Critical thinking is at the core of learning and, by extension, education. Without these critical thinking skills, one cannot truly progress and acquire knowledge of the objective reality. It helps people differentiate between accurate information, logical connection, and misinformation, misguided conclusions. In other words, critical thinking is the process of evaluating, analyzing, interpreting, and questioning the data to make an accurate judgment about it. Alsaleh (2020) argues that the educational systems in the Western world are built on the foundations of these processes that can be traced down to how students write argumentative essays. In my experience, after learning about critical thinking, I applied it to my research. Critical thinking allowed me to improve on my studies and research, and become a better communicator and possibly more informed citizen.
From acquiring the correct data to forming an argument, I actively use critical thinking skills in my everyday life and research. Humans constantly receive information from their environment, and the modern Internet age only increased the volumes of incoming abstract facts. However, no technology can make the right and objective judgment for a person, as it only can provide data for this decision. Therefore, critical thinking skills helped me to analyze news and recognize the fallacies in some narratives in news.
Analyzing news became a starting point for applying critical thinking skills in my studies and research. As examining the news became easy for me, I became more interested and began researching some of my interests. This process of gathering information is when I started to need my critical thinking knowledge even more. It helped me not only to find reliable sources but narrow down the focus on the issues of my interest. I continue researching, but I think that the structural lesson from critical thinking will facilitate my future progress. In other words, I will go on to the communication and problem-solving stages, expressing my ideas to the community and proposing solutions.
This self-focused and interest-driven research process allowed me to realize that the whole educational system is based on critical thinking concepts. To succeed, students must apply these skills to almost all their assignments and courses (Alsaleh, 2020). It is apparent why the system is built this way, as critical thinking is the foundation of learning. Nevertheless, this realization allowed me to see how I already unconsciously was using these lessons as a part of the procedures in preparation for assignments. One of the most obvious products of critical thinking is an argumentative essay, as the students use the skills to gather reliable data, form judgment, and present it with solutions.
As I recognized that the argumentation base is critical thinking, I became a better debater and communicator. Now I know to express my opinion clearer and explain my evidence. I try to walk the audience through my research process using critical thinking, and I see improved results in their response. People need to see the underlying reasons and sources of information to accept the argument, as human tends to favor rationality consciously. Therefore, I believe that it assisted me in becoming a better orator.
Overall, I can see how critical thinking is helping me now to be a better student, communicator, and young researcher. The reason is that critical thinking is the foundation of learning. It is essential for our world filled with more incoming information. I can see how I can apply it in the future to my future research, career, and even choices as an informed citizen, as I learned to analyze the news.
References
Alsaleh, N. J. (2020). Teaching Critical Thinking Skills: Literature Review. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 19(1), 21-39.