Hello Mentees! Let's talk about critical thinking...
Andres said:
Critical thinking involves more like applying what it is that we have learned into our thought process. Interdisciplinarity involved the areas of study into one another creating a synergistic combination of information.
I unfortunately was not involved with the particular process of virtual philosopher but I can however relate to the fact that you don't really integrate your areas of knowledge purposely. It does overtime however, become second nature and you are able to properly and effectively utilize your knowledge in all areas.
Rich said:
I completely agree with Andres when he talked about critical thinking becoming second nature. Sometimes, however, you have to go with what doesn't come naturally (use deduction and logic instead of relying solely on intuition). Critical thinking relates to interdisciplinarity because it also involves steps or methodology to work well. To clarify, it is not enough for someone to simply say: “think critically. Are you all familiar with the virtual philosopher? If yes, what did you think? I personally haven’t had the opportunity to check it out.
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I also agree that critical thinking becomes second nature but I do think it is something you have to tain your mind to do. When you are aquiring something new, you must analyze and evaluate what you are learning. Sometimes people stay true to the saying "in one ear and out the other" and do not think critically. When it come tos interdisciplinarity, it is important to think critically in order to not understand each are of study but also to make sense of how they will work together.
ReplyDelete-Ivette Thomas
"In one ear and out the other" is definitely something I've had to work on, but I'm getting better with age!
ReplyDeleteI think critical thinking is something that the school system trains us to use from a young age. It is useful to critically analyze new ideas and thoughts. But at the same time, you can't be too over-analytical with certain ideas or else there is no creativity and no life left in them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the articel about Critical Thinking that was in one of our assignments, I learned a lot more about the real meaning of it. I thought critical thinking was just understanding what something means, but it also means to evaluate and decide what I believe in. If I want to critically think about something specific I have to totally understand it that way I can stand by what I believe in.
ReplyDeleteComment on how the Virtual Philosopher scored your response. From the comments you received about your responses, what insight have you gained about your own critical thinking and reasoning? How does the outline of your critical thinking disposition match with the application of it in doing the Virtual Philosopher?
ReplyDeleteI am apparently a very emotional person and was deemed 'inconsistent.' I have a tendency to think situationally rather than generally according to this module. I guess that's what comes from being very right-brained.
My critical thinking relates to interdisciplinary because with an interdisciplinary backround we are able to have knowledge on more than one topic and have the ability to better analyze a situation through critical thinking.
ReplyDeletehttp://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/vicecrime/vp/vp.html
I was not surprised with my results because they showed I am consistent in my thoughts and feelings on many situations.
Jordan Claire:
ReplyDeleteMy critical thinking relates to my interdisciplinary by showing how I am able to use these skills effortlessly in making my decisions with confidence. Interdisciplinary helps me be more of a critical thinker because I can relate to my 3 areas of study and combine all of these subjects to find out what I want to do.
I was consistent with all my responses on the virtual philosopher even though I felt like some of my answers would not be consistent with others during the evaluation. This just reassured that I can use critical thinking without having to take that much time to come up with an ultimate consensus. My critical thinking disposition matches the virtual philosopher in that I believe in my critical thinking skills and should continue to use them and not think twice about it.
stephanie-
ReplyDeleteWhy do you feel the school system trains us in critical thinking? If so, how have you been trained?
In our class, we did a great exercise to evaluate if we truly critically think. We got asked a series of questions of how we would react to different situations. It was really interesting to see that something you think you believe in can contradict other things that you stand by. For instance, I got asked if I believed that "Every human life is equally worth saving?" I answered yes. Right after, I got asked a scenario about a series of people who needed a liver transplant. The people who were in line to get the only transplant left was a homeless man, a rich man, a Nobel peace prize winner, and 8 yr old boy, and a single mother of 6. I chose that the single mother of 6 should be the one to get the transplant because her family is counting on her. While I thought this was good evaluation on my part, it ended up being inconsistent with my answer of "Every life should have equal opportunity". This exercise made me realize that before I claim what I believe is ethically correct, I must remember my values and stick with them.
ReplyDeleteJordan Claire:
ReplyDeleteMarlee can you be more specific when you say your answers were consistent on the virtual philosopher?
I feel this way because the public school system, as it stands, is very strongly rooted in the sciences. Every research project I ever had to do followed the same formula, some getting more detailed as I got older, but essentially the same. I also think that they focus more on concrete thinking than abstract.
ReplyDeleteFor example, throughout my public school education I have always had research projects, of some kind, in the sciences where I needed to analyze different science questions according to the scientific method. This also applies to my AP English courses where I had to learn to analyze characters and authors to determine their motivation.
My critical thinking is not something that comes as second nature, especially when I am dealing with something new. I have to really focus and evaluate what is to be done. Critical thinking must be used in each dicipline to help combine each study and their ideas so that they fit together.
ReplyDeleteWhen taking the virtual philosopher quiz two of the three sections resulted with being inconsistent. I said in one section that I believed that every life is worth saving because everyone is equal, but when later asked what I would do in the situation with the 400 pound man and the liver transplant patients, i chose to save particular people. When critical thinking, whatever comes out of my mouth needs to be backed up with evidence. Since I said all lives are equal, than I probabally should have chosen the option of first come, first serve, or a random selection. When in critical situations like that, it's hard to remember what your morals and values are, but like Ivette said, it's important to stick to them.
ReplyDelete