Common misconceptions of critical thinking

This paper analyses three common conceptions of critical thinking: as a skill; a mental processes; or sets of procedures. The authors contend that each view is misleading and lead to flawed practices for teaching critical thinking.

Instead they believe that critical thinking is best taught by practising it, offering alternative proposals for the teaching of critical thinking. They argue that practicing critical thinking does not simply equate to repetition, but also an understanding of what characterised ‘quality thinking’.

In order to become a (more) critical thinker – and as a consequence a good teacher of critical thinking – one must understand what constitutes quality thinking: becoming better at comparing knowledge and understanding the basis on which such comparisons are made.