Particular details may change the overall perspective of a piece of data.

As an example, let’s say a business produces 1,000 widgets in the course of a production run. You can’t infer if that is a lot of widgets or not.

Maybe they need to produce a million for their order, in which case it’s not that many widgets. Maybe they had machinery that broke down where they were only able to produce half of their widget capacity for the production run.

It may be a lot, it may not be. New factual information and details will change your perspective on the business’s widget production.

5. Determining relevance of information.

There is a lot of information out there. The internet is packed with over 1 billion websites where you can find a plethora of information on just about everything.

Too much information can be a serious problem. The internet is also polluted with a lot of biased and misinformation.

Even if your information is factually correct, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is relevant to whatever data, information, or situation you are trying to analyze. It may turn out that there are only a handful of data points that are important to the situation.

Let’s build a bit more on the widget example. Is 1,000 widgets an efficient production run for the company? The business has 30 employees. But wait, how many employees are actually responsible for producing the widgets?

What about management? Accounting? Marketing? Research and Development? It doesn’t matter if the company has 30 employees if only 5 of them are producing the necessary widgets.

The number of total employees is irrelevant information, though factually correct, while the quantity that are producing the widgets is relevant.

You may also like (article continues below):

• How To Debate Deep, Challenging Topics Without It Becoming A Heated Argument
• 10 Traits Of A Deep Thinker
• 15 Characteristics Of Open-Minded People
• 20 Thought-Provoking Questions You’ll Be Thinking About For Days
• Are You A Thinking Or Feeling Personality Type?

1. Ask more relevant questions. Far too often we force ourselves into a narrow path of thinking based on the information that is given to us.

However, there are times when that path would be much broader if we only had a greater perspective of the overall situation.

Asking more relevant questions allows you to gather more information, discern what is important and not, and allows you to make more informed decisions.

2. Question your basic assumptions. Do you just know a certain thing to be true? What do you believe in as an adamant truth? Something you believe in wholeheartedly?

Question it. Look into the counterarguments from experts and other people about those assumptions.

Can you adequately justify what you believe past how you feel or what you believe? Can you shore up those adamant beliefs with facts and truth?

3. Identify your personal biases and prejudices. What do you hate? What upsets you? What makes you angry, sad, or afraid?

Identifying these emotional points in yourself can help you when you are confronted with those situations, because sometimes our emotions do not line up with the reality that we are perceiving. This is particularly true with opinion-editorials, social media, and the news.

4. Examine other conclusions. There are a lot of people in the world who have already blazed trails that you may be trying to walk down. You don’t need to blaze the trail again if you have a goal you are pursuing and need to find your way.

By all means, incorporate your own ideas and pick your own path, but do research about how other people accomplished similar goals.

It can provide additional inspiration thanks to an outside perspective that you may not have otherwise considered. Also, be certain to explore how they reached their ultimate conclusion and destination.

5. Understand that no one can think critically all of the time. Even the most stalwart of critical thinkers is going to have momentary lapses of judgment or understanding.

You’re not going to maintain a veneer of perfection in your critical thinking. No one does or can. It’s just impossible.

That’s why it is always a good idea to not only double check your own sources, but those of other people, even if they are someone you admire for their perspective or critical thinking skills.

Mistakes happen. Trust, but verify.

6. Don’t lose yourself in the research and thoughts of others. In doing your research, you do want to make sure that you are thinking for yourself .

If something seems off or doesn’t line up with your own experience, it’s worth making a note of it and exploring it further. You may find that you have knowledge of your own that changes context or perspective that can give you additional clarity.

Don’t get so caught up in the work that you forget about your own knowledge and experience.

7. Practice continued curiosity in more things. Curiosity is a fundamental part of critical thinking. It’s the reason we examine the ‘why’ of a bit of knowledge or experience.

Make curiosity and wonder a regular part of your existence. If something seems interesting to you, do some research on it.

Better yet, even if something doesn’t seem interesting to you, do some additional research on it. That will help you build a broad perspective and body of knowledge to draw from.

8. Never assume you’re right. In assuming that you are right about a particular thing, you miss out on the opportunity to learn something new from someone who might have a different perspective or information you have not considered.

It’s okay to be confident in what you know, but it is worthwhile to listen to additional perspectives for more facts and context that you may not possess.

People who assume they are right rarely take the time to really listen to other people, instead defaulting to what they think they know and closing themselves off.

Social media is a pervasive part of the everyday lives of many people. Nearly 3 billion people around the world are using social media as a means to connect, share information and news, and exchange ideas every day.

The problem with that is that people with similar ideas tend to flock together. The algorithms that social media websites utilize look at your interests, what you are commenting about, what you are liking and sharing, and serve you up more information about the things that you like.

That can be good in finding things that are relevant to your interest, but it can be bad if all you’re doing is shouting into an echo chamber.

You can very quickly find yourself being presented with news and information that is crafted and tailored specifically to people with your interests and perspectives.

On the one hand, it can be a good thing to be around other people with similar interests. On the other, it can reinforce negative and incorrect perceptions about the world, fanning the flames of ignorance, anxiety, fear, and anger.

Social media is a fantastic tool for keeping in touch and seeking out new information, but one must be careful to treat everything they read with skepticism.

People with an agenda may craft emotional appeals or create content that is slanted to evoke an impulsive emotional reaction out of the viewer.

Misinformation spreads like wildfire because it’s often emotional speculation, which resonates with people and causes them to hit those like and share buttons.

A good rule of thumb is to check the veracity and accuracy of any story or claim that evokes an emotional reaction out of you.

Angry? Disgusted? Scared? Research it. Someone with an agenda likely crafted it that way to capitalize on your emotions and use them against you.

The critical examination of these feelings and their sources can bring a lot more peace and calmness to your life.

The internet, blogging, and social media has forced mainstream media into a questionable place.

The internet and social media move at a tremendous pace. Old school mainstream media and news sources did not.

It used to be that there were only one or two new bulletins a day. It gave the news plenty of time to research stories, dig up the truth, eliminate fabrications or misconceptions, and present a fairly unbiased story.

Now, the mainstream media needs to compete with the instant gratification for information that the internet provides. Consumers of news information are going to go where they can access it immediately.

As a result, you have social media or comment sections on news sites blowing up about events that have happened, or that are currently in progress, before anyone has had any time to actually confirm what the truth is.

Many news organizations have also introduced entertainment factors into their shows, particularly with pundits and personality hosts who are able to generate an audience and draw a crowd.

Far too many people are equating the skewed opinions of their favorite hosts or pundits with what is factual, because they rely on emotional appeal to connect and maintain a relationship with their audience.

None of it should be taken at face value because it’s impossible to know just how truthful and honest that source of information is without taking the time to research their claims. Instead, use their information to guide your own research and reading.

A good indicator that you’re being influenced is the use of weasel words and speculative questioning. “Could this be happening…?” “What exactly is going on here…?” “This circumstance may be occurring…” “What don’t they want you to know?”

Good news reporting is direct, factual, and unemotional.

Improving one’s critical thinking can serve as an effective tool to help improve one’s emotional and mental health.

