Critical thinking impacts your ability to set and achieve goals. Learn more about critical thinking by engaging with the resources below.

What Is Critical Thinking?

Listen and watch as John Ashman, UVU Adjunct and UCAS SLSS 1000 instructor, walks through the analogy of “putting on your swim mask” and how it correlates to critical thinking.

Read sections 3.2, 3.4, and 3.5 from the following online textbook to learn more about critical thinking:

• College Success. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing (Textbook)
  • 3.2 It’s Critical
  • 3.4 Problem Solving and Decision Making
  • 3.5 Chapter Activities (just review this section)

Section 3.3 Searching for “Aha!” isn’t included in the required reading but it is good, so feel free to read it, too!

Deepen Your Understanding

Expand and deepen your understanding with one or more of these short articles, campus resources, and videos.

• Watch a short video on What Critical Thinking is.
  • What is Critical Thinking?
• Read this short article describing the difference between thinking and critical thinking. Can you find the difference? Why does it matter that there is a difference? How does the difference impact you journey to becoming a learner?
  • Difference Between Thinking and Critical Thinking
• Read this short article from the Harvard Business Review acknowledging the reality of decision fatigue and offering practical guidance for making good decisions. Can you see how critical thinking impacts how we make decisions?
  • Three Keys to (Much) Better Decisions

Making Decisions

Picking a major or career is a major decision on a lot of students’ minds. Dr. Gardner is a professor in the department of Student Leadership & Success Studies here at UVU. Among the many ways he contributes to UVU, he is the creator of a podcast called People and Their Work. This podcast gathers stories of how people navigated education and career decisions to end up where they are today. Watch the video below to hear his insights on career design making.

These campus resources can help you decide on a major or career path. TAKE A QUICK LOOK!

• Career and Internship Center
• Department of Student Leadership and Success Studies (SLSS) LOTS OF CLASSES – Career and Major Class too!
• First-Year Advising Center

The following two videos are on making decisions. Make sure you watch BOTH of these!

How to Make Hard Choices | Ruth Chang (14:41)

Attorney turned philosopher Ruth Chang offers a powerful new framework for approaching hard decisions. Stay with it to the end for a truly powerful insight.

Change Your Life Using This Simple 5-Second Brain Hack | Mel Robbins (3:41)

It’s easy to move through life on auto pilot, so sometimes the hardest thing is to recognize you actually have a choice. Mel Robbins offers an an idea for how to take control and activate your decision-making capacity.

Can you see how critical thinking impacts how we solve problems, make decisions,  set goals, and overall….how we become better learners? And…did you use your critical thinking as you viewed this material? (Did you even think about that? OR did you just take everything we presented to you at face value?)

* Source Material: Adapted from course content originally developed by Christine Contestable, M. Div., Ph.D., for UGS 2900 Finding Your Sense of Purpose, University of Utah.