Complex Learning Processes are processes characterized by higher forms of learning like HOTs, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Concept Learning and Problem Solving.
Critical thinking (Joe Lau and Jonathan Tan, 2014) is the ability to think clearly and rationally. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.
Below are the differences in Thinking and Critical Thinking and Five (5) Tips on How one can think critically by University of Toronto Scarborough
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THINKING |
CRITICAL THINKING |
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| FOCUS | On information: data, facts, examples On ideas: opinions, positions | On ideas: assumptions, biases, flaws in reasoning, point of view, context, implications |
| ACTIVITY | Organizing and making connections between pieces of information or ideas, sometimes making basic inferences | Deeply and broadly questioning and testing the ways in which an idea is formed as well as how you have been interpreting and examining the idea. Thinking about your own thinking while you are thinking about the thinking of others. |
| GOAL | To form an opinion about what you are thinking about | To apply criteria in forming a conclusion or evaluation about what you have been thinking about and how you have been thinking about it. |
HOW DO WE THINK CRITICALLY?
1. We Begin With the Right Approach
Reason: We base our thinking in logic, not feelings.
Self-Awareness: We pay attention to our own and others’ assumptions, biases and perspectives.
Integrity: We care about doing our intellectual work honestly and accurately rather than about being right.
Discipline: We put effort into doing our work comprehensively and precisely.
Open-mindedness: We consider alternatives and other points of view.
2. We Look Deeper and Farther
There are countless ways in which we look deeper and farther when thinking critically. For example, we look deeper when we make inferences about an argument’s hidden assumptions and values. We look farther when we connect a study to theories in our discipline. We always think about the implications and importance of what we find.
3. We Ask Complex Questions
We develop and pose questions that help us look deeper and more broadly and that require a variety of thinking processes to answer. We generate specific, complex questions based on what exactly we are thinking about, starting with basic critical inquiry:
- Who is the implied audience?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of this?
- What are the different possible solutions to this problem and which seems most effective?
- What is the nature of the relationship between this and that?
- What exactly is the logical flaw in this reasoning?
- Is this really relevant to that? If not, where does the connection break down?
- What are the underlying assumptions and values?
4. We Answer Questions Using a Variety of Thinking Processes
Analysis: breaking something into parts to better understand the parts and the whole (identifying, classifying, categorizing, comparing)
Synthesis: making connections between the parts and the whole to see the pattern of relationships (organizing, connecting, designing, predicting)
Interpretation: examining the connection (s) between the parts and the whole to make inferences about the implications and meanings of the pattern(s) (associating, inferring, decoding)
Evaluation: forming judgments about meanings, qualities and values (justifying, critiquing, verifying, deciding)
5. We Reflect on How We Are Answering the Questions
Throughout the process, we ask ourselves questions such as: Is that clear or is there still some confusion:
I need to clarify?
Is that really true?
Do I need to be more specific or detailed?
How is that connected to the central focus?
Am I thinking about this in a complex enough way or should I go deeper and further in my thinking?
Do I need to consider a bigger framework or a different point of view?
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In school, from Elementary to College, I cannot remember doing any complex learning activities. I survived with “normal thinking” activities.
After graduation, I spent Five (5) years in a pharmaceutical company doing marketing. Before my team can make a marketing plan, we go through difficult activities like market data analysis and clinical research review and analysis. It’s not physically tiring, but I always go home exhausted with a feeling of fulfillment because I feel that I have exercised my brain cells very well.
It has been Nine (9) years when I gave up the job to spare myself of tension and mental torture (as my colleagues and I call it). Those were the years when I think I am able to nurture my complex learning processes like critical thinking, creativity and problem solving
I am currently not teaching. And at the moment, my only student is my 7-year old daughter who just finished Grade 2. She is the youngest in her class, the only 7 year old in the class actually, but she finished it with a Bronze medal and I’m really proud of her.
Honestly I am having problems teaching her. Before taking this course (EDS 103) I am convinced that the problem is with her, she’s too lazy, sometimes too moody, too slow, sometimes whining too much. But as we go from Module 0 to Module 10, I realized that It’s my teaching approach that is a problem because I failed to identify the most appropriate learning style for her.
In this module, I feel guilty for not encouraging my daughter to think critically. Whenever it is examination period, my teaching approach is always memorization. The reviewers I make are always identification, enumeration, fill in the blanks, matching type and multiple choice. I always fail to include essays to check how she think, construct sentences and organize her thoughts and put it into writing.
The school year is over, but there is still a lot of school year coming. More chances for me to improve on my teaching approach. This vacation is a perfect time for me to prepare for better teaching approach and strategies. I will make sure to consider activities that would encourage critical thinking and other complex learning processes like HOTs, creativity, concept learning and problem solving. And also for myself, this module made me think about applying some complex learning processes again in what I currently do.
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References:
University of Toronto Scarborough. http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/default/files/CriticalThinking.pdf
Critical Thinking Web. 2004-2014. Joe Lau & Jonathan Chan.
watchamathink 
its has givin me ideas