Question

1. Define "critical thinking" and briefly provide at least one example of you can use it outside of class.

2. Read Boss' discussion of "The Three-Tier Model of Thinking" and apply that analogy to an experience in your life. In effect, you will critically analyze an event/experience in your life.

Answer 1

Critical Thinking is derived from a Greek word "KRITIKOS" which means logic required for "decision making", "ability to Judge" or logic requires learning how to think rather then what to think.

Characteristics of Critical Thinking are :

1) It involves making up one's mind what to believe or do.

2) Persons invlove in critical thinking, try to fulfill the standard of adequecy and accuracy of the matters.

3) It fulfil some standard of some threshold level.

Example :-

A man taking his walk, find the weather is getting more cooler and he is literally shivering so he will tend to put on heavy woolen jacket or if the weather is like, it can rain also and he is in mid of walk, so he will walk faster to reach at his home safely without getting wet.

The Three-Tier model of Thinking are 1) Experience, 2) Interpretation and 3) Analysis.

1) Experience : A person during his life tenure learn a lot of skills, knowledge which help him to derive conclusion of some critical matters of his life or he can also take the lesson from his surrounding facts and figures which allow him to fall near to his goal or target to be achieve.

E.g : A person iron his cloth through iron machine and he know that touching the down lid will cause injury to him so he will make sure not to touch that but small child is not aware and even not in understanding stage of their life so they call do that, that;s how the experience helps.

2) Interpretation : Whether the things or situation or experience that the person had in his life give some sense or value or not that can pe interpret.

E.g : So if we take the above example only, the person who didnt touch the iron lid, know that his critical thinking on this matter is accurate and which keep him safe and secure without getting hurt.

3) Analysis : So from our experience and interpreation of any subject, we can come to analysis of the situations.

E.g : So we can anaysis that, as the iron machine get hot due to increase in temperature which help in ironing the cloths but when to come to touching the human body, it will cause serious harm to them. As human body are living things having some point of temerature that can bear be them but beyond it, can cause serious harm, whereas Cloths are non living things that temperature for few seconds are bear be them to straighten the cloths. If the iron temperature is kept for longer time on cloth that can even cause damage to them as well.