The Four Steps Of The Foundation Of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that all humans possess, however, it is more prevalent in some than others because people learn over time how to hone their critical thinking skills over time. When someone thinks critically they must evaluate and analyze in order to form an opinion; as learned in this week’s lessons, “[c]ritical thinking is a learned skill” (Ellis, 2013). Throughout this module we have learned critical thinking has taught people to overcome preposterous ideas and allowed civilization to find truth and turn from deception. With critical thinking, there are six distinct steps which provide the foundation of critical thinking, they are Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Each step is an important building block to the

The main foundation, remembering, stresses that one cannot think critically unless the data can be remembered. Second, one must be able to rephrase what it is that they understand so that they can gain a better grasp. Third, the person must be able to apply the principles which they understand and produce a result that would be expected based on understanding. Forth, analysis will allow the person to break up the idea into chunks or pieces, by dissecting the information they will be able to more thoroughly think about the topic. Fifth, evaluation will allow the person to decide if there is truth behind what they are analyzing and rate the quality to help better a decision. Finally, a person can use creation to determine if they can create something from this idea. All of these are required for critical thinking and while being critical, one must maintain a positive attitude, stay logical, and make sure there is always evidence to support