Critical Thinking: Need and Approaches

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Critical thinking, as defined by Robert Ennis, an American Philosopher, is a reflective and reasonable thinking process, which is often shaped by knowledge, attitude, and skills possessed by an individual (Kurfiss, 1988). In the present world, the technological advancements have been changing the lives of people and reducing reliability in terms of facts memorization, due to which the ability to reflect and analyze a particular scenario to extract solutions to the problems is a need that education should impart to the students of the 21st century. 

Why Think Critically?

With large availability of open data from various sources, the need to segregate information based on its truthfulness and relevance is an important one in the present scenario (Halpern, 1999; as cited in Almeida and Franco, 2011). Further, critical thinking as a cognitive ability tends to capacitate in dispersing ideas and conducting meaningful dialogue with others in a particular topic (Brady, 2008; as cited in Almeida and Franco, 2011). As discussed by A'sari (2014), critical thinking allows an individual to be more honest with themselves with proper analysis of information provided to them, challenges them to solve problems, conduct evidence-based judgments, avoid extremist views and capacitates in controlling feelings over the feelings controlling them. 

How to Think Critically?

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Critical thinking is all about thinking in a smart manner, through validation and cross-checking the facts that are presented to them. As A'sari (2014) suggests, the process of critical thinking involves seven steps which include objective understanding of others claims, understanding of the assumptions, evaluating the validity between assumptions and claims, examining appropriateness of assumptions and claims, deciding validity among claims and assumption, collective evidence for alternative generation and elegant presentation of the alternatives to the other parties. In simple terms, critical thinking involves gathering information, processing and analyzing it and presenting the findings as well as conclusions for providing independent insights and opinions for better problem-solving. 

At Canopy Nepal, EIC (abbreviation of formerly known as English Improvement Classes) is primarily focused on improving the ability of school going students in reading, writing and speaking with the integration of ability to evaluate information. With over 900 graduates, comprising up of 15-20 grade 6 to 9 students in each series,  both from public as well as private schools, findings related to their improved ability to analyze the information they are provided allowing them to provide their own insights on it is the key trait seen in all the students tutored in these classes. 

The EIC participants sit through the month-long after school sessions and build on their creativity and critical thinking skills. The sessions conducted with the main motto to let them enjoy while learning through fun-filled games and activities every day. With such initiatives, we aim to break the rote-learning culture in the mainstream education system and develop intelligent, critical thinkers of the society. 

References

da Silva Almeida, L., & Rodrigues Franco, A. H. (2011). Critical thinking: Its relevance for education in a shifting society. 

As’ari, A. R. (2014, April). Ideas for developing critical thinking at primary school level. In International Seminar on Addressing Higher Order Thinking: University of Muhammadiyah Makasar.

Kurfiss, J. G. (1988). Critical Thinking: Theory, Research, Practice, and Possibilities. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 2, 1988. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports, The George Washington University, One Dupont Circle, Suite 630, Dept. RC, Washington, DC 20036-1183.

Written by: Pransu Khakurel (Canopy Nepal)

Edited by: Urishna Shakya (Canopy Nepal)

Canopy Nepal is a team of visionary youths working in the field of education, skill and leadership development, diversity and inclusion. We seek to improve quality and efficiency on the learners and reshaping the way they learn.

Attending a Class in Government School of Kathmandu: A case of Nepali Class In Grade X of Nandi Secondary School, Naxal.

Illustration: Ratna Sagar Shrestha

On 9 May 2018, I went to Nandi Secondary School, Naxal for my assignment on "Observation of the Education Program led by teachers". To complete this assignment I attended a class by Ms. Prabha Pant, who was taking her Nepali Class in Grade 10. Interestingly, the class content for the day was an essay on sustainable development, which happens to be a topic of my interest and course of study. The class started with an interactive session where the existing concept of students on sustainable development was assessed. Overall, the class was interactive, filled with curiosity towards the content and the students' participated well in the class activities. The teacher was also empathetic, had great knowledge about the content and allowed her students to express their ideas on the subject matter. I liked the way the teacher critically appreciated and logically dealt the ideas given on the concept of the content while giving the examples based on the life experiences and the school activities conducted which made the students easy to understand. The best part of the class was she asked a few students to volunteer and summarize the content taught in the class to assess their learnings, which promoted the students to reflect their learnings in the classroom. 

