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When Sonali was in Class 8, she hated studying history because she couldn't memorize dates and other details.
So once when her history teacher told the class they didn’t have to memorize every fact for an exam but make connections between ideas and evaluate the information critically, she was overjoyed. The teacher was basically encouraging critical thinking among the students.
Even people who read a lot are sometimes unable to critically evaluate texts and are confused about how to improve their thinking skills.
How many times have you just accepted a fact or an idea without questioning it? Sometimes? Or maybe even often?
Many people don’t question things because it’s just easier to agree with them. Or perhaps because they’re afraid they might appear ‘stupid’.
But it’s important to question all ideas and arguments and not accept them at face value. As Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
That is the essence of critical thinking. Critical thinking is generally associated with ancient philosophers such as Plato and Socrates.
But it isn’t just a philosophy; it’s a real-life skill you need for success at work and in life. It’s about cutting through the clutter and thinking things through to make decisions.
If you are wondering how to improve critical thinking skills, the Thinking Critically course by Harappa Education can come to your aid. It will help you develop critical thinking. The course talks not only about how to improve critical thinking skills but also imparts several tried and tested techniques that are highly essential for developing thinking skills.
The Deep-dive Questions framework in this course arms you with the techniques to ask impactful questions so that you are able to analyze and understand situations better.
You can start with simple tips for developing thinking skills. We help you do so:
How To Improve Critical Thinking Skills?
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Be aware of your thinking process
Have you ever been in awe of the speed of the human brain? Mental shortcuts can ease things up, but they could be disastrous for the process of critical thinking.
So as you develop critical thinking, you must be aware of your prejudices and how they influence your decisions and solutions.
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Ask basic questions
Have you ever been in a situation when the explanation becomes so complex that the original question is sidetracked? Think of political debates on TV shows. Whether it’s on social media, in real life, or in your head, noise kills the possibility of thinking critically.
If you are wondering how to improve the thinking skills, ask these basic questions while you are solving the problem at hand:
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What do you already know?
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Where did you get the information from?
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What are you trying to prove, demonstrate, or critique?
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What facts or information are you overlooking?
The answers to these questions can be extremely helpful for developing thinking skills.
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Question basic assumptions
Have you ever wondered how scientists such as Einstein and Newton came up with their innovations? In short: by questioning the basic assumptions.
Questioning basic assumptions about anything—whether it’s the road trip you’ve been planning or the hobby you want to take up or applying for the job you have been eyeing for a long time—will help you figure out if it’s feasible and take appropriate action. Critically evaluating your assumptions about anything is important. So, learn how to improve thinking skills to make some wise decisions.
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Evaluate the evidence
Suppose you come across an online study about the health benefits of a sugary cereal you really like. You go ahead and buy it only to regret later when you find out that the study was funded by the company that sells the cereal.
So as you are working on how to improve thinking skills, don’t let your assumptions get the best of you. Question your prejudices and presumptions and evaluate information critically. Otherwise, you can easily reach the wrong conclusion.
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Remember to think for yourself
Thanks to the internet, you can collect information just about anything. But don’t immerse yourself completely in research and reading and forget to come up with new ideas. This can happen when writing articles. It’s easy to get lost in other people’s work while researching and blocking off fresh ideas.
Don’t make such mistakes. Always think for yourself, especially when you are answering tough questions.
Now that we have discussed how to improve thinking skills with examples, you must have understood the importance of critical thinking inside and outside the meeting room. So, you might want to develop critical thinking skills. The first step to developing critical thinking would be to join Harappa Education’s Thinking Critically course. It is the perfect answer to how to improve thinking skills. Keep in mind that learning to think critically is a long journey, and there’s always more to learn.
Explore topics such as Critical Thinking, Examples of Critical Thinking & Ladder of Inference from our Harappa Diaries blog section and develop your strategic thinking skills.
