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Attributes of a Critical Thinker

In: English and Literature

Submitted By ashemails
Words 1233
Pages 5
Discuss the attributes (skills and attitudes) of a critical thinker and their application in successful university learning, drawing on relevant SSK12 readings and your own experience.
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A students learning will not be wholly successful without the development of critical thinking. Critical thinking is considered a process of applying coherent and meticulous thinking to a subject (Kurland 2005). In Australian Universities, students are expected to think actively and not just accept everything that is seen or heard. Students must develop more reasoned arguments and focus on the process of learning rather than just attaining information. In this essay, I will discuss what critical thinking is, the skills and attributes of a critical thinker and why critical thinking is important to students’ success in university learning. I will identify what skills are expected of university students and how these skills can be applied to university learning to be successful. I will do so by drawing on relevant materials and my personal experience of SSK12 Introduction to University Learning.

Maiorana (1992, 60) describes the purpose of critical thinking as ‘achieving understanding, evaluating viewpoints and solving problems’. In the context of university learning, critical thinking describes skills that contribute to effective study and learning. According to Foundation for Critical Thinking (2009), “Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skill-fully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them” (A Definition, paragraph. 10).

Critical thinking is necessary to learning and considered particularly valuable in academic fields as it enables

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