Critical thinking

Critical thinking has been described as "purposeful reflective judgment concerning what to believe or what to do."1 While it is called critical, it does not have to be negative - it can be deep enquiry and questioning, or be respectful exploration. Having said that, it can also be paradigm shifting and part of an active process to challange the status quo.

Critical thinking challenges "one size fits all" thinking, and helps challenge bias and dominant versions of what is important based on incomplete understanding of the issues involved. It encourages examination of personal and professional contribution to change, and helps lead to self determination and autonomy for the learner. It can also provide an encouraging basis for future participation, and the capacity to take a stand (GSE827 2010).

Critical thinking for EfSD largely explores issues of IDEOLOGY, POWER and JUSTICE in relation to sustainability and the environment. It looks at how the way reality is constructed is influenced by power relations and cultural settings.

Critical thinking skills include:

• considering evidence
• searching for relevant information to support that evidence
• questioning the validity of sources
• analysing personal and informational assumptions
• detecting bias, personal and external
• being aware that one's own understanding could be limited, and having the desire to further learning
• exploring alternatives
• distinguishers between logically valid and invalid inferences
• the ability to strip an argument to essentials, and being summarise its key features
• applying problem-solving techniques in other situations than those in which they were learned

(GSE827 2010)
The Story of Stuff is a good example of critical thinking around our current system of production, marketing and consuming.

1 Facione A "Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. Research Findings and Recommendations" ERIC #ED315423

ACTIVITY
In class we looked at a number of advertisements with a green focus or which used images from nature, and had to evaluate their obvious and implied messages. For example, we looked at an advert for an expensive power yacht that used pictures of the boat in nature to give an impression of leisure time, without addressing the underlying unsustainable social system that ensured many extra hours of work that would be necessary to afford the purchase of the boat (thus limiting leisure time).

Other activities that you could do with a group include:

• examination of articles, ads, media of all sorts
• examination of programs they, or their group, are involved with
• get people to come up with a question around a text or media.

REFLECTIONS
Through our class work and my reading, I've come to the conclusion that critical thinking is one of the most important underlying skills that can enable movement towards sustainability. By developing critical thinking skills in the population, rather than just showing them the problem and giving them a fait accompli solution, you are more likely to get a sustainable outcome.

For example, on one occasion when we were in the design process for a new building, our designer presented us with a "green" building design bristling with sensors that will turn lights/airconditioning on and off as necessary. Everyone was thrilled, as it seemed to match their ideas of what "green" should look like, but a few of us asked if those sensors would take more electricity to run than the status quo - they did. A bit of critical thinking around the proposed solution lead to an evaluative process which proposed a simpler and less technological solution - a program encouraging behaviour change in the building's users. This was more successful but oddly less popular, as it wasn't nearly as "sexy" an option, and required people to think about their own actions and their consequences.

However, it shows the importance of critical thinking in real sustainable outcomes, rather than just the impression of them.