COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

The cognitive perspective is concerned with understanding mental processes such

as memory, perception, thinking, and problem solving, and how they may be related
to behavior.

VIEW OF LEARNING
Knowledge is actively constructed, learning is presented as a process of active
discovery. The role of the instructor is not to drill knowledge into students through
consistent repetition, or to goad them into learning through carefully employed
rewards and punishments. Rather, the role of the teacher is to facilitate discovery by
providing the necessary resources and by guiding learners as they attempt to
assimilate new knowledge to old and to modify the old to accommodate the new.
Teachers must thus take into account the knowledge that the learner currently
possesses when deciding how to construct the curriculum and to present, sequence,
and structure new material.

BEHAVIORIST VIEW OF LEARNING

Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in
psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying
assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis:

Psychology should be seen as a science. Theories need to be supported by

empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and
measurement of behavior.

 Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to

internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behavior
can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as
thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated
altogether).
People have no free will a persons environment determines their behavior.
There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and
that in other animals. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as
well as humans.
Behavior is the result of stimulus response (i.e. all behavior, no matter how
complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus response association
All behavior is learnt from the environment. We learn new behavior through
classical or operant conditioning.

COGNITIVE VIEWS OF LEARNING

Cognitive theory is an approach to psychology that attempts to explain human
behavior by understanding the thought processes. The assumption is that in
humans, thoughts are the primary determinants of emotions and behavior.
Cognitive learning is the refining of knowledge by adding new information to prior
knowledge. Organized cluster of knowledge about a particular topic. An associative
structure that stores knowledge organized around a particular topic, concept, object,
event, or situation.
Cognitive Learning Theory is a broad theory that explains thinking and differing
mental processes and how they are influenced by internal and external factors in

order to produce learning in individuals. When cognitive processes are working

normally then acquisition and storage of knowledge works well, but when these
cognitive processes are ineffective, learning delays and difficulties can be seen.

These cognitive processes are: observing, categorizing, and forming generalizations

about our environment. A disruption in these natural cognitive processes can cause
behavioral problems in individuals and the key to treating these problems lies in
changing the disrupted process. For example, a person with an eating disorder
genuinely believes that they are extremely overweight. Some of this is due to a
cognitive disruption in which their perception of their own weight is skewed. A
therapist will try to change their constant pattern of thinking that they are overweight
in order to decrease the unhealthy behaviors that are a result of it.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEHAVIORAL THEORY

AND COGNITIVE THEORY IN LEARNING
Both B. F. Skinner and Albert Bandura believed behavior is the result of what is
learned from experience (Corey, 2009). Whereas Skinner believed environmental
influences control people, Bandura believed people are goal-oriented and have
specific intentions and purposes. He believed the basis for learning is observing
others. Traditional behavioral theory is based on the concepts of classical and
operant

conditioning

and

that

learning

produces

behavior

(Corey,

2009). Inappropriate or abnormal behavior results when learning is based on

maladapted learning, or learning as a result of maladaptive reactions.

Cognitive theory (CT) claims faulty and maladaptive thinking causes psychological
disturbances (Corey, 2009). If the thinking can be corrected, so can the resultant
disturbance. Cognitive processes determine how people emotionally experience and
react to their environment. Ward (2011) wrote that Ellis believed individuals "have a
tendency towards becoming aware of (their) irrationality and working steadily
towards rationality" (p. 106). In cognitive therapy, clients learn new and more
effective ways of thinking (Corey, 2009).
Cognitive theory takes into consideration the client's early childhood history but
believes behaviors continue to be reinforced throughout the lifespan because of
patterned thought processes. In therapy, clients explore maladaptive thoughts and
learn to replace them with new rational and appropriate thinking (Corey, 2009). The
primary difference between these two theories is the emphasis on overt behavior in
behavioral theory and in cognitive theory, the focus is on cognition or individual
thought processes (Corey, 2009).
Behavioral learning theorists believe that learning has occurred when you can see
changes in behavior. The behavioral learning model learning is the result of
conditioning. The basis of conditioning is that a reward following a desirable
response acts as a reinforcer and increases the likelihood that the desirable
response will be repeated. Reinforcement is the core of the behaviorist approach.
Continuous reinforcement in every instance of desirable behavior is useful when a
behavior is being introduced. Once a desired behavior is established, intermittent
reinforcement maintains the behavior. Behaviorist theory approaches are frequently
used in weight loss, smoking cessation, assertiveness training, and anxiety-reduction
programs. The importance of regularly and consistently rewarding desired behavior
immediately and not rewarding undesirable behavior is crucial to the success of a

