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Establishing and Developing Critical Thinking in the

Courses of Educational Institutions

Ani Manukyan
Armenian State Pedagogical University

Critical thinking is the ability to apply reasoning and logic to unfamiliar ideas,opinions and situations. It helps to function effectively in the changing world of
the 21st century. Thinking critically involves seeing things in an open-minded way. This
important skill allows people to look past their own views of the world and to adopt a
more aware way of viewing the world.The ability to think critically is essential, especial-
ly in a globally-minded world. Critical thinking is the process of analyzing, interpreting
or evaluating both the tangible and intangible world. The ability to be open-minded is a
large part of thinking critically, and allows a person not only to seek out all possible
answers to a problem, but also to accept an answer that is different from what was origi-
nally thought. A person must not always assume that his way of approaching a situation
is always the best, or even right.

Critical thinking has not ever been an objective in education in Armenia. In many
European countries school system, the syllabus offers critical thinking as a subject
which 16-18-year-olds can take. The exam tests candidates not on particular informa-
tion they have learned during the course, but on their ability to think critically about,
and analyze arguments on their deductive or inductive validity. The subject is very chal-
lenging and extremely useful for degree courses in politics, philosophy and history pro-
viding the skills required for critical analysis. As compared with the Western countries,
which have more practice in the development of critical thinking, the situation in
Armenia is completely different. Learners are not encouraged to improve themselves as
thinkers. Emphasis is put on information transmission. However, accent on memory,
practice, rote learning and little focus on higher-order thinking has a negative effect on
the quality of teaching/learning. The majority of school leavers, who are being fed with
finished statements, are not able to think rationally: they can’t consider the problem
from different perspectives, back arguments with evidence and reference to conse-
quences, formulate their own conclusions, defend their assertions with reasons.
Actually, parents, and the professional public are greatly concerned that young people
at secondary schools fail to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to meet the real-
life challenges and benefit from a world which offers enormous opportunities.
Employers are also very critical about young people’s readiness to join the labor mar-
ket.They consider that many of the employees do not possess the knowledge and skills
to be competitive in a rapidly changing world. This confirms that traditional education-
al strategies based on passive learner role and work with information by learning it by
heart fail to meet the changed society needs and, therefore, have to be replaced by prob-
lem based, meaningful activities where a learner is placed in the center of educational
processes. The curricula of educational institutions should provide a special system to
develop the ability to think critically. The importance to develop critical thinking in con-

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temporary educational systems should also be outlined. Critical thinking is considered
to bean essential constituent of the academic world generally because this is the main
way that knowledge is added to a field. Critical thinking is a desirable skill in all aspects
of university work because it allows knowledge andskills to develop and evolve. It is
necessary in students’ reading, note making, assignment writing, tutorial presentations
and professional practice. Therefore, under present circumstances, the development of
critical thinking becomes a promising strategy helping to increase learning effectiveness
while teaching any subject matter.

Thus, only conscious learning and reasonably active teaching with the focus on criti-
cal thinking skills might help a learner achieve positive results in any field, foreign lan-
guages included. The problem is that the basic intellectual standards essential to critical
thinking are not typically taught in schools. Therefore young people at the university fre-
quently display poor reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Creative thinking should be incorporated into the development of critical thinking
through collaborative learning activities. Almost all of the thinking which we undertake
contains some critical and creative aspects. Creative thinking is generally considered to
be involved with the creation or generation of ideas, processes, and experiences, where-
as critical thinking is concerned with their evaluation. Therefore critical and creative
thinking, as interrelated and complementary aspects of good thinking processes, should
be developed together (Chubinski 1996:64-73; Klenz 1987:36-51).

Collaborative learning structures can also contribute to the development of critical
thinking if the right strategy is chosen. It is determined that a correct strategy while
developing critical thinking should include:

• interpersonal contact: to put different learners together,
• creating mutual interdependence and common aim: there should not be too strong

competition between team members. They have to take care to create conditions
for interdependence and not for too individual work, that is, a good group climate
should be realized,

• equal status among members: a different role exists only in the leader status, but
the leader of a team should have only a limited power. He/she should be more a
coordinator than a ‘boss’,

• a teacher should perform the role of a consultant offering the students a strong
support to seek imaginative, constructive, ethical solutions to problems (Chaffee
1985:87-95).

Critical thinking assignments don’t need to cover alloutcomes at one time but they
can vary throughout the course. It is necessary to modify old and create new assignments
that use critical thinking criteria.

Another aspect of criticalthinking is the ability to think rationally. Rationality requires
analyzing all known evidence, not leaving something out because it doesn’t fit your
accepted view. Rationality does not rely on emotions for evidence, but instead relies on
hard proven fact. Critical thinking also requires a non-judgmental and honest approach
to reasoning. Being honest requires noting and acknowledging personal goals, motives,
and emotions that might color opinions or thought processes.

