9V

“Critical thinking...the awakening of the intellect to the study of itself.”

“Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2500 years.  The term "critical thinking" has its roots in the mid-late 20th century.  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.”  (Link: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766)

This week’s vocabulary word is "Critical Thinking" which relates to my class called, "Inquiry."  This course is a critical thinking course, which allows students to not just read material and memorize it, but to think and share their ideas with the class.  Since the class is not a lecture, we have discussions every week on what the articles were about and if we agree with them or not.  For example, reading articles on the web outside of the classroom and bringing the information to class really helps to make good arguments about the information read. Some students discuss and argue different sides of an issue.  I use critical thinking in Inquiry by analyzing and applying the knowledge from the article posts to observe what other students may think about the topic. It makes me think creatively.

This Inquiry course helps us recognize problems and to think effectively about many topics, make good arguments  and review information.  I have learned a lot of new skills that are necessary for thinking and writing.   These skills are also necessary for doing well in school as well as in our daily lives.