Re/Thinking Critical Thinking: The Seductions of Everyday Life

The way that critical thinking has been framed as aneducational objective has led, on the one hand, to itssuccessful saturation of educational discourse and, onthe other, to an equation of critical thinking withdemonstrable rhetorical skills. This essay suggeststhat both critical thinking and obstacles tosuccessful critical thinking are most commonly foundin the activities of everyday life. Humans deploycritical thinking in expressions of socialimagination, illuminations of our selves andrelationship, and in ethical choices and publicengagements. By reframing critical thinking,educators may find ways to enrich its exercise both inand out of the classroom.     

Critical Thinking Disposition and Scientific Creativity: The Mediating Role of Creative Self-Efficacy

This study explores the relationship between critical thinking disposition and scientific creativity and examines the hypothesized mediating role played by creative self-concept (trait-like creative self-efficacy). A large sample (N = 1,153) of Chinese high school students filled the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and revised trait-like creative self-efficacy scale, and then solved Scientific Creativity Test for Adolescent. Structural equation modeling has demonstrated that students’ critical thinking disposition was positively related to their creative self-concept and scientific creativity, and creative self-concept fully mediated the link between critical thinking disposition and scientific creativity. We discuss these findings in terms of the hypothetical role played by creative self-concept for creative functioning.     

Pursuing Wisdom: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Some Ancient Religious Concepts of Wisdom and Current Notions of Critical Thinking Within Information Literacy

In a recent research project, I asked first year college students if they felt they used wisdom when doing research on the Internet. Coming from faith-based contexts, they did not consider the question an unusual one. However, in my discussions of information literacy at the library school, the concept of wisdom was not as common. Following the work of Maxwell and Targowski, this article will investigate connections between current discussion on critical thinking and some ancient ideals of wisdom from the Book of Proverbs and the Analects of Confucius with the hope that such insight will inform and improve our perspective and practice of information literacy.     

From reading to thinking: Student lines of thought in a seminar on Christianity and colonialism

This article describes a seminar I taught on Christianity and colonialism. I wanted to introduce students to some content while also allowing them to practice some of the expert skills that we use in religious studies, and more specifically in my own sub‐discipline, the anthropology of religion. In particular, I wanted to make more visible some of our practices of critical reading, and how these can feed into practices of complex thinking. However, given the differences between undergraduate and expert practices, what does “critical reading” and “complex thinking” look like in the undergraduate religion classroom? The article presents student readings and lines of thought through the semester, and describes how these undergraduates began to approach complex thinking on the topic of Christianity and colonialism.