OTHER ONLINE COURSES    

READING/WRITING AND CRITICAL THINKING

  What is critical thinking?  

Critical thinking is reflecting carefully on each reading or writing activity given; in this process, students improve and sharpen their thinking skills.  Providing our students with interesting reading materials does not, in itself, ensure that our students will be better thinkers.  Merely absorbing new information without challenging the opinions of the writers or the teachers of the materials the students are reading does not constitute critical thinking; students must be active learners who question what they reading and question their own perceptions and beliefs.  

  Fundamentals of Critical Thinking  

      (1) Observations from which students discover (2) Facts from which (or absence of which) students make (3) Inferences that students can test for validity and make (4) Assumptions from which they can form (5) Opinions based on which students can develop (6) Arguments to challenge and critically analyze othersÂ’ arguments.                     

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