Citizenship grade 7

Unit 7 Critical thinking

The Meaning of Critical Thinking

The ability to analyze information objectively and make a
reasoned decision is referred to as critical thinking. The
importance of objective analysis cannot be overstated. This
means that one must remain objective while analyzing
information from a variety of sources. Someone who relies solely
on one source of information cannot be objective. To make an
objective and good decision, the information must be triangulated
or checked from multiple sources.
It entails evaluating sources such as data and facts. There are
numerous information sources available in our modern era.
Friends, teachers, neighbors, television, radio, newspapers,
books, films, social media sites such as Facebook, and so on can
all provide you with information.
To solve problems or make decisions, good critical thinkers can
draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information and
distinguish between useful and less useful details. You are a good
critical thinker if you clearly understand what is true and what is
false.
Critical thinking is not about gathering information. A
person who has a good memory and is well-versed in facts is not
necessarily good at critical thinking. A critical thinker can infer
consequences from what he or she knows, and he or she
understands how to use information to solve problems and find
relevant sources of information to inform him or her.
The Importance of Critical Thinking
There is no doubt that critical thinking is important for a variety of
reasons. Being critical in general, and critical thinking in
particular, has numerous advantages. In this section, we will look
at some of the advantages of critical thinking. It is a well-known
fact that people today have greater access to information than
ever before.
As previously stated, there is correct information and, conversely,
there is information that is fake/false and is unimportant to us.
In critical thinking getting true information is very
important.
If someone makes a decision based on false information, our
decision is bad and will have negative consequences in our lives.
For example, you may learn from a friend that cheating is not
illegal.
Your citizenship education teacher may inform you that cheating
on any exam is wrong and has serious consequences for your life.
Remember that you are now getting information from two
different sources about whether cheating during an exam is right
or wrong; the first is from a friend, and the second is from your
teacher. Before deciding whether or not to cheat, you must first
determine which sources of information are reliable. The
information you received from a friend that there is nothing
wrong with cheating during an exam is false. Your teacher’s
advice to not cheat in any exam, on the other hand, is correct. So,
deciding to cheat during an exam is a bad decision based on false
information. If you decide not to cheat on an exam, you are
making a good decision based on accurate information. You can
see how important it is to make informed decisions based on
accurate information.
Critical thinking helps us to raise fundamental questions
and problems in our community.
It will assist us in reformulating the various problems that are
prevalent in the community. It teaches us how to be open to
alternative ideas and opinions, as well as how to assess our own
assumptions, implications, and practical consequences, and how
to communicate effectively with others when attempting to solve
complex problems.
There are many important values in our country, Ethiopia. There
are some cultural practices that are also unimportant in our
community.
For example, while the cultural practice of female genital
mutilation has decreased over time, there are still some practices
that should be abolished once and for all. As critical thinkers, we
should question this cultural practice and fight for its abolition in
our community.
It is very important to note that critical thinking plays a
vital role in promoting democratic processes.
As you may recall from unit three, in a democracy, the people
have the final say over who governs and for what purposes.
Citizens should vote, evaluate various public policies, and
collectively decide their fate. As a result, it is critical that citizens
make as informed and rational decisions as possible. Many of
today’s most
serious societal problems, such as poverty, environmental
destruction, ethnic conflicts, society’s moral decay, high levels of
corruption, violations of basic human rights, and displacement, to
name a few, are largely the result of poor critical thinking. As a
result, critical thinking is critical for mitigating the aforementioned
problems caused by poor critical thinking.

Skills of Critical Thinking

Let’s take a look at some of the critical thinking skills listed below
Analysis
Analytical skills are one of the first and most important critical
thinking skills expected of students like you. The ability to
examine something is central to analysis as a critical thinking
skill. As previously stated, we now have access to information
from a variety of sources. One of your friends, for example, may
advise you to respect everyone regardless of their religion,
language, culture, gender, or skin color. The other friend, on the
other hand, may advise you to only respect your family members.
As you can see from the examples above, you have two choices:
respecting everyone or respecting only your family.
Teamwork
Another important critical thinking skill expected of every student
like you is the ability to collaborate with other students. It is
critical to recognize that teamwork is an essential component of
our success in the teaching learning process. For instance, if your
teacher assigns you a group project, teamwork is essential. As a
team member, you will need to collaborate with others and
communicate effectively in order to solve various types of
problems. Everyone benefits when students collaborate to
complete a task. Students may expect to see this in a variety of
ways. In the school, for example, team members plan ahead of
time and collaborate to assign tasks, assess progress, and deliver
the group assignment on time.
Creativity

Creativity and innovation are two other critical thinking skills

that are expected of every student like you. Coming up with a
solution that no one else has thought of before is what creativity
or innovation entails. If you are given a task, it is critical that you
be creative, bringing a new idea that is distinct from the rest of
the students.
Problem Solving

Problem solving is another critical thinking skill that is expected

of every student, including you. Crossing or overcoming the
obstacles and barriers that stand in our way of success is what
problem- solving is all about. There are numerous issues in our
daily lives, including those in the school compound. It is critical to
recognize that no matter where we work or learn, we face
problems that require solutions on a daily basis.
Review Questions
Part I: True/False Item
1. All sources of information are always credible.
2. Critical thinking is merely accumulating information.
3. Taking particular information as if true without analyzing and
triangulating is very problematic and dangerous.
4. Being a critical person in general and critical thinking in
particular has many benefits.
5. Teamwork is one of the skills of critical thinking which is helpful
for every student.
Part II: Multiple Choices
1. Which one of the following is true about critical thinking?
A. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information
B. Critical thinking helps us to be open-minded
C. Critical thinking promotes democratic process
D. All
2. A skill of critical thinking that implies the ability to examine
something is
A. Creativity
B. Analysis
C. Teamwork
D. Problem solving
3. A skill of critical thinking that implies to work together with
others is
A. Problem solving C. Creativity
B. Analysis D. Teamwork
4. A skill of critical thinking that implies to bring a new idea that is
different from the rest of others is
A. Teamwork C. Analysis
B. Creativity D. problem solving
5. A skill of critical thinking that implies to overcome the obstacles
and barriers that stand in the way of our success is
A. Problem solving C. Analysis
B. Creativity D. Team work