TY - JOUR AU - Geertsen, Reed PY - 2010/04/26 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - CONTRASTS BETWEEN CRITICAL AND REFLECTIVE THINKING JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/contrasts-between-critical-and-reflective-thinking SP - AB - There is considerable confusion in the education literature concerning the differencesbetween critical and reflective thinking. If we are going to teach students how to think criticallyand reflectively, we need to be clear about the distinction. To me, critical and reflective thinkingare two distinctive types of higher-level thinking, both of which have several contrastingsubtypes (cf. Geertsen, 2003, Table 3, reproduced below). Higher-level thinking is a disciplinedway of using the mind to confirm existing information or to search for new information usingvarious degrees of abstraction. The confirmation of existing information is the CRITICAL sideof higher-level thinking, whereas the search for new information is the REFLECTIVE side ofhigher-level thinking. Critical thinking seeks to corroborate, firmly establish, or strengthen; inother words, it is more confirmative. It is accomplished by narrowing one’s focus in a particulararea of investigation. Reflective thinking seeks to extend, enlarge, or explore; in other words, itis more expansive. It is accomplished by stepping back and considering alternative ways ofapproaching the topic at hand. It leaves room for what Robert Merton calls the unexpected or"the serendipity" side of investigation. ER -