“Higher-Order thinking”
“High Quality thingking”
“Complex thinking”
The words ‘critical’ and ‘criteria’ come from the same root word meaning judgment. “Critical Thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do”. “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process that results in a guide to belief and action. Although a concrete definition of critical thinking on which most researchers can agree remains elusive, common areas of overlap exist among the various approaches. Typically, critical thinking is believed to include the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences by using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems. Background knowledge is believed to be a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for enabling critical thought within a given subject. “Effective personal and professional functioning requires dealing with open-ended problems that are fraught with significant and enduring uncertainties about such issues as the scope of the problem, interpretations of relevant information, range of solution options, and potential outcomes of various options.