There are many mental health issues that stem from emotions that are either allowed to run uncontrolled or are running out of control on their own.

This is not to suggest that all emotions are controllable or that a person can just think themselves to mental wellness. That’s not how it usually works.

However, there are times when a person can lessen the effects of mental or emotional unwellness with the help of critical thinking.

Consider a person with anxiety. The news and social media are chock full of fearful information, often that is written or presented in such a way to capitalize on the emotion of the consumer.

That person with anxiety may make their own anxiety worse by constantly keeping themselves embroiled in the drama and half-truths that are rife throughout media sources.

There’s always something to be fearful of, because fear and insecurity keeps people tuning in for more information about things that may or may not affect them.

In a similar way, there are many people with depression who find solace in dark humor, sad music, or depression related memes and content.

The more depressing and sad things a person exposes themselves to, the more it is going to drag down their own mood and perceptions of the world, which in turn fuels and makes the depression worse.

It is well-known and accepted that social media can negatively impact mental health in particular situations.

However, it is also a way for people to solidly connect with one another that may otherwise have a hard time finding like-minded people. It’s not all negative, but it’s not all positive either.

Critical thinking is a powerful tool that can help a person greatly in their pursuit of peace, happiness, and a calm life, but it is not a natural skill.

Few people are inherently blessed with critical thinking capabilities, while others need to practice and train their mind to embrace the related concepts.

Adding it to your mental toolbox can help you avoid certain pitfalls of life and not be unnecessarily disturbed by what goes on in the world.

It doesn’t matter what kind of person you are. Critical thinking is good and beneficial for everyone.

You may also like...

9 Alarming Signs You’re Mentally And Emotionally Exhausted

How To Not Let People Get Inside Your Head: 12 Tips That Actually Work

If You Can’t Remember When You Were Last Happy, Make These 12 Changes In Your Life

19 signs a man is silently struggling and needs your support

20 signs you didn’t get the emotional support you deserved in childhood

12 Good Things That Happen When You Are Able To Say “I Made A Mistake”

How To Humbly Admit When You Don’t Know Something (6 Tips)

8 Tips To Help You Own Up To Your Mistakes

11 Reasons It’s Hard To Admit You’re Wrong, According To Psychology

About The Author

Jack Nollan is a mental health writer of 10 years who pairs lived experience with evidence-based information to provide perspectives from the side of the mental health consumer. Jack has lived with Bipolar Disorder and Bipolar-depression for almost 30 years. With hands-on experience as the facilitator of a mental health support group, Jack has a firm grasp of the wide range of struggles people face when their mind is not in the healthiest of places. Jack is an activist who is passionate about helping disadvantaged people find a better path.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Working with sources
• What Is Critical Thinking? | Definition & Examples

What Is Critical Thinking? | Definition & Examples

Published on May 30, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Critical thinking is the ability to effectively analyze information and form a judgment .

To think critically, you must be aware of your own biases and assumptions when encountering information, and apply consistent standards when evaluating sources .

Critical thinking skills help you to:

• Identify credible sources
• Evaluate and respond to arguments
• Assess alternative viewpoints
• Test hypotheses against relevant criteria

Table of contents

Why is critical thinking important, critical thinking examples, how to think critically, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about critical thinking.

Critical thinking is important for making judgments about sources of information and forming your own arguments. It emphasizes a rational, objective, and self-aware approach that can help you to identify credible sources and strengthen your conclusions.

Critical thinking is important in all disciplines and throughout all stages of the research process . The types of evidence used in the sciences and in the humanities may differ, but critical thinking skills are relevant to both.

In academic writing , critical thinking can help you to determine whether a source:

• Is free from research bias
• Provides evidence to support its research findings
• Considers alternative viewpoints

Outside of academia, critical thinking goes hand in hand with information literacy to help you form opinions rationally and engage independently and critically with popular media.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Critical thinking can help you to identify reliable sources of information that you can cite in your research paper . It can also guide your own research methods and inform your own arguments.

Outside of academia, critical thinking can help you to be aware of both your own and others’ biases and assumptions.

Academic examples

However, when you compare the findings of the study with other current research, you determine that the results seem improbable. You analyze the paper again, consulting the sources it cites.

You notice that the research was funded by the pharmaceutical company that created the treatment. Because of this, you view its results skeptically and determine that more independent research is necessary to confirm or refute them. Example: Poor critical thinking in an academic context You’re researching a paper on the impact wireless technology has had on developing countries that previously did not have large-scale communications infrastructure. You read an article that seems to confirm your hypothesis: the impact is mainly positive. Rather than evaluating the research methodology, you accept the findings uncritically.

Nonacademic examples

However, you decide to compare this review article with consumer reviews on a different site. You find that these reviews are not as positive. Some customers have had problems installing the alarm, and some have noted that it activates for no apparent reason.

You revisit the original review article. You notice that the words “sponsored content” appear in small print under the article title. Based on this, you conclude that the review is advertising and is therefore not an unbiased source. Example: Poor critical thinking in a nonacademic context You support a candidate in an upcoming election. You visit an online news site affiliated with their political party and read an article that criticizes their opponent. The article claims that the opponent is inexperienced in politics. You accept this without evidence, because it fits your preconceptions about the opponent.

There is no single way to think critically. How you engage with information will depend on the type of source you’re using and the information you need.

However, you can engage with sources in a systematic and critical way by asking certain questions when you encounter information. Like the CRAAP test , these questions focus on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

When encountering information, ask:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert in their field?
• What do they say? Is their argument clear? Can you summarize it?
• When did they say this? Is the source current?
• Where is the information published? Is it an academic article? Is it peer-reviewed ?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence? Does it rely on opinion, speculation, or appeals to emotion ? Do they address alternative arguments?

Critical thinking also involves being aware of your own biases, not only those of others. When you make an argument or draw your own conclusions, you can ask similar questions about your own writing:

• Am I only considering evidence that supports my preconceptions?
• Is my argument expressed clearly and backed up with credible sources?
• Would I be convinced by this argument coming from someone else?

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

Critical thinking skills include the ability to:

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

A credible source should pass the CRAAP test  and follow these guidelines:

• The information should be up to date and current.
• The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching.
• The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.
• For a web source, the URL and layout should signify that it is trustworthy.

Information literacy refers to a broad range of skills, including the ability to find, evaluate, and use sources of information effectively.

Being information literate means that you:

• Know how to find credible sources
• Use relevant sources to inform your research
• Understand what constitutes plagiarism
• Know how to cite your sources correctly

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search, interpret, and recall information in a way that aligns with our pre-existing values, opinions, or beliefs. It refers to the ability to recollect information best when it amplifies what we already believe. Relatedly, we tend to forget information that contradicts our opinions.

Although selective recall is a component of confirmation bias, it should not be confused with recall bias.

On the other hand, recall bias refers to the differences in the ability between study participants to recall past events when self-reporting is used. This difference in accuracy or completeness of recollection is not related to beliefs or opinions. Rather, recall bias relates to other factors, such as the length of the recall period, age, and the characteristics of the disease under investigation.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Ryan, E. (2023, May 31). What Is Critical Thinking? | Definition & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/critical-thinking/

Is this article helpful?

