Critical Thinking Skills for all
Subjects
Overview of Workshop
• Definition of Critical Thinking
• Fill out and discuss KWL Chart throughout the
presentation.
• Presentation of PowerPoint
• Open Discussion
• Copy of Power Point presentation:
tahira.muhammad@gmail.com
Overview of this Presentation
• How to apply critical thinking skills in the
classroom.
• What is critical thinking?
• How to encourage students to critically think
and analyze when answering essay and short
answer questions in any subject.
Critical Thinking for all Subjects
Critical thinking can applied in any of the
following subjects:
• English
• Science
• Math
• Islamic Studies and Arabic language
• Life Skills
Critical thinking helps us to deepen
our thought process!
Basic Elements of Critical Thinking
•
•
•
•
Active
Purposeful
An organized process
Helps us to make sense of the world around
us.
Questions
1. Do we think?
2. Are we always thinking?
Lesson One: Think for YOURSELF
1.
2.
3.
4.
Make your thoughts your own.
Don’t let other’s make decisions for you.
Examine what you are told.
Ask for sources of information and the track
record of those sources.
Lesson Two: Discuss Ideas in an
Organized Way.
• To discuss ideas in an organized way we must:
• Listen to each other to understand what others
are saying. (Active listening)
• Support our ideas with reasons and evidence.
• Respond to the points being made to stay on
topic.
• Ask to answer important questions.
• Try to increase understanding than to simply win
the argument.
Lesson Three: Using Language to
clarify your thinking
• You must read and write to develop your
language effectively.
• You must avoid vague language.
• Vague language-using words that are
nonspecific and too general. These words to
don’t give a precise description of the thought
feeling or experience.
Clarifying Language Tips
1. Ask for clarity: Who, What, Where, When and
Why.
2. Ask what do you mean by that? Don’t assume.
3. Meanings are in the individual. Seek the meaning
from the person you are talking to.
4. Try to use language to influence and avoid
euphemisms or words that avoid the meaning and
emotive language or words that are emotional.
Analyzing Issues
As critical thinkers we have an obligation to
develop informed intelligent opinions about
issues so that we can function as responsible
citizens and make appropriate decisions.
We must analyze an issue by using factual
information to identify the issue.
Supporting Diverse Perspectives with
reasons and evidence.
• It is not enough to simply take a position on
an issue or make a claim, we have to support
our views with other information that we feel
supports our position.
Perceptions
There can be different perceptions but there is
only one set of facts.
As critical thinkers we must be aware of the
nature of our own lenses and become aware of
the perceptions of others.
Beliefs
• Beliefs are interpretations, evaluations and
predictions of the world that we endorse as
true.
• Beliefs can be based upon direct and indirect
experience.
• Basic elements of beliefs are: interpretation,
evaluation or judgment, conclusion or
decision, prediction or statement.
Knowing
• Most people make mistakes because they
don’t know what they don’t know.
• To know something you have to be able to
explain it.
• Knowledge and truth has to be developed
together with the understanding that
knowledge changes over time.
In Summary
• Critical thinking requires us to re-examine our
beliefs, analyze issues, use language to clarify
our thinking within discussions. It also
requires us to actively listen to others and
seek the meaning in the individual. The
critical thinking process can be used for class
discussions, resolve conflicts, arrive at
resolutions, and even be used in our personal
relationships with loved ones.
Group Activity
• In groups think of a question that you wished
a student answered more critically. It can be a
question from a past exam, classwork or
homework assignment. Applying some of the
critical thinking techniques list three-five ways
you would restructure the question or probe
the student to answer more critically. Be ready
to share with the group.
Thank You for participating!