16

THINK CRITICALLY

To silence criticism is to silence freedom.
Sidney Hook (American philosopher)

Objectives

  • Defines critical thinking
  • Describes critical activities and attitudes
  • Develop skills in questioning and probing into issues
  • Practises self-reflective values clarification
  • Uses basic tools for analysis of issues
  • Develops concern for truth
  • Uses basic tools in responsible decision-making
  • Exercises judicious moral judgement
  • Practises thinking skills and organizes ideas in appropriate order in compositions, answers and presentations

    • Core Values

  • Critical thinking
  • Unbiased inquiry
  • Responsible decision-making
  • Moral judgement

    • Guide to Content

  • Understanding the concept
  • Critical activities
  • Critical attitudes
  • Barriers to critical thinking
  • Decision-making
  • Moral judgement
  • Concluding thoughts
  • Classroom practices
  • Hints for peace culture-building in school


    • Learning Activities

    7.1 Stereotype thinking
    7.2 Practising critical thinking
    7.3 A tool for inquiry
    7.4 Values clarification
    7.5. Analysing advertisements
    7.6 Idea mapping
    7.7 Restating problems
    7.8 Force field analysis
    7.9 Cause-effect analysis
    7.10 Quick decisions
    7.11 Looking for pros and cons

    Understanding the concept

    Critical thinking is a basic function of human intelligence primarily necessary to distinguish truth from falsehood. This faculty of our intelligence helps us to choose the right course of action in every sphere of life. Primarily critical thinking along with creativity is geared to the advancement of our civilization. How does critical thinking relate to peace?

    Obviously democracy demands that people exercise their capacities of critical thinking. History tells us how undemocratic leaders suppressed critical thinking in their people. It was considered a threat to their position.

    Peaceful living needs to exercise this capacity for moral judgement, responsible decision-making and right choice of action. In controversial issues, it is much easier for people to succumb to one side, than remaining impartial and open. The latter demands that you seek for information, inquire, analyse them critically and arrive at judgement.

    Critical Activities

    Critical thinking denotes as mentioned before inquiring into the truth of the matter presented. It functions through a number of intellectual activities. The most important activities are briefly discussed below.

    Doubting is the first step in critical thinking. It is healthy for any thinking person to feel uncertain about a supposition presented to him. The state of uncertainty activates the intelligence to inquire the truth of the matter. In the process of doubting, you raise questions such as: Is it true? Can't it be otherwise? How do we know it? Why is the person saying this? Though doubting creates discord and uneasiness, it is necessary to proceed further with the investigation. Now here we should not confuse critical thinking with the thinking in order to seek for confirmation.

    Inquiring is proceeding ahead searching for information and evidence for and against the case. Inquiring is basically questioning the truth of the premises on which the conclusion is built.

    Analysing is the process of breaking down an issue into its basic units and in order to find out the truth of each unit. Analysing a supposition can be done in many lvays. Looking at it through various perspectives or points of view, tracing the development of the idea, comparing and contradicting it with other suppositions, categorizing, and identifying consequences are some of the methods used for. analysis.

    Reality testing is attempting to judge its usefulness, or truth by applying it to existing situations or problems in the real world.f

    Whether verifying is finding out evidence is valid and consistent.

    Concluding is arriving at a judgement whether the supposition is true or false, valid or not valid, right or wrong.

    Critical Attitudes

    A good critic needs a set of correct attitudes to healthy exercising of his capacity. Unbiased attitude is the foundation. He constantly watches his inner motivation, questioning:

  • Am I biased? If so, what is the bias?
  • How has this bias been built in me?
  • Are there any hidden or subconscious motives at work within me, leading me to take a particular side?
  • Am I emotionally involved here?

    The second attitude is that of fairness and impartiality to all aspects of the issue. The critic needs to question:

  • What are the hindering forces and constraints within me and outside against being fair on this issue?
  • Am I investigating information and evidences from all aspects of the issue?
  • Am I intellectually honest?
  • Have I adequately studied all the views or aspects related to the issue?