behaviorist approach to learning. Learning is broken down into small steps so that
the person can be successful. The nurse provides reinforcement at each step of the
process
Cognitive learning theorists believe that learning is an internal process in which
information is integrated or internalized into ones cognitive or intellectual structure.
Learning occurs through internal processing of information. From the cognitive
viewpoint, how new information is presented is important. In the first, or cognitive
phase of learning, the patient learns the overall picture of what the task is and the
sequences involved. In the second, or fixation learning phase, the learner begins to
gain skill in performing the task. Whether a physical task is learned as a whole or
part by part depends on its complexity.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Teaching strategies refer to methods used to help students learn the desired course
contents and be able to develop achievable goals in the future. Teaching
strategies identify the different available learning methods to enable them to develop
the right strategy to deal with the target group identified.

1) TEACHER KNOWLEDGE, ENTHUSIASM AND RESPONSIBILITY

FOR LEARNING
The creation of a classroom that reflects the teacher's knowledge, enthusiasm
and the responsibility for creating a learning environment that will effectively nurture
the students desire to learn and to accept the challenges of thinking and inquiring
into all that is offered by the teacher. To create this environment, the teacher must be
prepared to challenge the prejudices of an education system that still reflects.
Teachers need to adjust their thinking about the nature of teaching; the classroom
environment should mirror the teacher's reflective practices that would be central to
the learning environment. There are many theories about reflective practice and
thinkers like Baird (1991), Day (1999a & b), McMahon (1999) and Cole and Knowles
(2000) provide specific direction for critical self-reflection. Day (1999a) argues that
teaching is more than a craft, suggesting it is an educational science and a
pedagogical art (p.22). Day (1999b) also suggests a model for reflective
professionalism that includes the following key words: Learning, Participation,
Collaboration, Co-operation, Activism (p.228). These are ideas that effective
teachers should keep as touchstones for their practice. In taking on the reflective
role, teachers can enjoy the process of teaching by sharing their knowledge through
the creation of a reflective classroom. In such an environment the knowledge is

shared; students and teachers all become learners, discovering the world of the
subject. The teacher that is willing to share his knowledge unconditionally will be
stepping towards the effective classroom. The passion that a teacher has for his
subject will be creating a world that moves beyond the ritual of classroom activities.
Teacher is the guardian for learning in the classroom environment. If the teacher
goes in unprepared, unwilling to share, unfocussed on the process of developing a
context that will encourage and stimulate an interest and a thirst for further
knowledge then that teaching is shirking the responsibility of being a teacher.
Teaching is far more than simply transferring information, it is the engaging of minds
to seek out answers. Strong, silver and Robinson (1995) put forward the acronym
SCORE to suggest a model of student engagement. This model should be applied to
teachers first:
S: The Success of mastery of the subject that you teach.
C: The Curiosity that every teacher should have entrenched in their teaching. A
teacher who is not curious has lost a critical portion of the passion for learning.
O: Originality a teacher who is passionate about the teaching process will be
creative; will be constantly seeking new ways of engaging and challenging students.
R: Relationships are central to the effective classroom and teachers are crucial in the
nurturing of opportunities for students to engage with subjects that at senior levels
can lead to a life-long interaction with the subject.
E: To maintain this process the teacher needs Energy. This a something that schools
do not always provide, and teachers in general need the time to reflect; to reenergise and to regenerate their focus on the learning process.

2) CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES THAT ENCOURAGE LEARNING

In many classrooms this is the key factor that supports an effective learning
environment. It answers the question posed by Smith earlier in this paper as to what
do effective teachers do in the classroom.
The fact that a teacher may be successful in one year does not necessarily mean
that success will be continued in the next year. The teaching environment may be
the same but the attitudes that each cohort brings to a classroom will always
influence the outcome. A teacher must be able to identify the ebbs and flows of each
class and work with the students to create the learning environment. Teachers need
to be prepared to test what is going on in the class, for example, through feedback
questionnaires on what they doing. In reflecting on this feedback and on the
classroom activity of a year, a teacher could identify specific exercises and
techniques that engaged the students. It takes patience and persistence to have the
classes work cooperatively, to carry out independent research, and to report back to
small groups and to the whole class the goal is that through the teachers
endeavours, the learning will become the students own learning. The activities need
to be part of their learning regime and not something that is imposed. This is an area
that requires planning, reflection and preparation. This is clearly a central issue in
this aspect of the learning environment: it is a very self-conscious action on the part
of the teacher. The activities that are used in the class to engage the students must
be reviewed, revisited and refocused so that they are constantly drawing the
students into an effective interaction with the subject. Effective Teaching is not a
passive action.

3) ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
THROUGH EXPERIENCE

THAT

ENCOURAGE

LEARNING

The process of learning and the creation of an effective learning environment.

The effective teacher has to be aware of the debate surrounding assessment and
has to be able to cope with the interplay of summative and formative tasks.
Regardless of the educational structure, the effective teacher will use assessment as
part of the learning environment rather than as a separate entity.

4) EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK THAT ESTABLISHES THE LEARNING

PROCESSES IN THE CLASSROOM
The effective classroom is one were the students actively seek feedback as they
will know that their own learning will become part of the feedback process. The
nature of interplay of learning and teaching in the activities of the effective classroom
adds to the value of the feedback in such an environment. Alton Lee (2003)
highlights the value of feedback but warns that too much can be as detrimental as
too little. This then provides another key aspect of the effective teacher. Feedback
that is appropriate and meaningful to the learner will be a central part of the effective
learning environment.
In a further step the feedback that a teacher gets from the students is essential to
the creation of a learning environment. The more feedback that a teacher can obtain
from students, and the more the teacher can act on that feedback, the better the
learning environment will be that is created.

5) EFFECTIVE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND THE

STUDENTS, CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT THAT RESPECTS,
ENCOURAGES AND STIMULATES LEARNING THROUGH
EXPERIENCE

The effective teacher will be one who engages with the students in the class in a
way that highlights mutual respect and an acknowledgement of the learning process
that is in place. Eisner's suggestion that teaching is a caring exercise is very much
part of the effective learning process. Learning is an emotional exercise. Students
will engage in something that appeals to them emotionally. The teacher who brings a
sense of personal involvement to the classroom, who wants to share the knowledge
with the members of the class, who is prepared to show that he/she is also a part of
the learning cycle, will be setting up a relationship which will encourage a good
learning environment. Wolk (2001) highlights this by emphasising that teachers who
are passionate about learning ... create an infectious classroom environment (p.59).
The effective environment will allow students the time to learn. This is something that
is mentioned frequently in the literature. This last factor is essential in creating an
ethos of learning that will allow students to feel comfortable in the classroom. The
working environment that is generated by the interaction and the enthusiasm of the
teacher will remove the stigma of working and turn the learning process into
something that is rewarding and therefore to strive towards. In effect, the creation of
an effective learning environment would generate a positive learning atmosphere
throughout a school.

TEACHING MODELS
DEFINITION

There are several definitions of Teaching models given by different educationalist.

ALLEN AND RYAN (1969); Modeling is an individual demonstrating particular
pattern which the trainee through imitation.
B.K.PASSI L.C.SINGH AND D.N.SANSANWAL (1991); A model of teaching consist
of guidelines for designing educational activities and environments. Model of
teaching is a plan that can also be utilized to shape courses of studies, to design
instructional material and to guide instruction.
JOYCE AND WEIL (1972); Teaching of model is a pattern or plan, which can be a
curriculum or courses to select instructional materials and to guide a teachers
actions
Nelson L Bossing (1970, p.72) Teaching models is pattern or plan, which can be
used to shape a curriculum or course, to select instructional materials and to guide a
teachers action. It consist guidelines for designing educational activities and
environment. It specifies was teaching and learning that are intended to achieving
certain kind of goals.
According to Morse, Models are prescriptive teaching strategies designed to
accomplish particular instructional goals. The prescriptive also can be used as
guides for curriculum design or for choosing and constructing instructional materials
and used during teacher do planning, implementing and assessment stages of
instruction.
According to Fiburt Highet, It is a set of inter-related components arranged in a
sequence which provide guidance to realize specific goals.

