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Jagpreet
28 August, 2024
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Do you know which skill is the most desirable in any technical or management field? Well, it is critical thinking skills. Individuals with critical thinking skills can take in data and information and analyse it quickly to make informed decisions on the spot. Not only that, critical thinkers are also excellent problem solvers in the workforce who come up with innovative solutions and creative ideas. Different workplace skills can also be implemented with proper training.
In today’s educational landscape, schools and universities lay the foundation for developing students’ critical thinking skills . The curricula for schools and universities are aptly designed to foster children with critical thinking skills; that go beyond the basic MCQs and true or false sayings. To develop critical thinking skills, we need to look into data, develop unique solutions to problems and reflect our thinking to the world.
In this blog, let’s understand how critical thinking is shape-shifting modern education and impacting the very way children are putting their thoughts into action.
While it is vital for students to develop critical thinking skills and work on collaborative projects, it is also equally important that teachers understand the way to implement critical thinking in academic assessments.
This is where the PACIER model comes into play. The framework developed by Macat International aims to provide educators with a set of components designed to analyse critical thinking skills.
Remember, PACIER is an acronym for Problem Solving ,Analysis, Critical Thinking Interpretation ,Evaluation and Reasonin and it is fundamentally designed to understand the critical thinking process as a whole and break it down into elemental units.
Let’s discuss each component of PACIER to have a comprehensive understanding of critical thinking assessment in education, learning and how it can be effectively implemented to enhance student outcomes.
Problem Solving – It involves systematically approaching a problem, evaluating all its options, and implementing action for the desired outcome.
For example, let’s suppose students are given a project to design a sustainable urban neighbourhood. Now, they need first to understand and evaluate all aspects of an urban locality such as environmental sustainability, community needs, aesthetic appeal, economic needs and so on. And then weigh the options, develop solutions, create a plan and finally execute that.
Analysis – This is the step where complex information or structure is broken down into smaller and fundamental elements. This gives a clear understanding of the underlying structures, relationships and implications.
It commonly involves examining and evaluating various aspects of a problem/subject and drawing meaningful conclusions. For example, students are assigned a task to draft a report on environmental impact studies on local construction projects such as building a new residential area, a children’s park, and also a commercial complex.
The students will have to plan an approach, assess each condition, implement research methods and provide feedback and guidance for improvement.
Critical Thinking – Creative thinking is all about connecting the dots and understanding the problem at its core. It involves breaking conventional ways of tackling a problem and generating innovative ideas and connections to find solutions.
For example, students are asked to design a marketing campaign for a new product or service and then need their critical thinking skills to analyse the situation and find the best pathways to reach the target audience, optimise the parameters and find the USP that differentiates the product from the rest in the market.
Interpretation – Being able to synthesise information and accurately interpret the data is an important aspect of critical thinking skills. When assessing critical thinking skills, it is important to look at how students are interpreting the data and information and interpreting it into their thinking.
A real-life example of accessing interpretation skills is when students are given a case study analysis related to a social issue such as poverty, education inequality, healthcare access, etc. In this assignment, how they interpret social causes, identify key issues and patterns, and propose evidence-based solutions are closely observed.
Evaluation – One aspect of critical thinking is also evaluating the effectiveness of the solution in a real-world scenario. Developing evaluation skills, needs a thorough understanding of the objective of the problem, the capacity to process all levels of information from basic to advanced and the ability to reach a conclusion about the quality of something.
Reasoning – Students who have the cognitive skill to draw logical conclusions, make valid references and form judgements from facts or information are said to have good reasoning skills. This involves using critical thinking skills to analyse, compare and process the information and reach at a logical and well-informed conclusion.
One of the real-life examples of accessing reasoning skills of students is literature essay analysis where students are asked to analyse a piece of literature focusing on the theme of the piece, character development and the author’s intent.
In the process, students understand the key highlights of the text, develop a thesis to interpret the text, gather information supporting their thesis and construct a well-structured essay with just reasoning and evidence.
Critical thinking involves thinking in a structured way. Logic is usually used to describe this kind of structured thinking. But logic describes a number of systems for thinking systematically. For example, logic reduces words, converts ideas into symbols and often uses graphical charts and maps for easy understanding. Let us understand how critical thinking is being integrated into the curriculum design of modern education.
The modern education curriculum revolves around real-world problems that require critical thinking to solve. The syllabus is typically designed to encourage students to identify issues, gather information and propose solutions.