    • Thirdly one needs to be concerned with the constructiveness of his criticism. A criticism should be useful to those who are concerned and affected by the issue.

    He should question his criticism asking

  • Is it providing the right direction?
  • Is it throwing light on the understanding of the problem?
  • Does it provide inspiration for constructive action?
  • Is it friendly?
  • Is the tone positive?


    • Barriers to Critical Thinking

    Free Inquiry

    0, Kalamas,
    It is proper for you to doubt; to feel uncertain.
    Your uncertainty has arisen in what is doubtful.
    Do not accept anything merely by,
    What you hear repeatedly.
    What has been handed down by tradition,
    Rumour,
    Surmise,
    Axiom,
    Attractive reasoning,
    Apparent logical inference or speculation,
    Appealing model, form or appearance
    Agreeable beliefs,
    Another S seeming abili&,
    Nor by out of respect for the teacher

    The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry
    (Kalama Sutta)

     The above guide for inquiry given by the Buddha is still valid as it was 2,500 years ago. He approved the liberty of inquiry as a fundamental human right even in the field of religion.

    Present day inquiry is based on the scientific method, the steps of which could be simplified as:

    1. Identify the problem specifically
    2. Study the problem by observing, analysing, etc
    3. Propose a hypothesis
    4. Test the hypothesis by empirical experiment
    5. Conclude

    In the field of science students need to be trained in scientific inquiry, beginning from the primary level. In our schools, teachers often complain that students are passive in questioning. Such passivity is obviously a consequence of teacher- centred education.

    Decision-Making

    We tend to think that decision-making is a simple act. But on a closer look, it may reveal itself to be a complex act, involving many dimensions such as ethical, social, organizational, legal, political and so on. Our decisions affect our families, organizations and those people who are involved with the issue. Obviously, it is a highly intellectual, personal and socially responsible act. Education should help students to be skilful decision-makers.

    A classroom activity

    Discuss the significance of the following instructions for decision-making.

    1. Identify the issue.
    2. Collect information on all aspects and sides of the issue.
    3: Consult people. Test your assumptions with them.
    4. Do not go by others' pressures.
    5. Do not go by your own emotional tendencies, likes and dislikes, prejudices, and preconceived notions.
    6. Be foresighted.

    Generally our decisions fall into three types. They are routine decisions, impulsive decisions and responsible decisions. Routine decisions are made mechanically by habit. Impulsive decisions are made by pressure of emotions such as desire, anger, attraction, contempt and so on.

    A decision-making can be simply stated as

  • Where am I going?
  • What should I do now? Where do I really want to go?
  • What should I do now to go where I want to go?
    • The process of responsible decision-making undergoes six stages:

    1. Recognize, analyse and define the problem.
    2. Collect information as much as possible.
    3. Generate alternatives
    4. Evaluate each alternative considering its viability, benefits and consequences
    5. Select the best alternative and implement.
    6. Appraise the success. (If the problem is not successfully resolved, then go back to Step 1)

    Different conditions under which we have to make decisions are also important to know. There are three such basic conditions:

    Certainty exists when the decision-maker can assure the expected outcome.

    Under this condition decision-making is easy. Routine decisions are mostly made under certainty.

    Uncertainty exists under conditions where the decision-maker finds it hard to get information or working knowledge to deal with problems. Even the problem is not clear. There is a high degree of risk involved.

    Conflict is when the decision-maker faces a competitive situation with one or several parties where the parties tend to defeat one another in order to gain.

    Moral Judgement

    Being moral is defined as

    (1) concerning principles of right and wrong behaviour,
    (2) ethical
    (3) (Attribute) based on people's sense of what is right and just not on legal rights and obligations
    (4) following standards of right behaviour, good and virtuous (Oxford Dictionary, 1989)

    In this context it is very important for teachers to understand the stages of moral development of children. For instance, Jean Piaget the well-known researcher on children's cognitive development postulates four stages of moral development. To present the stages in a nutshell, in the earliest stage the child is self-centred where he thinks, "What is good for me, is good." As he develops further, he begins to think "What is good for my elders is good for me."

