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Critical Thinking

Developing the right mindset and skills.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

We make hundreds of decisions every day and, whether we realize it or not, we're all critical thinkers.

We use critical thinking each time we weigh up our options, prioritize our responsibilities, or think about the likely effects of our actions. It's a crucial skill that helps us to cut out misinformation and make wise decisions. The trouble is, we're not always very good at it!

In this article, we'll explore the key skills that you need to develop your critical thinking skills, and how to adopt a critical thinking mindset, so that you can make well-informed decisions.

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is the discipline of rigorously and skillfully using information, experience, observation, and reasoning to guide your decisions, actions, and beliefs. You'll need to actively question every step of your thinking process to do it well.

Collecting, analyzing and evaluating information is an important skill in life, and a highly valued asset in the workplace. People who score highly in critical thinking assessments are also rated by their managers as having good problem-solving skills, creativity, strong decision-making skills, and good overall performance. [1]

Key Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinkers possess a set of key characteristics which help them to question information and their own thinking. Focus on the following areas to develop your critical thinking skills:

Being willing and able to explore alternative approaches and experimental ideas is crucial. Can you think through "what if" scenarios, create plausible options, and test out your theories? If not, you'll tend to write off ideas and options too soon, so you may miss the best answer to your situation.

To nurture your curiosity, stay up to date with facts and trends. You'll overlook important information if you allow yourself to become "blinkered," so always be open to new information.

But don't stop there! Look for opposing views or evidence to challenge your information, and seek clarification when things are unclear. This will help you to reassess your beliefs and make a well-informed decision later. Read our article, Opening Closed Minds , for more ways to stay receptive.

Logical Thinking

You must be skilled at reasoning and extending logic to come up with plausible options or outcomes.

It's also important to emphasize logic over emotion. Emotion can be motivating but it can also lead you to take hasty and unwise action, so control your emotions and be cautious in your judgments. Know when a conclusion is "fact" and when it is not. "Could-be-true" conclusions are based on assumptions and must be tested further. Read our article, Logical Fallacies , for help with this.

Use creative problem solving to balance cold logic. By thinking outside of the box you can identify new possible outcomes by using pieces of information that you already have.

Self-Awareness

Many of the decisions we make in life are subtly informed by our values and beliefs. These influences are called cognitive biases and it can be difficult to identify them in ourselves because they're often subconscious.

Practicing self-awareness will allow you to reflect on the beliefs you have and the choices you make. You'll then be better equipped to challenge your own thinking and make improved, unbiased decisions.

One particularly useful tool for critical thinking is the Ladder of Inference . It allows you to test and validate your thinking process, rather than jumping to poorly supported conclusions.

Developing a Critical Thinking Mindset

Combine the above skills with the right mindset so that you can make better decisions and adopt more effective courses of action. You can develop your critical thinking mindset by following this process:

Gather Information

First, collect data, opinions and facts on the issue that you need to solve. Draw on what you already know, and turn to new sources of information to help inform your understanding. Consider what gaps there are in your knowledge and seek to fill them. And look for information that challenges your assumptions and beliefs.

Be sure to verify the authority and authenticity of your sources. Not everything you read is true! Use this checklist to ensure that your information is valid:

Are your information sources trustworthy ? (For example, well-respected authors, trusted colleagues or peers, recognized industry publications, websites, blogs, etc.)
Is the information you have gathered up to date ?
Has the information received any direct criticism ?
Does the information have any errors or inaccuracies ?
Is there any evidence to support or corroborate the information you have gathered?
Is the information you have gathered subjective or biased in any way? (For example, is it based on opinion, rather than fact? Is any of the information you have gathered designed to promote a particular service or organization?)

If any information appears to be irrelevant or invalid, don't include it in your decision making. But don't omit information just because you disagree with it, or your final decision will be flawed and bias.

Now observe the information you have gathered, and interpret it. What are the key findings and main takeaways? What does the evidence point to? Start to build one or two possible arguments based on what you have found.

You'll need to look for the details within the mass of information, so use your powers of observation to identify any patterns or similarities. You can then analyze and extend these trends to make sensible predictions about the future.