Eoghan Ryan

Other students also liked, student guide: information literacy | meaning & examples, what are credible sources & how to spot them | examples, applying the craap test & evaluating sources, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

• Rasmussen University
• Transferable Skills*
• Critical Thinking

Steps to Critical Thinking

Critical thinking: steps to critical thinking.

• Steps 1 & 2: Reflection and Analysis
• Step 3: Acquisition of Information
• Step 4: Creativity
• Step 5: Structuring Arguments
• Step 6: Decision Making
• Steps 7 & 8: Commitment and Debate
• In the Classroom
• In the Workplace

Critical Thinking can be broken down into 8 different categories to include:

• Reflection.
• Acquisition of Information.
• Creativity.
• Structuring arguments.
• Decision making.
• Commitment.

Now, you might be wondering, "how can I benefit from this process?" By examining the 8 Steps of Critical Thinking you can apply these skills towards your coursework and/or past, current, and future employment.

To be able to make a decision based on sound judgment it is important to reflect on the issue at hand, analyze the pros and cons, gather all pertinent information, keep an open and unbiased mind, construct concise and well-structured arguments, practice good decision making, commit to follow through, and debate as to whether you have made the right decision or not.

Cuzzle #1 of 5 (Critical Thinking Puzzle)

A barn has a very steep roof that comes together at the top in a sharp point. If a rooster lays an egg on the very apex of the roof, which side would the egg roll down?

• << Previous: Home
• Next: Steps 1 & 2: Reflection and Analysis >>
• Last Updated: Aug 1, 2024 9:49 AM
• URL: https://guides.rasmussen.edu/criticalthinking

TED is supported by ads and partners 00:00

5 tips to improve your critical thinking

• cyber security

3 Core Critical Thinking Skills Every Thinker Should Have

Critically thinking about critical thinking skills..

Posted March 13, 2020 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• Why Education Is Important
• Take our ADHD Test
• Find a Child Therapist

I recently received an email from an educator friend, asking me to briefly describe the skills necessary for critical thinking. They were happy to fill in the blanks themselves from outside reading but wanted to know what specific skills they should focus on teaching their students. I took this as a good opportunity to dedicate a post here to such discussion, in order to provide my friend and any other interested parties with an overview.

To understand critical thinking skills and how they factor into critical thinking, one first needs a definition of the latter. Critical thinking (CT) is a metacognitive process, consisting of a number of skills and dispositions, that when used through self-regulatory reflective judgment, increases the chances of producing a logical conclusion to an argument or solution to a problem (Dwyer, 2017; Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2014). On the surface, this definition clarifies two issues. First, critical thinking is metacognitive—simply, it requires the individual to think about thinking; second, its main components are reflective judgment, dispositions, and skills.

Below the surface, this description requires clarification; hence the impetus for this entry—what is meant by reflective judgment, disposition towards CT, and CT skills? Reflective judgment (i.e. an individuals' understanding of the nature, limits, and certainty of knowing and how this can affect their judgments [King & Kitchener, 1994]) and disposition towards CT (i.e. an inclination, tendency or willingness to perform a given thinking skill [Dwyer, 2017; Facione, Facione & Giancarlo, 1997; Ku, 2009; Norris, 1992; Siegel, 1999; Valenzuela, Nieto & Saiz, 2011]) have both already been covered in my posts; so, consistent with the aim of this piece, let’s discuss CT skills.

CT skills allow individuals to transcend lower-order, memorization-based learning strategies to gain a more complex understanding of the information or problems they encounter (Halpern, 2014). Though debate is ongoing over the definition of CT, one list stands out as a reasonable consensus conceptualization of CT skills. In 1988, a committee of 46 experts in the field of CT gathered to discuss CT conceptualisations, resulting in the Delphi Report; within which was overwhelmingly agreement (i.e. 95% consensus) that analysis , evaluation and inference were the core skills necessary for CT (Facione, 1990). Indeed, over 30 years later, these three CT skills remain the most commonly cited.

1. Analysis

Analysis is a core CT skill used to identify and examine the structure of an argument, the propositions within an argument and the role they play (e.g. the main conclusion, the premises and reasons provided to support the conclusion, objections to the conclusion and inferential relationships among propositions), as well as the sources of the propositions (e.g. personal experience, common belief, and research).

When it comes to analysing the basis for a standpoint, the structure of the argument can be extracted for subsequent evaluation (e.g. from dialogue and text). This can be accomplished through looking for propositions that either support or refute the central claim or other reasons and objections. Through analysis, the argument’s hierarchical structure begins to appear. Notably, argument mapping can aid the visual representation of this hierarchical structure and is supported by research as having positive effects on critical thinking (Butchart et al., 2009; Dwyer, 2011; Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2012; van Gelder, Bisset & Cumming, 2004).

2. Evaluation

Evaluation is a core CT skill that is used in the assessment of propositions and claims (identified through the previous analysis ) with respect to their credibility; relevance; balance, bias (and potential omissions); as well as the logical strength amongst propositions (i.e. the strength of the inferential relationships). Such assessment allows for informed judgment regarding the overall strength or weakness of an argument (Dwyer, 2017; Facione, 1990). If an argument (or its propositions) is not credible, relevant, logical, and unbiased, you should consider excluding it or discussing its weaknesses as an objection.

Evaluating the credibility of claims and arguments involves progressing beyond merely identifying the source of propositions in an argument, to actually examining the "trustworthiness" of those identified sources (e.g. personal experiences, common beliefs/opinions, expert/authority opinion and scientific evidence). This is particularly important because some sources are more credible than others. Evaluation also implies deep consideration of the relevance of claims within an argument, which is accomplished by assessing the contextual relevance of claims and premises—that is, the pertinence or applicability of one proposition to another.

With respect to balance, bias (and potential omissions), it's important to consider the "slant" of an argument—if it seems imbalanced in favour of one line of thinking, then it’s quite possible that the argument has omitted key, opposing points that should also be considered. Imbalance may also imply some level of bias in the argument—another factor that should also be assessed.

However, just because an argument is balanced does not mean that it isn’t biased. It may very well be the case that the "opposing views" presented have been "cherry-picked" because they are easily disputed (akin to building a strawman ); thus, making supporting reasons appear stronger than they may actually be—and this is just one example of how a balanced argument may, in fact, be biased. The take-home message regarding balance, bias, and potential omissions should be that, in any argument, you should construct an understanding of the author or speaker’s motivations and consider how these might influence the structure and contents of the argument.

Finally, evaluating the logical strength of an argument is accomplished through monitoring both the logical relationships amongst propositions and the claims they infer. Assessment of logical strength can actually be aided through subsequent inference, as a means of double-checking the logical strength. For example, this can be checked by asking whether or not a particular proposition can actually be inferred based on the propositions that precede it. A useful means of developing this sub-skill is through practicing syllogistic reasoning .

