Critical Thinking Process

Submitted By rrtsnoopy
Words: 925
Pages: 4
Open Document
The Critical Thinking Process

Thomas Calabro

Capella University

The critical thinking process is an important tool to objectively find solutions to problems. However, it was not till I made one of the more impulsive decisions of my life, to enlist in the Army, did I learn about developing a critical thinking skills set. Starting with basic training and through school, we drilled, did simulations, and performed field exercises where the basis for critical thinking began to form. I learned how to quickly assess a situation and decipher what information was lacking. Next, how to obtain that information and combine it with the already available facts to formulate a plan. Then implement it, track it, and critique the results. These processes became my norm, second nature to me. Adopting a critical thinking process prepared me for some difficult situations. For example, there was a situation that arose while I was stationed in Germany. I worked at a small, remote, secured communications site when this particular difficult circumstance occurred. Our central communications hub had been knocked offline. Normally, our secondary hub assumes control of the communications net when an outage like this occurs. However, their location had been compromised resulting in their inability to securely transfer control of the net. Soon their problem became our problem as we were instructed to assume control of the whole communications net. On duty was me and one other private and there were no protocols in place for such an event. Shock and disbelief were quickly replaced with planning and action. Though a huge undertaking, we began to relish the challenge. Confidence in each other and our training replaced any misgivings or fear. After taking a deep breath we began to formulate a plan. First, we realized we had to break down the main objective, assuming control of the net, into a series of steps. These included obtaining a list of all sites on the net, obtaining their identification and verification codes, developing and encoding a mass message informing all the sites that we were assuming control, and a method to return control back to the central hub. On a whiteboard we listed these steps in one column. In another column, we listed which one of us would be responsible and next to that a timetable. Also, listed was what information we had on hand, what information we would need, and a contact list for that information. As we began to gather and process all this information we discovered that we had to break these into even smaller pieces. We assumed our signal had enough strength to transmit each site and that we had to only transmit one message to all sites informing them that we were the temporary hub. Central Command informed us that each site would have to receive an individual message with a verification code attached and these codes would have to be telephonically transmitted before the sites would respond to a message originating from our site on the net. Thankfully, Central Command was further out than any of the sites on our net and assured us they were receiving a strong signal from our equipment. From this result we concluded all of the sites would be able to receive our transmissions. Once we were confident that we could contact each station, the long process of contacting each individual site started. After each station received and verified our transmission, we were able to assume
Show More

Related Documents: Critical Thinking Process

critical thinking Essay

Class: Philosophy 150 Date: 04- Nov - 2013 Critical thinking “the systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs, or statements, by rational standards”. This statements can be view and discuss in numerous dimensions. Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationaly. It is not a matter of accumulating information. A person with a good memory and who knows a lot of fact is not necessay good at critical thinking. A critical thinker is able to bring out consequences from what…

Words 661 - Pages 3

critical thinking Essay

sources to teach critical thinking skills in world literature: “Critical thinking, as defined by the Foundation for Critical Thinking, is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skill fully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, re flection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” According to the Army Handbook for Self Development: "Critical thinking involves questioning…

Words 488 - Pages 2

What Is Critical Thinking?

What is critical thinking? Critical thinking has various definitions according to different academic societies and educational institutes internationally. Despite the varies definitions its importance is something that is understood throughout educational institutes, this is evident though the number of published articles that have been published by Universities around the world. One quotes from The Critical Thinking Community, critical thinking… the awakening of intellect to the study its self.…

Words 673 - Pages 3

Critical Thinking Paper

Critical Thinking Application Paper Tabatha White MGT/350 November 19, 2012 Kevin McPhee The purpose of this paper is to describe critical thinking. By doing this critical Thinking must first be defined. According to Wikipedia…

Words 797 - Pages 4

Critical Thinking In Nursing

“behind every healed patient’s is a critical thinking nurse”. Nurses who practices and have the ability to use critical thinking focus on thinking to get the best results and outcomes for patients’ in various situations. Critical thinking nurses do make a differences whether the patients’ care succeed or failed. Critical thinking is about not accepting information at face value without evaluating whether is factual and reliable. Nurses with critical thinking are like an umbrella to nursing practice…

Words 518 - Pages 3

Critical Thinking Essay

Critical thinking is thinking in depth. When you are using critical thinking, you are evaluating, figuring out if claims are true, somewhat true, false or somewhat false. It is a very detailed way of thinking and when thinking critically, you spread every factor out concerning the subject and evaluate them to not only learn more but to allow yourself to have your own opinion and mind set. Critical thinking sounds like a simple tacks, but to be perfectly honest, it can be more difficult to do. I learned…

Words 480 - Pages 2

Critical Thinking Essay

Critical Thinking Applications Critical Thinking Applications MGT 350 – Critical Thinking; Strategies in Decision-Making University of Phoenix May 20, 2010 Critical Thinking Making a decision is a difficult process and to make a good sound decision, critical thinking must have a defining role. Critical thinking is developing the discipline to assess contradictions and known facts to make a decision. They cannot make a decision without believing in the facts of the argument. This is the impact…

Words 695 - Pages 3

Critical Thinking Essay

Critical Thinking Steven L. Barker Jr. Gen 200 11/03/14 Nichol Garrison Critical Thinking Although the term, ‘Critical Thinking’ is in widespread use today, it wasn’t a popular term until relatively recently. Critical thinking became a hot topic over the last decade because of concerns that were expressed by international educators, business leaders, and other organizations. They were concerned that students weren’t being prepared for real life in the 21st century. This spurred education leaders…

Words 629 - Pages 3

What Is Critical Thinking

Critical thinking can be defined as the process an individual takes that includes thinking in a logical and sensible manner in order to make a rational decision. Critical thinking also requires an individual to think past their normal capacity or “outside of the box” while improving the quality of thought. “The thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards…

Words 317 - Pages 2

Essay Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Catherine Brinner April 9, 2012 Abstract The challenge for critical thinking instruction lies not in convincing people of its value but in developing a model of what to teach and how to teach it. Toulmin's model provides a useful framework for students to examine the ability of an argument to justify rather than prove a point. Utilizing this model can make critical thinking the very means by which students construct knowledge. Critical Thinking Debating, questioning, analyzing…

Words 1185 - Pages 5