To help you to sift through the multiple ideas and theories, it can be useful to group and order items according to their characteristics. From here, you can compare and contrast the different items. And once you've determined how similar or different things are from one another, Paired Comparison Analysis can help you to analyze them.

The final step involves challenging the information and rationalizing its arguments.

Apply the laws of reason (induction, deduction, analogy) to judge an argument and determine its merits. To do this, it's essential that you can determine the significance and validity of an argument to put it in the correct perspective. Take a look at our article, Rational Thinking , for more information about how to do this.

Once you have considered all of the arguments and options rationally, you can finally make an informed decision.

Afterward, take time to reflect on what you have learned and what you found challenging. Step back from the detail of your decision or problem, and look at the bigger picture. Record what you've learned from your observations and experience.

Critical thinking involves rigorously and skilfully using information, experience, observation, and reasoning to guide your decisions, actions and beliefs. It's a useful skill in the workplace and in life.

You'll need to be curious and creative to explore alternative possibilities, but rational to apply logic, and self-aware to identify when your beliefs could affect your decisions or actions.

You can demonstrate a high level of critical thinking by validating your information, analyzing its meaning, and finally evaluating the argument.

Critical Thinking Infographic

See Critical Thinking represented in our infographic: An Elementary Guide to Critical Thinking .

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Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Code No. 8611 Spring 2019 Past Papers | AIOU

AIOU Past Papers »
B.Ed (1.5 Years) »
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) (8611) »
Spring 2019
Name Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional)
Code Number 8611
Year/Semester Spring 2019

Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Other Helping Material and Past Papers

Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Autumn 2021
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Spring 2019
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Spring 2018
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Autumn 2017
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Spring 2017
Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (Professional) Spring Model Papers 2021

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Human Development and Learning (Foundation) (8610)
Professionalism in Teaching (Professional) (8612)
Research Project (Content Embedded) (Professional) (8613)
Philosophy of Education (Foundation) (8609)
Educational Statistics (Professional) (8614)
Teaching Practice II (Professional) (8608)
Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615)
Teaching Practice I (Professional) (8607)

AIOU Code 1423 English-I Past Papers and Preparation Guide 2024

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Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

Developing technical and problem-solving skills
Engaging in more active listening
Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
Seeking out more diversity of thought
Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

What information should be included?
Which information resources should the author look to?
What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
What is the most effective way to show information?
How should the report be organized?
How should it be designed?
What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

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Global history is not just significant events on a timeline, it is also the ordinary, mundane moments that people experience in between. Graphic novels can capture this multidimensionality in ways that are difficult, and sometimes impossible, in more traditional media formats, says Stanford history professor Tom Mullaney .

Tom Mullaney, a professor of history in the School of Humanities and Sciences, uses graphic novels in his teachings to help students appreciate different experiences and perspectives throughout history. (Image credit: Ilmiyah Achmad)

Mullaney has incorporated graphic novels in some of his Stanford courses since 2017; in 2020, he taught a course dedicated to the study of world history through comic strip formats.

While graphic novels are not a substitute for academic literature, he said he finds them a useful teaching and research tool. They not only portray the impact of historic events on everyday lives, but because they can be read in one or two sittings, they get to it at a much faster rate than say a 10,000 word essay or autobiography could.

“It accelerates the process of getting to subtlety,” said Mullaney, a professor of history at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences . “There’s just so much you can do, and so many questions you can ask, and so many perspective shifts you can carry out – like that! You can just do it – you show them something, they read it and BOOM! It’s like an accelerant. It’s awesome.”

For example, in Thi Bui’s graphic novel The Best We Could Do , themes of displacement and diaspora emerge as she talks about her family’s escape from war-torn Vietnam to the United States. The illustrated memoir shows Bui’s upbringing in suburban California and the complicated memories her parents carry with them as they move about their new life in America. In other chapters, she depicts her mother and father back in Vietnam and what their own childhood was like amidst the country’s upheaval.

Graphic novels like The Best We Could Do and also Maus , Art Spiegelman’s seminal portrayal of his Jewish family’s experience during the Holocaust, illustrate the challenges and subtleties of memory – particularly family memory – and the entanglements that arise when narrating history, Mullaney said.

