GEN499 Discussion Week 4 Elements of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is important for solving the issues that individuals face in the society. It is made up of several elements.  First, it involves analyzing to break down a whole into smaller parts for purposes of determining relationships and knowing their nature. Second, it involves the application of standards as per social rules or personal rules. The third element of critical thinking is discrimination. This is aimed at discovering the similarities and differences among situations. Fourth, critical thinking involves information seeking to search for knowledge, facts or evidence. Lastly, critical thinking involves  logical reasoning which is entails drawing conclusions based on the available evidence.

One of the articles I found which demonstrates good critical thinking skills is “Modern Climate change”.  The author of the article has good critical thinking skills since there is a good analysis of modern climate change.  The author breaks down climate change into several parts and analyzes the relationships between the various parts. The author analyzes climate change in terms of the causes, the rate of climate change and the effects of climate change (Trenberth and Thomas, 2003).  There is a description of the various human activities that lead to climate change such as global warming, technological change population growth, and deforestation. The causes of climate change are then analyzed in terms of the rate at which they lead to climate change and their effects on the environment.

One of the articles I found that demonstrates poor critical thinking skills is " Climate Change Effects on Crop Production in Yatta sub-County: Farmer Perceptions and Adaptation Strategies".  The article describes the causes of climate change, the perceptions of farmers about climate change and the effects of climate change on crop production (Agesa et al., 2019). There are poor critical thinking skills in the article due to poor analysis of the topic.  The analysis is only based in Yatta sub county.  There is no description of climate change in another parts of the world. The author of the article fails to predict the future of climate change. Predicting the future is one of the elements of critical thinking skills. The author only talks about the causes of climate change and its effects without predicting whether climate change can be controlled and how it will be controlled.

References

Agesa, B. L., Onyango, C. M., Kathumo, V. M., Onwonga, R. N., & Karuku, G. N. (2019). Climate change effects on crop production in Yatta sub-County: Farmer perceptions and adaptation strategies. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 19(1), 14010–14042. https://doi.org/10.18697/AJFAND.84.BLFB1017

Trenberth, K. and Thomas, K.(2003). Modern Global Climate Change, 302(December), 1719–1723