Title: 
Headings: Critical Thinking in the Classroom…and Beyond
Critical
 
Thinking
 
in
 
the
 
Classroom…and
 
Beyond

Linda
 
M.
 
Murawski,
 
EdD

Adjunct
 
Professor
 
Department
 
of
 
Human
 
Resources
 
Development
 
Graduate
 
&
 
Professional
 
Studies
  
Tusculum
 
College
 
Knoxville,
 
Tennessee

ABSTRACT

APPENDIX
 
A
 


Content: Critical
 
thinking
 
has
 
its
 
roots
 
in
 
the
 
work
 
of
 
such
 
no-
tables
 
as
 
Socrates,
 
Thomas
 
Aquinas,
 
Francis
 
Bacon,
 
Rene
 
Descartes,
 
John
 
Locke
 
and
 
Sir
 
Issac
 
Newton
 
in
 
its
 
earli-
est
 
times. More
 
modern
 
contributions
 
can
 
be
 
attributed
 
to
 
John
 
Dewey,
 
Ludwig
 
Wittgenstein,
 
and
 
Jean
 
Piaget
 
among
 
others. Work
 
completed
 
by
 
Robert
 
Ennis
 
in
 
the
 
1960s
 
gave
 
rise
 
to
 
critical
 
thinking
 
skills
 
taught
 
in
 
the
 
classroom
 
and
 
reflected
 
in
 
the
 
workplace. Ennis
 
focused
 
on
 
critical
 
thinking
 
as
 
a
 
learned
 
skill
 
that
 
could
 
be
 
trans-
ferred
 
to
 
the
 
workplace
 
if
 
taught
 
and
 
practiced. As
 
a
 
result
 
Journal
 
of
 
Learning
 
in
 
Higher
 
Education
of
 
many
 
years
 
of
 
research,
 
analysis,
 
teaching
 
and
 
practice,
 
Ennis
 
concluded
 
that
 
critical
 
thinking
 
is
 
“focused
 
on
 
de-
ciding
 
what
 
to
 
believe
 
or
 
do,”
 
(Ennis,
 
p.
 
10). Ennis
 
separated
 
critical
 
thinking
 
into
 
two
 
categories: dis-
positions
 
and
 
abilities. The
 
ideal
 
critical
 
thinker,
 
in
 
his
 
writings,
 
is
 
disposed
 
to
 
reach
 
a
 
“right”
 
decision,
 
present
 
that
 
position
 
honestly
 
and
 
clearly,
 
consider
 
others’
 
points
 
of
 
view,
 
seek
 
to
 
be
 
well
 
informed,
 
and
 
to
 
avoid
 
intimidat-
ing
 
or
 
confusing
 
others. Additionally,
 
that
 
critical
 
thinker
 
has
 
the
 
ability
 
to
 
focus
 
on
 
a
 
question,
 
analyze
 
and
 
argu-
ment,
 
judge
 
the
 
creditability
 
of
 
a
 
source,
 
make
 
and
 
value
 
judgments,
 
clarify
 
and
 
refine
 
their
 
viewpoint,
 
support
 
their
 
viewpoints
 
appropriately,
 
and
 
to
 
imaginatively
 
sup-
pose
 
and
 
integrate
 
the
 
logic
 
of
 
a
 
viewpoint
 
with
 
sensitivity
 
to
 
others
 
(Ennis,
 
2011). Vincent
 
Ruggiero
 
writing
 
in
 
The
 
art
 
of
 
thinking: