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Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

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The New York Times

The learning network | 10 intriguing photographs to teach close reading and visual thinking skills.

10 Intriguing Photographs to Teach Close Reading and Visual Thinking Skills

Updated, March 17, 2016 | We have published a companion piece: “ 8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills .”

Ever want your students to slow down and notice details when they read — whether they’re perusing a book, a poem, a map or a political cartoon? Young people often want to hurry up and make meaning via a quick skim or a cursory glance when a text can demand patience and focus.

Closely reading any text, whether written or visual, requires that students proceed more slowly and methodically, noticing details, making connections and asking questions. This takes practice. But it certainly helps when students want to read the text.

We’ve selected 10 photos from The Times that we’ve used previously in our weekly “What’s Going On in This Picture?” and that have already successfully caught students’ and teachers’ attention. These are some of our most popular images — ones that may make viewers say “huh?” on first glance, but that spark enough curiosity to make them want to dig deeper. ( Please Note: You can quickly learn the backstory about any of these photos by clicking the link in each caption that takes you to the original post, then scrolling down to find the “reveal.”)

Below, we offer ideas from students and teachers who have engaged with these images for ways to use them, or images like them, to teach close reading and visual thinking skills.

1. Be Detectives: Looking closely can almost be like a game, Shirley Jackson, a teacher in Sydney, Australia, said:

I stumbled across your site while looking for alternate ideas. My class of 10-12-year-olds absolutely love the photos and the back story became a competition as to who could “see” the most, justify it and how close they were to the truth. Please don’t stop this amazing resource as it keeps our students informed as well as visually aware.

Indeed, practicing visual thinking skills with these images can be fun and a quick activity, but it can also hone important skills that transfer to other texts. Making sense of intriguing images like these can be more like detective work than anything else: Careful attention to detail rewards the viewer with a “big picture” understanding.

2. Practice Regularly: Every Monday during the school year we post a photograph stripped of its caption and context, and ask students what they see going on in this picture. Hundreds of students participate every week from classrooms across the country and around the world — from elementary through high school, and even adult education E.S.L. classes — sharing their observations. Our partners at Visual Thinking Strategies moderate the discussion and encourage students to look even more closely for more details.

You can use our “What’s Going On?” photos, or ones you select that relate to the content you are teaching, to help your students practice close reading.

3. Ask Open-Ended Questions: At the heart of the activity are the three deceptively simple open-ended questions that make up V.T.S.’s facilitation method. The goal? To help students notice details and make observations without leading them toward any conclusion or “right answer.”

• What’s going on in this picture?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• What more can you find?

Students then share what they see and comment on what other students notice.

4. Notice Details: For example, here is what Josh W. observed in the image above:

It appears in this picture that a man is trying not to drown in some kind of sewer, and he seems quite in danger because of the frightened look on his face. However, maybe it’s some sort of public punishment because the police are just looking at him while driving by and then walking by, while random people to the left don’t seem to care either. It also looks like the area he is in has been barred off, so maybe nobody is allowed to help him. The place seems to not be the richest place on earth, this area is quite worn down, and it seems Latin because of the writing on the police’s shirt. It is also possible that he is seeking refuge from the police, but he has failed as they have found him.

5. Build on Others’ Observations: Encourage students to comment on other students’ observations to help them evaluate and link to other ideas. We try to do that in our Monday discussions by asking students to use the @ symbol. Here is what Summer wrote to Connor about the above photo:

@Connor: That flip is not effortless, there is pain in his facial expression, which leads me to believe the chaos in the background is not a natural disaster but the aftermath of warfare. My suppositions are supported by the young boy in a uniform nearby in the pic.

6. Adapt These Questions for All Subjects: Jennifer Bradley, a science teacher at Bentonville High School in Arkansas, told us how the practice of finding details to defend their interpretations of each photo improved students’ academic skills in general, and their science skills in particular:

After practicing with “What’s Going On in This Picture?” weekly, I started to see my students get much better at using evidence in their writing. For example, in their lab reports, they started to be much more detailed and to explain the context clues that led them to a conclusion.

In fact, the three simple questions at the heart of V.T.S.’s facilitation method can be adapted for close reading any text, whether in an English or a science classroom:

• What do you notice going on in this chapter? In this diagram? Or in this political cartoon?
• What details do you see that make you say that? What evidence supports your observations?
• What more can you find in the text?

7. Expand Knowledge of the World: Teachers tell us that students enjoy the activity, and that it actually helps expand their knowledge of and curiosity about the world in addition to making them more visually literate. And students make connections between our “What’s Going On?” photographs and what they’re hearing in the news and learning about in school. After finding out the caption of the photo above, Cashel IMS wrote:

This picture and caption makes me think how tough it must be to be sent away to this facility alone, taken away from his parents, and be treated poorly in these conditions. Just because this little boy crossed the border, he should not be held captive. He is only seven years old and it was not his fault. If I were seven years old and I was held in this detention center, I would be very confused.

