critical thinking competency framework

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A Short Guide to Building Your Team’s Critical Thinking Skills

• Matt Plummer

Critical thinking isn’t an innate skill. It can be learned.

Most employers lack an effective way to objectively assess critical thinking skills and most managers don’t know how to provide specific instruction to team members in need of becoming better thinkers. Instead, most managers employ a sink-or-swim approach, ultimately creating work-arounds to keep those who can’t figure out how to “swim” from making important decisions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To demystify what critical thinking is and how it is developed, the author’s team turned to three research-backed models: The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment, Pearson’s RED Critical Thinking Model, and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Using these models, they developed the Critical Thinking Roadmap, a framework that breaks critical thinking down into four measurable phases: the ability to execute, synthesize, recommend, and generate.

With critical thinking ranking among the most in-demand skills for job candidates , you would think that educational institutions would prepare candidates well to be exceptional thinkers, and employers would be adept at developing such skills in existing employees. Unfortunately, both are largely untrue.

• Matt Plummer (@mtplummer) is the founder of Zarvana, which offers online programs and coaching services to help working professionals become more productive by developing time-saving habits. Before starting Zarvana, Matt spent six years at Bain & Company spin-out, The Bridgespan Group, a strategy and management consulting firm for nonprofits, foundations, and philanthropists.  

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Ideas to Action (i2a)

• Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. (Paul and Elder, 2001). The Paul-Elder framework has three components:

• The elements of thought (reasoning)
• The  intellectual standards that should be applied to the elements of reasoning
• The intellectual traits associated with a cultivated critical thinker that result from the consistent and disciplined application of the intellectual standards to the elements of thought

According to Paul and Elder (1997), there are two essential dimensions of thinking that students need to master in order to learn how to upgrade their thinking. They need to be able to identify the "parts" of their thinking, and they need to be able to assess their use of these parts of thinking.

Elements of Thought (reasoning)

The "parts" or elements of thinking are as follows:

• All reasoning has a purpose
• All reasoning is an attempt to figure something out, to settle some question, to solve some problem
• All reasoning is based on assumptions
• All reasoning is done from some point of view
• All reasoning is based on data, information and evidence
• All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, concepts and ideas
• All reasoning contains inferences or interpretations by which we draw conclusions and give meaning to data
• All reasoning leads somewhere or has implications and consequences

Universal Intellectual Standards

The intellectual standards that are to these elements are used to determine the quality of reasoning. Good critical thinking requires having a command of these standards. According to Paul and Elder (1997 ,2006), the ultimate goal is for the standards of reasoning to become infused in all thinking so as to become the guide to better and better reasoning. The intellectual standards include:

Intellectual Traits

Consistent application of the standards of thinking to the elements of thinking result in the development of intellectual traits of:

• Intellectual Humility
• Intellectual Courage
• Intellectual Empathy
• Intellectual Autonomy
• Intellectual Integrity
• Intellectual Perseverance
• Confidence in Reason
• Fair-mindedness

Characteristics of a Well-Cultivated Critical Thinker

Habitual utilization of the intellectual traits produce a well-cultivated critical thinker who is able to:

• Raise vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
• Gather and assess relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively
• Come to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
• Think open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
• Communicate effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems

Paul, R. and Elder, L. (2010). The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. Dillon Beach: Foundation for Critical Thinking Press.

• SACS & QEP
• Planning and Implementation
• What is Critical Thinking?
• Why Focus on Critical Thinking?
• Culminating Undergraduate Experience
• Community Engagement
• Frequently Asked Questions
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Education for Sustainable Development and Critical Thinking Competency

• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 06 June 2019
• Cite this living reference work entry

• Sadaf Taimur 7 &
• Hassan Sattar 8  

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Cognitive ability ; Curiosity ; Education to achieve sustainable development ; Inquisitiveness ; Sustainability education

Definitions

Education for sustainable development (referred to as “ESD” hereafter) is education that “empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity.” In simple words, we can also define “ESD” as education to achieve sustainable development.

Critical thinking is the individual’s ability to apply higher-order, rational thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, problem recognition and problem-solving, inference, and evaluation. In this age of information technology, the amount of information available is massive. This kind of information explosion will continue in the future, and, in this situation, children need to weed through the information and not just receive it passively. Hence, critical...

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Graduate Program in Sustainability Science – Global Leadership Initiative, Department of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Sadaf Taimur

Silver Oaks Schools & College-Pakistan, Silver Oaks International Education Services-UAE, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Hassan Sattar

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Correspondence to Sadaf Taimur .

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European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

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Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Anabela Marisa Azul

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

Luciana Brandli

Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

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Journal of Advanced Cognitive Engineers, Society of Cognitive Engineers, MELBOURNE, USA

Olivia A. M. Freeman

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Taimur, S., Sattar, H. (2019). Education for Sustainable Development and Critical Thinking Competency. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Quality Education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69902-8_64-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69902-8_64-1

Received : 29 June 2018

Accepted : 14 November 2018

Published : 06 June 2019

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-319-69902-8

Online ISBN : 978-3-319-69902-8

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Competency Module: Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

Competency badges form the building blocks of the Certificates Program. You get laser-focused learning in any of the individual competencies that make up the Public Procurement Competency Framework. Competency badges are given after completing any one of the 33 competency modules and successfully passing the assessment.

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Demonstrate innovative solutions that balance stakeholder needs, best practices, mission goals, and procurement regulations to address strategic objectives.

In order to successfully earn a digital badge, learners must:

• Define Critical Thinking in terms of leadership.
• Evaluate possible solutions to a problem using a problem-solving process.
• Analyze a problem and collaborate with others to build a solution.

Intended Audience

Designed to promote applicable experiences for practitioners working in the public sector, NIGP’s Pathways competency courses empower learners with the ready-to-implement actions they need to succeed in public procurement. This introductory course is designed for:

• Public procurement and central warehouse professionals who serve as assistants, coordinators, buyers, or equivalent functions within their respective entities.  
• Non-procurement managers and supervisors who are responsible for either the procurement function or staff who provide procurement functions under delegated authority.  
• Professionals who are employed by governing entities and special authorities (such as K-12 and higher education, publicly-owned utilities, transportation providers, and other publicly-funded or created organizations) that either serve within or manage the procurement function.  

Suppliers or representatives of suppliers seeking to understand the public procurement function from a holistic level, including the policies, standards, and procedures by which public entities must function. 

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Designed for public procurement professionals who are new to the profession or have 1-5 of experience.

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Get a core certificate: foundations of leadership by adding:, driving change, innovation & agility, communication strategies.

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This module must be scheduled in-person with an additional 1/2 day module. 

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