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: Criti-
cal
 
thinking
 
incorporates
 
how
 
learners
 
develop
 
and
 
apply
 
thought
  
to
 
understand
 
how
 
thinking
 
can
 
be
 
improved. Typically,
 
a
 
person
 
is
 
deemed
 
a
 
critical
 
thinker
 
to
 
the
 
ex-
tent
 
that
 
he
 
or
 
she
 
regularly
 
improves
 
their
 
thinking
 
in
 
an
 
intentional
 
manner. The
 
basic
 
idea
 
undergirding
 
the
 
study
 
of
 
critical
 
thinking
 
is
 
simple--to
 
determine
 
strengths
 
and
 
weaknesses
 
in
 
one’s
 
thinking
 
in
 
order
 
to
 
maintain
 
the
 
strengths
 
and
 
make
 
improvements
 
by
 
targeting
 
the
 
weak-
nesses. The
 
word
 
critical
 
for
 
this
 
paper
 
is
 
not
 
intended
 
to
 
denote
 
a
 
negative
 
approach
 
to
 
thinking. Critical
 
implies
 
evaluation
 
of
 
thoughts,
 
ideas
 
or
 
judgments
 
with
 
awareness,
 
creativity
 
and
 
refinement
 
of
 
these
 
processes
 
as
 
needed. 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).