Becoming a Critical Thinker is a clear and inspiring guide to developing essential critical thinking skills. The book features unique practitioner and student interviews to help students appreciate how vital critical thinking is in an academic, professional, and personal context. It includes interviews with students from a range of universities, offering reassurance and guidance on how to tackle reading lists, voice ideas or questions in groups, and listen actively from those with first-hand experience.
It has a clear three-part structure; firstly, examining what critical thinking is; secondly, exploring the three overarching aims of critical thinking; and finally, focusing on how to develop the essential tools to support those aims. This text assumes no prior knowledge or understanding, and it has been developed to gently guide the reader from school-level education to university-level thinking in a clear and engaging manner.
KEY FEATURES
- Offers insight and advice from professionals and students, helping students learn from the experiences of others in a range of contexts
- Guided exercises, checklists, and further reading encourage students to apply techniques learnt to real situations
- Chapters dedicated to listening and speaking, which are often overlooked, but are vitally important skills.
About the Author Dr Sarah Birrell Ivory is a Lecturer in Climate Change and Business Strategy at the University of Edinburgh Business School (UEBS). Dr Ivory established the undergraduate Global Challenges for Business course, which in 2019 won one of the prestigious Aspen Institute's 'Ideas Worth Teaching' awards. This course is centred around critical thinking, understood through the lens of global challenges.
Dr Ivory has taken this award-winning approach to offer students and educators a fresh way of learning and teaching critical thinking. In addition, Dr Ivory is Director of the Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability (CBCCS) and has an established research career in sustainability, social enterprise, and critical thinking pedagogy. In the past, Dr Ivory has taught study skills for business, strategy, organisational behaviour, leadership, sustainability, and climate and environmental policy.
Industry Reviews
This book is a huge improvement on, and contribution to, the field and has given me hope that we might, with its help, be able to significantly improve students' knowledge in this area. * Dr Elaine Clark, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester *
The greatest gift I could have been given at the start of my undergraduate degree would have been this book. * Hal Meakin, Politics student at Brunel University *
The tone and style of the text is engaging, informative and encourages students to rise to the challenge of adapting to the rigours of studying at university. * Anne Kavanagh, Talent Development Centre, University of Essex *
This book is particularly excellent for anyone who does not yet realise the potential they hold, and it informs them of the skills that can be applied not just at their university, but in their social and working lives. * Osman Tatrokov, Senior Student Ambassador, University of Roehampton Law School *
An innovative, genuine, and thought-provoking text. * Dr Alicja Syska, Learning Development Advisor, University of Plymouth *
I think it would be a useful guide for every student, major, year of study! * Iris Patra, Business student at The American College of Greece *
For students coming from an educational background that emphasises consuming knowledge, this book is a long-awaited antidote that provides a very structured and guided approach to developing more complex learning styles. * Dr Simon Snowden, University of Liverpool *