The document discusses critical thinking skills training. It defines critical thinking as clear and rational thinking that understands logical connections between ideas. The training aims to help participants define critical thinking, follow its steps to solve problems, and identify problems, tasks and solutions. It also discusses reliable sources, importance of critical thinking skills for the workplace, and includes activities to differentiate opinions from facts and practice critical thinking.

1. Critical thinking (4 hrs)
Objectives:
By the end of the training, participants should be
able to:
i. Define critical thinking.
ii. Follow steps of critical thinking in solving the
problems that affect them.
iii. Identify problems, tasks and solutions.
iv. Evaluate potential solutions.

2. What is critical thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and
rationally, understanding the logical connection between
ideas. Soft skills that help you in the critical thinking
process and can improve your ability to think
critically.”Critical thinking involves gathering information,
analyzing it and acting on it to beast reach a goal.”
Critical thinking skills are considered one of many durable
skills in any work workplace. Many of these are soft skills
that are also useful in other situations.

3. Steps of Critical Thinking
1. Identify the problem or question.
Be as precise as possible: the narrower the issue,
the easier it is to find solutions or answers.
2. Gather data, opinions, and arguments.
Try to find several sources that present different
ideas and points of view.
3. Analyze and evaluate the data.
Are the sources reliable? Are their conclusions
data-backed or just argumentative? Is there
enough information or data to support given
hypotheses?
4. Identify assumptions.
Are you sure the sources you found are unbiased?
Are you sure you weren’t biased in your search for
answers?

4. 5. Establish significance.
What piece of information is most important? Is
the sample size sufficient? Are all opinions and
arguments even relevant to the problem you’re
trying to solve?
6. Make a decision/reach a conclusion.
Identify various conclusions that are possible and
decide which (if any) of them are sufficiently
supported. Weigh strengths and limitations of all
possible options.
7. Present or communicate.
Once you’ve reached a conclusion, present it to all
stakeholders.

5. RELIABLE SOURCES
• Be care full
• Get the facts
• Use science and
medicine not opinions
• Who is saying it? are
there an expert.
• Ask more than one
source

6. Why are critical thinking Skills important?
According to research by America Succeeds, critical thinking
is in the top five most requested durable skills in job
postings. Those top five durable skills get requested 2.6x
more often than the top five hard skills. This goes to show
that soft skills like critical thinking skills are in demand in the
workplace.

7. Critical thinking skills are important for several
reasons. These include helping you work
independently and solve problems. Not all
positions require ongoing critical thinking. But
those skills definitely matter to anyone who wants
to up level their career. And even the most easy-
going positions require at least some level of
critical thinking skills.

8. For example, working as an accountant can be
straightforward in most cases. But it may require
critical thinking skills. For instance, what if certain
expenses aren’t easily distributed in simple
categories? Without critical thinking skills, an
accountant will struggle to work independently
and solve problems on their own.

9. Group participants into groups of 7 to play
the games below [30 minutes]. Four groups
can be randomly selected to present before
the class

10. The team sits or stands in a circle, and each is
given a unique picture of an animal, object, or
other items. To make it more exciting, the
instructor starts a unique story then the next
member continues the story following the
picture provided. This team building game
inculcates creative collaboration skills for
adults and children alike.
The zoom Game
Opinions vs. facts game
This critical thinking exercise helps to separate
opinions and facts. Students need to know where
feelings are being expressed and situations where
students say proven things. You can place a
statement on a whiteboard and let the students tell
whether it is an opinion or a fact. With multiple
statements, including facts and opinions, students
will understand how to differentiate between facts
and opinions.

11. FACTS AND OPINIONS
A fact is something that can be proven true, for
example: There are stars in the sky.
An opinion is someone’s feelings or thoughts
about something, for example: The movie was
boring.
1. Spiders are scary.
● Opinion
2. Water is wet.
● Fact
3. This is a chocolate cake.
● Fact
4. The cake is delicious.
● Opinion
5. Girls are not as smart as boys.
● Opinion

12. 6. Strong men should hide their feelings.
● Opinion
7. All men have emotions whether they show
them or not.
● Fact
8. Only girls can wear earrings.
● Opinion
9. Men and women of all ages can wear earrings.
● Fact
10. It’s nice to sleep late on Saturday.
● Opinion
11. There are 12 months in a year.
● Fact

13. Follow up discussion:
What excited you most about the games?
What was the hardest part of the game?
Are there any similarities between the two games?
What lessons do you pick from the lesson?

14. What does critical thinking entail?

15. Assignment
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs: Read a
story about a wolf and three pigs, and afterward
you will do an activity to consider how the last
pig went up the Ladder of Inference.

16. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs "Everybody
knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least
they think they do. But I'll let you in on a little secret.
Nobody knows the real story, because nobody has
ever heard my side of the story. I'm Alexander T.
Wolf. You can call me Al. I don't know how this
whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it's all
wrong.

17. Maybe it's because of our diet. Hey, it's not my fault
wolves eat cute little animals like bunnies and sheep
and pigs. That's just the way we are. If cheeseburgers
were cute, folks would probably think you were Big
and Bad too. But like I was saying, the whole big bad
wolf thing is all wrong. The real story is about a
sneeze and a cup of sugar.
THIS IS THE REAL STORY.

18. Way back in Once Upon a Time Time, I was making a
birthday cake for my dear old granny. I had a terrible
sneezing cold. I ran out of sugar. So, I walked down
the street to ask my neighbor for a cup of sugar. Now
this neighbor was a pig. And he wasn't too bright
either.