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S. Ferrett advances the following characteristics of critical thinker: 
1. Asks pertinent questions.
2. Assesses statements and arguments.
3. Is able to admit a lack of understanding or information.
4. Has a sense of curiosity.
5. Is interested in finding new solutions.
6. Is able to clearly define a set of criteria for analysing ideas.
7. Is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions, and weigh them against

facts.
8. Listens carefully to others and is able to give feedback.
9. Sees that critical thinking is a lifelong process of self-assessment.
10. Looks for evidence to support assumptions and beliefs.
11. Is able to adjust opinions when new facts are found.
12. Looks for proof.
13. Examines problems closely.
14. Is able to reject information that is incorrect or irrelevant (Ferrett 1997:34-76).
The variety of ways in which critical thinking is conceptualized gives rise to different

interpretations as far as its key elements (abilities, knowledge, skills, processes, values,
attitudes) are concerned. While the knowledge base required for critical reflection varies
from subject to subject, the underlying values and attitudes remain constant across school
subjects. Although skills and processes are somewhat dependent upon specific subject
matter, the same values and attitudes are required in all subjects for their execution.
Therefore it is very important to evaluate the above mentioned elements while incorpo-
rating critical thinking into the teaching.

Critical thinking is not only a matter of accumulating information. A person with a
good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking. A
critical thinker is able to deduce consequences from what he knows, and he knows how
to make use of information to solve problems, and to seek relevant sources of informa-
tion to inform himself. 

Critical thinking should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of
other people. Although critical thinking skills can be used in exposing fallacies and bad
reasoning, it can also play an important role in cooperative reasoning and constructive
tasks. Critical thinking can help us acquire knowledge, improve our theories, and
strengthen arguments. 

Good critical thinking might be seen as the foundation of science and a liberal demo-
cratic society. Science requires the critical use of reason in experimentation and theory
confirmation. The proper functioning of a liberal democracy requires citizens who can
think critically about social issues to inform their judgments about proper governance
and to overcome biases and prejudices.

The key to critical thinking is to develop an impersonal approach which looks at
arguments and facts and which lays aside personal views and feelings. This is because
academic discourse is based on key principles which are described as follows by
Northedge:

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• Debate: arguing different points of view.
• Scholarship: awareness of what else has been written, and citing it correctly.
• Argument: developing points in a logical sequence which leads to a conclusion.
• Criticism: looking at strengths and weaknesses.
• Evidence: ensuring that the argument is backed by valid evidence.
• Objectivity: the writing should be detached and unemotional and without direct

appeal to the reader.
• Precision: anything that does not assist the argument should be omitted. 
Critical and analytical thinking should be applied at all points in academic study - to

selecting information, reading, writing, speaking and listening (Northedge 2005:23-43). 
Here are five important proofs why critical thinking should be studied:
• Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. The ability to think clear-

ly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. If you work in education,
research, finance, management or the legal profession, then critical thinking is
obviously important. But critical thinking skills are not restricted to a particular
subject area. Being able to think well and solve problems systematically is an
asset for any career.

• Critical thinking is very important in the new knowledge economy. The glob-
al knowledge economy is driven by information and technology. One has to be
able to deal with changes quickly and effectively. The new economy places
increasing demands on flexible intellectual skills, and the ability to analyse infor-
mation and integrate diverse sources of knowledge in solving problems. Good
critical thinking promotes such thinking skills, and is very important in the fast-
changing workplace.

• Critical thinking enhances language and presentation skills. Thinking clearly
and systematically can improve the way we express our ideas. In learning how to
analyse the logical structure of texts, critical thinking also improves comprehen-
sion abilities.

• Critical thinking promotes creativity. To come up with a creative solution to a
problem involves not just having new ideas. It must also be the case that the new
ideas being generated are useful and relevant to the task at hand. Critical thinking
plays a crucial role in evaluating new ideas, selecting the best ones and modify-
ing them if necessary.

• Critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection. In order to live a meaningful life
and to structure our lives accordingly, we need to justify and reflect on our values
and decisions. Critical thinking provides the tools for this process of self-evaluation.

Although most people would agree that critical thinking is an important thinking
skill, they also do not know how to improve their own thinking. This is because critical
thinking is a meta-thinking skill. It requires careful reflection on the good principles of
reasoning and making a conscious effort to internalize them and apply them in daily life.
This is not easy to do and often requires a long period of training.

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References:

1. Barnett, R. (1997) Higher Education: A Critical Business. Buckingham, SRHE: Open
University Press. 

2. Beardsley, M.  (1975) Thinking Straight. Boston: Prentice-Hall. 
3. Chaffee, J. (1985) Thinking Critically.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 
4. Chubinski, S. (1996) Creative Critical-thinking Strategies. London: Nurse Educator.
5. DeBono, E.(1992) Teach Your Child to Think.  London:  Penguin.
6. Ferrett, S. (1997) Peak Performance. // Online Professional Development at

http://www.ket.org/ged2002/critical/cr3.htm.
7. Klenz, S. (1987) Critical and Creative Thinking. Washington, D.C.: American

Society of Association Executives.
8. Northege, A. (2005) Adult Learning. Pretoria: University of South Africa.

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