8. Start Conversations: Julia told us that she uses these photographs to help foster conversation in her adult E.S.L. education classes:

They are great conversation starters to get my class speaking in English. It also brings up new vocabulary words. Students often use their personal knowledge of the world to figure out what is happening in the photos. Some students may have an advantage when the photo is from their region of the world. Thanks!

9. Introduce New Ideas: On Tuesday mornings, we reveal the original caption of the photo and any relevant back story as well. Sometimes, we’re fortunate to hear from the photographers themselves about what they were thinking when they took the shot. The activity, therefore, can transform from practicing visual thinking strategies to gaining a window into another place, time or perspective.

Additionally, many students return to comment on the image with new ideas and questions after reading the caption. Here is Evan K. IMS7 ’s follow-up response to this week’s photo (above):

So my prediction was actually right… (Thank you Animal Planet.) But I find it interesting that something that I learned I could actually apply to my academics. I wonder if the ant can resist the fungus taking over its brain. I also wonder if this fungus could infect another insect or if it can mutate.

10. Experiment With Other Ways to Look Closely: V.T.S.’s three-question facilitation method isn’t the only approach to getting students to practice visual thinking. The National Archives has developed a photograph analysis protocol for noticing people, objects and activities before making inferences.

The International Society for Technology in Education (PDF) and Edutopia both suggest multiple strategies for teaching visual literacy. And the University of Maryland has developed a visual literacy toolbox for helping students learn how to read images.

Many of the recommended approaches are very similar, and build on the principle that students should be encouraged to look closely at images without being told what to see. That concept is at the heart of why every Monday we ask students: What’s going on in this picture? Join us next week!

This resource may be used to address the academic standards listed below.

Common Core E.L.A. Anchor Standards

1   Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

7   Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Speaking and Listening

1   Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

What a great writing idea

This is a skill hat takes time to develop. As a middle school student my English class was entirely analyzing text. Over the years I noticed steady improvement. It is a life skill to be able to look at a situation and use what you know and what’s around you to come to a conclusion. This is something that should be taught to everyone in several forms. Pictures is a great idea!

Great! It´s a good idea to slow down and notice important things around us

This is so fantastic! I plan on using it in my English Comp. college course for freewriting activities and analyzing visuals. Thank you!

I love this. Did I miss where the pictures with the original captions are for these pics? I understand these are just examples, but I was hoping to have them. Thanks.

Hi Kristal,

You can find the original photo as we posted it for discussion by clicking into each caption at the place where it says “tell us what you see by posting a comment here.” If you scroll down to the bottom of each post, you can find the original caption and more about the photo at the top.

–Katherine

These are great great strategies for integrating visual literacy with reading fiction and nonfiction. These lesson plans //bit.ly/McQuStudio18 follow a similar approach with master works of art. These are free so post as you see fit.

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What’s Going On In This picture?

40 More Intriguing Photos to Make Students Think

A new slide show of some of our favorite “What’s Going On in This Picture?” posts, culled from the last four years of images.

Images From Four More Years of ‘What’s Going On in This Picture?’

View Slide Show ›

By The Learning Network

Four years ago we published a collection of 40 intriguing photographs from the first four years of our popular weekly feature “ What’s Going On in This Picture? ” The slide show quickly became a go-to resource for teachers around the world, and it remains one of our most utilized teaching resources — ever.

To publish this sequel, we’ve had to wait patiently for four more years, gradually building a new collection of 40 remarkable images from “What’s Going On in This Picture?” that have already fascinated tens of thousands of students. Many of these photos are our most commented-on images; others are simply our favorites.

We invite teachers and students to use this bank of 40 puzzling images, all stripped of their captions or context, to practice visual thinking and close reading skills by holding a “What’s Going On in This Picture?” discussion or writing activity, via in-person or remote instruction.

If you’re not sure how to get started, we have a recorded webinar that walks teachers through the process and describes the power of this simple activity. In addition, we have lesson plans and resources to help teachers use a wide variety of Times images to get students writing, thinking, speaking and listening.

We started this feature with the simple idea of taking interesting photos from The Times and asking students to look closely and describe what they see. We partnered with the arts education organization Visual Thinking Strategies to provide live moderation on Mondays and to use their powerful three-question protocol:

What is going on in this picture?

What do you see that makes you say that?

What more can you find?

With that foundation, we invited classrooms and students to join the conversation. And thousands upon thousands have, from all over the country and around the world. The weekly feature is one of the most commented-on sections of the entire New York Times.

