The Power of one statement!

The statement that I'm referring to (and is quoted below) is one of the best examples of operant conditioning that I have recently come across. When I came across the statement, I could only imagine the power it held in influencing the behavior of some 50+ students! The recent posts (including this one) and comments that this blog has received (and many more that are likely to follow) is the proof of the influence of the statement. Before I completely lose my chain of thoughts, I think I should introduce the statement. The statement was received by most of us on November 28, 2010 at around 9:23:06 PM (or at least this is what my mailbox says!) and goes as follows:

"December 04, 2010 5:00 pm is the last day/date/time for submitting posts that are going to be included in the evaluation vis-a-vis class participation (20% of the overall grade)."

(the above statement is copy-pasted from the mail that many of you will have in your mailboxes either in the Inbox folder or the Junk one or the Deleted folder)

Some of you may disagree with me on this but I seriously felt that this statement was a sort of a threat! I'm not commenting on the intention of the sender rather all I am saying is that the timing of the statement and specially the "%" part in the end gives me some serious threatening signals. But then again this may be (most probably) due to my performance on the blog as well!

What actually bothered me is that most of the posts here are about critical thinking right? and many of us might have actually learnt at least something in the past 4 months. Then what do you people think as to how much the posts and comments (that were only made due to the above statement) would have been critically thought of? You can disagree but when I read many of the recent posts and specially the comments, I felt that these aren't really genuine questions or comments! they haven't been very well thought of and seem to have been posted just for the sake of the 20% mentioned in the statement! (and you may very well include this post in this!)

What I actually wanted to ask the recent commentors is that how much critical thinking are you really trying to exhibit? Do you even know the purpose of posting on this blog and commenting on the posts? If it is just for the 20% then really way to go!

We don't even know the rubric for the evaluation of these posts! what is sir going to give marks on? the number of posts or their quality? what is the judgement criteria? does he even read all of the posts and comments and checks the links? (he used to that's for sure) And yet we continue to post without even asking him! (To be honest, I haven't asked him and I know many of us haven't. because if some of us would have asked him, then based on his previous actions, i'm sure he would have mailed us all about it)

May be I am wrong and all that I said above applies only to me. But I really want to ask you people that do you think that the posts and comments that have been made, and will be made in the very near future, as a result of the above statement would have been critically thought of? If no, then what is the purpose of the above statement !?!

(I do not mean to be disrespectful to anyone specially our skilled and respected teacher (come on guys, he hasn't uploaded the final grade yet!) and have just tried to give an electronic representation to my recent thoughts while following the rule that "no question is stupid enough!")

The Role Of Education In Critical Thinking!

We have been taught that critical thinking enables students to think more critically, they become more proficient at historical, scientific, and mathematical thinking. Finally they develop skills, abilities, and values crucial to success in everyday life. So my question here arises is firstly what type of values are these when we are talking about the role of critical thinking in education? Secondly, people who start thinking critically, do we have the surety that they will be successful always?

Critical thinking explains that if we can take charge of our minds, we can take charge of our lives. I believe that this is true to a great extent because we are what are minds make us, we are actually shaped by our thinking hence I believe that we should always have a positive view of things in order to be happy. But my question is that whether all proponents of thinking skills (critical, creative) emphasize the relevance of thinking for many aspects of life?

Negativity in Critical Thinking

'Cheaters are Thinkers' -  Sohail Zindani

My question is that why can't Critical Thinking be negative?

Historical characters from Shakespearean classics like 'Cassius' and 'Iago', in my opinion were at their highest level of Critical Thinking, both of them being evil.

Critical Thinking And Ethics!

Ethics play a big role in critical thinking and decision-making. Ethics are what enable you to decide or do something good or how to cause the least harm. When talking about critical thinking and ethics, a few questions arise. The questions that come into the mind are: Firstly, what do ethics mean to you?
Secondly, what are some of the tools of critical thinking for ethics? Have you ever used them? Thirdly, what are some different beliefs about ethical living.  Which ones do you tend to agree with more? Is it hard to live ethically? Fourthly, what role do reason, emotion, and intuition play when making ethical decisions? Have you experienced these, and have you ever felt a conflict between the three? For example, a person can be skillful at developing arguments and then, unethically, use this skill to mislead and exploit a naive person, pull off a fraud, or deliberately confuse and confound, and frustrate a project. An example of ethics with the way of our thinking, illustrates that a person can be good at critical thinking and be and be proficient at the cognitive processes, while still not being a good critical thinker.  

From the above-mentioned questions, what do we analyze, that do these questions, require ethical reasoning? If ethical reasoning is required, then how can the tools of critical thinking enhance our ethical reasoning? What is thus required is an appropriate tool, or an approach for our way of thinking.

philosophical critical thinking

http://www.reflectioncafe.net/2010/10/civic-task-of-philosophy.html

This is something that really helped me understand C.T especially since recently i was thinking about how critical thinking is used in philosophy by the Socrates and Aristotle of this age and past.

an interesting article related to critical thinking in educational settings.