Graphic novels prime readers for the complexity of doing and reading historical research and how there is no simplistic, narrative arc of history. “When I read a graphic novel, I feel prepared to ask questions that allow me to go into the harder core, peer-reviewed material,” Mullaney said.

The everyday moments that graphic novels are exceptionally good at capturing also raise questions in the reader’s mind, Mullaney said. Readers sit in the family living room and at the kitchen table with Spiegelman and Bui and follow along as their characters try to understand what their parent’s generation went through and discover it’s not always easy to grasp. “Not everything mom and dad say makes sense,” said Mullaney.

These seemingly mundane moments also present powerful opportunities for inquiry. “The ordinary is where the explanation lives and where you can start asking questions,” Mullaney added.

Graphic novels can also depict how in periods of war and conflict, violence can become part of everyday existence and survival. The simplicity of the format allows heavy, painful experiences to emerge from a panel untethered and unweighted from lengthy descriptions or dramatizations.

“They’re banal. They’re not dramatic. There are no strings attached. In a work of nonfiction, in an article or book, it would be almost impossible to do that. There would have to be so much expository writing and so much description that you would lose the horror of it,” Mullaney said.

A ‘fundamental misunderstanding’

Graphic novels like Maus and The Best We Could Do were included in Mullaney’s 2020 Stanford class, Global History Through Graphic Novels .

In 2020, Tom Mullaney, a professor of history, taught Global History Through Graphic Novels , a course that paired graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus with archival materials and historical essays to examine modern world history from the 18th to the 21st century. He created a poster for the class, as shown here. (Image credit: Tom Mullaney)

In the course, Mullaney paired graphic novels with archival materials and historical essays to examine modern world history from the 18th to the 21st century.

The course syllabus also included the graphic novels Showa , Shigeru Mizuki ’s manga series about growing up in Japan before World War II, and Such a Lovely Little War , about Marcelino Truong’s experience as a child in Saigon during the Vietnam War.

Most recently, Mullaney has offered to teach a variation of the Stanford course to the public, free for high school and college students , this summer.

Registration for the online course opened shortly after news emerged and made international headlines that Maus was banned by a Tennessee school board for its depiction of nudity and use of swear words.

Within two days of Mullaney’s course registration opening, over 200 students from across the world signed up.

Mullaney believes that there is a “fundamental misunderstanding” about what young people can process when it comes to negotiating complex themes and topics – whether it is structural racism or the Holocaust. They just need some guidance, which he hopes as a teacher, he can provide.

“I think students of high school age or even younger, if they have the scaffolding they need – which is the job of educators to give them – they can handle the structural inequalities, darknesses and horrors of life,” he said.

Mullaney noted that many teenagers are already exposed to many of these difficult issues through popular media. “But they’re just doing it on their own and figuring it out for themselves – that’s not a good idea,” he said.

Mullaney said he hopes he can teach Global History Through Graphic Novels to Stanford students again this fall.

For Stanford scholars interested in learning more about the intersection of graphic novels and scholarship, there is a newly established working group through the Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, Comics, More than Words .

Media Contacts

Melissa De Witte, Stanford News Service: [email protected]

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AIOU Solved Thesis 8613 Developing Basic Skills Writing Skills

AIOU Solved Thesis 8613 Developing Basic Skills Writing Skills Pre-service teacher education in Pakistan has been criticized for being heavily content-ridden on the cost of ignoring practical aspects. No doubt, theoretical knowledge should be linked with classroom practices to make the teacher education programs more effective. The Higher Education Commission Pakistan suggested some radical changes in the teacher education programs. In the wake of the transformation, Allama Iqbal Open University is trying to equip its student-teachers with skills based on practical works under the supervision of experienced and highly qualified teachers. Research Project is one of such offerings to the students which will provide them some basic skills for being an effective classroom teacher. It is designed to provide them with a critical approach, scientific attitude, and reflective thinking. In the previous semesters, the students were offered ‘Research Methods in Education’, ‘Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices’ and ‘Teaching Practice-I’. The experiences from these courses will help the students to build their narrative and complete this research project.