NATURE OF MODELS OF TEACHING:

Prescriptive strategies to guide planning and instruction

Supported by research based-evidence

Detailed overview of how to teach

Role of instructor

Type of classroom structure

Ways teacher supports student efforts

Provide common language to discuss facets of instruction common across all

classrooms among administrators and teachers.

Increases probability of learning certain skills/knowledge.

Promote awareness about how individuals and collective faculty teach.

Helps students learn how to learn.

Conceptual frameworks grouped by purpose and intended outcomes into 4

families.

STUDENT BENEFITS

Increases ability for learning and retention.

Learn more quickly.

Facilitates different kinds of learning.

Builds academic self-esteem.

Acknowledges characteristics and aptitudes.

Promotes student awareness of how they will be taught and what changes are

necessary.

TEACHER BENEFITS

Improves the quality of instruction.

Systematic approach to planning for instruction.

Facilitates awareness about students learning needs.

Assess impact of instruction.

Offers alternative ways of representing content/skills.

Develop learning experiences that yield successful outcomes.

Facilitates student meeting in more meaningful ways.

Explicit use of teaching models can accelerate rate of learning, capacity and

facility in learning.

EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Educational goals are typically divided into three families or domains:
Cognitive skills in the class room

Cognition is more than just learning information. Instead, it's the ability to think about
new information, process it and speak about it. In addition, cognition involves the
application of this new information to other, previously acquired information.
As children mature, for example, they develop the ability to think on higher levels and
critical thinking. They can process information more skillfully and make connections
to other information more easily. In other words, their thinking skills get progressively
better.
Children should be able to improve their ability to focus, to remember
information and think more critically as they age. Cognitive skills allow children to
understand the relationships between ideas, to grasp the process of cause and
effect and to improve their analytical skills.
All in all, cognitive skill development not only can benefit the child in the classroom
but outside of class as well.

ESSENTIAL TEACHING SKILLS

Teaching skills can be defined as discrete and coherent activities by teachers
which foster pupils learning. It is difficult when thinking about essential teaching skills

to pinpoint exactly what we can be doing in the classroom to improve this area. One
of the major problems in trying to identify a list of essential teaching skills is that
teaching skills vary from very broad and general skills, such as the planning of
lessons, to very specific skills, such as the appropriate length of time to wait for a
pupils to answer a question in a particular type of situation.
Overall, in considering teaching skills, it seems to be most useful to focus on
fairly broad and general skills which are meaningful to teachers and relate to how
they think about their teaching. More specific skills can then be discussed as and
when they help illustrate and illuminate how these general skills operate.
Nevertheless, given the nature of teaching, it is clear that whatever set of general
skills is chosen to focus on, the overlap and interplay between them will be marked,
and a good case can always be made by others for focusing on a different set.
There are 9 teaching skills were identified by D.E Paul.

Teacher
characteristi
cs

Questioning

Review
And
Closure

Communicat
ion
Organization

Essent
ial
Teachi
ng
Skills

Monitoring

Instructional
Alignment

Focus

Feedback

1. TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS
There are many characteristics, techniques, etc. that make for a successful
teacher. These may be as varied as the teachers themselves. However, there are

certain time-tested attributes, characteristics, and practices which contribute

immensely to teacher success. There are four teacher characteristics:

Teaching Efficacy
teachers' beliefs in their abilities to organize and
execute courses of action necessary to bring about
desired results (Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk-Hoy, &
Hoy, 1998)

Modeling

key element of social cognitive theory, which

examines the processes involved as people learn
observing others and gradually acquire control over
their own behavior.

Caring
teachers' abilities to emphathize with and invest in the
protection and development of young people.