3. Inference

Similar to other educational concepts like synthesis (e.g., see Bloom et al., 1956; Dwyer, 2011; 2017), the final core CT skill, inference , involves the “gathering” of credible, relevant and logical evidence based on the previous analysis and evaluation, for the purpose of drawing a reasonable conclusion (Dwyer, 2017; Facione, 1990). Drawing a conclusion always implies some act of synthesis (i.e. the ability to put parts of information together to form a new whole; see Dwyer, 2011). However, inference is a unique form of synthesis in that it involves the formulation of a set of conclusions derived from a series of arguments or a body of evidence. This inference may imply accepting a conclusion pointed to by an author in light of the evidence they present, or "conjecturing an alternative," equally logical, conclusion or argument based on the available evidence (Facione, 1990). The ability to infer a conclusion in this manner can be completed through formal logic strategies, informal logic strategies (or both) in order to derive intermediate conclusions, as well as central claims.

Another important aspect of inference involves the querying of available evidence, for example, by recognising the need for additional information, gathering it and judging the plausibility of utilising such information for the purpose of drawing a conclusion. Notably, in the context of querying evidence and conjecturing alternative conclusions, inference overlaps with evaluation to a certain degree in that both skills are used to judge the relevance and acceptability of a claim or argument. Furthermore, after inferring a conclusion, the resulting argument should be re-evaluated to ensure that it is reasonable to draw the conclusion that was derived.

Overall, the application of critical thinking skills is a process—one must analyse, evaluate and then infer; and this process can be repeated to ensure that a reasonable conclusion has been drawn. In an effort to simplify the description of this process, for the past few years, I’ve used the analogy of picking apples for baking . We begin by picking apples from a tree. Consider the tree as an analogy, in its own right, for an argument, which is often hierarchically structured like a tree-diagram. By picking apples, I mean identifying propositions and the role they play (i.e. analysis). Once we pick an apple, we evaluate it—we make sure it isn’t rotten (i.e. lacks credibility, is biased) and is suitable for baking (i.e. relevant and logically strong). Finally, we infer— we gather the apples in a basket and bring them home and group them together based on some rationale for construction— maybe four for a pie, three for a crumble and another four for a tart. By the end of the process, we have baked some apple-based goods, or developed a conclusion, solution or decision through critical thinking.

Of course, there is more to critical thinking than the application of skills—a critical thinker must also have the disposition to think critically and engage reflective judgment. However, without the appropriate skills—analysis, evaluation, and inference, it is not likely that CT will be applied. For example, though one might be willing to use CT skills and engage reflective judgment, they may not know how to do so. Conversely, though one might be aware of which CT skills to use in a given context and may have the capacity to perform well when using these skills, they may not be disposed to use them (Valenzuela, Nieto & Saiz, 2011). Though the core CT skills of analysis, evaluation, and inference are not the only important aspects of CT, they are essential for its application.

Bloom, B.S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay.

Butchart, S., Bigelow, J., Oppy, G., Korb, K., & Gold, I. (2009). Improving critical thinking using web-based argument mapping exercises with automated feedback. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 25, 2, 268-291.

Dwyer, C.P. (2011). The evaluation of argument mapping as a learning tool. Doctoral Thesis. National University of Ireland, Galway.

Dwyer, C.P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Dwyer, C.P., Hogan, M.J., & Stewart, I. (2012). An evaluation of argument mapping as a method of enhancing critical thinking performance in e-learning environments. Metacognition and Learning, 7, 219-244.

Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking Skills & Creativity, 12, 43–52.

Facione, P.A. (1990). The Delphi report: Committee on pre-college philosophy. Millbrae, CA: California Academic Press.

Facione, P.A., Facione, N.C., & Giancarlo, C.A. (1997). Setting expectations for student learning: New directions for higher education. Millbrae: California Academic Press.

Halpern, D.F. (2014). Thought & knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking (5th Ed.). UK: Psychology Press.

King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Ku, K.Y.L. (2009). Assessing students’ critical thinking performance: Urging for measurements using multi-response format. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 4, 1, 70- 76.

Norris, S. P. (Ed.). (1992). The generalizability of critical thinking: Multiple perspectives on an educational ideal. New York: Teachers College Press.

Siegel, H. (1999). What (good) are thinking dispositions? Educational Theory, 49, 2, 207-221.

Valenzuela, J., Nieto, A.M., & Saiz, C. (2011). Critical thinking motivational scale: A contribution to the study of relationship between critical thinking and motivation. Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9, 2, 823-848.

van Gelder, T.J., Bissett, M., & Cumming, G. (2004). Enhancing expertise in informal reasoning. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 58, 142-52.

Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

It’s increasingly common for someone to be diagnosed with a condition such as ADHD or autism as an adult. A diagnosis often brings relief, but it can also come with as many questions as answers.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

13 Easy Steps To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

With the sheer volume of information that we’re bombarded with on a daily basis – and with the pervasiveness of fake news and social media bubbles – the ability to look at evidence, evaluate the trustworthiness of a source, and think critically is becoming more important than ever. This is why, for me, critical thinking is one of the most vital skills to cultivate for future success.

Critical thinking isn’t about being constantly negative or critical of everything. It’s about objectivity and having an open, inquisitive mind. To think critically is to analyze issues based on hard evidence (as opposed to personal opinions, biases, etc.) in order to build a thorough understanding of what’s really going on. And from this place of thorough understanding, you can make better decisions and solve problems more effectively.

To put it another way, critical thinking means arriving at your own carefully considered conclusions instead of taking information at face value. Here are 13 ways you can cultivate this precious skill:

1. Always vet new information with a cautious eye. Whether it’s an article someone has shared online or data that’s related to your job, always vet the information you're presented with. Good questions to ask here include, "Is this information complete and up to date?” “What evidence is being presented to support the argument?” and “Whose voice is missing here?”

2. Look at where the information has come from. Is the source trustworthy? What is their motivation for presenting this information? For example, are they trying to sell you something or get you to take a certain action (like vote for them)?

3. Consider more than one point of view. Everyone has their own opinions and motivations – even highly intelligent people making reasonable-sounding arguments have personal opinions and biases that shape their thinking. So, when someone presents you with information, consider whether there are other sides to the story.

4. Practice active listening. Listen carefully to what others are telling you, and try to build a clear picture of their perspective. Empathy is a really useful skill here since putting yourself in another person's shoes can help you understand where they're coming from and what they might want. Try to listen without judgment – remember, critical thinking is about keeping an open mind.

5. Gather additional information where needed. Whenever you identify gaps in the information or data, do your own research to fill those gaps. The next few steps will help you do this objectively…

6. Ask lots of open-ended questions. Curiosity is a key trait of critical thinkers, so channel your inner child and ask lots of "who," "what," and "why" questions.

7. Find your own reputable sources of information, such as established news sites, nonprofit organizations, and education institutes. Try to avoid anonymous sources or sources with an ax to grind or a product to sell. Also, be sure to check when the information was published. An older source may be unintentionally offering up wrong information just because events have moved on since it was published; corroborate the info with a more recent source.

8. Try not to get your news from social media. And if you do see something on social media that grabs your interest, check the accuracy of the story (via reputable sources of information, as above) before you share it.

