Critical Thinking

As an academic subject, Critical Thinking is new, however, the study of language, reasoning and rhetoric has been important for thousands of years. Unlike most high level subjects, it is a skill that can be developed rather than a syllabus to be learned.

As an A level, Critical Thinking has been developed to demonstrate abilities in reasoning and criticality. Many universities and professional bodies test these abilities in their admissions testing.

Having been involved in teaching the subject at all available levels from GCSE to Advanced Extension Award, including AS & A2, I am well aware of the benefits of Critical Thinking training and is increasingly widely regarded and a vital component of the education of those who want to access the best universities and professions.

Key skills

At all levels, the required skills are;
  • The analysis of the structure of arguments
  • The evaluation of the credibility of support given within arguments
  • The ability to demonstrate the ability to write well-structured and convincing arguments
The uninitiated will not be aware that an argument is a logical construction and differs from a rant or an opinion for that reason.

It is also necessary to be able to differentiate between arguments and explanations. For example;
  • “The weather patterns this year are different from those last year. There has been more rain and less sunshine” - explains the view that there are differences in the weather from one year to another
  • “Climate change is the major threat to humanity in the 21st century. There are more and more instances of extreme weather events that disrupt economies and kill populations” - argues for a conclusion from reasons. It also allows us to inspect what the argument contains. We may, for example, dispute the claim that there are more adverse events and counter claim that a similar number of events are more widely reported
The process is more akin to athletics than it is to syllabus based subjects. There is nothing very difficult in learning how to run, but to be an Olympian requires constant practice and encouragement from a competent coach. I am a good coach.
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Resources

How to argue
File Size: 38 kb
File Type: pdf
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hypothetical_reasoning.pdf
File Size: 43 kb
File Type: pdf
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