    This is a stage where the child seeks discipline by imitating and seeking for conformation with adults' standards of behaviour. Most of the children in lower primary are at this stage.

    Thirdly they develop into thinking that "What is good for my peers is good for me." In this period they are highly attracted to peer groups.

    With the dawn of puberty the youth attains the capacity for abstract and independent moral judgement based on ethical principles. With the new capacities he thinks, "What is universally good and fair is good." This independent and principle-based stage of moral development is the highest attainment according to Piaget.

    Concluding Thoughts

    Critical thinking is an essential intellectual capacity students need to acquire through education. It helps first and foremost right decision- making and moral judgement. It is useful for teachers to work with children knowing their stages of moral development.

    Intended Outcome

    Inquiry

    Questioning, analysing
    Self-reflective clarification of one's values and bias

    Rational thinking

    Logical argument
    Identifying irrational elements

    Concern for truth

    Probing into the fact of the matter
    Acceptance of truth

    Effective moral judgement

    Principles based judgement of right behaviour

    Effective decision-making

    Defining the issue
    Collecting information generating alternatives
    Select the best alternative
    Consulting and testing
    Implementing

    Classroom Practices

  • Adopt a critical approach in presenting lessons.
  • Always consider the other sides of the issues under discussion,
  • Don't judge issues as right and wrong / true and false for the students.
  • Arrive at conclusions from a rational basis.
  • Encourage questioning in the classroom.
  • When controversies arise in lessons have short debates, or discussions on them.
  • Encourage new perspectives.
  • In helping to learn values provide activities to simulate and role-play moral situations.
  • Use events in stories to introduce skills in decision-making.


    • Hints for peace culture-building in school

    1. Encourage debating on important contemporary social issues in students' associations.
    2. Organize seminars and lectures of intellectual interest in history, science, social studies, etc.

    LEARNING ACTIVITIES
    Think Critically

    1. Stereotypes

    This is an activity about inquiring into a basic barrier to critical inquiry. Level: Secondary

    Curriculum Concern: /Language/Literature/After relating a story about a fox or a serpent or discussing a stereotype

    Objective: Identifying stereotypes in our thinking.

    Activity: Step 1,

    Write the word ' Serpent' on the blackboard, and ask the class what kind of thoughts, feelings and ideas occur to them when they hear the word. (Children might say, for example;

    - evil
    - poisonous
    - dangerous
    - It will bite.)

    Write their responses on the board and proceed to the next word. 'Fox' (Children might say the fox is:

    - cunning
    - shrewd.
    - intelligent.)
    Write down the responses on the board.

    Discuss the responses.

    1. How true are your responses?
    2. Are all the serpents poisonous?
    3. Are all the serpents dangerous?
    4. Can you tell us the names of some innocent serpents, which don't bite you? Make students understand, calling serpents poisonous is a fixed conclusion or notion that it not true to all serpents.

    Discuss the responses to the word 'fox'.

    5. Is the fox a cunning creature? [In fact, the fox is just like any other animal. Only the story makers have portrayed them as 'cunning' and 'shrewd'. It is not really true.

    A stereotype is an idea that we have picked up from somebody, group, tradition, or propaganda, without critically analysing it. We generally do not question them. We accept them to be true because everybody seems to accept them.

    Step 2.

    Write the following words on the blackboard.

    - Enemy
    - A white man.
    - A black man
    - Other religions
    - My country.

    Take each word and inquire the kinds of fixed thoughts and feelings we have in responses to them. Such responses are stereotypes.

    Step 3.

    To develop critical thinking, we have to keep watch on the stereotyped responses that arise in our minds when on hearing certain words, on seeing certain objects, pictures, and people.

    Step 4.

    Explore the stereotypes we have in our mind about various things, people, events, etc. Make a list on the blackboard.

    Discussion : Guide Questions

    a. What did you learn from the activity?
    b. Are you prepared to question your fixed acceptances?
    c. Do people like to question their beliefs and values? If not, what are their fears?
    d. What are the benefits of identifying our stereotyped ideas and responses?