9. Learn to spot fake news. It's not always easy to spot false or misleading content, but a good rule of thumb is to look at the language, emotion, and tone of the piece. Is it using emotionally charged language, for instance, and trying to get you to feel a certain way? Also, look at the sources of facts, figures, images, and quotes. A legit news story will clearly state its sources.

10. Learn to spot biased information. Like fake news, biased information may seek to appeal more to your emotions than logic and/or present a limited view of the topic. So ask yourself, “Is there more to this topic than what’s being presented here?” Do your own reading around the topic to establish the full picture.

11. Question your own biases, too. Everyone has biases, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. The trick is to think objectively about your likes and dislikes, preferences, and beliefs, and consider how these might affect your thinking.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

12. Form your own opinions. Remember, critical thinking is about thinking independently. So once you’ve assessed all the information, form your own conclusions about it.

13. Continue to work on your critical thinking skills. I recommend looking at online learning platforms such as Udemy and Coursera for courses on general critical thinking skills, as well as courses on specific subjects like cognitive biases.

Read more about critical thinking and other essential skills in my new book, Future Skills: The 20 Skills & Competencies Everyone Needs To Succeed In A Digital World . Written for anyone who wants to surf the wave of digital transformation – rather than be drowned by it – the book explores why these vital future skills matter and how to develop them.

Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

Are there any services that can help me use more critical thinking?

We understand that it's difficult to learn how to use critical thinking more effectively in just one article, but our service is here to help.

We are a team specializing in writing essays and other assignments for college students and all other types of customers who need a helping hand in its making. We cover a great range of topics, offer perfect quality work, always deliver on time and aim to leave our customers completely satisfied with what they ordered.

The ordering process is fully online, and it goes as follows:

• Select the topic and the deadline of your essay.
• Provide us with any details, requirements, statements that should be emphasized or particular parts of the essay writing process you struggle with.
• Leave the email address, where your completed order will be sent to.
• Select your prefered payment type, sit back and relax!

With lots of experience on the market, professionally degreed essay writers , online 24/7 customer support and incredibly low prices, you won't find a service offering a better deal than ours.

In an era of digital media and hyperconnectivity, individuals are frequently flooded with an abundance of information, much of which they are unable to effectively process and are thus vulnerable to misinformation. One particularly harmful form of misinformation is the proliferation of "fake news," which can have a damaging effect on the social cohesion of communities. In response to this issue, educational practitioners in various nations are striving to empower learners with the ability to identify and refute such misinformation. The present author is also contributing to this effort through the development of a technology-enhanced learning environment that is intended to foster critical thinking in learners.

INTRODUCTION

In contemporary society, individuals are frequently overloaded with an abundance of information. However, this flood of information can often prove overwhelming, resulting in a vulnerability to misinformation. The internet serves as the primary means through which individuals access information. However, the knowledge readily available through this medium possesses distinct characteristics as compared to that traditionally provided by educators and educational texts [6]. Internet search results often comprise multiple accounts with varying scopes, arguments, and levels of support. Furthermore, online sources may vastly differ in terms of authorship, purpose, perspective, legitimacy, and justification techniques.

As previously discussed, the proliferation of misinformation in contemporary society has resulted in an increased risk of the formation of false beliefs among citizens. The inability to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate information can lead to the acceptance of both as factual. To combat this, citizens must possess specialized skills that enable them to effectively navigate and evaluate the credibility and reliability of the vast amount of information available online. In light of this, there is a pressing need to understand and foster critical data literacy within the fields of educational research and practice. The objective of the present research is to facilitate the development of these skills among students, enabling them to proficiently analyze and scrutinize the reliability of complex online information.

In this background section, the author will first attempt to arrive at a working definition of critical thinking. In the next subsection, a number of organizations working to combat misinformation will be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion of academic research on misinformation and critical thinking in the next subsection. Finally, the author will discuss the current status of work in this area and how their own proposed research study will add to the existing knowledge.

Critical Thinking

Dwyer, Hogan, & Stewart define critical thinking as “a metacognitive process that, through purposeful, reflective judgment, increases the chances of producing a logical conclusion to an argument or solution to a problem” [7]. For the purpose of this paper, the author will use this definition as a working definition. However, it is necessary to also understand the broader meaning of critical thinking. To start with, Ennis has outlined abilities such as analyzing arguments, claims, or evidence, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems as essential parts of critical thinking [8]. He has further identified behaviors relevant to critical thinking such as asking and answering questions for clarification; defining terms; identifying assumptions. Thus, critical thinking consists of a cluster of skills and behavior to analyze complex information. Looking at these aspects of critical thinking, it seems to be an effective tool for combating misinformation. However, fighting misinformation at an individual level is not enough. Fortunately, several organizations are also currently working on fighting misinformation, the details of their work are covered in the next section.

Misinformation Bunking Initiatives

Top universities and SMEs from seven different European nations are partners in the EU-funded initiative Co-Inform. The goal is to develop tools that promote digital literacy and critical thinking for a more informed society [5]. Their objective is to give individuals, journalists, and politicians the resources they need to recognize "fake news" online, comprehend how it spreads, and access reliable information. Co-Inform offers two main tools to combat misinformation. First is a browser plugin to increase citizens' awareness of content that is entirely or partially inaccurate, relevant fact-checking articles and remedial information, how ordinary citizens see this content, and important comments from fellow citizens that are both in favor of and against it. Second is a dashboard for fact-checking journalists and policymakers that displays discovered misinformation, its source, how and where it spreads and will spread in the future, the public's impression of it now and in the future, and the most important comments made by the public.

There are also dedicated websites both at the global level and in India to track and debunk fake news and misinformation. Snopes, formerly known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is one such fact-checking website [20]. Snopes seeks to disprove or validate widely circulated urban legends. Similarly, Alt News is a fact-checking website based out of India that works to dispel the falsehoods, lies, and misinformation that people often come across in both mainstream and social media [2]. Politics, social media rumors, mainstream media misinformation, and bias are just a few examples of the inaccurate information that Alt News fact-checks. Apart from these initiatives for combating misinformation, there has also been a fair amount of academic research conducted in this field, the next section elaborates on that.

Digital Literacy Research

Digital literacy has been defined as the ability and knowledge required to effectively navigate the complex and fragmented world of information available online. In simpler terms, it means having the skills needed to find, understand, and use information on the internet. [9]. Three types of digital skills have been identified by Ng: technological (using technology tools); cognitive (using critical thinking while handling information); and social (communicating and socializing) [18]. In the context of the educational process, thinking skills have been recognized as an important component of digital literacy, along with technical abilities [13]. Sulzer asserts that digital thinking will include identifying misinformation, echo chambers, and fake news [21]. Thus, it can be argued that digital thinking is the term used by digital literacy practitioners to refer to critical thinking while engaging with information online.

