3. Explain the concept of critical reading/thinking to a person unfamiliar with it using examples to help

Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider... (Francis Bacon1605). Critical thinking is an essential part of the academic world. It helps to evaluate theories and ideas. It forces us to not be complacent in our reading. Above all critical thinking is about asking questions. Who wrote this? Is his research valid? Does he use graphs/diagrams properly? What is the tone of the article? Do you agree/disagree? To be a critical thinker you must collect and study all relevant information, assess it fairly and try to work out what is fact and what is opinion. Any theory must be tested. It must also be recognised that the author may be biased in some way. It requires many complex skills to be a critical thinker. It is essential to analyse the task, you must compare and contrast theories/ideas, and you must judge fairly and judge all resources for validity. It is not a personal opinion, but asking what if? What are the consequences? what is the outcome? The most difficult part of critical thinking is recognising that your own opinion/prejudices may cloud your thinking. It is essential to be open to ideas which challenge your own. An example of critical thinking is to consider a teenager using drugs- theories would suggest that this maybe because he has a low level of emotional intelligence or because he is from a single parent family or because he is a middle child. All theories would have to be studied and questioned in order for critical thinking to take place.

 

References

www.psychometriclab.com

 

1. Which, if any, is more important in your opinion and why: Cognitive Intelligence (IQ) or Emotional Intelligence (EI).

Binet and Simon argued that the essence of intelligence is “to judge well, to comprehend well and to reason well”. General intelligence is comprised of two parts cognitive intelligence and emotional and social intelligence. Cognitive intelligence is also known as intelligence quotient or IQ. This is a number arrived at using intelligence tests and is believed by many to indicate a person’s level of intelligence. It comprises the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas and learn quickly from ideas. According to Mayer and Salovey (1997) "Emotional Intelligence involves the ability to perceive accurately, appraise and express emotion ;the ability to access and or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth"

Having considered the descriptions of both I think that Emotional Intelligence is more important because it essentially contributes more to a person’s happiness and fulfilment in life. While a high IQ may define how a person does in school and their career choice those with a lower IQ may still succeed in education and will find suitable careers. A high IQ does not necessarily produce a happy or well-rounded or a "nice" person. However by measuring Emotional Intelligence it is suggested that those with higher Emotional Intelligence interact well with people, are more content, well adapted psychologically and prove to have desirable parenting skills (Stys and Brown 2004). Lower Emotional Intelligence scores on the other hand are connected to deviant and violent behaviour and illegal use of drugs and alcohol. Cognitive Intelligence stays static throughout life while Emotional Intelligence can be influenced and aspects improved or changed. Those with high levels of Emotional Intelligence tend to make better leaders because they are more inspirational. They are also more likely to be confident and have a sense of social responsibility and enjoy happy relationships. Those with lower Emotional Intelligence must be encouraged and taught by society to overcome their difficulties to avoid moving to areas like violence and substance abuse. Emotional Intelligence is not just about an individual it’s about all he/she comes in contact with and society and therefore is more important than Cognitive Intelligence in my opinion.

References

Bass, Bernard M, Riggio, Ronald E; Murphy Susan E; Pirozzolo, Francis J 2002 Multiple intelligences and leadership, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Hayes, Nicky Foundations of Psychology 2006 Thomson Learning.

www.psychometriclab.com

www.studymode.com

 

6. My notes (using an effective note taking technique) and summary on the following video... http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/adora_svitak.html

1.      What adults can learn from kids

2.      8 minute video

3.      Optimism – very important

4.      Addressing a big crowd form a stage

5.      Damaging influence of children

6.      To be childish – a positive rather than negative

7.      Children as inspirational figures

8.      Good orator

9.      Believe in possibility

10.  The burden of history – reluctance to act

11.  Dream first – the boundary of possibility

12.  Adults should learn from kids

13.  Reciprocal learning

14.  Humour – engages crowd – childish yet mature – great appeal

15.  Very clever – Knowledge and presentation

16.  A published author – through persistence and parental support

17.  Creating opportunities – not knocking them

18.  Listen and learn - increase expectations and improve outcomes

19.  Ends with a question and challenge – ‘Are you ready?’

20.  Makes adults questions themselves ‘problems should not be heirlooms’

The eight minute video is presented by an intelligent and entertaining child called Adora Svitak. In it she questions her audience on their attitudes and the general attitudes of adults towards children. She points out that adults have created many crises in the world like ware and imperialism and that some children have been inspirational like Ruby Bridges who helped end segregation of coloured people in the United States and a child called Charlie Simpson who raised £120,000 for Haiti on his bike. She encouraged adults to copy the desirable traits of children and believe in possibility and optimism. To let hope and the desire to succeed improve their ability to achieve their goals. Adora believes that education should be a two-way process with teacher and student learning with and from each other. She emphasises the importance of support from family explaining that her desire to be a published author was an achievement through her self-belief and the encouragement of her parents. She endorses the notion of listening the learning presentations ends with a plea that the problems created by adults should not become the heirlooms of her generation and a question for the adults – ‘Are you ready?’ – a question for them to ponder and take away with them.

Reference List

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/adora_svitak.html - Posted April 2010