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READING 0950:1. Midterm Exam2. The “Willing” in “Willing and

Able” to Think Critically

Today’s Readings:None

Date:

March 18, 2013

Today’s Objectives

Students will… • be assessed on their content knowledge of Part I Chapters 1,

2, and 3; Part II Chapters 4 and 5; and Part IV Chapters 1 and 2.

• learn about the seven positive habits of mind.• rate their disposition towards thinking critically.

Agenda

1. Announcements2. Midterm Exam3. Part IV Chapter 3: The “Willing” in “Willing and Able” to Think

Critically4. Critical Thinking Disposition Self-Assessment Activity5. Exit Ticket

Announcements

• Correction to Syllabus—Homework #4 is not due on 03/13/03 (It is due on 03/27/13) and Homework #5 is not due on 03/27/03 (It is due on 04/03/13)

• Midterm Exam—Due Today• Read Part IV Chapter 3: The “Willing” in “Willing and Able” to Think

Critically—Due 03/20/13• Critical Thinking Project—Due 03/25/13

Midterm Exam

Please remove all items from your desk except the following:• A Writing Utensil• Your Review Sheet and Answers

Chapter 3:The “Willing” in “Willing and Able to Think Critically”

Chapter 3: The “Willing” in “Willing and Able to Think Critically”Chapter Goals:

1. None

A Group Engaged in Crisis-Level Critical ThinkingA. Judging correctly what kind of problem we are facing

is essential. If we make a mistake about what the problem is, we are likely to consume time, energy, and resources exploring the wrong kinds of solutions.

B. Emotion need not be the antithesis to reason; emotion can also be the impetus to reason.

The Spirit of a Strong Critical Thinker

A. Critical thinking is about how we approach problems, decisions, and issues even if success at solving the problem will elude us.

Positive and Negative Habits of Mind

A. A person with a strong disposition toward critical thinking has the consistent internal motivation to engage problems and make decisions by using critical thinking.

B. This means three things:i. The person consistently values critical thinking; ii. The person believes that using critical thinking skills offers the

greatest promise for reaching good judgments; andiii. The person intends to approach problems and decisions by

applying critical thinking skills as best he or she can.

Positive and Negative Habits of Mind

C. People who have a critical thinking spirit tend to ask good questions, probe deeply for the truth, inquire fully into matters, and strive to anticipate the consequences of various options.

D. People who do not have a critical thinking spirit tend to be middle-headed, disorganized, overly simplistic, spotty about getting relevant information, likely to apply unreasonable criteria, easily distracted, ready to give up at the least hint of difficulty, intent on a solution that is more detailed than is possible, or too readily satisfied with some uselessly vague response.

Seven Positive Critical Thinking Habits of MindA. A research approach for looking at how individuals

develop a disposition towards thinking critically was the seven positive critical thinking habits of mind.

i. This approach asked 1,000 people to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a list of statements. Using statistical methods, they identified seven measureable aspects within the overall disposition toward critical thinking.

a. Truth-seeking: meaning that the person has intellectual integrity and a courageous desire to actively strive for the best possible knowledge in any given situation.

Seven Positive Critical Thinking Habits of Mind

b. Open-minded: meaning that the person is tolerant of divergent views and sensitive to the possibility of his or her own possible biases. An open-minded person respects the rights of others to have different opinions.

c. Analytical: meaning that the person is habitually alert to potential problems and vigilant in anticipating consequences and trying to foresee short-term and long-term outcomes of events, decisions, and actions.

d. Systematic: meaning that the person consistently endeavors to take an organized and thorough approach to identifying and resolving problems.

e. Confident in reasoning: meaning that the person is trustful of his or her own reasoning skills to yield good judgments.

Seven Positive Critical Thinking Habits of Mind

f. Inquisitive: meaning that the person habitually strives to be well-informed, wants to know how things work, and seeks to learn new things about a wide range of topics, even if the immediate utility of knowing those things is not directly evident.

g. Judicious: meaning that the person approaches problems with a sense that some are ill-structured and some can have more than one plausible solution. The judicious person has the cognitive maturity to realize that many situations are not black and white and that, at times, judgments must be made in contexts of uncertainty.

Negative Habits of Mind

A. Just as there are positive habits of mind, there are also ambivalent and negative habits of mind.

Is A Good Critical Thinker Automatically A Good Person?A. A person can be strong at critical thinking, meaning

that the person can have the appropriate dispositions and be adept using his or her critical thinking skill, but still not be an ethical critical thinker.

B. There have been many people with superior thinking skills and habits of mind who have used their talents for ruthless, horrific, and immoral purposes.

Building Positive Habits of Mind

A. Critical thinking skills can be strengthened by exercising them.

B. There are four specific suggestions for strengthening your critical thinking skills:

i. Value Critical Thinking: if we value critical thinking, we will seek to improve our critical thinking skills by being open-minded, inquisitive, etc.

ii. Take Stock: see where you are at and review it regularly to see if you are improving.

Building Positive Habits of Mind

iii. Be Alert for Opportunities: be alert to opportunities to use critical thinking skills

iv. Forgive and Persist: forgive yourself if you begin to backslide and get back on the path.

Reconnecting Skills and Dispositions

A. The skills are the tools we use in making reflective judgments about what to believe or what to do.

B. Positive critical thinking habits of mind predispose us to approach questions, problems, or issues by using our critical thinking skills.

C. The graphs on pages 418-419 indicate a positive correlation between critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions.

Critical Thinking Disposition Self-Assessment Activity Turn to page 4101. Individually, answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to each question.2. Tally up your results according to the directions.3. Report out on your results.

Exit Ticket

1. On an Exit Ticket, write down the following anonymously:

a. one thing you have learned today.b. a question you have, that you would like answered.