Critical Thinking Questions

Maria Popova reviews Carl Sagan's practices for critical thinking .

-DD

Critical Thinking

Christopher Dwyer shares tips for using critical thinking .

-DD

Verify Facts With Lateral Reading

Charlie Warzel shares the concept that fact checking should be a quick process, verifying by first determining coherence with other sources, even Wikipedia articles.

This concept is promoted by Michael Caulfield, who believes that people tend to overthink while verifying online information. Caulfield thinks too many people spend hours using critical thinking techniques to evaluate every tenet of a questionable claim. Caulfield's position is that in most cases we just need to identify a claim as doubtful and move on.

Caulfield found these concepts in a paper by Sam Wineburg and work Sarah McGrew. Based on this research, Caulfield argues "that the best way to learn about a source of information is to leave it and look elsewhere"(Warzel, 2021).

Warzel says Caulfield recommends a four-step process when confronted with dubious information:

1. Stop.
2. Investigate the source.
3. Find better coverage.
4. Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context.

This process goes by the acronym "SIFT." It is intended for the average individual who wants to verify if a claim is consistent with other sources which are generally accurate in a reasonable amount of time.

-DD

Sources of Bias

James Clear reminds us of common sources of bias which cloud our judgement:

1. Survivorship Bias
2. Loss Aversion
3. The Availability Heuristic
4. Anchoring
5. Confirmation Bias

-DD

Richard Watson On Futuristic Thinking

Ephrat Livni examines the life of futurist Richard Watson, noting ten traits which contribute to long-term thought:

1. Choose information sources carefully.
2. Converse with strangers: get outside your bubble.
3. Prize original thinking.
4. Avoid herd mentality.
5. Follow journalists who are reliable, thoughtful, and forward thinking.
6. Relax: Much current "news" is fluff that will be forgotten.
7. Have a think week every year.
8. Embrace silence for reflection and contemplation.
9. Get off social media, be cynical about trends.
10. Go dark, switch off communications periodically.

-DD

Evaluating Critical Thinking

Becky Supiano interviews Greg Heileman, Vice-Provost at the University of New Mexico, about the value of the CLA+ exam, which measures the growth of critical thinking in a student over time. The institution uses the reports to improve the educational experience to foster critical thought. Heileman also suggests that perhaps the score will be used on student resumes in the future, as so many occupations require critical thinking ability.

-DD

Cognitive Biases

Quora has a discussion thread on cognitive biases .

-DD

Critical Thinking

Rob Jenkins shares what he tells his students about critical thinking .

-DD

Encouraging Critical Thinking

David Gooblar observes that a powerful narrative can cause people to disregard facts . He offers listening and Socratic dialog as a vital tool for developing the critical thinking of students.

My takeaway from this article is that an online classroom (and perhaps broadcast media as a whole) makes this type of dialog much more difficult. Instructors must be very intentional if they wish to develop critical thinking in their online students.

-DD

Offering Constructive Criticism

Mark Murphy offers a tip for constructive criticism . He notes that most managers do not focus on actionable, performance oriented feedback, but blame events or other people for bad news. Murphy states:

Approach the feedback with fact-based communication that tells your people “awesome performance looks like this, and your performance doesn’t look like this, so let’s talk about how to get you to awesome.” Owning feedback in this way, instead of blaming someone else, carries weight. It lets your people know you’re serious, it engenders respect, and it makes them accountable to making the desired behavioral changes.

-DD

Critical Thinking, Creativity and Communication

Ole Lensmar notes three skills that will help in software testing or in all aspects of life: critical thinking, creativity and communication.

-DD

_{An odd thing about this article is that it also credits it as being "by Lorinda Brandon, Technical Evangelist at Smartbear Software."}