Introduction with Student Profile
PROFILE
Donna Williford, 41
Health Care Business Informatics Major, Pitt Community College
As a student in a health care field at Pitt Community College in North Carolina, Donna Williford understands the importance of critical thinking skills both inside and outside the classroom. When Donna arrived on campus last fall, she had held many jobs that all had one thing in common: the need to think deeply and to make good decisions.
“Be open to changes and new ideas because that’s what a good life is all about.”
Last year, Donna decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and enroll in college; she doesn’t regret waiting until later in life to do so. “I’m more focused now, at forty-one, than I would have been fresh out of high school,” she says. Donna uses that focus to her advantage in school, writing essays and preparing for tests. Donna’ ability to think deeply has come in handy more than once, especially when evaluating the quality of sources as she does research. Similarly at work, she has been able to use her thinking skills in her interactions with medical staff and patients who have different backgrounds and needs.
After graduation, Donna hopes to get a job working with computers in the growing field of electronic medical records management, where she plans to continue learning and thinking outside the box. As new technologies are introduced, the medical staff need to change the ways they work. “Excellent thinking skills will play a vital role in my everyday decisions in the health care field,” she says. Donna’s one piece of advice for other first-year students is this: “Be open to changes and new ideas because that’s what a good life is all about.”
10.1Defining Critical Thinking
10.2Becoming a Critical Thinker
10.3Faulty Reasoning and Logical Fallacies
10.4Arguments and Evidence
10.5Collaboration and Critical Thinking
10.6Critical Thinking in College and Life
10.7Bloom’s Taxonomy
As Donna’s story suggests, the most important skill you’ll acquire in college is the ability to think for yourself. Courses in every discipline will encourage you to ask questions, to sort through different information and ideas, to form opinions of your own, and to defend them.
If you have just completed high school, you might be experiencing a lot of changes as you adjust to college. If you’re an older returning student, discovering that your instructors trust you to find valid answers could be both surprising and stressful. If a high school teacher asked, “What are the three branches of the U.S. government?” there was only one acceptable answer: “legislative, executive, and judicial.” A college instructor, on the other hand, might ask, “Under what circumstances might conflicts arise among the three branches of government, and what does this tell you about the democratic process?” There is no single or simple answer, and that’s the point of higher education. Questions that suggest complex answers engage you in the process of deep thinking.
Important questions usually do not have simple answers. To come up with good answers to such questions, you will have to discover many ways of thinking. You will need to become comfortable with uncertainty. You also must be willing to challenge assumptions and conclusions, even when they are presented by experts. People without such thinking skills are easily convinced to buy a product, accept an idea, vote for a political candidate, or do something against their will by those who provide misleading information. People who can think critically tend to develop the additional skills they need for success, whether it’s earning an A, getting a promotion, or making connections in the community. And, it shouldn’t surprise you that such thinking skills are among the most valued by employers and college admissions counselors who will play significant roles in your future.
For many people, it’s natural to these critical thinking difficult and to feel frustrated by answers that are not entirely wrong or entirely right. Yet the complicated questions are usually the ones that are most interesting, and working out the answers can be both exciting and satisfying. In this chapter, we explain how developing and applying your critical thinking skills can make the search for truth, an adventure that is worth your time and mental energy.