Students engage with online information through their personal epistemology. This ability is related to their perspectives about knowledge and knowing. Kuhn and Park have characterized epistemological understanding at four levels [16]. At the first level, realists consider knowledge to be definite and to emanate from an outside source. They think it's not vital to use critical thinking. At the second level, absolutists think knowledge is certain and emanates from a distant source that is inaccessible. Thus, critical thinking serves as a means for people to evaluate claims in light of reality and decide whether they are true or not. Multiplists, who consider knowledge to be created by human minds and hence uncertain, are found at the third level. As a result, they believe that critical thinking is useless. The fourth level is where evaluativists reside, who think that knowledge is created by human minds, and is unclear, yet subject to review. They consider critical thinking as a tool for supporting reasonable claims and advancing understanding. In order to better understand the relationship between students' individual epistemologies and their online learning practices, Barzilai and Zohar studied 38 sixth-graders [4]. The results demonstrate the significance of epistemic thinking in online inquiry learning. Students who were more familiar with evaluation strategies and criteria performed more frequent and thorough website evaluations. Students who were more conscious of the potential for discrepancies between online accounts and the necessity of constructing knowledge by integrating several viewpoints were more likely to identify discrepancies between the points of view of various websites, compare them, and build an argument based on a variety of online sources. Even though personal epistemology can account for a fair portion of the processes people use to process information, it also involves other factors like cognitive biases and epistemic emotions. Fig 1 explains the various factors involved in this process.

Different research groups over the years have tried to design strategies to teach students how to use critical thinking to spot fake news. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) introduced its Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education in 2015, which was officially adopted by the ACRL Board in January of the following year. This framework emphasizes the importance of learners utilizing research tools and evaluating the credibility of sources in order to develop their information literacy skills [3]. One tool that can assist students in this process is the use of LibGuides, which are web-based applications that allow for the creation and organization of electronic guides. These can be easily embedded in course and library websites and accessed by students online. An example of a useful LibGuide in this context is the "Fake" News guide created by librarian Eric Novotny in 2017 at The Pennsylvania State University. The guide covers various forms of fake news, such as satire, bias, and clickbait. Another helpful tool is the use of worksheets, such as the CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose) worksheet developed by California State University, Chico in 2010. In contrast, The Global Digital Citizen Foundation (2015) promotes a different approach to critical thinking by using a "Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How" method.

In spite of the above efforts, a recent intervention study focused on teaching students to evaluate search results and select websites to open revealed that students frequently resorted to less effective tactics when analyzing results, using their familiarity with a website and its top-level domain to determine its reliability, despite teachers' best efforts to teach them strategies for evaluating results modeled on fact checkers’ approaches [17]. This means that just informing students about strategies is not enough. Critical thinking is not just a bunch of skills but also an attitude which can only be inculcated through practice. A better strategy would be to provide opportunities to students to practice critical thinking abilities in context of actual problems in a learning environment. In this environment, they can practice their critical thinking abilities for long durations and hone them over time with proper support. Agesilaou & Kyza designed and implemented a Learning Environment to foster critical data literacy [1]. Their work describes the design-based research process of designing an educational intervention to foster critical data literacy through the use of self-tracking devices. While their work focused on the issues of privacy and digital data, the author of this current paper plans to design a learning environment to foster critical thinking skills among students in order to specifically deal with misinformation present on the internet. The research goal will be to help students to develop effective critical thinking strategies to deal dealing with complex online information.

This background section helped define critical thinking as a metacognitive process that involves analyzing arguments, claims, and evidence, making inferences, solving problems and asking questions for clarification and identifying assumptions. It also helped to understand the work being done in both academic and non-academic spheres to counter the spread of misinformation online. It explained how the information transfer techniques used by teachers fall short in equipping students with critical thinking abilities and established the need for a learning environment which offers prolonged opportunities for students to practice and hone their critical thinking skills on authentic scenarios where they are also provided continuous support in terms of active scaffolds. In the next section, the author will elaborate on their proposed plan for the learning environment.

Proposed Solution

In order to build a coherent and credible learning environment to foster critical thinking, the author needs to use some theoretical perspectives to provide the foundation for such an intervention. One prominent theory is the dual processing theory, which proposes that individuals use two primary modes of thinking - System 1, which is intuitive and automatic, and System 2, which is more analytical and deliberate [10]. This theory is particularly relevant for this intervention design because it has been observed that many a times users fall prey to misinformation because they have not spent enough time on a piece of information and respond too quickly [11]. The author is aware that dual processing theory has faced criticism in recent years. However, there is still substantial evidence in cognitive science to support the dual-processing distinction [12]. The theory remains valid and useful in understanding the interplay between automatic and deliberate thinking processes.

In order to provide an authentic learning experience to the students, a problem-based learning (PBL) approach can be used, where students work in pairs to develop solutions to real-world problems related to misinformation [14]. In order to ensure a smooth collaboration between the student pairs, collaboration scripts will be used. Collaboration scripts are instructional tools that guide learners on how to interact with each other during learning activities [15]. They provide a sequence of learning activities and roles for learners to follow in order to promote collaborative learning. In this learning environment, the author plans to use a type of driver-navigator script where one partner searches for the information on the system while the other person guides them. The main motive behind this peculiar pairing is that it will require the learners to discuss and debate the entire time while they are searching for credible information because they will have their biases and beliefs.

A theory that can be leveraged to better understand this social interaction is the social judgment theory, which suggests that people's attitudes and beliefs are influenced by their perception of what others think [19]. By encouraging students to engage in discussions and debates with their peers, the learning environment can foster critical evaluation of information by considering multiple perspectives and identifying potential biases. Introducing the social learning aspect is particularly important for the students to learn to argue logically and identify fallacies and biases in other’s and their own opinions.

Also, as discussed in the background section above, different learners tend to use different ways of engaging with information online. There is also this idea of the behavioral pattern displayed by professional fact-checkers when trying to determine the authenticity of a piece of online media. The best way to measure these various techniques will be to use learning analytics to capture the interaction of learners with the learning environment using log data. Primarily, two kinds of interactions will be captured, first will be the frequency of user interaction with various com-ponents in the environment, and second will be the duration of those interactions. This will help the researcher categorize the various patterns, for example, one cohort of users might be clicking on a number of resources and spending little time on each of them while another cohort might be accessing only few resources but spend significant time on each resource. Later, the various cohorts would be analyzed in relation to their demonstration of critical thinking behaviors. In the next sub-section, the author will provide a sample learning task that they might use in their learning environment.

Sample Learning Problem

This scenario is designed to help students practice critical thinking skills in the context of evaluating claims made about a dietary supplement marketed as a weight loss aid. Two students as a pair will work to evaluate the claims made about the supplement and pronounce their verdict on whether it is a weight loss solution or not. They will also be asked to back up their verdict with proper evidence. The students will be given the following sources of information:

• An advertisement that claims the supplement is a "miracle weight loss solution" and features testimonials from people who have lost weight while taking the supplement.
• A medical study that reports on the potential health risks associated with the supplement, like organ damage and other serious side effects.
• A warning from a (government) health agency that advises consumers to avoid the supplement due to its potential health risks.

To help students evaluate the information provided, they will be given the following questions:

• What are the claims being made about the effectiveness of the dietary supplement as a weight loss aid?
• What evidence is provided to support these claims, and how strong is this evidence?
• What are the potential health risks associated with the supplement, and how serious are these risks?
• What are the recommendations of (government) health agencies with regards to the supplement?
• What are the potential biases or conflicts of interest that may be present in each source of information?