Positive expectations
Teachers make about the future behavior, academic
achievement, or attitudes of their students.
Emotional support more eye contact and smiles
Teacher effort and demand clearer and more through
explanation
Questioning call on more often
Feedback and evaluation more praise; less criticism
2. COMMUNICATIONS

The importance of teachers; ability to communicate clearly is intuitively

sensible, and research documents a strong link between communication and
students achievement as well as students satisfaction with instruction. Clear
communication can be classified into four elements:

Precise Terminology
Teachers define ideas clearly and answers to
students questions

Connected discourse
How teacher connect their lesson to a point.

Transition signals
Verbal statement that communicates that one
idea is ending and another is beginning.

Emphasis
Alerts students to important information in a
lesson and can occur through vocal and
verbal behavior or repitition.

3. ORGANIZATION

Organizing a classroom can be a daunting task. Effective teachers approach

organization with a distinct plan focusing on increased student performance.
Following are some considerations that help when preparing for classroom
management and organization.

Time Management: Keep a calendar and a to-do list. Set goals for yourself,
prioritize your tasks, and learn shortcuts from veteran teachers. Be prepared for
lessons, surprises, and for the needs of your students.

Materials: Organize everything. Create files for yourself and use them.
Develop a system for collecting and returning student work, for assigning and
collecting make-up work, and for keeping the essentials, such as grades, lesson
plans, seating charts, emergency plans, and substitute teacher information.

Space: Arrange your room so that you are able to walk next to every student
desk. Make decisions regarding the view from the windows, wall decorations, and
posted information that will either detract from or enhance student concentration.
Remember that the lighting, temperature, and scent of the classroom also affect
student learning.

Student Behavior: Things to consider as you set up your expectations for

student behavior are: classroom rules, procedures, routines, and creating a workoriented atmosphere of respect.

4. INSTRUCTIONAL ALIGNMENT

Instructional alignment is ensuring your learning objectives, the assessments of

those learning objectives, and the instructional strategies are aligned. It also refers to
the match between objectives and learning activities. Instructional alignment is more
sophisticated and subtle than it appears.

5. FEEDBACK
Giving effective feedback can build a students confidence, transform their
understanding and motivation and also help them develop key critical skills.
Feedback, especially when linked to formative assessment, tutorials or seminars
should focus on looking forward and on how to enhance learning. The following
well-known acronym, CORBS, gives a good structure for feedback:
Clear: know what you want to say and say it (or write it) clearly and concisely.
Dont try and cover everything: focus on the most important aspects.
Owned: be clear that it is your opinion you are giving. So using I believe
instead of you are. If its not an opinion: e.g. incorrect use of dangerous
equipment say so.
Regular: regular feedback reinforces the message; it also enables a feedback
rapport to be established. Feedback needs to be given as close to the event
as possible so that students have time to act on your suggestions and apply it
in time for the next piece of work..
Balanced: feedback should be a balance of positives and negatives and focus
on constructive criticism.
Specific: after receiving feedback, students should be clear what they need to
do differently and also what to continue to do well. So: thats fine or 50%
with no comments are not helpful.

6. QUESTIONING

Questioning skills are essential to good teaching. Teachers often use questions to
ensure that students are attentive and engaged, and to assess students
understanding. What is important to note is that in addition to the intent of the
question, the question itself matters. For instance, to ensure that students are
attentive, a teacher could ask the students Are you listening? To assess if the
students have understood, the teacher could ask Do you follow me?
However, students may say Yes, I am listening or Yes, I have understood simply
to avoid embarrassment. Compare these simple questions with those that ask
students to summarize what was discussed or ask the students for their opinions on
what was said. The difference is that although the intent of the questions remains the
same as before, the indirect, open-ended questions allow for divergent thinking.
Such questions enable the teacher to more accurately evaluate if the students truly
were attentive and if they understand the material. In addition, open-ended questions
motivate students to share their ideas, thereby allowing active, collaborative learning
to take place. This illustrates the need to be able to ask the right sort of questions to
engage students.

Effective questioning has four characteristics:

 Number of questions teachers ask.

