Thinking is a physiological -cum-psychological activity of the human brain. It’s a mental skill involving integration of various ideas, experience, facts and events entwined into a web of thoughts. Given a boost, this skill can work wonders in elevating the level of intelligence and contribute ingeniously to society.
Thinking skills help us
(i) solve problems (ii) make decisions
(iii) ask questions (iv) construct plans
(v) evaluate ideas and (vi) organise information
Thinking skills can be classified into cognitive and strategic skills.
Cognitive skills: The term “cognitive” is related to the mental process of understanding and thus involves the following: Information gathering:
(a) Sensing-seeing, hearing and touching
(b) Retrieving-memory skills
Basic Understanding:
(a) Organising information
(b) Forming concepts
(c) Linking ideas together
Productive thinking: using information, creating, deciding, analysing, evaluating
Strategic/reflective skills: Strategic thinking is a powerful and invaluable skill that leads to greater chances of success in professional and personal arenas. It involves setting goals, developing long range plans, anticipating the unexpected and analysing your environment. It entails building up of cognitive skills in an individual, and doesn’t come naturally. It requires learning, cultivation, practice and application. Honing this skill can enable effective planning.
RELEVANT CONCEPTS:
Thinking: It is the process of creating a structured series of connective transactions between items of perceived information.
Meta-cognition: Control of one’s thinking including commitment, attitude and attention.
Critical thinking: Reasonable, reflective thinking that is focussed on deciding what to believe or do.
Creative thinking: Ability to form new combinations of ideas to fulfil a need or derive at an appropriate result. It’s popularly known as ‘thinking outside the box”.
The process: A thinking process is a relatively complex sequence of thinking skills. It involves:
* Concept formation: A concept is a perceived relationship between two or more facts. Its formation involves, organising information about an entity and labelling it.
* Principle formation: It involves recognising a relationship between or among concepts.
* Comprehending: Relating new information to prior knowledge and generating a meaning.
Problem solving: Analysing a complex situation to create a solution.
Decision making: The process of selecting from alternatives.
Research: Conducting inquiry for the purpose of confirming or validating one or more hypotheses
Composing: Developing a product-written, musical, mechanical, or artistic.
Oral Discourse: Talking to people.
Thinking skills are the building blocks of cognitive development and form a sound base for research. They can be imbibed and developed from a young age to master the art of thinking.
(to be continued)
Paramita Mishra holds a PhD in Environmental Biology, and has been associated with teaching Communicative English and Personality Development for nine years now. She can be contacted at mishra.paramita@gmail.com