'Critical Thinking'

Submitted by Omar Afyuni 000673848

Critical thinking can be defined as a rational way of problem-solving & decision-making. It plays an important role in all professions and in education. Universities & even schools have adopted critical thinking as a higher-order thinking skill that would provide their students with a tool to help them develop their careers & themselves long after their graduation. In a world that is completely restructured by technology every few years, graduates need critical thinking as means to adapt to their ever-changing business environments. Conventional ways of learning worked in the past when knowledge was acquired through textbooks in a domestic stable landscape. However, those methods don't work now. What the world is currently in desperate need of is to stop focusing on acquiring existing knowledge and move towards ways to generating new knowledge. (Bodkin Et Al., 1979) This is where the importance of critical thinking lies in education. Critical thinking creates a dynamic that encourages students to learn. It makes their minds flexible and gives them confidence to discuss their ideas, ask questions and be innovative & creative. On the other hand, traditional learning methods seem to suppress all these abilities because students are taught facts that they are not allowed to question. For example, in an article by Barak, Ben-Chaim & Zoller, a study was carried out on two groups of high school students; one that was taught using critical thinking within the framework of science education (experimental group) and another that was taught using traditional methods of teaching. (control group) The experimental group was found to be more truth-seeking, open-minded, confident, and mature, in comparison with the control group. In another article by Whatley & Duck, it is stated that MBA students who do not develop a critical perspective of thinking by the time they are done with their courses are not sufficiently prepared for what they are going to face in a business realm full of unprecedented change & novelty. In this same article, Whatley & Duck discuss the four dimensions of critical thinking: 1. The ability to identify & examine ideas & beliefs underlying existing knowledge structures. 2. The ability to challenge assumptions. 3. The ability to think creatively - outside the box. 4. Not accepting existing truths blindly; to have the ability to question without fear. Existing knowledge is inflating to double its size every eighteen months and this time frame is continually shrinking. (Russel, 1998) It would not be surprising if existing knowledge expands exponentially in the near future. With the way technology is assisting globalization transform the world into a small town where communication is faster, distances are shorter & information is easier to access; critical thinking will be a survival tool for all professionals who will have to compete with future generations of younger professionals who will be armed with more up-to-date knowledge, shorter (but possibly as competent) experience and you guessed it, critical thinking.

References: Barak, M., Ben-Chaim D. & Zoller U. (2007) Purposely Teaching for the Promotion of Higherorder Thinking Skills: A Case of Critical Thinking, Israel, Springer Science.

Whatley A. & Dyck L. (1999) A Postmodern Framework for Developing Critical Thinking Skills, Journal of Teaching in International Business, USA, Routledge.