Discussion

The study conducted provides a clear insight into the matter at hand in the developing of skis required in critical thinking. The results obtained from week one of the study revealed that the students were more nervous when approaching the minute papers and completed the task relatively fast. In composing the data on the minute papers provide from them they portrayed seriousness and were mostly quiet, and there was minimal disturbance from them.

The prompts used in the study were derived from the lessons taught during the session as it was relevant that the students were given the best chance to show their critical thinking skills. The participants were eager to discuss the results from the tests, and it implied that most of them were willing to improve their critical thinking skills and this was granted to them after confirming that all papers were brought in (Ennis, 1993). The initial papers were interesting as they provide the insight of areas that needed attention as it gave insight into their thinking.

It is evident from the results of the methods used that it revealed the use of minute papers improved the critical thinking skills of the students over the length of time the procedure was in process. The students were able with time to critically read the materials and situations that was assigned to them in the minute papers. The activities as received from the teachers’ feedback indicated that the participants of this study in the first encounters of the process lacked the canny ability to interpret and recognize the facts in the readings given to them.

During the second and third week they showed an improvement as they clearly indicated that they knew gathered all the information on the matter and interpreted the means on the same, learned to identify the importance and before making any decision on the same compare the resources available to them basing their final decision on fact and giving elaborate reasons to their conclusions and why. The results were brought back to the participants, and they were allowed to share them amongst themselves to serve as an eye-opener.

The second week of the study had poor results from the students involved in the study. The number of scores from the students considerably decreased and the writings from the minute paper showed that they did not employ the critical thinking skills as it would have been expected from them with the progression of the study (Nilson, 2016). Even though they showed signs of understanding the requirements of the prompt, many of them lost focus in utilizing their skills as this was evident from the fewer writings that were received from them.

It seemed like the students had grown accustomed to the exercise and the low scores indicated boredom, and this might have installed a level of rebellious activity from them. The answers generated from the students showed a lack of utilization of the critical skills as observed from the compositions of the minute papers. This was in complete contrast with week one as it would have been expected for the results to improve with the progress of the weeks but no apparent reason was found as to why the students acted in this manner (Halpern, 1999).

The study moved into the third and final week, and the participants had become accustomed to the routine. The students showed anticipation for the prompt and the lesson to end so that they would compose the minute papers. More than seventy percent of the participants showed improvement in the results from the minute papers as compared to the start of the exercise. The minute papers also revealed that the amount of comprehension in the papers had significantly increased implying that the participants had maximized on the data and resources that were available to them.

A steady improvement in the display of critical thinking skills was observed as the compositions from the students showed more intuition in their work they submitted. The study was able to shape the students since the teachers and researcher had the insight into the problem at hand and they devised ways to improve the situation (Meyers, 1986). The use of minute paper provided the long-awaited chance to improve on critical thinking skills, and the skills were seen to improve as per the results from the three weeks the study took place. Great improvement on the students thinking was realized, and this showed that the trend would improve as time goes.

It is clear that skills in critical thinking are important to students not only in the classroom concept but also in the dealing with issues in real life situations. As such, there is the need to impart these skills as early as possible to the young individuals to prevent future mishaps and develop the ability of the students. The methods used in the research are clear as they provide an elaborate picture of the situation at hand and also take care of the presentations and the effectiveness of the lessons to both the teachers and students involved. Continuous exposure to such methods on a daily basis will help in the students having a broader approach to the situations they handle, and this will be paramount in developing and improving the skills required in mastering critical thinking (Brookfield, 2017). With the daily practice of said criteria, the students will be able to gain more understanding of what is required of them from the teachers and the surrounding environment.

With the help of minute papers, reviews and feedback from teachers the students will begin to question data that is allocated to them and this, in turn, leads to critical thinking on the information and concepts as well as the ideas they might have on the subject matter. It will prove useful as the students will take more time to understand concepts, be open minded in having different points of view and this will enable them to look deeper into details and analyze the facts that are obvious as well as try to find ways to work around the beliefs surrounding the matter without hurting the sensibilities of other people involved I the matter. This, in turn, will mean that the students will approach every situation they handle with care as they will now have better set of equipment. The critical skills gained will be used to break down the situation into categories and weed out the lack of evidence, inaccurate data, stump out the fallacies involved in the situation as well as investigating the loose information and contradicting beliefs related to the situation.

Conclusion

Following the research essay above, critical thinking is a very important factor in the academic performance of the college students. It was realized that critical thinking major elements in the college context involve a student evaluating an idea information to get the weight or the worth of the idea. Critical thinking also involves the synthesis of the ideas in the bid to get the most appropriate idea that is satisfying all the needs it is purposed to serve through using a variety of information sources when researching an idea. Critical thinking demands that a college student should be able to analyze an idea so that they can understand the information and the sources that had been used in developing the idea (Gambrill, 2006). The application of the ideas learned from sources in solving academic related issues is also composed of critical thinking. Critical thinking demands that a student in the college continues to get more knowledgeable as well.

The basic importance of critical thinking according to the research essay includes managing the various tasks that a student is required to handle when in the college. Critical thinking also helps students develop the good communication relationships and become mindful in their arguments, both in class and outside academic issues. Critical thinking helps college students to interact well with others and respond to their arguments in a way that shows respect to all the others in their academic environment. Critically thinking students ca, therefore, engage in discussion with others and come out having gained and managed to avoid interpersonal conflicts with others.

Critical thinking helps college students in making decisions that are mature, and that would leave them not depressed in their future. A student needs to make a path decision that conveniences he or her most and one that would meet all the needs of his or her academics. Setting a target is very important for college students. However, a student can only benefit from the target that he or she has set if it is achievable and realistic as per his or her academic potential. Critically thinking students set targets that would help them improve their academics and achievable as per their academic potentials. Critically thinking students are also characterized doing researches when they are open-minded and ready to accept any new idea that they come across. This means that critical thinking increases the chances of a student gaining more information concerning the ideas that they come across in the process of learning.

Critical thinkers are usually self-driven and hence good time managers. Critical thinking enables students to balance their time in the required way and talking the appropriate manner without waiting to be confined or controlled by the rules. Critical thinking encourages students to take a lot of researchers to gain the required information content. Critical thinking also expands students’ memory and hence can store information for a long period and use them at any time that they need them for application especially during the examination periods.

This paper has also talked about the intellectual errors that form a barrier to critical thinking among the college students. The paper explains that egocentric reasoning makes students poor in acknowledging others opinions, which is not as per the requirements of critical thinking. Some students also tend to believe in specific information sources. This prevents them from looking into other sources of information that could help them in getting advanced information concerning an idea. Rushing into making decisions and taking action on an issue without mindfully thinking about it also inhibits critical thinking among the college students. Students should, therefore, avoid engaging in issues that object critical thinking capabilities and think critically to benefit most from the critical thinking advantages. Critical thinking in this context is the key to excellence in college education. Life success will automatically come if a student. A college student should, therefore, understand all the six elements of critical thinking and reflect them in his or college life. All the importance of critical thinking that has been discussed above will be to the student’s benefits on a condition that he or she be able to avid the many intellectual errors that this paper has talked about.

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