Stages of Critical Thinking

HUM/114 Version 5

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Stages of Critical Thinking
Part 1: Stages of Critical Thinking
Complete the matrix by identifying the four beginning stages of critical thinking as detailed in Critical
Thinking.
Stages of critical thinking

Stage description

The Unreflective Thinker

Examine your thinking to identify problems that affect your

thinking. Deceiving yourself about the effectiveness of my
thinking.
Realizing that your thinking is not perfect and understand
that there is a need to develop awareness of how thinking
operates.
Making attempts to better understand you can take
charge of and improve your thinking. Recognizing and
changing the problems in your thinking along with ways
to develop as a thinker.
Actively analyzing your thinking in a number or ways.
Developing awareness of the need for systematic practice
in thinking.

The Challenged Thinker

The Beginning Thinker

The Practicing Thinker

Part 2: Your Thinking

Write a 75- to 150-word explanation of your current level of critical-thinking development, and explain why
you placed yourself at that stage.

I feel I am in the challenged thinker stage because I am aware of the importance of critical
thinking skills in my life. I understand the basic problems that come from my poor thinking. I feel
that I have developed a variety of skills in thinking without being aware of them. These skills are
inconsistently applied to parts of my life because of the lack of self-monitoring of my thoughts.
Prejudices and misconceptions often undermine the quality my thoughts, so I feel there is still
plenty room for improvement in this stage. I hope that I can move beyond the challenged thinker
stage and grow beyond deceiving myself about the effectiveness of my thinking.

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