Critical Thinking is among the 10 key skills you need to thrive at work. You need Critical Thinking skills in so many situations, such as when you are problem solving, making decisions, and negotiation, to name a few. The curated post, “Why Critical Thinking Skills are the Secret Ingredients for Success,” is the third in the series to help you learn the key skills needed for future jobs.
You may not believe that you can teach yourself any of the 10 key skills. I want to assure you that you can. But you have to take action. Schedule four hours to go through all of content in this curated post. Make sure that you take detailed notes, always extracting the big ideas. Once again, so that you do not short change yourself, please read a book on critical thinking to complement this post. And find ways to apply your critical thinking skills.
Since I started to learn the skills, I have read three short books on critical thinking, each piece of content in this post will expand my knowledge of the skill. To assemble this post, I used CurationSoft and BuzzSumo.
Based on what I read in Curate This, I selected content from across various media, and I am using many of the other tips that I found in the book to bring you the best information that I can find right now. Some people will prefer to read an article, while others will opt to watch a video, or a SlideShare presentation. What I would like you to do, is to read each piece of content in this post.
What is Critical Thinking Skills?
Defining Critical Thinking: According to the Critical Thinking Community,
“Critical thinking is 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.”
The article says that critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. When you develop critical thinking skills, you learn to question everything. And you add rigor to your thinking.
Critical Thinking Skills: What are They and How Do I Get Them: This article suggests that critical thinking is a deliberate thought process. A core set of critical thinking skills include:
- Suspending judgment to check the validity of a proposition or action.
- Taking into consideration multiple perspectives.
- Examining implications and consequences of a belief or action.
- Using reason and evidence to resolve disagreements.
- Re-evaluating a point of view in light of new information.
Specialized knowledge is very useful when using critical thinking skills to resolve complex problems. The article presents some questions that you can use to stimulate your critical thinking skills.
6 Critical Thinking Skills You Need to Master Now: This article is by Grant Tilus from Rasmussen College. Critical thinking skills are extremely important in developing a successful career. But what does it mean to think critically? There are six core critical thinking skills:
- Interpretation
- Analysis
- Inference
- Evaluation
- Explanation
- Self-Regulation
The article explains each of the six core critical thinking skills.
Critical Thinking Skills: This article is on the Skills You Need website. The organization defines critical thinking as:
“Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas…. Critical thinking might be described as the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. In essence, critical thinking requires you to use your ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.”
I like this article because it explains the important things you can do once you have learned and mastered critical thinking. And it lists the skills you need for critical thinking. Critical thinking skills allow you to become a better problem solver, as well as make more of the right decisions.
Bosses Seek ‘Critical Thinking,’ but What Is That? – WSJ: In this Wall Street Journal article, Melissa Korn writes,
“Employers complain that colleges are not producing graduates who can solve problems and connect the dots on complex issues, but bosses stumble when pressed to describe exactly what skills make critical thinkers.”
This is indeed a dilemma. But based on the articles so far, by now you should be able to answer the question, “What is critical thinking?” The article lists some of the common definitions for critical thinking. I chose this article simply because it provides evidence that critical thinking skills are necessary to succeed in your career.
Introduction to Critical Thinking Skills
This presentation is great because you will find a definition of critical thinking and core critical thinking skills. You will also learn about asking questions, characteristics of critical thinkers, standard for critical thinkers and exercises. It’s a great starting point to learning critical thinking skills.
The Critical Thinking Skills Cheat sheet [Infographic]: This article includes a handy infographic that has questions for you to ask to hone your critical thinking skills. You can download the infographic.
We'd like to share this critical thinking skills cheatsheet for you to use with your students. Get them asking questions on any topic!
Ways to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills: Beginner’s Guide to Critical Thinking Skills
8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills: People who love videos are going to love this piece of content. The mini documentaries are very short and will stimulate your thinking. Critical thinking is about purposeful thinking. You won’t find a definition for critical thinking skills in this article, but you will know how to think critically after watching the documentaries.
Short documentary films can stir up ideas in the classroom to get students discussing, debating, thinking and writing. And, they can serve as a refreshing break from print media to help students explore curriculum themes and practice important literacy skills.
5 tips to improve your critical thinking – Samantha Agoos
Every day you have to make decisions. Critical thinking skills help you to make the best decisions because you scrutinize your choices. In this video, you are introduced to five-steps in thinking critically:
- Formulate question.
- Gather information.
- Apply the information.
- Consider implications.
- Explore other points of views.
Using the Tools of Critical Thinking for Effective Decision Making
This video is by the Foundation of Critical Thinking. The video focuses on their book. You can use critical thinking tools to make effective decisions. Not everyone will like this video, it is a bit dry, but it does have a lot of really good information. It forces you to think purposefully.
Critical Thinking — An Essential Leadership Skill
The Critical Thinking Toolkit
This is a webinar on critical thinking. Critical thinking is a key leadership skill, and with increasing globalization, the need for critical thinking skills is even more important today. Critical thinking is an objective way of looking at things. The American Management Organization conducted a critical thinking survey that asked 2,000 professionals to rank what’s called the Four Cs:
- Critical thinking
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity and innovation
Although critical thinking is not an easy skill to learn, you can learn it. This webinar defines critical thinking, what it means to leaders, how you can apply it, and much more. Critical thinking process:
- Assess situation
- Critically think about what’s going on
- Act
The webinar mentions the book, Critical Thinking Toolkit by Marlene Caroselli.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
In this presentation, you will learn what is critical thinking, why critical thinking is important and strategies to improve your critical thinking skills. Asking the right questions is at the heart of critical thinking. I love the list of barriers to critical thinking and the characteristics of a critical thinker.
Critical Thinking Skills Success
Although this is a presentation, it is actually an e-book. It is about how to develop critical thinking skills success in 20 minutes a day. At the beginning of the book, there is a pretest. You will also find information on how to recognize and define a problem. When you have finished reading the e-book, you will have a solid foundation of how to think critically.
Critical Thinking Skills Framework
A poster created for English language arts and social studies departments (humanities) to use in their classroom, as well as in the library.
This sketchnote is featured in Eva-Lotta’s new book that gathers her sketchnotes from over 100 talks taken at design events and conferences in 2011. In addition, Eva-Lotta invited 10 of her favourite sketchnoters from all over the world to contribute to the book. They all sketched the same TED talk and created some stunning sketches that show off the wide variety of styles and different ways of summarizing content. www.sketchnotesbook.com
Final Thoughts on Critical Thinking Skills
The range of curated content in this post on critical thinking skills is far more diverse than the one on negotiation skills, but not as diverse as the one on problem solving. However, I like the New York Times piece with the mini documentaries since it is critical thinking in action. If you read all the articles, watch all the videos and presentations, at the end, you will have more than the foundation of critical thinking skills.
I invite you to use this curated post on critical thinking skills as a resource that you refer to. For your homework, take notes, and create a table where you compare and contrast the various problem solving processes.
Some of the books listed below will be new to you, and that’s because I recently learned about them. You shouldn’t have too much of a hard time chooseing one to read to complement this curated post.
Critical Thinking Skills Books
The Critical Thinking ToolkitCritical Thinking Skills For DummiesCritical ThinkingCritical ThinkingCritical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making SkillsCritical Thinking SkillsThe Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher EducationMiniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and ToolsThinking CriticallyThe Art of ReasoningCritical ThinkingThe 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
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