Critical Thinking Principles

Critical Thinking Principles
Prepare: In preparation for discussing the importance of critical thinking skills, please read Chapters 1 through 3 of Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills, as well as the following articles: “Critical Thinking and the Challenges of Internet,” “Common Misconceptions of Critical Thinking,” and “Making Decisions in an Uncertain World.”

Reflect: Critical thinking gets you involved in a dialogue with the ideas you read from others in this class. To be a critical thinker, you need to be able to summarize, analyze, hypothesize, and evaluate the new information that you encounter.
Write: For this discussion

  • Define, describe, and explain the principles of critical thinking.
  • Search the Internet, media, or the Ashford University Library, and find an example of good, careful (critical) thinking, and explain why you think it exemplifies strong critical thinking skills. Post a link or reference information for that source, describe the content, and explain how it is a good example of critical thinking.
  • Search the Internet, media, or the Ashford University Library and find an example that lacks good, careful (critical thinking). Post a link or reference information for that source, describe the content, and explain why you think it demonstrates poor critical thinking skills.
  • Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references.
  • Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length.