Study Skills for Master's Level Students, revised edition. Sally Hayes Tyler

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      2

      WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

      This chapter covers the following key issues:

      By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

      INTRODUCTION

      Chapter 1 has introduced you to the concept of Master’s level study, explored some of the key attributes of postgraduate study and encouraged you to consider some of the issues that postgraduate students face during their studies, particularly relating to delivery and assessment, and to your own personal development goals. This chapter will consider one of the key aims of postgraduate study – the ability to demonstrate critical thinking.

      It is worth revisiting some of the broad learning outcomes of postgraduate study specified by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) from Chapter 1 (see Figure 1).

      Master’s degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated:

      Figure 1. Descriptor for a higher education qualification at level 7 Master’s degree (source: QAA, 2008)

      The descriptor in Figure 1 shows that Master’s level students need to demonstrate more than just comprehensive knowledge of the subject, although that is obviously a key element of gaining mastery of a subject. The terms ‘critical awareness’, ‘evaluate critically’ and ‘develop critiques’ in the QAA learning outcomes suggest the notion of ‘being critical’. It is important to review what is meant by this term.

      Being critical

      Being critical in everyday life may be associated with expressing adverse or disapproving comments on something. Often these criticisms may be fairly subjective and not based on strong evidence or have a clear rationale. In contrast, academic criticism needs to be objective, factual and considered. Your previous experiences as a student will have demonstrated the importance of being fair in your judgements and supporting arguments with available evidence in academic work. Being critical in academic work is not, therefore, the same as criticising in everyday life.

      Write down what you think ‘being critical’ means in relation to academic work.

      Some suggestions that you have written down might include phrases like:

      Implicit in all of these phrases is an attempt to recognise the value or quality of something. This may be an idea, a concept, a product or a piece of writing, for example. Being critical in academic terms includes considering both negative and positive aspects. The notion of being critical is not, therefore, something to be undertaken in a superficial or ad hoc manner. A critical approach can only be achieved in a considered and systematic way, as it requires reviewing something in some depth and in the context of other work related to the topic or concept under scrutiny.

      The ability to ‘be critical’ implies something that can apply to a one-off act or event – a skill that is demonstrated on a single occasion. However, developing mastery in a subject suggests the development and integration of skills and knowledge leading to new perspectives on how knowledge is viewed. In other words, it leads to a change in how we think – hence ‘critical thinking’. To start to ‘be critical’ is therefore just the start of becoming a critical thinker, which suggests an approach or disposition to think critically in all aspects of life. Daly (2001) has stated that ‘Most commentators agree that a repertoire of knowledge and discrete skills is of little use if it lies redundant or is used selectively’ (Daly, 2001, p. 121).

      In other words, critical thinkers exhibit the habit of thinking critically as part of their intellectual repertoire. They are likely to demonstrate a spirit of enquiry and a questioning attitude in order to probe deeper into something СКАЧАТЬ