Critical Thinking And Reflective Thinking

Introduction:

As an educator, I believe my role is to teach and improve skills that are as important as the ones we use to read, write and calculate. These skills are social skills. My research explores critical thinking as an element of problem-solving, inquiry, reasoning and reflective thinking. It then explores how these can attribute to making healthy, ethical and moral judgements.

Freire expressed that ‘Critical thinking contrasts with naive thinking’ when he refers to its role in dialogue, communication and true education. (2011, p. 92). The world young people live in today is abundant with information through an over-whelming amount of communication and media. How can teachers help them think critically about this information and in

The author weighs selected and debated concepts of critical thinking, examining it an intellectual sense as opposed to a moral sense. Mulnix concludes critical thinking, in an intellectual sense, has a role in developing an autonomous thinker. This is significant to my research as it will outline how examining inferences can enhance critical thinking. This could be associated with media communication and information.

Mulnix suggests from her findings and teaching experience, similar to all skills you can posess less or more of a certain skill than others. She describes that in philosophy a learner must be able to make inferences between statements. The inference, good or bad, should be reasoned with by using evidence. Mulnix centralizes this principal in her work.

This paper has practical outlooks and prescriptions for teaching students to think critically when deliberating inferences. The teaching processes advised: argument mapping, active argument practice and repetition, are realistic methodologies to implement. The author takes care not to contradict the nature of critical thinking and cautions the reader to teach and research using empirical evidence. The author’s voice welcomes a shared experience in understanding critical

This book is written in plain English and isn’t too concerned with theories and experiments. Nonetheless the author is well read and gives adequate references to the influences of this handbook.

Wright maintains that critical thinking has a role in promoting citizenship, moral decision making and reasoning. He also contrasts this with the limitations of critical thinking in terms of assessment, academic requirements and personal beliefs. Wright considers that children might not have all the skills necessary to critically think, however, he notes they have a natural disposition to ask questions. He argues, children as young as nine can comprehend Hypothetical syllogisms and advance good arguments on profound matters.

In this chapter, Wright’s reflection on his own practice and experiences builds a rapport with the reader. He admits that critical thinking was not always a concern of his but once he engaged with critical thinking as part of his teaching he saw the possibilities. These prospects are significant to the social benefits of critical thinking that I wish to explore in my further