Week 3 Research: Investigating Critical Thinking Processes

WEEK 3: INVESTIGATING CRITICAL THINKING PROCESSES
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Critical thinking as a term traces its origin to the mid-late 20th century. Due to continuous development of critical thinking, there are several overlapping definitions to it. For example, the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines the term as the intellectually disciplined process through which active and skillful conceptualization, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information is carried out. The information can be gathered from experience, reasoning, communication, observation, or reflection (National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987). Paul and Elder (2008) – on the other hand - define critical thinking as a self-disciplined, self-corrective, and self-monitored thinking. In their definition, critical thinking presupposes strong belief and action based on rigorous excellence standards. Additionally, critical thinking requires one to mindfully command the use of such standards of excellence. Though it might be seen as an attempt to give two different meanings by the two sources above, their actual definitions have the same meaning; critical...