Teachers in all sorts of settings have told us how powerful this feature is for engaging students — getting them to look closely, back up their observations with evidence and weigh what their peers are noticing.

If you have something to share about how you use this feature with your students, or if you have a favorite photo from the past eight years that we didn’t include, let us know in the comments section.

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27,531 Critical Thinking Concept Stock Photos and High-res Pictures

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Big-Picture Scenarios Guide Law Associates’ Critical Thinking

A deficit of critical thinking among law firm associates is now a recurrent theme in legal practice. This deficiency impairs an attorney’s individual effectiveness—and it also impacts law firms’ overall efficiency. As firms more frequently integrate sophisticated tools such as generative AI, they must take extra care to ensure associates using these programs assess their output critically.

How should law firms tackle a critical thinking crisis? It may be a challenge, but using strategies such as comprehensive guidance, experiential training, and data-driven feedback can go a long way.

Big Picture

A key step in fostering critical thinking is to give associates a comprehensive lay of the land in a given case. This requires helping them first understand the basic structure of a deal or litigation matter before immersing them in the business realities and context that shape legal outcomes.

Associates can get lost in the weeds of their day-to-day work assignments. Set them up for success by giving them a strong foundational understanding of the practice.

So much of what associates miss is due to a failure to ask “why?” Ensuring associates understand where their assignments fit in the overall deal or lawsuit will sharpen their ability to know when to pursue lines of inquiry.

Experiential Learning

The traditional “lunch and learn” training format, while convenient and well-intended, often fails to engage associates in meaningful learning. Training should be interactive and demanding, requiring active participation rather than passive absorption.

The best way to achieve this is to have associates complete mock assignments and receive feedback.

For transactional associates, this could mean reviewing and marking up agreements in anticipation of negotiation, or orchestrating a closing with timelines and deal documents. For litigators, it could involve writing sections of a motion to dismiss or drafting a meet-and-confer email to opposing counsel about a discovery dispute.

Firms should create a dynamic learning environment where associates can learn by doing—and make mistakes in a safe environment where they may question, discuss, and interact with both the material and their peers.

This method reinforces legal concepts, improves retention, and encourages critical thinking by immersing associates in real-world scenarios that require problem-solving and decision-making skills. Active participation can also build confidence in newer attorneys, which empowers them to handle their everyday tasks more effectively.

As much as possible, training should use actual deal documents, complex procedural histories, and messy fact patterns that typify actual client work.

Rather than rely on simplified or simulated scenarios, training should require new associates to grapple with the square peg, round hole problems that lawyers face every day. Mock assignments should require associates to synthesize different, imperfect, and often conflicting pieces of information—and then actually complete the assignment.

While reviewing mock deal documents and issue-spotting is better than having associates listen to a lecture, it’s still too passive and doesn’t allow associates the practice needed to develop their critical thinking muscles. Having associates work with these real deal documents to complete mock assignments is crucial.

Data-Driven Feedback

In addition to having associates go through mock assignments, firms should review those assignments and provide meaningful feedback. They should base their assessment structure on a consistent rubric and watch out for any gaps in crucial critical thinking skills.

While the rubric isn’t for the purpose of giving grades, it will help firms gather key data on associate performance and fairly inform evaluator feedback. Firms can use this rubric both to give individual associate feedback and to inform observations on trends across associate classes.

A sample rubric for these assessments could determine whether the associate:

● Followed specific instructions

● Applied the correct concept and adapted it for the given situation

● Identified all legal and practical issues

● Devised a unique business solution

● Used best practices (such as best drafting techniques and approach)

Feedback from partners and other supervisors should be constructive, focusing on encouraging questions, deeper analysis, and reflection.

Firms can also have associates self-assess their performance on the assignments. Comparing the associate self-assessments with instructors’ feedback will help create awareness for associates on how others are viewing their work.

Interactive group review sessions can be especially effective for fostering critical thinking. Partners or reviewers can discuss the assignment in small groups, weave in tailored feedback, war stories, and best practices, while encouraging associates to ask “why” and discuss gray areas.

These review sessions should nurture inquiry and critical thinking by encouraging associates to question assumptions, explore alternative solutions, and discuss business context.

Developing critical thinking skills in law firm associates isn’t just about enhancing individual capabilities—it’s also about keeping up with the demands of modern legal practice. By adopting these strategies, firms can position themselves as leaders and mentors to a new generation of lawyers.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Patricia Libby is executive legal editor at AltaClaro, an experiential learning platform that bridges the training gap between law school and legal practice for large firm associates.

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To contact the editors responsible for this story: Melanie Cohen at [email protected] ; Jessie Kokrda Kamens at [email protected]

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More From Forbes

8 ways organizations defeat themselves.

