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Critical Thinking 200 provides unlimited learning
opportunities in a subject that is crucial for career
survival and success, and for higher levels of academic
achievement and personal satisfaction.
This one of
Free-Ed.Net's signature "unlimited opportunity" learning
programs. You are the sole judge of the depth and
quality of your work in this program. Although there
appears to be a particular arrangement of study modules,
you determine where you begin and you determine where
you go from there and how long you stay.
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 The primary purpose of the warm-up phase is to
make certain you have the general background knowledge that is necessary for
exploring deeper into the subject. It also gives you a chance to find some common
ground between your best learning style and the way information is handled at
Free-Ed.Net. To put it more simply, the warm-up phase gives you a running start
for this study program.
It is important that you grasp the "bigger
picture" here. Don't obsess over details. You will later discover which details
are important and which are not. Certainly, when you find something that seems interesting
or especially important, make some notes in your
Learning Journal. But don't get
bogged down. You will deal with this stuff with more rigor later on.
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A word of wisdom:
You need to apply the principles of critical thinking to
your study of, uh-h-h ... critical thinking.
Digging-In Phase
 Now
you are ready to begin digging deeper into the subject. You are going through
the subject matter again — from the beginning. But this time you will be paying
closer attention to the way things are put together.
Keep in mind that you aren't cramming for an exam for
these resources. In fact, if you find you are trying
desperately to memorize stuff, you aren't doing it right. Relax, learn, and
enjoy learning.
Activity:
Assuming you are an active online
learner, you will want to do web searches for
critical thinking. Perhaps you have tried it
already. Try it again anyway. Drag-and-drop
critical thinking to the search box below.
Of course you see maybe 100-million results. You are
aware that virtually all of them are useless for any
number of reasons. Check them out, and see how many
refer specifically to class work—using
critical thinking to do better in school. They might
be useful, but only in a limited, shallow sense.
Also look for the sites where critical thinking
becomes an obsessive way of life. In these
instances, you get the feeling that you can't get
out of bed in the morning without going through a
list of logical warning signs.
You know you are making progress when you are able
to discern responsible and effective presentations
of critical thinking.
Spend some time with this course material:
A word of wisdom:
Critical thinking is most effective when we aren't
thinking about it.
 It's
time to cover the subject again ... yes, from the beginning. This time, however,
you are looking for some sparks of understanding and inspiration that push you into a
new dimension of comprehension. You are no longer struggling to memorize
details, but rather seeking a certain kind of truth that is unique to the
subject. Once that truth is found, details make sense and no longer dominate
your thinking. New concepts develop more naturally, and you begin seeing beyond
the learning materials.
Spend some time with this
course material:
Home Brew Some Knowledge:
Critical thinking is an internal process that
takes place inside your skull. However, a brain that
is isolated from the outside world is virtually
useless. Thus, your critical thinking agenda must
give serious consideration to your own mechanisms
for handling information in and information out.
On the information-input side:
- Locate and study some references for finding
and organizing information in the information
age.
- Answer these questions: What is the role of
librarians in the information age? What is an
information aggregator?
On the information-output side:
- Strengthen your communication skills,
particularly the written skills such as grammar
and composition.
Advanced Assignments:
See if you can determine if and how an
understanding of cognitive psychology might
enhance critical thinking abilities.
As you study more mathematics and refine
your critical thinking skills, notice how your
perspectives on those two subjects grow in their
similarities. If you are like many people, you are
initially unaware of any significant relationship
between the two.
 You have done your work.
You have gotten this far. The previous phase was intense and probably trying.
Maybe you thought about quitting a couple of times. That's okay. We all get to
that point now and then. But now is the time to cool down.
There is no occupational category or career path
known as critical thinker; but it is, or
should be, a vital part of many occupations and
career paths. For this reason, you will find
that most career advisories at Free-Ed.Net include
the Critical Thinking 100 or Critical Thinking 200
study plans.
Ok, here's an outside-the-box question for you: What
do you get when you combine critical thinking with
communication skills and library/information science?
The answer is: you get a knowledge aggregator--a
career description that is so new and unique that it
isn't in the books yet. A knowledge aggregator scours
the web for all sorts of information that has any
bearing on a particular topic (library/information
science). This person then sorts and evaluates the
information (critical thinking skills), and then
packages it for presentation in a clear and concise form
(communication skills). Knowledge aggregators can be
employed by corporations or run their own independent
knowledge-contracting businesses. We will soon see
entire enterprises—knowledge
brokerages—springing up to provide fresh packages of
information for business, education, government,
military, engineering, the arts and science.
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