Critical Thinking Essay

Chastity Wofford

Critical Thinking

What is critical thinking? Kyle Moore, who wrote an article called The Three-Part Harmony of Adult Learning, Critical Thinking, and Decision-Making, states that there are many definitions for critical thinking. These “definitions allow readers to see critical thinking as an uncomplicated course of action or a complex approach to arriving at an educated decision by implementing a strategy for questioning and reasoning that will allow arrival at a final well-informed outcome.” (Moore, 2010) A few of those definitions are: “(as cited in Fowler, 2002) Halpern defines critical thinking as ‘thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed- the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task’ (Fowler 2002)” (Moore 2010). “Mariona (as cited in Fowler, 2002) includes ‘critical thinking is, therefore to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems.’”(Moore 2010). Moore also states that “Brown and Keeley define critical thinking as ‘reacting with systematic evaluation to what you have heard or read’ (2000, p.2).” (2010)
According to Becoming a Master Student, Author Ellis says that “A psychologist named Benjamin Bloom named six levels of thinking. He called them a taxonomy of educational objectives- basically, a list of different goals for learning. Each level of thinking calls for asking and answering different kinds of questions.” (Ellis, 2015). There are 6 levels, however, it is only at the 5th level that “involves genuine critical thinking. At this level you agree with an idea, disagree with it, or suspend judgment until you get more information. In addition, you give reasons for your opinion and offer supporting