Chapter 5
The Four Stages of
Development
What Level Thinker
Are You ?
Sara AL-Nujaidi 201000396
Samar AL-Zayer 201000247
Khadijah batarfi 200901299
‘‘A man who does
not think for
himself does not
think at all’’
Oscar Wilde
The out line
• Story time.
• Stages of development :
- Stage One: The unreflective thinker.
- Stage Two: The challenged thinker.
- Stage Three: The beginning thinker
- Stage Four: The practicing thinker.
• A “Game Plan” for :
- Improvement.
- Devising a game plan.
Story time
Stages of Development of Critical Thinking
Stage two: the challenged thinker
How we move into this stage?
1
Notice that we often ……
Make
questionable
assumption
Use
incomplete
info.
Fail to
recognize
important
Implication
Make inflowing
inferences
Fail to recognize
problems
Form faulty
concepts
Reason within
prejudiced
opinion
Think irrationally
2
• Become aware of the
way our thinking is
shaping our lives.
3
• Recognize that poor
thinking can threat our
lives.
4
• Recognize the difficulty
involved in improving
our thinking.
Some signs of emerging
reflectiveness are that :
YOU FIND YOUR SELF …
Striving to analyze and
assess your thinking
Working with the structures
of mind that create thinking
Thinking about qualities that
make thinking sound clarity
Becoming interested in the role of
self-deception in thinking.
- Distinct danger of selfdeception
My thinking is not that
bad, actually I’ve been
thinking well for quite a
while. I’m not near as selfdeceived as a lot of people
I know
-The dominant
view……………
If everyone were to
think like me, this
would be a fine
world.
Stage three: the beginning thinker
• A person begins to take thinking seriously.
• Preparatory stage before gaining command.
• Stage of dawning realizations,
developing willpower,
but not a stage of
self-condemnation.
As thinkers thinking about thinking, we are merely beginning to:
Analyze the logic of situations and problems
Express clear and precise questions
Check information for accuracy and relevance
Distinguish between raw info and someone’s interpretation of it
Recognize assumptions guiding inferences
Identify prejudicial and biased beliefs
Notice when our selfish interests bias our viewpoint
• As beginning thinkers we
are becoming …
- aware of how to
deal with structures
at work in thinking.
- appreciate the value
of thinking about our
thinking.
• But,
still at low level of
proficiency in these
activities.
• To reach this beginning
stage in thinking, our values
must begin to shift.
Imagine you were raised in the
following environments ………
Would your beliefs, values or thoughts differ or not ????
Lurking traps that can derail
the beginning thinker:
Trap#1
• Believing that truth
is acquired not
through reasoning
and inquiry but,
rather, through
some
predetermined
nonintellectual
faith.
Trap#2
• Believing that there
are no intellectual
standards by which
to judge any thing as
true or false.
• Stage four: the practicing thinker___
• Good thinking can be practiced like :
-tennis and ballet.
• Are you committed to regular practice ?
• Good theory, good practice, and good
feedback are essential.
A “Game Plan” for Improvement ….
• Developing our skills.
• Concentrating on fundamentals.
• Choose your point of attack.
A Game Plan for Devising a Game Plan
- Use wasted time
- Handle a problem a day
- Internalize intellectual standards
- Keep an intellectual journal
- Practice intellectual strategies
- Reshape your character
- Deal with your ego
- Redefine the way you see things
- Get in touch with your emotions
- Analyze group influences on your life
The Six Thinking Hats
Thank you for listening