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Most businesses die from self-inflicted wounds. Most organizations fail because of internal problems. This is not to diminish the dangers posed by external forces and factors, but rather to acknowledge that those threats are nothing in comparison to the difficulties we create for ourselves.

I was reminded of this as I prepared for a class I am teaching next week on a tool I call The Enemy Within ™ , which is designed to help leaders identify and overcome these self-defeating practices and behaviors.

In the complex and dynamic world of business and organizational management, the potential for self-defeat is a critical concern. Organizations, ranging from small businesses to large corporations and governmental agencies, often fall victim to their own internal dynamics and decision-making processes. These include:

Blockbuster Video is an example of a business that died from self-inflicted wounds. (Photo by Kevork ... [+] Djansezian/Getty Images)

1. Groupthink and Lack of Critical Thinking. One of the most pervasive ways organizations defeat themselves is through groupthink. Groupthink occurs when a desire for harmony or conformity within a group leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcomes. The famous Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986 is a prime example. Engineers at NASA had concerns about the O-rings used in the shuttle's rockets, but the desire to launch on schedule and the pressure to conform to the group's optimism overrode these warnings. The resulting catastrophe, which killed all seven crew members, highlighted the dangers of not encouraging dissenting opinions and critical thinking within an organization.

2. Resistance to Change. Organizations often resist change due to a variety of factors, including comfort with the status quo, fear of the unknown, and bureaucratic inertia. Kodak's downfall serves as a poignant example. Despite inventing the first digital camera in 1975, Kodak was reluctant to shift its business model away from film photography. The company’s leadership failed to embrace the digital revolution, leading to Kodak's bankruptcy in 2012. This resistance to change ultimately defeated a company that once dominated its industry.

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3. Poor Leadership and Management. Leadership plays a pivotal role in an organization’s success or failure. Poor leadership can lead to a lack of direction, mismanagement of resources, and low employee morale. One notable example is the collapse of Enron in 2001. Enron’s executives engaged in widespread accounting fraud to hide the company's financial losses. This unethical leadership not only led to the company’s bankruptcy but also to the loss of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in shareholder value. Enron’s downfall underscores how critical ethical and effective leadership is to organizational success.

4. Ineffective Communication. Communication is vital for an organization’s success. Ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings, low morale, and poor execution of strategies. For instance, Blackberry’s decline can be partly attributed to poor internal communication and a lack of clear strategic direction. As competitors like Apple and Samsung rapidly innovated, Blackberry struggled to communicate a compelling vision and adapt to the changing market dynamics. This miscommunication and strategic disarray led to the company's diminished market presence.

5. Failure to Innovate. In today’s fast-paced world, innovation is key to staying competitive. Companies that fail to innovate often find themselves outpaced by more agile competitors. Blockbuster’s demise illustrates this point. Despite having the opportunity to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000, Blockbuster failed to recognize the potential of the online streaming model. Instead, it continued to rely on its traditional brick-and-mortar stores. By the time Blockbuster tried to catch up, it was too late, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

6. Overexpansion. While growth is generally seen as a positive objective, overexpansion can lead to significant problems. Starbucks' aggressive expansion in the early 2000s serves as an example of this. The company opened stores at a rapid pace, often in close proximity to each other, leading to market saturation and cannibalization of sales. This overexpansion resulted in store closures and financial strain, forcing Starbucks to reevaluate its growth strategy.

7. Misalignment with Market Trends. Organizations can also defeat themselves by failing to align with evolving market trends. MySpace, once a dominant social media platform, failed to keep pace with user expectations and technological advancements. The rise of Facebook, which offered a more appealing and user-friendly experience, led to MySpace's rapid decline. MySpace's inability to adapt to changing market demands and innovate effectively caused it to lose its user base and relevance.

8. Neglecting Organizational Culture. An organization’s culture significantly impacts its overall performance. Neglecting culture can lead to a toxic work environment, high employee turnover, and reduced productivity. Uber's cultural issues under former CEO Travis Kalanick are a case in point. Reports of harassment, discrimination, and unethical practices created a hostile work environment. These cultural problems not only damaged Uber’s reputation but also distracted the company from its core business operations, leading to leadership changes and significant internal restructuring.

While often difficult to overcome – particularly for leaders who lack introspection – these challenges can be mitigated by fostering a culture of critical thinking, embracing change, ensuring ethical leadership, maintaining clear communication, prioritizing innovation, managing growth strategically, aligning with market trends, and nurturing a positive organizational culture. This is a major goal of decision-support red teaming, and there are other useful approaches that aim at the same thing.

By addressing these areas, businesses and other organizations can avoid self-defeating behaviors and succeed even in today’s volatile and uncertain world.

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