Critical Thinking,

Problem Solving,

and

Critical Reading

JCTC-DT READING/ACADEMIC SUCCSS GOAL

2001-2002

Use Critical Thinking and Problem Solving skills to learn and use with the content in the Study Skills/Academic

Success Courses

and

Incorporate Critical Reading in the Reading CoursesBased on www.criticalthinking.org/university/gloss/intro.html

Critical thinking approaches all content explicitly as thinking.

• It takes thinking apart.

• It weaves new thinking into old.

• It assesses thinking.

• It applies thinking.

It is thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better:

• more clear,

• more accurate,

• more relevant,

• more deep,

• more broad,

• and more effective.

CRITICAL THINKING GE 101, DRE 015, DRE 012

CRITICAL THINKING GE 101, DRE 015, DRE 012

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.

www.criticalthinking.org/university/gloss/intro.html

Problem Solving – GE 101 or DRE 015

Problem-solving: Whenever a problem cannot be solved formulaically or robotically, critical thinking is required:

•first, to determine the nature and dimensions of the problem,

•and then, in the light of the first, to determine

• the considerations,

• points of view,

• concepts,

• theories,

• data,

• and reasoning

relevant to its solution.

Extensive practice in independent problem-solving is essential to developing critical thought.

Problem-solving is rarely best approached procedurally or as a series of rigidly followed steps.

For example, problem-solving schemas typically begin, "State the problem."

Rarely can problems be precisely and fairly stated prior to

• analysis,

•gathering of evidence,

•and dialogical or dialectical thought

wherein several provisional descriptions of the problem are proposed, assessed, and revised.

Problem Solving – GE 101 or DRE 015

Critical reading is

•an active,

•intellectually engaged process

in which the reader participates in an inner dialogue with the writer.

A critical reader realizes the way in which reading, by its very nature, means

•entering into a point of view other than our own,

the point of view of the writer.

CRITICAL READING – RDG 010, 020, 030, CMS 185

A critical reader actively

• looks for assumptions,

• key concepts and ideas,

• reasons and justifications,

• supporting examples,

• parallel experiences,

• implications

• and consequences,

• and any other structural features of the written text,

to interpret and assess it accurately and fairly.

CRITICAL READING – RDG 010, 020, 030, CMS 185