19. He had built his whole house out of straw. Can you
believe it? I mean who in his right mind would
build a house of straw? So of course, the minute I
knocked on the door, it fell right in. I didn't want to
just walk into someone else's house.

20. So, I called, "Little Pig, Little Pig, are you in?" No
answer. I was just about to go home
without the cup of sugar for my dear old granny's
birthday cake. That's when my nose started to itch. I felt
a sneeze coming on. Well I huffed. And I snuffed. And I
sneezed a great sneeze.

21. And you know what? The whole darn straw house fell
down. And right in the middle of the pile of straw was the
First Little Pig - dead as a doornail. He had been home the
whole time. It seemed like a shame to leave a perfectly
good ham dinner lying there in the straw. So, I ate it up.
Think of it as a cheeseburger just lying there. I was feeling
a little better. But I still didn't have my cup of sugar. So, I
went to the next neighbor's house. This neighbor was the
First Little Pig's brother.

22. He was a little smarter, but not
much. He has built his house of sticks. I rang the bell on the
stick house. Nobody answered. I called, "Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig,
are you in?" He yelled back. “Go away wolf. You can't
come in. I'm shaving the hairs on my shinny chin chin." I
had just grabbed the doorknob when I felt another sneeze
coming on. I huffed. And I snuffed. And I tried to cover my
mouth, but I sneezed a great sneeze.

23. And you are not going to believe this, but the guy's
house fell down just like his
brother's. When the dust cleared, there was the
Second Little Pig - dead as a doornail.
Wolf's honor. Now you know food will spoil if you
just leave it out in the open. So, I did
the only thing there was to do.

24. I had dinner again. Think of it as a second helping. I was
getting awfully full. But my cold was feeling a little
better. And I still didn't have that
cup of sugar for my dear old granny's birthday cake. So, I
went to the next house.

25. This guy was the First and Second Little Pig's brother. He
must have been the brains of the
family. He had built his house of bricks. I knocked on the
brick house. No answer. I
called, "Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig, are you in?" And do you know
what that rude little porker
answered? "Get out of here, Wolf. Don't bother me again."
Talk about impolite! He probably had a whole sack ful of
sugar.

26. And he wouldn't give
me even one little cup for my dear sweet old granny's
birthday cake. What a pig!
I was just about to go home and maybe make a nice
birthday card instead of a cake,
when I felt my cold coming on. I huffed And I snuffed.
And I sneezed once again.

27. Then the Third Little Pig yelled, " And your old
granny can sit on a pin!" Now I'm
usually a pretty calm fellow. But when
somebody talks about my granny like that, I go a
Little crazy. When the cops drove up, of course I
was trying to break down this Pig's
door. And the whole time I was huffing and
puffing and sneezing and making a real
scene.

28. The rest as they say is history. The news
reporters found out about the two pigs I had for
dinner. They figured a sick guy going to borrow
a cup of sugar didn't sound very exciting.
So, they jazzed up the story with all of that "Huff
and puff and blow your house down"
And they made me the Big Bad Wolf. That's it
the real story. I was framed. "

29. Questions
How does the third pig perceive the wolf’s actions (i.e.,
look from the perspective of the pig).
i. Complete the Ladder of Inference Student Handout in
small groups or as a class, from the perspective of the
last pig (Note: write this in the appropriate section of
their handout: “I’m thinking from the perspective of:”).
Remind students to start from the bottom, since they’re
going ‘up’ a ladder. See the suggested answers below:

30.  Evidence:
o What did I observe? I (the pig) observed the wolf
blowing down two houses, and eating the two pigs
o Do I have all the pieces of the story? No, I (the pig)
didn’t know the wolf had a cold and his blows were
accidental sneezes, and that he just wanted a cup of
sugar for his grandmother’s cake
o How could I investigate more? I (the pig) could have
asked the wolf why he was at my house

31.  Assumptions (of the pig): He is a mean wolf and he
came to my house to eat me, too! (Reason: the pig has
this assumption because of his past experiences
showing that wolves are vicious and like to eat pigs)
 Conclusions and actions (of the pig): I’m not going to
answer the door when he knocks. Instead, I’ll be mean
to him and then call the police and say he’s a Big Bad
Wolf!

32. What could have happened if the pig had practiced critical
thinking?
What could the pig have done to investigate his
assumptions?
 If the pig had investigated his assumptions and
discovered all the pieces to the story (that the Wolf had a
cold and just wanted some sugar for his grandmother’s
cake), what would the pig’s new conclusions have been?
What new actions would he have taken?
 How would the pig’s new actions have affected the Wolf?
What would have been different?

33. i. Reflection.
Reflect by asking yourself questions such as:
 Has anyone ever made an assumption about you that wasn’t true?
How did it feel?
 Have you ever made an assumption about another person that you
later found out wasn’t true? What could you have done to make
sure you had all the pieces to the story before you made this
assumption?
 How can we apply what we learned about this story to future
situations, if we find ourselves making assumptions about others
before knowing the whole story?

34. Critical Thinking and the Ladder of Inference
Observe the evidence
 What did I observe?
 What can I do to make sure I know all the important
parts of the story?
Make assumptions
 What are other possible explanations?
 How can I test my assumptions?
Make conclusions & take action
 Did I run up the ladder too quickly?
 Are my conclusions based on my own investigations?