Critical Thinking: Some Cognitive Components

Creativity, discovery, and independent thought, while processes that we all admire, are more talked about in educational circles than productively integrated into well conceived and executed teaching patterns. A prime difficulty lies in the complexity of these cognitive abilities and our lack of understanding of the component behaviors which they comprise. In an effort to press us toward a more explicit utilization of such notions as critical thinking, the author offers an analysis in behavioral terms that are immediately relevant to the classroom.