Reflective Thinking: An Explanation Of Critical Thinking

2.2.1. A brief description of critical thinking
The intellectual roots of critical thinking can be traced back to 2500 years ago to the teaching practice and vision of Socrates who introduced a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge (Paul, Elder and Bartell, 1997). According to Ennis (1987), critical thinkers are open minded and mindful of alternatives and try to be well-informed and also able to judge well the credibility of sources. Further, they are able to judge well the quality of an argument, including its reasons, assumptions, and evidence. Also, Wade (1995) maintains that critical thinkers engage in: asking questions, defining problems, examining evidence, analyzing

Dewey, for instance, called critical thinking “reflective thinking” and defined it as “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends to include conscious and voluntary effort to establish belief upon firm basis of evidence and rationality” (1933, p.9). Additionally, Ennis defines critical thinking as a “reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe and do” (1985, p.45). He maintains that critical thinking contains particular skills, such as being able to assess reasons appropriately, or to identify false arguments that it contributes people to decide what to believe and how to solve various problems. Besides, Facione defines critical thinking as “the development and evaluation of arguments” (1984, p.

Firstly, it is a kind of thinking which is responsive to and guided by intellectual standards, namely, relevance, accuracy, precision, clarity, depth, and breadth. Secondly, it is the thinking that supports the development of intellectual traits in the thinker. These traits include intellectual humility, intellectual integrity, intellectual perseverance, intellectual empathy, and intellectual self-discipline, among others. Thirdly, it is the kind of thinking in which the thinker is able to recognize the elements of thought that are present in all thinking about any problem. It centers around three aspects of thinking: elements of good reasoning, intellectual standards used to assess quality of thinking, and intellectual traits or dispositions.
2.2.1.2. Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework
The Paul-Elder critical thinking model is a mode of thinking that can be utilized to all disciplines of study, and to all problems or issues in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and by imposing intellectual standards upon them (Paul and Elder, 2001). This model comprises three components: (1) the elements of thought (reasoning), (2) the standards, and (3) the intellectual