    2. Practising Critical Inquiry

     This is an activity about a basic method of inquiring.

    Level : Upper Primary / Lower Secondary.

    Curriculum Concern: Language / speech/When you want to encourage students on inquiring a given issue

    Objective: Enabling questioning into an issue.

    Activity:

    Write on the board the following 'six' words

    * what * why * how * when * where * who.

    Explain: the following points

    1. Constantly people press us to accept or believe what they tell us
    2. By accepting others' ideas without inquiry, we may go wrong.

    Now let us learn practising critical inquiry, using the words given on the board. Let one of you make a simple statement like, ' I saw a car'. The class should ask him questions using those words, e.g. What kind of car was it? Why did you look at it? When did you see the car? Where was it? Who were in the car?

    Examples for such statements.

  • I don't like travelling by bus.
  • The moon affects the earth.
  • Crimes are daily reported in the town.
  • The police are on the watch for lawbreakers.
  • Astrologers say: Planets influence our life.
  • Encourage creative questions on these statements.


    • Discussion: Guide questions.

  • What did you learn from the activity?
  • What was your difficulty, if you had any?
  • How are you going to use critical inquiry in your daily life?


    • 3. A tool for inquiry

    This is an activity about guiding students' on how to organize their compositions and descriptive answers.

    Curriculum Concern: When you are discussing how to organize contents matter in your answers.

    Objective: Providing a tool and basis for inquiry.

    Activity:

    Write down the following model of the board.

    Tell the class that they can use the model for inquiry in organizing their descriptive answers, essays, etc.

    To demonstrate your statement take the topic. "The food we eat," You can develop the theme in the following manner.

    What:

    What kind of food do we eat?
    What kind of food do people eat in different countries?
    What are the basic foods? (Carbohydrates, fats, etc.)
    What are the good habits of eating?

    Why:

    Why do we eat?
    Why we should choose right food?

    How:

    How is food produced?
    How can we select right food?
    How much should we eat?
    How can food get unsuitable to eat?

    Where:

    Where do we get our food?

    When:

    When should we eat during the day?
    When do we need to eat, different basic foods. More?
    Who are the people involved in producing and preparing food?

    Step 2 : Give a topic for analysis, e.g. Environmental Pollution

    Ask students to organize their description using the six types of questions, working in groups.

    Discussion :

    1 Review their presentations.
    2 Suggest improvements.

    4. Values Clarification

    This is an activity about questioning one's own value judgements. Level: Secondary

    Cui-ricuIum Concern: Language / Religion / When you want to help students to critically reflect on their values.

    Objective: Enabling students to view their values

    Activity:

    (For this activity you need an empty hall, where children can move freely. Open air is also suitable)

    Step 1.

    Define the meaning of value judgement [When you say something is good/ bad or right / wrong/ or fair/ unfair, it is a statement of value judgement]. Get examples from the class.

    Request students to gather together in a line along face forward. To begin the activity you announce a statement of value judgement, e.g.

    - Eating flesh of animal is immoral.
    - You can't gain good results from a bad man.
    - People can live without conflicts.
    - I believe that there are ghosts.
    - Capital punishment should be abolished.

    Tell the class that those who do not agree with the statement should go to the opposite corner/side. Thus the class is divided into two groups with regard to the issue. Then, conduct a brief debate on the issue between the two groups. One participant may take only 3 minutes. Each participant gives one reason for his / her position.

    Continue the debate at least with five value statements.

    Discussion: Guide questions

    - What did you learn from the activity?
    - What was the most interesting instance in the activity?
    - Who raised interesting questions?
    - Did you enjoy the activity? If so why?

    5. Analysing Advertisements.

    This is an activity about practising skills in critical analysis.

    Level : Upper Secondary
    Curriculum Concern: Language /Religion / When you want children to practise critical thinking
    Objective: Developing critical thinking:
    Materials: At least 5 very attractive commercial advertisements, cut out from magazines.