This scenario is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills related to evaluating the claims made about dietary supplements and to identify potential biases or conflicts of interest in the sources of information provided. This is just a single sample problem and similar other problems from socio-scientific domain would be developed to be used in the learning environment.

Research questions

The study will attempt to answer these four primary research questions.

• To what extent does training in critical thinking skills help students identify fake news more effectively?
• To what extent does collaborative learning help improve critical thinking skills among students while processing complex online information?
• What are the various categories of learners in terms of their behavior while processing complex online information?
• How do these various categories of learners differ in terms of use of critical thinking skills?

Methodology

This research study will use a mixed-method approach with a heavy tilt towards the qualitative side. To answer the first two research questions, qualitative data would be required and this is the primary focus of this study. In order to understand the learner behavior and answer the last two research questions, a quantitative approach will be used which will employ learning analytics technique.

Target population and sampling

Even though digital literacy is a skill that is helpful at all ages of life, this study will be conducted primarily amongst undergraduate and postgraduate program students as individuals at this level are young adults and misinformation can lead them to take faulty steps at this critical juncture of life. Based on this misinformation, they might develop faulty beliefs which might get stay with them throughout their life.

Data Collection Tools

For the purpose of this study, multiple data sources will be utilized. While the students work in groups, the audio and video of their discussions will be recorded, along with screen recordings of their system and any notes they have created during the discussion. This will be followed by a follow-up interview to further probe their epistemic strategies.

The log data of the students while they interact with the system will also be collected. As explained in the proposed solution section, the log data from the system will contain time stamps which correspond to specific user activities in the system. This log data can be exported in the form of an excel data sheet which can be further processed to find user behavior patterns.

Finally, in order to measure the effectiveness of the learning environment on the critical thinking abilities of the students, a pre and posttest will be conducted. This test will present learners with various scenarios involving fake news.

Data Analysis

A rigorous and systematic methodology in the form of inductive coding strategy will be implemented in order to systematically examine and interpret the qualitative data that has been meticulously gathered through the various data collection tools. This approach will involve the identification of meaningful patterns, themes, and categories within the data, in order to uncover underlying meaning and to gain a comprehensive understanding of effectiveness of critical thinking in identifying fake news. The utilization of an inductive coding strategy will allow for the development of an inductive theory that is grounded in the data, and which can offer insight into the complex phenomena of critical thinking and fake news identification.

The log data, comprising of time-stamped information, will be subjected to a process of sequential pattern mining. This process will enable the identification of recurring patterns and sequences within the data, and the generation of clusters of users who exhibit similar patterns of behavior within the learning environment. By utilizing this approach, it will be possible to gain a deeper understanding of the usage patterns and behaviors of the users within the learning environment, which in turn can be used to understand the relation of certain behavioral patterns to demonstration of various critical thinking levels. Thus, the results generated by the sequential pattern mining algorithm will be used to model the behavior of users in terms of their display of critical thinking skills. This user behavior can be compared to the patterns displayed by professional fact checkers. In this way, desirable patterns of use of critical thinking skills can be identified which can be used for improving the critical thinking training aspects of the learning environment. This data can also be used to test new users and predict what kind of learning interventions would be required to help them develop necessary critical thinking abilities.

Dissertation status and next steps

The current research is a continuation of the work being done at the author’s organization in the field of technology enhanced learning of thinking skills. The organization in the past has conducted numerous studies ranging on various thinking skills from historical thinking, design thinking to estimation and more. There are also ongoing research projects that explore certain thinking skills like systems thinking. This current thesis research is a continuation of this work in terms of addressing more social problems like fake news and misinformation. This work draws from and builds on previous work done in the form of question posing and hypothesis testing skills amongst students.

The current author is currently in the early years of their PhD research and so the research plan is in in its nascent stage. Thus, a major reason for writing this paper is also to get helpful guidance from the members of the research community. Currently, the author has two immediate tasks in front of them. First, they plan to conduct a thorough literature review of critical thinking as a digital literacy skill, particularly in the educational context. The second task is to conduct a preliminary research study to explore how social interaction affects students' epistemic thinking in online inquiry learning. The author plans to use the following conjecture for this preliminary study: when working in groups, students' personal epistemologies will interact with each other and help to reflect on each other's cognitive biases and epistemic emotions.

Expected contributions

The present study is situated in a broad context of combating online fake news and equipping citizens with skills to process information overload. However, the novel contribution of this study will be to explore the effects of social interaction, in terms of collaborative work, on critical thinking abilities of students. This line of argument is rooted in the concept of democracy where vigilant citizens hold each other accountable in terms of their beliefs and practices. The research also has more immediate contributions in terms of understanding how different groups of people employ critical thinking while processing complex information online. This can help to create better resources for supporting people in spotting misinformation and debunking fake news. This whole process will affect society on two levels, at individual levels, people can become more conscious of their own biases and logical errors and a at a societal level, people can have more fruitful conversations across different thought camps as they will have a more solid ground of information to engage in discussion.

Aspects of the research on which advice is sought

Since the author is in their preliminary stage of research, they would be open to suggestions on almost every aspect of the study. However, the author is particularly interested in discovering more effective ways to capture critical thinking behavior of participants. As of now, the author is using a mixed-method approach and is relying on log data in terms of frequency and duration for capturing interaction. The author would like to receive more suggestions on how this aspect can be made more effective.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author expresses their sincere gratitude to Prof. Sahana Murthy and Prof. Ramkumar Rajendran from IIT Bombay for their invaluable guidance and support.

• Agesilaou, A., & Kyza, E. A. (2021). Empowering Students to be Data Literate: The Design and Implementation of a Learning Environment to Foster Critical Data Literacy. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2021 . (pp. 458-465). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
• Alt News. (2021, June 11). About. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.altnews.in/about/
• Association of College and Research Libraries. 2017. “Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.” Accessed March 4, 2017. http://acrl.ala.org/framework/
• Barzilai, S., & Zohar, A. (2012). Epistemic thinking in action: Evaluating and integrating online sources. Cognition and Instruction , 30(1), 39-85.
• Co-inform. (n.d.). The Project. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://coinform.eu/about/the-project/
• Dede, C. (2008). A seismic shift in epistemology. Educause Review , 43, 80–81
• Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking skills and Creativity , 12, 43-52.
• Ennis, R. H. (1989). Critical thinking and subject specificity: Clarification and needed research. Educational researcher , 18(3), 4-10.
• Eshet, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A conceptual framework for survival skills in the digital era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia , 13(1), 93–106, https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/4793/
• Evans, J. S. B. (2003). In two minds: dual-process ac-counts of reasoning. Trends in cognitive sciences, 7(10), 454-459.
• Evans, J. S. B., & Curtis-Holmes, J. (2005). Rapid responding increases belief bias: Evidence for the dual-process theory of reasoning. Thinking & Reasoning, 11(4), 382-389.
• Evans, J. S. B., & Stanovich, K. E. (2013). Dual-process theories of higher cognition: Advancing the debate. Perspectives on psychological science, 8(3), 223-241.
• Ferrari, A. (2012). Digital competence in practice: An analysis of frameworks. JCR IPTS , Sevilla. https://ifap.ru/library/book522.pdf
• Hmelo-Silver, C. E. (2004). Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn?. Educational psychology re-view, 16, 235-266
• Kobbe, L., Weinberger, A., Dillenbourg, P., Harrer, A., Hämäläinen, R., Häkkinen, P., & Fischer, F. (2007). Speci-fying computer-supported collaboration scripts. Interna-tional Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learn-ing, 2, 211-224
• Kuhn, D., & Park, S. H. (2005). Epistemological understanding and the development of intellectual values. International Journal of educational research , 43(3), 111-124.
• McGrew, S., & Glass, A. C. (2021). Click Restraint: Teaching Students to Analyze Search Results. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning-CSCL 2021 . (pp. 145-148). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
• Ng, W. (2012). Can we teach digital natives digital literacy? Computers & Education , 59(3), 1065–1078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.04.016
• O’Keefe, D. J. (Ed.) (2016). Social Judgment Theory. In Persua-sion: Theory and research (III, pp. 48–70). New Delhi: Sage Publications
• Snopes. (2021, August 3). About Us. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.snopes.com/about/
• Sulzer, A. (2018). (Re)conceptualizing digital literacies before and after the election of Trump. English Teaching: Practice & Critique , 17(2), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-06-2017-009

