The Importance Of Critical Thinking

Before I started college, I had no idea what critical thinking was. Critical thinking is a method of thinking that emphasizes reflective, open minded, and rational analysis. I had never heard of such a thing before, but now I realize that it could be the key to success in anyone’s life. I have learned that we are a lot less than we can be, we have the capacity to be great, but our critical thinking is undeveloped.

Critical thinking is something I use on a daily basis as a nurse. To think critically, you recognize an issue, collect data, gather information to support it, analyze that data, evaluate it, and decide what to do about it. According to Creasia & Friberg (2011), “nursing education is shifting from a purely problem-solving approach to one in which critical reflection mediates the relationship between knowledge and action” (p. 215). As a nurse, you learn all of the “skills” throughout the years, but you also need to learn how to assess a situation and possibly make a quick decision, which is critical thinking. Critical thinking ability has been significantly correlated with nursing competence (Chang, Chang, Kuo, Yang, & Chou, 2011, p. 3228).

People face conflicts every day in their lives. We all come across at least one incident in our lives that is challenging and we are baffled on what decision is to be made and most of the time we have difficulty to make it.

Having those strong critical thinking skills is very vital to this career. Critical thinking means that you have to make decisions based upon treatments, symptoms and changes that occur in a child’s state of health (educationcareerarticles.com, pg.2). You have to know what specific type of care each patient needs so you can diagnose any problems that may happen. Having patience is another strong quality at the top of the list. Dealing with kids can give someone a lot of stress just because they are all over the place sometimes which is where your patience ability has to kick in. Kids who are really young have a lack of trepidation meaning they rarely understand what’s going on around them (educationcareerarticles.com, pg.2).

Critical thinking is when you think about a situation with a purpose and focusing on he problem. It calls on your experience, it incorporates creativity, analysis, and priority, and sorting to deal with a problem. Clinical reasoning is a more narrow or specific form of critical thinking. It is used when specific problems comes up, like which patient needs to be seen first or which patient is going to need more care. And clinical judgement is the end result of the critical thinking. It is a final decision on how to proceed. The three reasons why critical thinking skills are essential for students and nurses are 1) solving problems; 2) helping with test-taking; and 3) self-improvement and managing stress.

Developing critical thinking and communication skills can be learned by doing many activities. Some not as fun as others, such as a research paper. In my History class at the beginning of the year, our professor broke the bad news of writing a research paper that would be due near the end of the semester. That small anxiety attack hits you, but quickly vanishes after you realize you have plenty of time. Then the time comes closer and the professor begins to urge you to begin selecting a topic for your paper. What I have learned when selecting a research topic is to choose something that is interesting to you or something you are passionate about. I used this when choosing my topic. Like most research papers or scholarly papers, you are required

Critical thinking is associated with various methods and the definition will vary. A business student will look at critical thinking differently from a psychology student. The definition has changed quite a bit over the years; it can be simple and direct, as looking at a situation and asking specific questions and coming up with a conclusion. Educator Diane Halpern’s definition, “Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a positive outcome.” Critical thinking is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and is goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in problem solving, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions. Critical

Critical thinking is ubiquitous; it is needed in the workforce, in the school, and in life. Teachers and college professors often emphasize critical thinking is the key for success in college. While critical thinking is significant, there are often faults about critical thinking in general because of the lack of a clear definition. Providing a clear definition of critical thinking will guide students to understand what it critical thinking truly is and it will also guide to improve their critical thinking.

What is critical thinking? Simply put it is looking at both sides of an issue then weighing your position based on factual evidence you have gathered on the subject matter.

Critical Thinking is present in educational capacities, but also in personal capacities and allows for knowledge to be acquired and evolved. Thus, it is extremely valuable because it allows for humans to be equipped with abilities and adapt to change. As Darwin believed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change (“Ten Quotes to Inspire Business Leaders,” 2013).”

I’m self-motivated and resolute on solving any obstacle that crosses my path. I believe that

Analysts who adopt critical thinking stand to improve their analyses. However, according to dictionary.com, critical thinking means “disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.” I believe that critical thinking will help prepare me to avoid accepting misinformation, succumbing to deception and falling for intentional misdirection when I look at information intercepted with a degree of skepticism. Skepticism, meaning that when an information is written, printed, and available online or said by someone it doesn't mean it is true. Within this thinking process, I will use my knowledge and intelligence to effectively arrive at the most reasonable and justifiable positions on issues. This will endeavor that

Understanding and using critical thinking is very important. Critical thinking is not something that is taught as we grow up at home, it is a personal skill that we have automatically.

Over time society and technology change, and so do our skills in almost about everything, for instance our survival skills. Learning to think critically and creatively, is the scientist’s uttermost skill to have. Scientists are able to correctly repeat data, identify problems, record observations, and plan experiments. Critical thinking is when you confront or approach a problem by making observations, ask questions, and use logic. Scientists use critical thinking, in problems that occur in their experiments. As a result of using critical thinking, in the problems we face everyday, it will help solve your problems.

Attending this class was pretty nerve reacting, English is my worst subject and I tend not to do so well on it. I told myself that I need to get better at English because it matters and maybe one day I’ll make it my favorite subject. What I think of critical thinking still reminds the same, I believe that critical thinking is for someone to think outside the box. By thinking outside the box, it makes you be more open to new ideas and you’re not afraid of taking a risk. Also by making you seek to more information and the information you get helps you have a better understanding of the material. Critical thinking is very important to our society because every person uses critical thinking in every aspect of their life by thinking, writing, interacting with others, and reading etc.