Critical Thinking

An Introduction to Situational Awareness and Decision Making

Thinking about thinking

This presentation provides an overview of how to improve critical thinking. It is intended to enhance the reader's awareness but it shall not supersede the applicable regulations or airline's operational documentation; should any deviation appear between this presentation and the airlines AFM / (M)MEL / FCOM / QRH / FCTM, the latter shall prevail at all times.

Introduction
This self-study guide provides advice on how to improve your thinking and introduces the associated aspects of situational awareness and decision making. These subjects are essential processes in threat and error management, which must be used in daily operations. Thinking is the core skill in these activities; critical thinking involves controlling our thinking; thinking about our own thinking.
The guide is in five sections: Threat and Error Management Situational Awareness Decision Making Critical Thinking Thinking Situational Awareness and Decision Making

Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or downright prejudiced. Yet, the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

Speakers notes provide additional information, they can be selected by clicking the right mouse button, select Screen, select Speakers notes. This presentation can be printed in the notes format to provide a personal reference document.

Threat and Error Management

Threat and error management (TEM) is a major safety process in aviation.
TEM consists of detecting, avoiding or trapping threats and errors that challenge safe operations. Where threats and errors are not contained, the resulting conditions must be managed and their adverse effects reduced.

All flight and ground operations

Threats Errors Undesired States

Detect Avoid / Trap Mitigate Resist Resolve Recover Plane Path People

Situational Awareness

Decision Making

Fly the aircraft, Navigate, Communicate, Manage

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Situational Awareness
Situational awareness is having an accurate understanding of our surroundings where we are, what happened, what is happening, what is changing and what could happen.
Good situational awareness requires:
1. 2. 3.

Gathering data (sensing, perception), seeking cues in the environment Assembling information to give understanding (comprehension) Thinking ahead (projection)

Thinking about situational awareness involves:

. . . . .

Directing our attention to seek data; scanning a range of sources Evaluating information without bias, for accuracy and relevance Understanding, using our knowledge and previous experiences Comparing and checking, visualizing future events What if? Planning ahead, considering possible outcomes

Gathering data Understanding Planning Ahead

Situation

Now

Future

Plane
AN SC

Path People
TE UA L A EV

TE IPA C TI AN ID NS CO ER

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Decision Making
Decision making involves assessment and choosing a course of action.
Decision making requires an understanding of the situation and controlled thinking. The situation determines the urgency of the decision, risks and limits of action. Controlled thinking:

THINK

Reduces risk Moderates behavior Manages time constraints Uses knowledge; seeks options Judges relevance and the quality of the choice Prepares for action, evaluates the outcome or a future situation OODA Observe Orient Deduce Act

DECIDE Detect a change Estimate significance Choose a safe outcome Identify possible actions Do take action Evaluate the result

GRADE Gather Review Analyze Decide Evaluate

Information Information Alternatives Outcome of Action

5D Detect Determine Decide Do Discipline

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking
Critical thinking provides the mental control and discipline required for situational assessment and decision making. It involves several skills that can be learned, practiced and improved.
Control your mind by:

Seeking and understanding information, facts and data Effective planning, briefing and communication Increasing knowledge; gaining experience Learning within a context (situation) Critical thinking is the skill of Being aware of how you think; hazardous attitudes thinking about your thinking Evaluating your actions; having self regulation Being aware of all available resources Being sensitive to feedback

Maintain discipline by:

Think inside the box before you think outside of the box

Are we in charge of our thinking, or is our thinking in charge of us?

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking Self awareness

Self awareness self questioning, self monitoring
Am I biased in my thinking? Have I made a plan for what I want to do? Are my ideas or knowledge on this issue correct? Am I aware of my thinking; what am I trying to do? Am I using all of the resources for what I want to do? Am I evaluating my thinking; what would I do differently next time? Monitoring is checking the quality or testing the accuracy of a situation Am I aware of how well I am doing; do I need to change my actions or intentions? on a regular basis. It is keeping a close watch over parameters and supervising the outcome. It is checking for threats in our thinking.

