Berpikir Kritis dalam Belajar

Berpikir Kritis dalam Belajar

Oleh:

Arip Nurahman

Departement Fisika, FPMIPA at Indonesia University of Education

dan

Follower Open Course Ware at MIT-Harvard University, U.S.A.

"Learning Without Thought is labor lost"

-Confucius & H2O-

Abstract

Critical thinking consists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation. It includes possible processes of reflecting upon a tangible or intangible item in order to form a solid judgment that reconciles scientific evidence with common sense. In contemporary usage "critical" has a certain negative connotation that does not apply in the present case. Though the term "analytical thinking" may seem to convey the idea more accurately, critical thinking clearly involves synthesis, evaluation, and reconstruction of thinking, in addition to analysis.

Critical thinkers gather information from all senses, verbal and/or written expressions, reflection, observation, experience and reasoning. Critical thinking has its basis in intellectualclarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance and fairness. criteria that go beyond subject-matter divisions and which include:

Introduction

Critical thinking is a form of judgment, specifically purposeful and reflective judgment. Using critical thinking one makes a decision or solves the problem of judging what to believe or what to do, but does so in a reflective way. Critical thinking gives due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making that judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming that judgment, and the applicable theoretical and constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. These elements also happen to be the key defining characteristics of professional fields and academic disciplines. This is why critical thinking can occur within a given subject field (by reference to its specific set of permissible questions, evidence sources, criteria, etc.) and across subject fields in all those spaces where human beings need to interact and make decisions, solve problems, and figure out what to believe and what to do.

Within the framework of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves acquiring information and evaluating it to reach a well-justified conclusion or answer. Part of critical thinking comprises informal logic. However, a large part of critical thinking goes beyond informal logic and includes assessment of beliefs and identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus more on teaching their students critical thinking skills, intellectual standards, and cultivating intellectual traits (such as intellectual humility, intellectual empathy, intellectual integrity, and fair-mindedness) than on memorizing facts by rote learning.

As defined in A Greek-English Lexicon, the verb krino- means to choose, decide or judge. Hence a krites is a discerner, judge or arbiter. Those who are kritikos have the ability to discern or decide by exercising sound judgment. The word krino- also means to separate (winnow) the wheat from the chaff or that which has worth from that which does not.

Critical thinking is important, because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure our thinking, decreasing thereby the risk of acting on, or thinking with, a false premise. However, even with the use of critical thinking skills, mistakes can happen due to a thinker's egocentrism or sociocentrism or failure to be in possession of the full facts. In addition, there is always the possibility of inadvertent human error.

Universal concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by reflecting upon the nature of that application. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking, biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their application to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualizing.

One can regard critical thinking as involving two aspects:

1. a set of cognitive skills, intellectual standards, and traits of mind

2. the disposition or intellectual commitment to use those structures to improve thinking and guide behavior.

Critical thinking, in the strong sense, does not include simply the acquisition and retention of information, or the possession of a skill-set which one does not use regularly; nor does critical thinking merely exercise skills without acceptance of the results.

Contents

Strategi Berpikir Kritis di dalam Belajar

Studi berpikir kritis suatu subyek atau masalah dengan pengertian yang luas (terbuka).

Proses dimulai dengan sutau pernyataan apa yang akan dipelajari, menampilkan temuan tidak terbatas dan pertimbangan kemungkinan-kemungkinan, dan kesimpulan pola-pola pengertian yang didasarkan pada kejadian. Alasan-alasan, penyimpangan, dan prasangka baik para pengajar maupun para ahli membandingkan dan membentuk lembaga penilaian.

Masuk dengan pikiran terbuka:

• Jelaskan tujuan Anda, apa yang Anda ingin pelajari
  Bereskan dan yakinkan subyek Anda dengan guru Anda atau ahli.

Topik dapat dengan frase yang sederhana:

"Peran Gender di dalam permainan video game”
"Sejarah Politik Perancis di antara Perang Besar pada paruh abad ke-20“
"Penanaman Pohon Mahogoni di Amerika Tengah”
"Peraturan Perpipaan Domestik di Daerah Pinggiran Kota”
"Kosa kata dan Struktur Kerangka Manusia”

• Pikirkan apa yang Anda ketahui tentang subyek
  Apa yang Anda sudah ketahui akan membantu Anda di dalam studi ini?
  Apa prasangka Anda?
• Sumber apa yang penting untuk Anda, dan penentuan garis waktu Anda?
• Memperoleh informasi
  Menutup pikiran tidak akan membuka pilihan Anda dan
  peluang kesempatan.
• Bertanyalah
  Apa prasangka para pengarang terhadap informasi?
• Aturlah apa yang Anda kumpulkan ke dalam pola-pola pemahaman
  Carilah kaitannya
• Ajukan pertanyaan (lagi)
• Pikirkan bagaimana Anda akan mendemonstrasikan pelajaran Andaesuai
  sesuai dengan topik Anda. Ya! Bagaimana Anda mencipatakan ujian
  Tentang apa yang Anda pelajari?
  Dari yang sederhana ke yang lebih sulit (1-6) terapan:
• 
  

1.	Daftar, label, identitas	Demonstrasi Pengetahuan
2.	Defininisikan, jelaskan, ringkaskan dengan kata-kata Anda sendiri	Pengertian/Pemahaman
3.	Pecahkan, terapkan ke situasi baru	Gunakan pelajaran Anda, dan terapkan
4.	Bandingkan dan tentangkan, perbedaan antara item	Analisis
5.	Ciptakan, gabungkan, invent	Sintesis
6.	Alihkan, rekomendasikan, nilai	Evaluasi dan jelaskan menga

Pikirkan di dalam aturan bagaimana membuat pelajaran Anda sebagai petualangan di dalam penjelajahan!

Ringkasan Berpikir Kritis:

• Tentukan fakta-fakta di dalam situasi baru atau subyek tanpa prasangka
• Tempatkan fakta-fakta dan informasi ini sedemikian rupa di dalam pola Sehingga Anda memahaminya
• Menerima atau menolak sumber nila dan kesimpulan yang didasarkan pada pengalaman, penilaian, dan keyakinan Anda.

Arip Nurahman
(Guru dan Dosen Profesional)