© 2023 Copyright is held by the author(s). This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ) license.

• General & Introductory Electrical & Electronics Engineering
• Systems Engineering & Management

Critical Systems Thinking: A Practitioner's Guide

ISBN: 978-1-394-20359-8

Digital Evaluation Copy

Michael C. Jackson

Understand the full range of systems approaches and how to use them with this innovative overview.

Leaders and managers face increasing complexity and uncertainty because technical, organizational, socio-cultural, political, and environmental issues have become intensely interconnected. Systems thinking is recognized as the essential competence for managing complexity. As the demand for systems thinking grows, however, the fragmentation of the field into different methodologies has become a potential liability. Critical systems thinking (CST) shows how this diversity can be a strength rather than a weakness by revealing how different systems methodologies address various aspects of complexity and how they can be used in combination to resolve the messiest of wicked problems.

Critical Systems Thinking offers, in a single volume, an account of the value of systems thinking and CST in the modern world, an explanation of the pragmatic philosophy and expansion in mindset necessary to embrace CST, and detailed instructions on how to undertake critical systems practice (CSP) using the variety of systems approaches to navigate multi-dimensional complexity.

Readers will find:

• An accessible introduction to systems thinking and CST.
• A description and critique of the best-known systems methodologies.
• A guide to the mindset changes, the steps required, and the toolkit necessary to undertake successful CSP.
• Case studies and examples of CSP.
• A discussion of the nature of systemic leadership.

Critical Systems Thinking is ideal for leaders and managers in government, business, the public sector, the professions, and beyond who want to understand the potential of systems thinking and use it in their work. It is essential for systems researchers and practitioners who want a deeper understanding of the field.

Dr Michael C. Jackson is an established expert in systems thinking and the major figure in the development of CST. He is Emeritus Professor, and former Dean of the Business School, University of Hull, UK, and Managing Director of Systems Research Ltd. He has served as President of the International Federation for Systems Research and the International Society for the Systems Sciences. He was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen (2011) for services to business and higher education, the Beale Medal of the UK Operational Research Society (2017), and the Pioneer Award of the International Council on Systems Engineering (2022). His previous book for Wiley, Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity (2019), is regarded as the definitive account of the history of systems thinking and the different systems methodologies.

Touchstone and Beyond: A History of Disney’s “Step Up 2: The Streets”

A hit dance film is bound to get a sequel, but this time fans are encouraged to head to the streets of Baltimore for the ultimate dance battle in Step Up 2: The Streets .

Andi is dealing with the loss of her parents and searching for her place in the world. Thinking she has found acceptance as a member of the street dance group 410; Andie is failing out of school. Thanks to the advice of her friend Tyler, she auditions for a place at the Maryland School of the Arts.

At the school, Andi encounters a lot of well to do students, but makes friends with a loner named Moose, and catches the eye of Chase. Together they form a friendship, and Andie and Chase form a relationship where they push each other to do something amazing.

With her new friends, and bitterness to her old dance group the 410, which kicked her out, the new group of misfit friends form their own dance group and prepare for a battle in the streets. They encounter resistance at the school, and outward hostility from the 410, but the new group has heart and courage.

It’s the night of the battle in the streets, and Andie, Chase, Moose and all the rest must decide, do they participate in the ultimate battle even if it means they could be kicked out of school?

High Praise

The dance throughout the film is incredible. Filmed with precision and coordination that will awe any viewer, the style applied to this movie is phenomenal. Jon M. Chu knew what he was doing and though he doesn’t have stars like Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, he doesn’t need them because the story is meant to be seen on the dance floor, and that is all that matters.

Seeing Channing Tatum appear at the beginning of the film to do a ceremonial hand off to Briana Evigan was a nice touch and a great way to narratively show how this is set in the same world as the first film, but it’s not the same story.

What Were They Thinking

Tuck, the leader of the 410, dance group is unnecessarily violent. There is no reason for this, and I feel like it could have been written better.

Backlot Knowledge

• Danielle Polanco was nominated for an Imagen Award for her work in the film.
• Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman won an MTV movie award for Best Kiss.
• The film won a Teen Choice Award for Best Drama.
• The movie opened in North America with a box office of almost $19 million.
• Channing Tatum has a brief role at the start of the film handing off the reins of the film to Briana Evigan.
• Robert Hoffman reportedly researched his role by taking part in some underground Baltimore dance circles.
• The sequel grossed over $30 million more at the box office than the first movie.
• Director Jon M. Chu has a small cameo in the film.

Critical Response

{ Snub -Skip this Film, Overexposed -Desperate for Something to Watch, Clapper -A Perfect Film For Any Device, Magic Hour – You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Award Worthy – This Film is Cinema.}

I really enjoyed Step Up , and I was not expecting to like the sequel. However, I was quite surprised with how much I got sucked into  Step Up 2: The Streets . The movie has a wholesome joy to it, that allows the cast of unnamed actors to shine and create a narrative that outshines the original in box office gross.

I can well understand why the movie did well at the box office, because it was a great movie experience. It’s fun to be surprised and it’s even more fun when a film that you have little expectations for ends up being a joy.

Step Up 2: The Streets  gets the Clapper Award. This is the perfect film for any device.

Best Quotable Line

The DJ gets a great line in with “That’s not how we do it. This ain’t High School Musical.”

• Robert Hoffman as Chase
• Briana Evigan as Andie
• Cassie Ventura as Sophie
• Adam Sevani as Moose
• Danielle Polanco as Missy

Production Team:

Directed by  Jon M. Chu

Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Summit Entertainment / Offspring Entertainment

Written by Toni Ann Johnson / Karen Barna / Duane Adler

Release Date: February 14, 2008

Budget:  $17.5 million

Domestic Box Office Gross:  $58,017,783

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $150,988,382

Coming Attractions

Next week, a look back at the third and final film in the trilogy, Step Up 3D .