Interactive questions increase students involvement, which increases
achivement.
A questioning pattern in which all students in the class are called
equally .
Teacher question a student response after the student has failed to
answer or has given an incorrect or incomplete answer.
This period of silence, both before and after a student responds

Frequen
cy
Equitabl
e
Distribu
tion
Prompti
ng
Waittime

7. FOCUS
Focus is the process teachers use to attract and maintain attention throughout
the lesson. Focus exists in two forms: introductory and sensory. Introductory focus is
the setoff teacher actions designed to attract students attention and provide an
umbrella for the rest of the lesson. While sensory focus is the use of stimuli
concrete objects, pictures, models, materials displayed on the overhead and even
information written on the chalkboard to maintain attention.

8. MONITORING
Monitoring is a classroom management technique loosely defined as listening to
the learners for their accuracy and fluency, or checking to see whether activities are
going to plan and that the learners are 'on task'. However, monitoring is often carried
out as a vague listening and looking exercise by the teacher, and sometimes not
done at all, whereas in fact effective monitoring is a skill that needs to be developed
if learners are to benefit fully from activities, particularly those of the information gap

and group interactive types. Monitoring goes on all the time, but particularly during
speaking activities when the teacher is concerned with the general assessment of
learners' performance in relation to general progress or recent language and skills
development. Monitoring of individual learners takes place during written practice
exercises, when the aim is to point out errors and encourage self-correction. Guided
practice activities, particularly of the pair work format, are monitored for accuracy,
while less guided group work activities are monitored for task achievement and
fluency. Monitoring may be general or multipurpose, focusing on one or more of the
following aims.

9. REVIEW AND CLOSURE

Review summarizes previous work and forms a link between what has been
learned and what is coming. Closure is a form of review that occurs at the end of a
lesson. An effective "Closure" activity at the end of each class period can help with
that objective, creating what psychologists call the Regency Effect, otherwise known
as a last impression. Ideally, closure activities create powerful learning effects at the
tail-end of the class, something that will reverberate for hours after the lesson is over,
something a little sticky.
The defining element of the closure activity is that which your students will soon
come to realize: class isnt over until it has taken place. The bonus added-value
factor, of course, is this: as they come to realize that the closure activity is an
essential part of the overall lesson, your students are more likely to think twice
before leaving early!

Closure activities also help define both your teaching agenda and the intended
learning progression, weaving today's lesson with yesterday's while providing a look
ahead at what tomorrow's will bring. As a deliberate part of your planning process,
these activities summarize the current lesson, provide it context, and build
anticipation for the next. Properly implemented, they will help you establish and
maintain course momentum.

CREATING PRODUCTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Although the establishment of a productive classroom environment is a
difficult and complicated task, it certainly is not an impossible one. Become
thoroughly familiar with the content of the courses you teach. If you dont know the
material you are supposed to cover, then your instruction will lack authority.
Secondary students are quick to spot teachers who do not have a good command of
content and they are justified in having no patience with such teachers.
Quickly get to know your students. When you are familiar with your students,
you will be better able to establish the kind of rapport with them that you need in
order to be a better teacher. Successful teachers have a sound working knowledge
of adolescent behavior in general and of their own students in particular.
Dont rely on punishment to control of your classes. Instead, learn as much as
you can about the various disciplinary practices that are available to you. Knowing
the actions that can prevent or minimize potential discipline problems will help you
establish a productive, positive classroom environment.
Present yourself to your students and to your colleagues as a professional
educator. That means doing all of the things excellent teachers domaintain order,
organize your time and materials, teach innovative lessons, and inspire student by
being the adult role model they need.

TEACHING FOR THINKING AND UNDERSTANDING

When someone truly understands, they can do or perform these six behaviors
which are the principal facets of understanding. They can:
Explain concepts, principles and processes by putting it their own words,
teaching it to others, justifying their answers and showing their reasoning.
Interpret by making sense of data, text and experience through images,
analogies, stories and models.
Apply by effectively using and adapting what they know in new and complex
contexts.
Demonstrate perspective by seeing the big picture and recognizing different
points of view.
Display empathy by perceiving sensitively and walking in someone else's
shoes.
Have self-knowledge by showing meta-cognitive awareness and reflecting on
the meaning of the learning and experience.

