Critical Thinking Experience Template Essay

Expert critical thinking strategies are integral to successfully completing your college course work and advancing in your career. The purpose of this first assignment is to have a framework of focus that will assure success with the upcoming course activities. Specifically, reflecting on previous critical thinking experience can be a powerful way to get the stage set for successful completion of this course. As you complete this assignment, avoid performing research and using citations. Internet research is not needed because you are reflecting on your own experience not that of another author. There is no right or wrong answer—have fun! Choose a Situation Think back to a personal or professional situation when you used critical thinking strategies to solve a problem and make a decision. Example situations are: making a computer purchase decision; deciding which cell phone best meets your needs; choosing a school for your bachelor degree program; or another situation of your choice. As you think about a situation when critical thinking strategies were used, reflect on the ideas in the next section to guide the composition needed for this assignment. Required Composition of 400−600 Words To ensure your composition meets the 400−600 word requirement, consider some of the following ideas as you compose your reflection. In the chosen situation, which of these common critical thinking strategies did you use: describing the problem, breaking the problem into manageable parts, laying out potential solutions, weighing the potential outcomes of the various solutions, choosing the best approach, implementing the decision, and evaluating the outcome? Explain how you used the strategies and what you learned from applying them to your situation. Did you enjoy the critical thinking strategies? Explain why or why not. In what ways were your strategies satisfactory or unsatisfactory? Were the strategies you used successful? Explain why or why not. How much time did it take to use the various strategies? Were there any of the strategies that you would not use again? Would you consider experimenting with a different strategy in future situations? Until being asked to reflect back on my personal use of critical thinking strategies I didn’t realize how often I use variety of strategies in different ways in my everyday life. The decision to come back to school to pursue my bachelors was definitely fueled by my utilization of various strategies. I had to evaluate the long term positive affect obtaining my degree would have on my future and the potential initial financial burden. This was huge decision for me and I felt it was going to be a very daunting task at best. However, breaking down this concern into more manageable parts made it less intimidating for me to progress. This strategy provided me a road map to making a decision. Breaking down my concerns into more manageable parts was a fairly simple task for me that did not require much time. I wrote all my concerns in different columns allowing me space to write the information I obtained about each concern. This visually helped me stay on track. Choosing the best approach and weighing the potential outcomes of the various solutions was a much more lengthy process. Even though the process was lengthy it was immensely enjoyable. Getting my mind working toward processing all the information I was receiving was exhilarating for me. Each step of the way I felt more and more accomplished. All of the strategies were successful for me. They were so successful that they got me here on this new journey in life. The assistance they provided me in clarity definitely makes me inclined to use them again. However, my success also has sparked my intrigue to experiment with different strategies. I can see the potential that other situations may require different or additional strategies. I think it would be beneficial to use the strategy that appropriately fits to what I was trying to accomplish. I do believe that being good at critical thinking is a tool that will help me progress down the road professionally. I may have to go through some trial and error in my strategies selection and utilization until I get the solution whether it’s desired or not. I am grateful that this assignment has opened my awareness of being a critical thinker. I will work on making a conscience effort to realize when I am using critical thinking so I may analysis myself on how I am using strate gies. Thus, I can work on growing my skills and work on being a better critical thinker and in turn a better decision maker.