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AIOU Solved Thesis 8613 Developing Basic Skills Writing Skills We have already learned that action research is a way of solving local problems by adopting steps of the scientific method. It is not uncommon that a teacher faces many problems of different natures during teaching and at the workplace. Action research provides more valid and reliable solutions to the problems faced by them at the classroom and institution level. So, mastering action research can be an important step in becoming a more effective teacher. Keeping in view the importance of action research in the professional life of the teachers, universities of the developed countries have made action research a part of teacher education programs. For setting higher standards of pre-service teacher education in Pakistan, Allama Iqbal Open University has also made it mandatory for B.Ed students to conduct action research and write a report. As action research targets learning teaching through researching teaching and based on some practical work, it provides an opportunity to change student-teachers’ beliefs based on practical experiences. It will help the students understand how the scientific method is used to solve classroom problems.

AIOU B.ED Thesis Manual Format Solved 8613 Research Project One of the most important considerations in action research is ‘context’ – that’s why we are not bothered about the generalization of the results. It is conducted in the context of the researcher and the problem relates to the personal context. The critical question of action research is mostly narrated in personal pronoun i.e. ‘I’ and ‘My’. For example, “How can I improve reading skills at primary level?” or “How can my teaching develop higher-order thinking among students at the elementary level?” Sticking to one’s own context provides another benefit. It provides an insight into the classroom and the institutional practices as a whole. The other major consideration of Action Research is the ‘reflection’ of the student-teacher. Action research at this level should be something meaningful to a student-teacher – lessons that can be carried with as a professional teacher to make you a wiser, smarter and more effective teacher. Once a student-teacher gets through action research, he/she gets to know and handle a scientific method to solve his/her professional problems rather than always looking for trial and error method. 2. Course Learning Outcomes 3. Introduction to Research Project AIOU B.ED Thesis Manual Format Solved 8613 Research Project The purpose of the research project is to engage student-teachers in the action research process. Action research helps student-teachers to begin a cycle of posing questions, gathering data, reflection, and deciding on a course of action. Research project helps to understand a particular problem or phenomenon along with strengthening their comprehension of the research process. They discover first-hand knowledge about (a) how the steps of the research process are interlinked, (b) develop an understanding and appreciation of how knowledge evolves, and (c) adds a contribution to the existing body of knowledge. The purpose of an action research project is either to solve a problem or to improve practice in education within local settings. The output of an action research project may provide immediate solutions to a problem at the classroom or school level. What is NOT action research? 4. Teaching-learning Methodology The research project is an activity-based course. The student-teacher will complete the research project under the guidance of a supervisor. It will be mandatory that the supervisor has at least an M.Phil degree in the field of Education. A person holding a degree of M.Phil / MS without thesis will NOT be eligible for supervision. Furthermore, M.Phil / Ph.D. degree holders in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, agriculture, languages, and Arts and Humanities will not supervise students’ project work. In extraordinary circumstances, the persons holding the required degree in some specific subjects of social sciences may be appointed as a supervisor but only with the prior approval of the Chairman, Department of Early Childhood Education and Elementary Teacher Education. Further:  A 3-day workshop will be held to share the concept and methodology of action research with the students. The students will be allotted their supervisors during this workshop. It is more advisable that the topic of research should also be finalized during this workshop. Workshop A 3-days workshop is a compulsory component of the course. At least 80% attendance in the workshop sessions is mandatory failing which the student will be disqualified for report submission and evaluation and he/she has to attend again the workshop. The workshop will be conducted by the concerned regional office. The Dean Faculty of Education may appoint some faculty members to visit the workshops, if needed, to convey to the coordinators/supervisors what is and what is not required from the students. During the workshop, the students will get acquainted with the purpose and procedure of action research. A coordinator and two supervisors will be appointed for the workshop. Only persons eligible to supervise the students will be involved in the workshop. They will also work as resource persons. Except in special circumstances, the number of students in a class should not exceed 75. It is recommended that the students should be distributed among the same three persons who were involved in the conduct of the workshop. First, two days of the workshop will be dedicated to the sessions regarding action research. On the third day of the workshop, the students will work with their supervisors to decide the topic and plan of their project. The recommended program of the workshop is given below. However, minor changes can be made to adjust to the local requirements.

