Students for the 21st Century Will Require Critical Thinking Skills

Students for the 21st Century Will Require Critical Thinking Skills

Introduction

This paper intends to discuss the significance of critical thinking skills. This paper will analyze the article “Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts” written by Peter A. Facione. The article clearly identifies why the critical thinking become one of the most important skills for students to possess in the twenty first century. This paper will reveal the rationale for incorporating the critical thinking skills in the educational lives. Also, the specific critical thinking skills that are most emphasized will be explained through specific examples. Lastly, the paper will suggest possible teaching and learning approaches for incorporating the underlying skills within the relevant subject areas.

Critical Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking is basically used to analyze any statement or claim being made. Critical thinking enables students to provide their opinion regarding any statement that whether the statement is true or not. The history of critical thinking can be traced back to the times of Ancient Greece and Ancient India; however, the concept of critical thinking has become more prominent in past few decades. In today's modern society; the critical thinking skills seems to be an important part of the educational field and also majority of the professions.

Peter A. Facione suggests that critical thinking has become a formal and mandatory part of the education. As the students tend to progress towards higher level of degrees; the necessity of thinking critically increases. There are various critical thinking skills which are important for the students of twenty first century to possess. The capability to observe, interpret, analyze, infer, evaluate and explain remains the basic and integral critical thinking skills.

For the purpose of becoming successful student in today's modern educational world; critical thinking skills make students able to properly analyze situations and make relevant decisions. Engaging with problems and taking relevant decisions remain one of the most important aspects of critical thinking skills. Critical thinking helps students to provide logic for every claim they make. Also, the intellectual criteria of students tend to increase in terms of clarity, relevance, depth, fairness and accuracy.

The most important critical thinking skills in accordance with the views of Peter A. Facione are interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation and self regulation. Peter A. Facione suggests that any student who possesses all the mentioned skills essentially becomes an exceptional critical thinker. The skill of interpretation means the capability of correctly measuring and reading the situation or any problem. The skill of analysis entails the capability to analyze all the relevant aspects of the situation (Facione, 2011).

To infer means to select the most important aspects or to skim the situation accordingly. The evaluation skill means the capability to evaluate different alternatives for the solutions. The explanation skill remains one of the most important. This skill outlines the property of the capability to explain one's ideas to others in an effective manner. The last important skill as per Peter ...