Have you ever said something really funny and then suddenly wondered where your words came from? Or where the idea came from?

Have you ever thought about how you think? Or how you have solved problems that at first seemed impossible?

Take a minute or two or three to try and sum up how you think. You can use the questions below as a starting point.

• Are there things that you do without even thinking? What are they? How does that happen?
• What's the difference between things you do without thinking and things you do that you have to think about?
• Have you ever tried and tried to solve a problem for what seems like days, and then suddenly when you are not thinking, the answer just pops into your head?
• Do you have a set of strategies to solve different types of problems?
• Do you think your learning style (Remember Chapter 1 in Master Student) affects the way you think?
• Do you think you or anyone could learn thinking skills?
• What is a critical thinker?

OK, have you thought about all that? Phew!

What is Critical thinking?

Becoming a Master Student defines Critical Thinking and Critical Thinkers as

an approach to the world, a way of life that goes beyond skill or technique. Critical thinkers have hearts as well as heads, and their overall attitudes or habits of mind are at least as important as their arsenal of skills.
Critical thinkers trust their own reasoning, give fair-minded consideration to other's points of view, and even approach serious thinking in the spirit of play.

How close was your definition of critical thinking? You may not have included all the points above, but I'm sure your definition included a few of the ideas.

If we just take a few of the words in the definition we may be left with:

approach...heart and head...attitude...trust reasoning....fair..and play

This might tell us that we have to look at issues from head and heart, to have confidence and to be serious but to make thinking fun!

Sometimes it feels like my brain is full!
Now where did I leave the keys?