Critical thinking Lecture-AGB-2023.pptx

Critical Thinking… …and the Scientific Method Think on these things…  How do I make decisions?  How do I solve problems?  Do I really check the evidence?  Do I just follow the trend?  Do I just follow my “mind”?  Do I ask for a second opinion?  Do I just stick to one method? Consider the foll...

Critical Thinking… …and the Scientific Method Think on these things…  How do I make decisions?  How do I solve problems?  Do I really check the evidence?  Do I just follow the trend?  Do I just follow my “mind”?  Do I ask for a second opinion?  Do I just stick to one method? Consider the following problem  “Danielle is in the Science and Technology faculty. She was always considered to be the smart one in high school and so she came to UWI full of confidence. She, however did not do as well as she expected but she passed all her courses and is going into second year. Danielle knows that she can’t study for long hours, but she knows she can get good grades. She just needs to be more focused. She is now ready to begin second year with a new mind-set! “I’m going to be focused now and get my A’s” she said, full of confidence.” Critical thinking defined  The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking : “an intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Obstacles to critical thinking  Inflexible focus on previous situations  Being affected by emotions  Not prioritizing facts  Allowing extraneous situations to influence thinking  Not considering alternatives  Ignoring pertinent information  Overreliance on personal abilities  Pride  Self deception (E.g., Excessive rationalisation) 6 Basic Steps to Achieve Critical Thinking  Acquiring Knowledge: Is there a problem?; Identifying the problem; understanding the problem.  Comprehension: understanding the situation/facts; gathering data; accepting a deadline  Application: building a relationship between the information and the resources available 6 Basic Steps to Achieve Critical Thinking  Analyze: identify strengths, weaknesses, challenges in solving problem.  Synthesize: develop routes to solving the problem; multiple solutions prioritized  Take Action: Acting on the developed direction. Critical thinking and the Scientific Method  Scientific  Method: A set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion  This allows us to overcome our own biases (especially the confirmation bias).  Six critical thinking principles will be emphasized. Ruling out rival hypotheses  Have important alternate explanations for the finding been considered? In evaluating a claim, one should ensure that all other explanations have been considered. E.g., The longer you sleep the more likely you will be able to remember what you have studied. Correlation isn’t causation  Can we be sure A causes B?  Not because two occurrences appear to be related should we assume that one causes the other.  E.g., Sometimes when I get wet by rain, I get sick. Rain causes me to get sick. Falsifiability  Can the claim be disproven?  Every claim must be capable of being disproven.  E.g., Every human being has soul. Replicability  Can the results be duplicated in other studies? Until a claim can be duplicated consistently it is still likely that its occurrence could be due to chance. E.g., After running an experiment with 20 people you conclude that drinking coffee reduces the risk of cancer. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence  Is the evidence as convincing as the claims? The more a claim contradicts what we already know, the stronger the evidence for this claim must be for it be accepted E.g., Aliens from outer space. Occam’s razor  Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well?  Parsimony:  logical simplicity When confronted with two equally convincing arguments use the simpler one. It may not always be correct, but it will more likely lead to a more accurate choice. “Keep it simple, stupid” (KISS) E.g., A drunk man explaining that he just saw an angel.