LEARNIG OBJECTIVES: 1. Understand what we use mental thinking for. How does everyday thinking differ from critical thinking? 2. Be able to explain what critical thinking is for.

5.Урок.Открытая часть. Критическое мышление.

«Education should equip us with the power to think effectively and objectively. To think is one of the hardest things in the world, and to think objectively is still harder. Yet this is the job of education. Education should cause us to rise beyond the horizon of legions of half truth, prejudices and propaganda. Education should enable us to “weigh and consider,” to discern the true from the false, the relevant from the irrelevant, and the real from the unreal.1 The first function of education, therefore, is to teach man to think intensively. But this is not the whole of education. If education stops here it can be the most dangerous force in society. Some of the greatest criminals in society have been men {who) possessed the power of concentration and reason, but they had no morals. Perhaps the most dangerous periods in civilization have been those periods when there was no moral foundation in society.»

King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Hello, guys!

My name is Andrei Shcheglov, and today we begin our first and perhaps most crucial lesson. You may ask why this lesson is called "the first" because before that, we have covered 1. Basics: Air. Water. Food., 2. Sleep., 3. Sport. Your body is the source of your strength., 4. Fears. How do you face them?

This is the right question. All that you have learned before is the basis or foundation on which we need to stand and grow. When you understand how to keep your body healthy and energize it and you have overcome or begun to challenge the fears and convictions holding you back, you can begin to work with yourself.

I consider "critical thinking" to be the most important skill in the modern world. And I think it is no coincidence that the International Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/ placed critical thinking second among the 10 most essential skills of the 21st century in 2020.

There are two classic definitions of critical thinking that I find quite appealing:

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgment. The subject is complex; several definitions exist, generally including the rational, skeptical, and unbiased analysis or evaluation of factual evidence. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities as well as a commitment to overcome native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

Critical thinking is a person's ability to question incoming information, including their personal convictions.

Expanding on these definitions I would say that critical thinking is your ability to critically evaluate the following:

• Yourself - what is happening directly to you: events, your thoughts, emotions.
• The information that comes to you. There is a lot of information nowadays, and one of the basic skills (as with food, by the way) is not even "knowing what to consume", but "knowing exactly what not to consume and even what is harmful". First, filter out all "trash" or sources that do not contain important information, stop mindlessly consuming content that is deliberately (according to your preferences) dumped on you by social networks, and then start evaluating the information. Why did this man say that to me? What does he really want? What does he want from me? What do I want? What kind of media is this? Who is this media? Why does Google News, BBC, or CNN say different things about the same event? Why are they showing the same video but naming different countries where it happened or naming different guilty parties? It is said that " the truth is in the middle". Let me tell you a secret - there is no truth at all. There is always information that somebody WANTS you to know. That's why it's so important to study ancient philosophy, read classical literature, and be able to gather information from different sources and analyze it.

It is important to examine critically:

• other people and what happens to them
• which 6. Сognitive distortions. affect us and which affect others in the first place