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11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class

52 Critical Thinking Flashcards for Problem Solving

Critical thinking activities encourage individuals to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to develop informed opinions and make reasoned decisions. Engaging in such exercises cultivates intellectual agility, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and honing problem-solving skills for navigating an increasingly intricate world. Through critical thinking, individuals empower themselves to challenge assumptions, uncover biases, and constructively contribute to discourse, thereby enriching both personal growth and societal progress.

Critical thinking serves as the cornerstone of effective problem-solving, enabling individuals to dissect challenges, explore diverse perspectives, and devise innovative solutions grounded in logic and evidence. For engaging problem solving activities, read our article problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest.

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a 21st-century skill that enables a person to think rationally and logically in order to reach a plausible conclusion. A critical thinker assesses facts and figures and data objectively and determines what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking skills empower a person to decipher complex problems and make impartial and better decisions based on effective information.

Importance of Acquiring Critical Thinking Skills

Acquiring critical thinking skills was never as valuable as it is today because of the prevalence of the modern knowledge economy. Today, information and technology are the driving forces behind the global economy. To keep pace with ever-changing technology and new inventions, one has to be flexible enough to embrace changes swiftly.

Read our article: How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples

Today critical thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills by the companies. In fact, critical thinking skills are paramount not only for active learning and academic achievement but also for the professional career of the students. The lack of critical thinking skills catalyzes memorization of the topics without a deeper insight, egocentrism, closed-mindedness, reduced student interest in the classroom and not being able to make timely and better decisions.

Benefits of Critical Thinking Skills in Education

Certain strategies are more eloquent than others in teaching students how to think critically. Encouraging critical thinking in the class is indispensable for the learning and growth of the students. In this way, we can raise a generation of innovators and thinkers rather than followers. Some of the benefits offered by thinking critically in the classroom are given below:

It allows a student to decipher problems and think through the situations in a disciplined and systematic manner
Through a critical thinking ability, a student can comprehend the logical correlation between distinct ideas
The student is able to rethink and re-justify his beliefs and ideas based on facts and figures
Critical thinking skills make the students curious about things around them
A student who is a critical thinker is creative and always strives to come up with out of the box solutions to intricate problems
Critical thinking skills assist in the enhanced student learning experience in the classroom and prepares the students for lifelong learning and success
The critical thinking process is the foundation of new discoveries and inventions in the world of science and technology
The ability to think critically allows the students to think intellectually and enhances their presentation skills, hence they can convey their ideas and thoughts in a logical and convincing manner
Critical thinking skills make students a terrific communicator because they have logical reasons behind their ideas

Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities

11 Activities that Promote Critical Thinking in the Class

We have compiled a list of 11 activities that will facilitate you to promote critical thinking abilities in the students. We have also covered problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest in our another article. Click here to read it.

1. Worst Case Scenario

Divide students into teams and introduce each team with a hypothetical challenging scenario. Allocate minimum resources and time to each team and ask them to reach a viable conclusion using those resources. The scenarios can include situations like stranded on an island or stuck in a forest. Students will come up with creative solutions to come out from the imaginary problematic situation they are encountering. Besides encouraging students to think critically, this activity will enhance teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills of the students.

Read our article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

2. If You Build It

It is a very flexible game that allows students to think creatively. To start this activity, divide students into groups. Give each group a limited amount of resources such as pipe cleaners, blocks, and marshmallows etc. Every group is supposed to use these resources and construct a certain item such as building, tower or a bridge in a limited time. You can use a variety of materials in the classroom to challenge the students. This activity is helpful in promoting teamwork and creative skills among the students.

It is also one of the classics which can be used in the classroom to encourage critical thinking. Print pictures of objects, animals or concepts and start by telling a unique story about the printed picture. The next student is supposed to continue the story and pass the picture to the other student and so on.

4. Keeping it Real

In this activity, you can ask students to identify a real-world problem in their schools, community or city. After the problem is recognized, students should work in teams to come up with the best possible outcome of that problem.

