Mastering Critical Thinking: Essential Skills and Techniques

1. Critical Thinking Gerald Rinehart Carlson School of ManagementUniversity of Minnesota

2. What is “thinking” • Producing ideas • vs. day-dreaming?

3. What does “critical” mean? • Essential, indispensable • Going beyond recall of information • Evaluating ideas

4. Critical thinking asks questions about events, issues, information. • Where did it come from? How reliable is the source? • How is it similar/different from information I already know? • What could explain it? • What causes led to it? What effects does it have?

5. Situations

6. Recall Similarity Difference Cause and effect “Really Smart Dogs Cook Enchiladas in Eggs” Example to idea Idea to example Evaluation Seven Elements of Critical Thinking

7. Recall • facts, sequence, description • Who? What? When? Where?

8. Similarity: • Analogy or likeness (with other events or situations • Discovering that several arguments have something in common.

9. Difference: • Distinction/contrast • What is different in this situation?

10. Cause and effect: • What are possible reasons for something that has occurred? Are the stated reasons valid? • What are possible consequences of an event? Are the stated consequences valid?

11. Example to idea: generalization, classification, conceptualization. • Grouping facts or events into patterns allowing you to see a general trend. Classifying a specific fact into a larger category of issues. • Ex: women make less money than men in many occupations; women occupy fewer leadership positions than men—> • Conclusion: men are favored in the workplace?

12. Idea to examples: • From general principle or statement to specific examples • (ex. Men are favored in the workplace—example 1, 2, etc.)

13. Evaluation: value, judgment, rating. • Once you have the facts gathered, you decide is something is right or wrong, good or bad by identifying its positive and negative effects. • Cause and effect analysis accompanies evaluation. • Ex: opportunity to cheat on a test