CRITICAL THINKING

DEFINITION
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully
conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information
gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief and action. According statement written in 1987
by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul, National Council for Excellence in Critical
Thinking, an organization promoting critical thinking in the US.
The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment; and the essence of this
suspense is inquiry to determine the nature of the problem before proceeding to
attempts at its solution. This, more than any other thing, transforms mere inference
into tested inference, suggested conclusions into proof. Dewey (1910) How We
Think, p74.
Critical thinking is the disciplined mental activity of evaluating arguments
[information] or propositions and making judgments that can guide the development
of beliefs and taking action. Ennis (1992)
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to
believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.
Critical thinking is more complex and sophisticated. Someone with critical thinking
skills is able to do the following:

understand the logical connections between ideas

identify, construct and evaluate arguments

detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning

solve problems systematically

identify the relevance and importance of ideas

reflect on the justification of one's own beliefs and values

Critical thinking is not a matter of accumulating information. A person with a good

memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking. A
critical thinker is able to deduce consequences from what he knows, and he knows
how to make use of information to solve problems, and to seek relevant sources of
information to inform him.
Critical thinking should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of
other people. Although critical thinking skills can be used in exposing fallacies and
bad reasoning, critical thinking can also play an important role in cooperative
reasoning and constructive tasks. Critical thinking can help us acquire knowledge,
improve our theories, and strengthen arguments. We can use critical thinking to
enhance work processes and improve social institutions.
Some people believe that critical thinking hinders creativity because it requires
following the rules of logic and rationality, but creativity might require breaking rules.
This is a misconception. Critical thinking is quite compatible with thinking "out-of-thebox", challenging consensus and pursuing less popular approaches. If anything,
critical thinking is an essential part of creativity because we need critical thinking to
evaluate and improve our creative ideas.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill.

The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. If
you work in education, research, finance, management or the legal profession, then
critical thinking is obviously important. But critical thinking skills are not limited to a
particular subject area. Being able to think well and solve problems systematically is
and benefit for any career.
Critical thinking is very important in the new knowledge economy.
The global knowledge economy is driven by information and technology. One has to
be able to deal with changes quickly and effectively. The new economy places
increasing demands on flexible intellectual skills, and the ability to analyzed
information and integrate various sources of knowledge in solving problems. Good
critical thinking promotes such thinking skills, and is very important in the fastchanging workplace. The future now belongs to societies that organize themselves
for learning... nations that want high incomes and full employment must develop
policies that emphasize the acquisition of knowledge and [thinking] skills by
everyone, not just a select few.
Ray Marshall & Marc Tucker, Thinking For A Living: Education And The Wealth of
Nations, Basic Books. New York. 1992
Critical thinking enhances language and presentation skills.
Thinking clearly and systematically can improve the way we express our ideas. In
learning how to analyses the logical structure of texts, critical thinking also improves
comprehension abilities.
Critical thinking promotes creativity.

To come up with a creative solution to a problem involves not just having new ideas.
It must also be the case that the new ideas being generated are useful and relevant
to the task at hand. Critical thinking plays a crucial role in evaluating new ideas,
selecting the best ones and modifying them if necessary
Critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection.
In order to live a meaningful life and to structure our lives accordingly, we need to
justify and reflect on our values and decisions. Critical thinking provides the tools for
this process of self-evaluation.
Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and democracy.
Science requires the critical use of reason in experimentation and theory
confirmation. The proper functioning of a liberal democracy requires citizens who can
think critically about social issues to inform their judgments about proper governance
and to overcome biases and prejudice.

BENEFIT OF CRITICAL THINKING

In Personal and Community

Avoid falling for scams and making foolish decisions from ignorance

Make better decision from verified information

Free one from unexamined assumptions, dogmas, and prejudices

Be a better informed citizen and voter

In the workplace:

Be a better problem-solver

Better analyze information and draw appropriate conclusions

Communicate a position logically

Make good decisions (based on data, not feelings)

TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING USING BLOOMS TAXONOMY

BY CAROLYN WESTBROOK+ APRIL 18, 2014

ADULT COURSES, ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES,
SKILLS COMMENTS (7) 500

The bottom two levels are factual questions and not considered critical thinking. The
upper

levels

of

the

triangle

represent

critical

thinking.

Knowledge

and

comprehension is categorized in not critical thinking. The Application and analysis

level is a beginning of critical thinking. The high level critical thinking is synthesis and
evaluation.