5. Save the Egg

Make groups of three or four in the class. Ask them to drop an egg from a certain height and think of creative ideas to save the egg from breaking. Students can come up with diverse ideas to conserve the egg like a soft-landing material or any other device. Remember that this activity can get chaotic, so select the area in the school that can be cleaned easily afterward and where there are no chances of damaging the school property.

6. Start a Debate

In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and ideas on the topic. Conclude the debate with a viable solution or fresh ideas generated during the activity through brainstorming.

7. Create and Invent

This project-based learning activity is best for teaching in the engineering class. Divide students into groups. Present a problem to the students and ask them to build a model or simulate a product using computer animations or graphics that will solve the problem. After students are done with building models, each group is supposed to explain their proposed product to the rest of the class. The primary objective of this activity is to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills among the students.

8. Select from Alternatives

This activity can be used in computer science, engineering or any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. Introduce a variety of alternatives such as different formulas for solving the same problem, different computer codes, product designs or distinct explanations of the same topic.

Form groups in the class and ask them to select the best alternative. Each group will then explain its chosen alternative to the rest of the class with reasonable justification of its preference. During the process, the rest of the class can participate by asking questions from the group. This activity is very helpful in nurturing logical thinking and analytical skills among the students.

9. Reading and Critiquing

Present an article from a journal related to any topic that you are teaching. Ask the students to read the article critically and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the article. Students can write about what they think about the article, any misleading statement or biases of the author and critique it by using their own judgments.

In this way, students can challenge the fallacies and rationality of judgments in the article. Hence, they can use their own thinking to come up with novel ideas pertaining to the topic.

10. Think Pair Share

In this activity, students will come up with their own questions. Make pairs or groups in the class and ask the students to discuss the questions together. The activity will be useful if the teacher gives students a topic on which the question should be based.

For example, if the teacher is teaching biology, the questions of the students can be based on reverse osmosis, human heart, respiratory system and so on. This activity drives student engagement and supports higher-order thinking skills among students.

11. Big Paper – Silent Conversation

Silence is a great way to slow down thinking and promote deep reflection on any subject. Present a driving question to the students and divide them into groups. The students will discuss the question with their teammates and brainstorm their ideas on a big paper. After reflection and discussion, students can write their findings in silence. This is a great learning activity for students who are introverts and love to ruminate silently rather than thinking aloud.

Finally, for students with critical thinking, you can go to GS-JJ.co m to customize exclusive rewards, which not only enlivens the classroom, but also promotes the development and training of students for critical thinking.

Read our next article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

AIOU B.Ed Urdu Medium Books (PDF Download)

Here, we have shared the AIOU B.ed Book in Urdu medium for students’ exam preparation. The students can easily understand the topics by reading these B.ed Books. The AIOU B.ed Books Urdu Medium are available below

Monday, May 27, 2024

Elevate critical thinking with ai debates in the classroom.

You will choose the topic , the AI's persona , the AI's position on the topic, and who goes first.
Your class will then go back and forth debating the AI on the topic by stating their arguments and/or responding to the arguments of the AI.
This activity is an excellent way to foster critical thinking skills and dive deeper into subject-specific content .

ChatGPT - https://chat.openai.com/
Google Gemini - https://gemini.google.com/
Microsoft Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com/
Claude - https://claude.ai/
Mistral AI - https://mistral.ai/
Perplexity AI - https://www.perplexity.ai/
Pi AI - https://pi.ai/
Meta AI - https://www.meta.ai/
Topic - Let the AI know what the subject for the debate will be.
AI Position - Tell the AI which position it will be taking in the debate.
AI Persona - This is not required and can just be left out, but feel free to give the AI a role to play as well if that makes sense for the argument being made.
Student Ages - Let the AI know the age range for your class so it will respond with words and content that is appropriate for this age range.
Order - Finally let the AI know if it is starting the first argument, or if the class will open with the first argument.
Were pirates more like heroes or villains?
Should humans attempt to colonize Mars?
Should the voting age be lowered to 16?
Should schools adopt uniforms or allow free dress?
Is genetic modification of crops beneficial or harmful?
Is digital art real art?
Should we spend more money on space exploration or ocean exploration?
Are electric cars the future of transportation?
Is it better to live in a big city or a small town?
Was the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?
Is it better to read books or watch movies?
Should schools start later in the day to accommodate student sleep schedules?
What’s better - having a king or having a president?
Should students still learn cursive?
Are zoos good for animals?
Is there life on other planets?
Should animal testing be allowed for medical research?
Is graffiti art or vandalism?
Which is a better book between "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Perks of Being a Wallflower".
Is it important to learn a second language?
Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?
Are cats better pets than dogs?

