Critical thinking in the SCSU library

Critical thinking is a very broad topic that has many different parts to it and can be interpreted in many different ways depending on what people feel the true meaning of it is. Critical thinking in my own words and mind is a deeper more constructive way of thinking about something. I also think of it as being thinking that has a lot of ones own opinions in it. I found a great book in the library to help me further my understanding of critical thinking called, Critical Thinking written by Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker. In this book they believe critical thinking has three parts to it helping students:

1.    More engaging- students learn to apply critical thinking skills to situations in a wide variety of areas.

2.    More relevant- real life boxes integrated throughout the text show students how critical thinking skills are used everyday

3.    More student success- students can better explain things and have a more thorough understanding of the issue.

Critical thinking is a very important part of a students academic success, more commonly though in a college students life. More of the work I get in college I feel requires a lot of critical thinking and in depth responses and answers. Teachers are always asking for a further explanation of the answers I give or evidence I cite. There always has to be more, which can sometimes be frustrating, but in the end I feel like it helps me to better understand what’s going on or what was said. In the book they explain critical thinking simply as “thinking about thinking”, which I think is a very good way to explain it in simple terms. Critical thinking can also be broken down into arguments followed by different supporting premises and then a conclusion drawn from the premises. We learned how to do this in Anthropology class for a while. It helps students to think deeper and breakdown different statements and pick apart the credibility of the argument.

         I think that teachers should start teaching students about critical thinking and the importance of it in high school. This will help students when they get to college because they will already know about it and can go ahead and start applying it to their work right away. If I had learned about it before coming to SCSU I could be a better thinker and understand the importance of things with more experience. After a few years of practicing my critical thinking I think it will be very beneficial to my future and I will be glad I learned so much about it.

Works cited:

Moore, Brooke N., and Richard Parker. Critical Thinking. 10th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Print.