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9218/critical.htm

An article Related to Critical thinking and intellectual conformity.

www.springerlink.com/content/m1482w37140v700/

nice video..

i came across this video after viewing the link nida posted. It i s a really simple and short video of Randell Niel who talks about life, truth and untruth, purpose of life, waking up to life and facing the reality within ourselves rather than swallowing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ8biQB9Aac

Think critically in daily life

The quiz mentioned in the video can be found here.

Critical Thinking-Standards of Thoughts.

Hey everyone!!
Dr. Richard Paul defines the universal standards with which thinking may be "taken apart" evaluated and assessed. Excerpted from the Socratic Questioning Video Series from the Foundation for Critical Thinking.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNCOOUK-bMQ

Logic & Critical Thinking

What is the best way to approach or deal with complicated claims? What is the best way to apply logic in order to construct sound arguments? What are logical fallacies in how can they wreck an argument? What other sorts of common errors do people make when creating arguments? What can science and philosophy do to help us in our arguments?

The Relevant and the Irrelevant

As already established, Critical thinking provides us with a wealth of knowledge about a situation. It provides us with great in depth analysis of every aspect of a situation and also provides us with other aspects to consider. While taking a decision or solving a problem, Critical thinking provides us with knowledge of a great many factors which we should consider. My difficulty is finding my way in this depth of information. I feel it is essential for us to be able to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information about a certain situation. Without this clear distinction it is not possible to effectively and efficiently solve problems. But how is this to be achieved? How do we decide what is relevant when considering things before taking a decision. What adds to the complexity are situations where two or more people are involved, as what is relevant to one person might be completely irrelevant for the other person. Is there an easy way to sort out the important relevant information from the use less not applicable information about a certain situation.

Critical Thinking Games

Hey Everyone!!
So I have just searched out some critical thinking games. Here is the link:

http://www.freethinkinggames.com/free_critical_thinking_games.html

I found them interesting! Do try them out.

Using Intellectual Standards to Assess Student Reasoning

The following is the link to the article from the critical thinking community. It clearly describes reasoning of elements and standards of critical thinking.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=602&CategoryID=68

How do Critical Thinking helps our country?

There is a question which triggered my mind alot, that is

 How would education in context to critical thinking would help the people of Pakistan? How would the people be able to acquire, comprehend, evaluate and apply this approach to our country?

Selective Attention Test

Is it possible that in concentrating on one thing so much we can fail to see what is right in front of our eyes. If I stop to think about a matter using only my brain, am I actually being receptive to all other information that I am receiving through my senses? We as humans have an innate tendency to concentrate on only that which is beneficial for us and block out everything else. So where does critical thinking go? Pretty much out the door, right? Or not?

Watch this video and follow the instructions carefully, and try not to ruin it for yourself. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

There's one thing that confuses me. Critical thinking is all about organizing one’s thought processes and making sense of them right? But at the same time, I cant help noticing how our thoughts are so convoluted and so dense that in some ways, they really cant be organized into structured sentences which lead to practical conclusions…thought processes just don’t work that way…more often than not, our thoughts are so intangible  and fluid; one thought simply drifts into another until it becomes a web of interconnected, sporadic thoughts..and that’s just the way it is, that’s how human beings think…how are we supposed to gather them and mould them into something that makes sense when sometimes, thoughts are better left as a nonsensical jumble?

Critical thinking certainly allows you to rationalize and extricate meaning from things that would have otherwise not made any sense and I appreciate that but I just want to know the extent to which our thoughts-which are absorbed/created in so many vast ways- should or could be properly structured?

Religion encourages Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking and Islam..Critical thinking vs religion..these have been by far the most talked about topics in the C.T classes. I tried looking for evidences to support my argument that being a critical thinker and a religious person could be possible at the same time. In fact religion encourages critical thinking.Here's what I would like to add to this debate.
The Qur'an repeatedly provokes and challenges the reader to think and contemplate the signs of Allah so that she/he can understand. Human destiny is not to be passive like the angels but to be creative for which she/he has been given the most sublime gift of all, the mind. There is a dynamic relationship that exists in Islam between faith and reflective thought. And has not the Qur'an said, "(Here is), a Book which We have sent down unto thee, full of blessings, that they may meditate on its Signs, and that men of understanding may receive admonition." (Surah, Al-Sad, 38: 29). In another verse it is said: And do not follow (blindly) any information of which you have no (direct) knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception, you must verify it for yourself. (In the Court of your Lord,) you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning."[17:36]In fact, "verily in that are Signs for those who reflect "(Surah, Al-Rum, 30: 21) is a constant theme throughout the Qur'an, which, among other things, underscores the point that meanings of the sign of Allah cannot be read just off the face of the signs but require thinking and reflection.
..
http://www.quranicteachings.co.uk/tafakkur.htm
(i found this link to be very helpful)

Emotions vs. Critical Thinking

How does one draw the line between emotions and rationally, critically thinking and coming up with a conclusion? Say for example its a very sensitive issue that one has to make a major decision about.. Something "life-changing". How can one make it through without emotions clouding their judgement?