Running head: CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION
Critical Thinking Application
Timothy A. McNulty
University of Phoenix
Livonia Campus
MGT 350
Joel G. Bussell
June 26, 2007
Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a recent need. It is apparent that students, at all levels of education, are lagging in problem-solving and thinking skills. Fragmentation of thinking skills, however, may be the result of critical thinking courses and texts. Every course, especially in content subjects, students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question and evaluate.
Implications for Teaching
Thinking must be practiced in each content field at each educational level. For the teacher, this means hard work. To teach students to memorize facts and then assess them with multiple-choice tests is a much easier choice to make. In a course that emphasizes thinking, objectives must include application and analysis, different thinking, and opportunities to organize ideas and support judgments. (Carr, 1990)
Critical thinking across the disciplines share common features.
1. Critical thinking is a learnable skill with teachers and peers serving as resources.
2. Problems, questions, and issues serve as the source of motivation for the learner.
3. Courses are assignment centered rather than text or lecture oriented.
4. Goals, methods, and evaluation emphasize using content rather than simply acquiring it.
5. Students need to formulate and justify their ideas in writing.
6. Students collaborate to learn and enhance their thinking. (Jones, 1996)
Thes ...