    Activity:

    Stepl: Explain the following points:

    1. We are highly influenced by commercial / and other types of advertisements all around us.
    2. Commercial institutes do so in order to make people buy their products more and earn big profits.
    3. There are other types of propaganda as well, e.g. political, religious, organisational.
    4. Those who make advertisements use subtle psychological principles (tricks) to make them effective.
    Step 2: Show an advertisement and identify the psychological principle (trick) they have used, e.g.

    - Making it appealing to youth.
    - Using attractive human figures.
    - Using children's pictures.
    - Showing an eye attractive thing and then connect it to their product.

    Step 3: Divide the class into several groups. Provide an advertisement to each group. They have to identify the psychological strategy used in it.

    Discussion: (After the presentation)

    - Now are you able to identify the tricks in advertisement?
    - Why should we be critical about all kinds of propaganda?

    6. Idea Mapping



    This is an activity, which provides a tool for generating ideas in a given theme. It is useful for generating and organizing ideas. It is also useful in planning speeches, compositions and answers.

    Curriculum Concern: Social studies/ language / When you want to instruct students to organize their ideas in writing

    Objective: 1. Generating ideas

    2. Organizing ideas into a composition or answer

    Activity:

    Introduction: Idea mapping is helpful in thinking out and generating ideas in any given problem, in an organized form. You can use it for writing speeches. This is an activity, which provides a tool for generating ideas in a given theme, thinking along a line, probing into selected topics. It is useful for generating and organizing ideas. It is also useful in planning out speeches, compositions and answers. Steps in idea mapping.

    1. Write the issue of concern in the centre of the paper and box it.
    2. Draw lines branching out from the centre indicating the major ideas.
    3. Branch out the major idea lines to show specific ideas coming under each of them.
    4. Cover all the major aspects of the concern.

    Demonstrate how to prepare an idea map, taking a social problem, in participation with the class.

    7. Restating Problems

    This is an activity about practising looking at an issue from a different perspective. Level: Upper secondary.

    Curriculum Concern: Social studies/ When you discuss a social problem. Objective: Improving critical thinking.

    Activity:

    Step 1.:

    Explain that a problem is our interpretation of an existing situation. Therefore different people may perceive the same problem in different ways. Example: The problem of students overcrowding in public schools could be perceived or interpreted as a problem of

  • the need of expanding our school systems.
  • the need of having good school architects.
  • the need of making double session schools.
  • the need of limiting school education.
  • the need of teacher recruitment.


    • It is useful to restate a problem by looking at it through various perspectives. Instructions for restating problems.

    1. Look at the issue from a different perspective.
    2. Shift the focus of the issue to something else.
    3. Look at it as problems of a larger issue.

    Step 2. Divide the class into groups and give each one a different problem, e.g.

    1. Over population
    2. Environmental protection.
    3. Depletion of natural resources
    4. Employment problem
    5. Towns getting large

    Discussion: After the presentation, discover more methods of restating problems. Why restating a problem is useful?

    8. Force Field Analysis.

    This is an activity about situational analysis.

    Level: Upper secondary.

    Curriculum Concern: Social studies / history /When you want students to analyse a contemporary social issue and find solutions.

    Objective:

    Practising a tool of analysis of social issues

    Activity:

    Step 1:

    Take a social issue/situation /problems for analysis. Identify the goal or solution. Secondly identify the hindering forces to reach the goal. There may be blocks, limitations, and constraints or threats to reach the goal. Thirdly identify the helping forces to reach the goal, e.g. support groups, facilities, etc. Increasing helping forces can weaken hindering forces. The above three factors could be represented in the following model.

    Step 2

    Give a social problem that needs to find a solution. Let students work in groups and identify goals, hinder forces, and helping forces as much as possible. Based on the analysis they should recommend the way of solving the problem.

    An example for a situation to analyse.

    Suppose people in your community are gradually leaving the village and emigrate to the near city. As a result, the development work of the village is getting neglected. Suggest ways of stopping or reducing the exodus, taking the existing factors into consideration.

