When I first came into the course, my concept of critical thinking went so far as an amalgamation of the three definitions offered in the first chapter of our text. I knew critical thinking was basically thinking about my thinking in order to improve my thinking. That's about all there was to it, and it seemed like a much more soft, perhaps philosophical line of thought for me.
Now however, I've been working with the subject long enough to realize that there is a much more robust framework for the study of critical thinking than I previously thought. There is definitely a much deeper realm of terminology, processes, and factors than I previously thought, and I feel I'm only just beginning to really understand it all. Although I might have been taught in the ways of the elements of reasoning, as well as the standards of critical thinking, I definitely can't say that I consciously think about this in my day to day problem solving, and I would have to sit down to think about whether or not I might have used the concepts unconsciously during the course of a regular day.
So, frankly speaking, unless I just happen to be unknowingly running through the process, I think I still have to invest further time in internalizing the techniques and concepts for maximum effect beyond the class environment. What I might have to do is on a weekly basis, take a problem that isn't especially time sensitive and attempt to analyze it in the context of the elements of critical thinking and check my thoughts against the standards of critical thinking. I might even compare that to my "gut reaction" I might have gone with had I not engaged in thoughtful, critical thinking.
Admittedly, I'm not currently at the level of performance one might aspire to be, but I am under the impression that this is one of those skills that one is never really "done" learning, but rather continuously builds upon and refines over a lifetime. It won't be an overnight process, but I do think it would do me good to be more sensitive to these themes.
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