DOCTOR: Hasn't gone as well as we'd hoped. But for $800 more, we can give him our special radioactive treatment.

INSTRUCTOR: Throughout history, people have made outrageous claims. Particularly when it comes to curing what ails us. Critical thinking is the objective analysis of a situation or issue to form a conclusion or solve a problem.

DANA S. DUNN: It's important to think critically because we live in an incredibly complex environment. We're constantly bombarded with questions and more information, and so being able to take some time to think something through from different perspectives using evidence to come to a good conclusion will allow us to really make a good decision.

INSTRUCTOR: Thinking critically means breaking a problem down into steps— identifying the issue, gathering information, evaluating the evidence, considering alternative outcomes and explanations, and finally choosing the best solution.

DANA S. DUNN: Evidence is never just one piece of information. A good critical thinker looks for information from different researchers, from different experiments, from different sources. When you evaluate a piece of research you should look at the source. You need to think about potential biases involved. Does, for example, the source have a monetary interest? Is there some product that's being sold here? Is the source a valid one?

INSTRUCTOR: But using critical thinking to solve problems is more difficult than it seems. Barriers to critical thinking include the biases we may have and the assumptions we may make about the world. Confirmation bias is a good example.

JANE S. HALONEN: Confirmation bias— that is the tendency that humans have to look for evidence that supports what they already believe.

DANA S. DUNN: You don't want to simply rely on the things you know, because one of the hardest biases to overcome is to admit to yourself that you don't know everything. We need to train ourselves to become more open minded. But that's hard to do and it takes practice.

INSTRUCTOR: Critical thinking can help us identify and fix everyday problems. Many college students believe cramming is an effective strategy for learning. The problem is cramming isn't effective. Cramming doesn't give the brain enough time to properly encode and store information.

JANE S. HALONEN: Research on memory suggests that whatever you cram becomes very fragile. Students can cram and do well, but I would suggest to you they perform well on an exam and their meaningful learning has just been short changed.

INSTRUCTOR: To follow the five steps of critical thinking, a student would need to first identify cramming as a problem. The next steps would be to gather all the evidence and evaluate the material.

DANA S. DUNN: A student engaging in critical thinking the cramming would say is, wait a minute. What are some alternatives? Can I study two nights before the exam, or three nights before the exam?

INSTRUCTOR: The fourth step would involve considering all the other possible solutions, alternatives, and outcomes. Finally, the student would be able to choose the right solution.

PAIGE FORSEER: I find that when I learn things over a longer period of time, I tend to remember it better and I'll be able to use it even after the test. While when I am cramming I'll know it really well on the day of the exam, but by the time I leave it's gone.

INSTRUCTOR: Whether it's in school or out in the world, examining the world critically and checking our assumptions can help us feel confident about the choices we make every day.