Reply to How to teach critical thinking

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think you are confusing a lot of different concepts.  Socratic inquiry (a method) and critical thinking (a skill) and problem solving (a different skill) and math problems are all different things.  Often people say critical thinking when they mean problem solving or logic.

Critical thinking is being "critical of" - thinking about, challenging the truth of - an issue or argument.  It involves asking, for example, who made a decision, why, who benefited, who didn't, what would have happened differently if you changed one key fact, etc.  The focus is on reasoning and supporting your points: there may or may not be a correct answer.  My private high school taught it well, IMO, but teachers often use "controversial" literature and historical inquiry to get at these concepts and so I think schools today are getting hammered by the culture wars when they try.

Problem solving can involve critical thinking, but usually doesn't need to.  For example, logic problems are usually classified as problem solving not critical thinking -- "how do you get 3 animals across the river in 2 boat trips" may have multiple right answers but it doesn't really have a lot of room for critical inquiry.[/quote]

OP literally asked about critical thinking AND problem solving in their post. [/quote]

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