The Socratic method involves a shared dialogue between teachers and students where you do not need to memorise anything. Instead, it involves thoughtful and disciplined questioning that enables students to logically examine and validate different viewpoints.
The study curriculum uses the Socratic method to foster an environment that uses open-ended questions to encourage deeper thinking and discussions on various subject matters. It helps students to analyse anything critically, question assumptions, draw conclusions based on logic and also explore different perspectives.
For any field of education, be it science or arts, the programme includes activities that require students to collect data, analyse the data, gather information, and delve into case studies.
It not only teaches students to analyse the outcomes of a given problem but also to evaluate sources for credibility and relevance.
The curriculum in modern education sometimes also integrates cross-disciplinary approaches i.e., knowledge from different subjects to solve complex problems. This way the students are able to interconnect the disciplines and lay a solid foundation in understanding the subject matter.
Promotes Reflective Thinking: To cultivate critical thinking in students, educational organisations and institutes include reflective thinking assignments where students use their thought processes and learning to find solutions to problems.
The modern education framework encourages students to assess their own strengths and identify areas of improvement in critical thinking. It helps students to use their analytical skills and hone their decision-making skills.
Boosts Collaborative Learning Skills: Developing a critical thinking assessment may seem challenging, but modern educators have successfully integrated multifaceted approaches to simultaneously enhance a child’s collaborative and critical thinking skills.
The modern education curriculum of most countries comprises assignments that encourage students to discuss and debate ideas with their peers and refine their thinking skills.
Incorporate Digital Learning and Technology: Another myth that has hindered the deeper integration of critical-thinking instruction into the curriculum is the fear that critical-thinking skills must come at the expense of teaching academic content.
However, modern education has handled both critical thinking and academic study hand-in-hand. It has uniquely integrated digital literacy and technology into the curriculum, effectively teaching students to critically evaluate online information and digital content and understand academic content well. Professors and mentors also use digital tools like simulations, educational games, and data analysis to further sharpen students’ critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.
Critical thinking incorporated in the academic curriculum has a profound effect on student engagement and achievement. Let us discuss the benefits of having critical thinking in modern education.
Critical thinking helps learners to develop their skills to identify, analyse and solve complex problems effectively. It basically helps a student figure out how to make sense of the world and solve real-world challenges based on personal observation, research and understanding challenges.
It is a vital skill that makes learners more assertive and confident as they can draw conclusions themselves.
Critical thinking skill enables students to make informed decisions based on solid evidence and extensive research. It makes a student a good critical thinker who can separate facts from opinions and make rational decisions towards any problem.
In this way, they can give bias-free solutions to problems, finding effective solutions that are innovative and long-lasting.
Creativity and curiosity are the two by-products of critical thinking that invariably develop as you hone your critical thinking skills. A strong sense of curiosity leads to students wanting to analyse information and assimilate all the information and facts.
In the process, of drawing valid conclusions, they develop their thinking process to look at the problem from all aspects and come up with innovative and out-of-the-box solutions. This nurtures their creative side and encourages them to take account of new perspectives. Thus, critical thinking fosters creativity, curiosity and a sense of continuous learning.
Critical thinkers are good communicators. They have the ability to lay down their arguments clearly and articulate their thoughts and ideas coherently.
This helps the learners break down complex concepts into simple arguments, that are easily comprehensive to all. Furthermore, it also helps students to logically structure their thoughts so that they can convert them into coherent narratives for others to easily benefit from the clarity and precision of their communication.
Critical thinking helps students develop their metacognitive skills, such as self-awareness and enjoy a dynamic and stimulating learning experience.
Critical thinking is essentially self-disciplined, self-monitoring and self-corrective thinking that inspires students to sharpen their observation skills and gain more confidence in a specific subject or field. It also helps them retain more information and analyse them accordingly to draw well-informed decisions.
Traditional educational practice has its own ways of imparting knowledge, which is mostly passive. Text-based learning mainly helps with active thinking and results in the repetitive circulation of information. It neither encourages the implementation of knowledge (hands-on experience) nor does it anyway indicate how the information is relatable to real-life incidents.
Right off the bat, anyone can say that the way of education is primitive and does not help in self-assessment and self-analysis. However, the new surge of critical thinking skills is much superior to traditional learning as it helps students broaden their problem-solving skills, sharpen their analysing skills and enhance their decision-making skills. That’s the reason, why most educational systems in the world today are choosing to integrate and emphasise critical learning skills as a part of their curriculum.