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking Knowledge

Improving your thinking Knowledge
About yourself

Commitment: to safety, not following feelings or preference Positive attitudes: persistence, resourcefulness, learning from failure Attention to detail: seeing the big picture, determining relevance, assessing risk

About the thinking processes

Knowing the facts necessary to do a task by seeking information Knowing how to do a task, how to scan, understand and think ahead Knowing why certain strategies work, when to use them, why one is better than another

Knowledge to control the thinking processes

Self evaluation: assessing current technical knowledge, setting objectives, selecting resources Self regulation: checking progress; reviewing choices, procedures, objectives, resources Planning: choosing and planning a path to the objective, using procedures

Planning is the process of thinking about what you will do in the event of something happening or not happening.

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking Habits

Improving your thinking Habits
Changing our thinking habits requires effort; clear thinking is an essential part of airmanship and has to be developed throughout our careers. Unskilled: Basic training only provides those skills necessary to be safe. Safe: Continuation training and experience enable an effective operation. Effective: More technical knowledge, practiced skills and experience give an efficient operation. Efficient: Skillful command in controlling the aircraft and team leadership move toward a precision operation. Precision: An operator who has gained and maintains precise technical and non-technical skills as a result of great personal effort.

Expert thinkers Focus on central issues Identify relevant information Consider information on merit Test and check the basis of their awareness and decisions

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking Personal briefing

Improving your thinking Briefing
Before flight, self-briefing reinforces memory cues and knowledge, which aid the recall of information for use in situational assessment and decision making. Know what, who, where and when to prioritize your attention Always brief routine operations repetition aids memory Structure the briefing along the intended flight path Visualize your actions (plane, path, people) Consider the significant threats Recall lessons from training Refresh SOPs Questions

Do not rush: Your thoughts control your actions.

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking Personal debrief

Improving your thinking Debrief
After each flight, consider the following points Plus, Minus, Interesting Plus:
What was good What went according to plan

Minus:
What was not so good, and why What didnt you know; find the answer before the next flight

Interesting:
Have you changed the way you see things: threats, risks, people or procedures What did you learn, why, and where did the information come from? Will you share this with others; if not why not? Anything for an air safety event report? Any issues for confidential reporting? Did you experience: High workload Poor attitudes Biased opinions Mismanaged time Unanswered questions

Plus Minus Interesting Debriefing

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Thinking about Situational Awareness and Decision Making

Situational awareness and decision making depend on our ability to think.
errors Thinking enables humans to be very successful, but this ability also enables that, if not controlled, present risks in our daily activities.

Value your it wisely All flight andability, grounduse operations

Threats Errors Undesired States

Attentio

n r e so u rc

es

Senses: See Hear Touch Smell Taste

Situational Awareness Decision Making

Feedback Action Response

Working memory Long-term memory - knowledge, biases, beliefs Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Pattern recognition Choice Monitor Review Selection Comparison

Critical Thinking for Situational Awareness

Critical thinking for situational awareness seek information Essential components:

Accuracy Is the information true? Clarity Can the information be understood? Precision Seek detail to understand the situation. Relevance Is the information connected to the situation? Depth Does the information address the complexity of the situation? Breadth Are there other points of view or other ways to consider this situation? Logic Does your understanding of the situation make sense?

Whenever you do not understand something, ask yourself a question for clarification

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking for Decision Making

Critical thinking for decision making the choice of action Essential components:

State the objective of the decision to be made Identify information to be used in making the decision Gather the evidence and information required to make a decision Make a decision based on criteria (a safe outcome), information and risks Ask what the evidence and information mean, considering the objective

Situation
Routine
Needs

Ski ll

Think about the situation, compare with SOPs, training and previous experience

Trained For Unusual Novel

Uses

Rul es

Think about which SOP applies to the situation, compare with training

Requires

Knowl edge

Almost automatic action; SOPs have been thought through during training

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is at the center of all safety processes and human activity.

Threat and Error Management

Critical Thinking

Situational Awareness

Decision Making

Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness

Information

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Critical Thinking - Situational Awareness