Throughout my stay in the class, I realized that the teacher was very conscious about my presence in the class and I felt that her behavior towards the class was due to my presence. To know the real scenario, I approached a few students personally, who said that she always taught the same way as on that day. They also said that the teacher was approachable and answered their queries immediately. When I asked them about the types of assignment, they told me that most of her assignments are based on the text and some of them are creative assignments based on context and various occasions (Eg. Writing an essay or presenting posters on protecting the environment when the environment day is approaching). After talking to these students, I personally approached the teacher and asked about the difference between the general tendency of those students on a regular day and on that specific class (in which I had attended). I was glad to hear that the students are always highly participative, curious and interactive, as they were on that day.

Overall, the class was very interesting and highly participative. The teaching style (in terms of delivery, content, and punctuality) was appreciable and the responding attitude of the teacher towards the students was impressive. For me, the best part of the lecture was when the teacher was trying to know what they had learned in the lecture, to assess their understanding and clarify the doubts they had in the lecture towards the end.

Author: Pransu Khakurel (Canopy Nepal)

Pransu is a development enthusiast, passionate about development through educational transformation and is currently working in Canopy Nepal as a Programs Assistant. She is also undertaking her undergraduate studies in Development Studies at National College.  

Canopy Nepal is a team of visionary youths working in the field of education, skill and leadership development, diversity and inclusion. We seek to improve the quality and efficiency of education by focusing on learners and reshaping the way they learn. 

THE EARLY CHANGE-MAKERS

We would like to put forward some questions for teenagers!

Have you ever tried to step out from your comfort zone?  What do you want to achieve in your life? Have you ever done anything worth for society? Do you believe that teenagers can do something at an early age?

Yes, these questions might sound direct but true; Is there are some teenagers who are the actual change-makers? They are not just studying, but following their passion towards betterment of the society and the country as a whole. The work that they have been doing really impress each individual to think about their confidence and dedication in early age.

The interesting thing is as we can see, teenagers are becoming bold nowadays, they are more interested to link up to a constructive platform to grow themselves. The passion to be something and bring a positive impact in society has totally amazed us. Likewise, to recognize the teenager’s initiation Glocal Pvt. Ltd. has initiated Glocal Teen Hero.

Glocal Teen Hero is exclusively for the teenagers which recognize teenager’s initiation. It is a fully-funded program for Nepali Teenagers who are working to create a ripple effect in the society besides academics. Every year Glocal Teen Hero organize award event in 1st of September and recognize the passionate teenagers around the nation.

This year we received 598 total no. of application and among them 20 fantastic teenagers have been selected as an “Early Change Maker”. Top 20 is titled as “Glocal’s 20under20” of 2019. The 20 teenagers under the age of 20 years are the game-changers who have done something worth and have became an inspiration to others life. Glocal’s ‘20under20’ aims to recognize these enthusiastic young souls who have the vision to do something ordinary in the most extra-ordinary way possible. We believe in their dreams and want to acknowledge these diverse talents who hold the potential to be the change-makers and future leaders.

The prominent teenagers are selected from the diverse field and has marked as one of the inspirational personalities throughout the nation. The work they have been doing proves that age is just a number.  Some at the very small age, working for child rights activism, conducting awareness on Dowry system, Child labor, Untouchability, caste discrimination, etc. Some teenagers as a social activist working for the environment; introducing the green campaign, and some are working for the development of tourism in their place and also conducting awareness regarding Quality education. In addition to this, one of Glocal's 20under20 has been organizing campaigns regarding personal hygiene and maintenance and the other working on providing sanitary materials, food, and stationery, lifestyle, sports equipment’s for orphanages in Nepal to remove hunger and to improve the condition of children homes in Nepal. Our teens are not just the winners, but they have set up a great example in society. They are not just an activist but are leading the organization as Founder, running successful projects.

Moreover, there are teens working under specific SDGs Goals. The young teens are young entrepreneurs and some are tech educator. We also have winners who are young innovators who had even made robots and a new system which can be useful. These young minds are so creative and smart enough to handle the projects as a project coordinator. A teen as a conservationist, a teen as a role model in the society, a teen talking about issues of society being Radio Jockey, teens linked to media, teens who are the young innovator, software developers, etc. shows some of the features of what our Glocal’s 20under20 actually are. Likewise, some teens are also awarded by the titles which actually defines their exemplary role in the society.

Therefore, the teens have touched every field where they have proved “Age is just a number.” A teenager is a phase to discover what you are, what your life is about, and what you want to be as a person, after all, it is an intense phase. But despite the intense age, the teens are able to do something impactful work in society.


Glocal Teen Hero Nepal
https://nepal.glocalteenhero.com/


Glocal Pvt. Ltd. is a company which works as online media, CSR and Brand consultant, also focusing on training and development through the recognized body; Glocal After School and adding to growth and development of entrepreneurship and youth through various projects like Glocal Teen Hero and Glocal International Teen Conference.