Six Core Critical Thinking Skills Analysis

There are six core critical thinking skills identified by the author. The first critical thinking skill is interpretation. Interpretation means having the ability to understand and comprehend the information being presented with and being able to communicate the meaning of that information to others. The sub-skills of interpretation includes categorization, decoding significance, and clarifying meaning.In comprehending, one make the new knowledge acquired by relating it to what one already know. The better involvement with the information, the better one will understand it. The main test of whether one have comprehended something is whether one can put what have read or heard into own words. It means implies that one can go beyond

It is the capacity to evaluate the credibility of statements or descriptions of a person’s experience, judgment or opinion. This is crucial in order to measure the validity and logical strength of the information being presented. Evaluation happen when one understood and analyzed what is said or written and the reasons offered to support it. Then one can appraise this information in order to decide whether to give or withhold belief, and whether or not to take a particular action. One would never put evaluation ahead of the other steps in critical thinking steps; otherwise, guilty of a "rush to judgement" will formed. It is important to note that when emotion substitutes for reasons, evaluation inaccurately precedes

It is having the ability to present in a convincing and articulate way the results of one’s reasoning. This means having the capability to not only restate information, but add clarity and perspective to the information, so it can be fully understood by anyone one sharing it with. The sub-skills under explanation are describing methods and results, justifying procedures, proposing and defending with good reasons one’s fundamental and conceptual explanations of events or points of view, and presenting full and well-reasoned, arguments in the context of seeking the best understandings possible. For example, explain to your children and your mother separately on how a thermos flask works. The explanation should be different since they have two different levels of knowledge yet both of them should receive a similar understanding of the subject.

The last core thinking skill is self-regulation. It can be defined as having the awareness of your own thinking abilities and the elements that you are using to find results. The two sub-skills here are self-examination and self-correction. For example, I can help my child to set an alarm clock that will ring when it is time to go to bed, so the child can “regulate” his or her own bedtime.

In a nutshell, acquiring all six core critical thinking skills resulted in one’s ability to develop and express ideas that are clear, coherent, and sophisticated. These skills