    9. Cause - Effect Analysis

    This is an activity, which introduces a tool for analysis of problems. Level: Upper Secondary.

    Curriculum Concern: Social studies / When you want students to find out causes and effects of an issue.

    Objective: Developing analytical skills.

    Activity:

    Discuss the points:

    1. A problem originates from a single or several causes.
    2. Problem is the product of effects of the causes.
    3. When the cause is removed, the problem ceases to exist.
    Select al issue for analysis of cause and effect.

    Recommendations derived jkom the analysis

    1. Improve living standard by poverty eliminating development projects.
    2. Solve the problem of employment.
    3. Improve the quality of education. Provide education for all.
    4. Reduce social learning of aggression. Educate media personnel.
    5. Improve and reorganize the present police service. Introduce new technologies for crime detection.

    Note: Each major cause has several sub causes. So are major effects. They could be arranged as branching out from the main cause or effect.

    Provide a social problem to groups for analyses.
    Discussion : Guide Questions

    1. What are the uses of identifying causes and effects of a problem?
    2. What is a subcause?

    10. Quick Decisions

    This is an activity about quick decision-making.

    Level : Secondary

    Curriculum Concern: Physical Education/ Classroom management/ When you want to do a socializing activity to break the monotony in the class.

    Objective.

    1. Fun
    2. Improving quick decision-making skills
    3. Team-building

    Activity. Step 1

    Divide the class into groups of five. Introduce the activity in the following way: "Now, I am going to give you a challenging imaginary situation where you have to make a quick decision in groups."

    Give them such a situation. They have to make decisions in-group within two minutes.

    Examples for challenging urgent situation.

    1. You are a member of a class team who collected a voluntary fund to buy a stock of books for the school library. You handed over Rs.3000 to Jagath, a member of your team, to return the money on the following day. However, Jagath is absent in school. Several days pass and he does not attend school.

    Your team decides to visit his home to see what has happened. There Jagath says that he has lost the money while coming home in the crowded bus. He is so upset that he does not know what to do. Now, as a group what are you going to do?

    2. You are going alone to a nearby town for some purpose. You do not know anyone there. After getting down from the bus you find your purse missing. What are you going to do?

    Provide at least five such situations.

    Discussion:

    Let a member from each group announce their decision after all the groups have finished. You list them on the board. Then take each one and discuss their viability, strengths and weaknesses. Finally select the best decision.

    11. Looking for Pros and Cons

    This is an activity about making intelligent decisions. Curriculum Concern: Classroom management/When you are discussing self- development in the class.

    Objective: Improving skills in decision-making

    Activity. Step 1 Introduction:

    Discuss the importance of good decision-making. Explore with students types of decisions we make. (e.g. routine decisions, impulsive decisions and thoughtful decisions) Say that we are going to find a way of making thoughtful decisions.

    Let's find DOS and Don 'Is in decision-making. Divide students into several groups and ask them to prepare a list of dos and don 'ts in decision- making, e.g.

    DO'S

  • Understand the situation/problem
  • Seek information
  • Discuss with people look at both sides of the problem, etc


    • Dont's

  • Don't go by emotions
  • Don't decide when you are confused or angry


    • When they have completed let them present the lists to the class. Appreciate good points.

    Step 2. Emphasize the need of looking at both sides of an issue in making a decision.

    Present the following case:

    Today is Saturday. Early in the morning a friend in the neighbourhood comes home and asks you to join a picnic with u group of his friends. You have decided whether to go or stay at home.

    Suggest the following technique;

    Take a piece of paper. Divide it into two. Write the topic Benefits on the left side and Losses on the right side. Evaluate each alternative by identifying all the benefits and losses of it.

    Example 1 Alternative one: Going on the trip Instructions

    1. In getting the right information discuss with people.
    2. Identify many consequences as far as possible.
    3. Mark important benefits and losses with a tick.

    Discussion: Guide questions

    1. 'Making good decisions are of little importance, unless one does not implement them.'
    Comment.

    2. How can you use this technique in your daily life?