A Quantitative Study in Critical Thinking Skills amongst Local Emergency Managers
Critical thinking for office managers
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Transcript of Critical thinking for office managers
GOLD REEF CITY
CHARLES COTTER16 AUGUST 2012
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW Introduction
Introductory activity – “Ice Breaker”
Defining Critical Thinking
Video clip: Critical Thinking
Understanding the characteristics of Critical Thinking
Value of Critical Thinking
Defining Critical Thinking Skills
Critical Thinking Process
Guidelines on how to improve your Critical Thinking Skills
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY 1. How do you put a giraffe into your refrigerator?
2. How do you put an elephant into your refrigerator?
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend - except one. Which animal does not attend?
4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?
CORRECT ANSWERSQuestion 1: Open the refrigerator, put in the
giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do
simple things in an overly complicated way. Question 2: Did you say, Open the refrigerator,
put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong answer. Correct answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door.
This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.
CORRECT ANSWERSQuestion 3: The elephant. The elephant is in the
refrigerator. You just put him in there.
This tests your memory.
Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.
Question 4: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the animal conference.
This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.
CONSOLATION PRIZE
According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals tested got all questions wrong.
CRITICAL THINKING – LEARNT LESSONSTendency not to do simple things in an overly
complicated way (FOCUS and SIMPLICITY)
Think through the repercussions of your previous actions (ANALYSIS and REFLECTION)
Ability to remember (MEMORIZATION and RECALL)
Learn quickly from your mistakes (AVID and ACTIVE LEARNER)
DEFINING CRITICAL THINKINGCritical thinking is a type of thinking that
questions assumptions
It is a way of deciding whether a claim is always true, sometimes true, partly true, or false
Critical thinking is an important component of most professions e.g. Office Management
“Reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do“
DEFINING CRITICAL THINKING
“The intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully 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"
ARE YOU AN EFFECTIVE CRITICAL THINKER?
GIVE YOURSELF A RATING ON A SCALE OF 1-5 FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE CHARACTERISTICS
Irrespective of the sphere of thought, "a well-cultivated critical thinker“ exhibits the following characteristics:
Raises important questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
Gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively
Comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
Thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
Communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems, without being unduly influenced by others' thinking on the topic
VALUE OF CRITICAL THINKINGCritical thinking:
Clarifies goalsExamines assumptionsDiscerns hidden valuesEvaluates evidenceAccomplishes actionsAssesses conclusions
VIDEO CLIP: CRITICAL THINKINGKey learning points
Critical thinking 2.htm
VALUE OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLSFor a Office Manager:
Problem-solvingDecision-makingEvaluating proposalsOrganizing events and processes Prioritizing CommunicationResolving conflict and disputesInformation processing
CRITICAL THINKING PROCESSCritical thinking calls for the ability to:
Recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems
Understand the importance of prioritization and order of precedence in problem solving
Gather and marshal pertinent (relevant) information
Recognize unstated assumptions and valuesComprehend and use language with accuracy,
clarity, and discernmentInterpret data, to appraise evidence and
evaluate arguments
CRITICAL THINKING PROCESSCritical thinking calls for the ability to:
Recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions
Draw warranted conclusions and generalizations
Put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives
Reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience
Render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life
GUIDELINES ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
Remove all bias when thinking critically.
You must learn to play devil's advocate with yourself in order to get the truest possible solution.
Use your critical-thinking abilities for smaller problems, and then gradually move to bigger problems.
Play critical-thinking games, such as Sudoku or chess.
Try having amicable debates with friends or family. Take the position to which you would normally be opposed in order to really exercise your critical-thinking abilities.
“Curiosity killed the cat”
Buddhist mind-set
Utilize group-based problem solving techniques
“Outside of the box” thinking
Thinking creatively – whole brain thinking – integrate left and right brain hemispheres
CONCLUSIONSummary of key points
Questions
CONTACT DETAILS084 562 9446
Linked In http://za.linkedin.com/pub/charles-cotter/38/175/875