Definition of Critical Thinking

5. Find out the solutions of the complex problems by effectively discussing it with other. Meanwhile, a popular educator, S. Ferrett, in his article about critical thinking, suggests the following fifteen characteristics of a critical thinker: 6 1. Ask related questions of the issues. 2. Assess statements and arguments. 3. Able to admit a lack of understanding or information. 4. Have a sense of curiosity. 5. Interested in finding new solutions. 6. Able to define clearly a set of criteria for analyzing ideas. 7. Willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions and weigh them against facts. 8. Listen carefully to others and are able to give feedback. 9. Suspend judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered 10. Look for evidence to support assumptions and beliefs. 11. Able to adjust opinions when new facts are found. 12. Look for evidence. 13. Examine problems closely. 14. Are able to reject information that is incorrect or irrelevant. 15. See that critical thinking is a lifelong process of self-assessment. To sum up, a critical thinker is person who can draw a conclusion from the issue with some thought, identifying, analyzing it. A good critical thinker must have the ability to evaluate information, examine and analyze the evidence as well as think open mindedly. Therefore, to become a critical thinker people must be able to decide whether the opinions are true or false, whether certain recommendations are practical, as well as whether particular solutions will be effective. 6 S. Ferrett. Peak Performance. Cited in GED 20902: Online Professional Development, 2008, retrieved from: http:www.ket.orgged2002criticalcr3. htm.

3. Kinds of Critical Thinking Skill

Critical thinking involves many level of thinking. Benjamin Bloom developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior in learning as we called as the level of critical thinking 7 . This taxonomy contained three overlapping domains: the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Within the cognitive domain, he identified six levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These domains and levels are useful to develop the critical thinking skills. Here, is the table of Bloom taxonomy for the further explanation: Table 2. 1 BloomTaxonomy 8 7 Bloom, B.S. Ed.. Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., H ill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. 2003.Third edition Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I : The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.p. 36-37 9 Bloom BS, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals,New York:David McKay Company Inc., 2003, p. 130. NO Categories Definition 1. Knowledge memorizing facts, figures, and basic processes 2. Comprehension understanding and illustrating the facts and knowledge 3. Application generalizing or applying the facts to other contexts and situations 4. Analysis understanding why the facts are the way they are; breaking down the problems 5. Synthesis making connections between different elements on one’s own and try to combine them 6. Evaluation critically using one’s knowledge to ascertain the quality of information