The ABC's of AI: What Educators Need to Know - https://bit.ly/curts-ai
https://www.controlaltachieve.com/ai

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Critical thinking for critical care: Conner guides emergency care course at veterinary college

Kevin Myatt

28 May 2024

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(From left) Tyler Manning, Bobbi Conner, and Maureen Sroufe examining a dog.

Emergencies find everyone in life, eventually. The same is true in veterinary medicine, even for clinicians who have purposely gone into a field other than emergency care.

“We need to get our students comfortable with managing emergencies because even if they don't choose to go into emergency-specific veterinary medicine, they’re going to see emergencies,” said Bobbi Conner , clinical associate professor of emergency and critical care medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine . “If they’re going into clinical medicine, they’re going to see things that clients didn't realize was an emergency, or if they’re working in a rural area, people are going come to them with an emergency. So, for me, it's really important that all of our students have that foundation.”

Conner teaches the emergency and critical care (ECC) course, required for third-year students in small animal, mixed animal and public corporate tracks, and also is a key mentor and leader at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital for residents, interns and students in clerkships learning the ropes of emergency veterinary medicine.

Conner says that the word “critical” in the course’s name could just as easily be for critical thinking as it could be for critical emergencies.

“I focus a lot more on the why, rather than the what,” Conner said. “For their exams -- here's the scenario, tell me what you're going to do and justify your answer. And what they don't seem to believe until they go through it is that I'm going to grade them on their justification, not on their answer.”

Veterinary medicine is not just about making a diagnosis and prescribing a pre-determined treatment from rote memory of facts and figures. Multiple treatments are potentially effective for the same diagnosis in the same animal, with possibly differing results from case to case. And then there are clients’ finances, limited resources, and ethics to consider, all of which are amplified in the crucible of emergency care requiring quick decisions with animals’ lives and human emotions at stake.

“So what about when you've got two patients who both need a transfusion, but you've got one unit of blood?” Conner asked rhetorically. “That’s happened to me many times, and so I ask them now, what are you going to do? How are you going to choose?”

Veterinary medicine also doesn’t avoid people – human interactions can be at their most intense with the welfare of beloved pets on the line, and Conner’s course helps students learn how to manage those interactions.

“You get really challenging things in the ER that you don't necessarily see in general practice,” said Anna Horowitz, a Class of 2025 veterinary student from Bethesda, Maryland. “People are under a ton of stress. They love their pets, this may be the worst day of people's lives. In the ER you will meet the angriest, the saddest, and the most intense people you will ever meet. So it's good to talk about how to manage those and I think it's really good she focuses entire lectures on that.”

Horowitz originally aspired to be an equine veterinarian, but quickly changed her course after spending a summer during her undergraduate college years in Vermont at an emergency veterinary hospital. That eventually led her to the veterinary college at Virginia Tech with ambitions to pursue a career in emergency veterinary care.

“This is my life,” Horowitz said. “I am amazed by the variety of the different types of cases you see every day. Every once in a while, something is going to walk in and you’re thinking ‘I have never seen that before.’”

Amy Lin, a 2024 veterinary college graduate from Northern Virginia, isn’t decided yet on whether she wants to enter emergency care or steer more toward veterinary oncology, but she said she has benefited from Conner’s teaching and influence.

“She's really actively thinking of ways to help us learn these concepts, to present them in a fun and interactive way,” said Lin, who will be undertaking an internship at a veterinary clinic in New York City to further her experience. “She made it very applicable to clinical reasoning. It wasn't just here’s the science behind it, it’s more about what you will see when you’re out there. This is the logic pattern, your thought process when you approach this. Which I really thought was a new perspective. What is the animal telling you? And just based off of that, what can you do to help the animal?”

Andrew Mann

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Blacksburg, Va.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program
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