Critical thinking is what makes something like interdisciplinary studies possible. Being able to look at things in different areas of study and put them together to make a more dynamic and powerful mind or person. I also think critical thinking is what can make or break someone with a IDS degree, you have to be able to take all of those things that you have learned and show how they work together and how it makes you a better person for any position because have branched out to different areas of study and are able to see different sides of things and also take different approaches to certain situations because you have given yourself the ability to do so by expanding the power of your mind, but this is something you have to have good critical thinking skill to make useful and not just a jumble of little bits of knowledge.
I am not sure what the virtual professor is… Sorry!
~Jessica
Interdisciplinary is having multiple and interconnected disciplines and critical thinking requires a complex combination of skills. Therefore critical thinking is beneficial in being able to successfully combining these disciplines. Critical thinking involves thinking outside the box and questioning the unanswered. Interdisciplinary study is about combining different disciplines in an insightful way. I began my college education studying engineering. It wasn't long after I decided that this wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Over time, I eventually discovered that I wanted to help people as my career. Through my multiple experience I have been able to combine multiple disciplines including the body which can be considered a machine. Using my critical thinking skills of how the body works and my empathy for people, I am able to combine these skills through physical therapy in an interdisciplinary way to become well rounded in my career.
Like Jessica, I have no idea what virtual professor is, but if any you cornerstone students want to clue us in, it's much appreciated!
~Janelle
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It is very easy to see how critical thinking is such a vital part of IDS. Some career fields may allow for repetitive methods and skills. Where someone in the IDS field has quit the opposite experience. It seems like the goal of IDS is to learn how to cherry pick through a disipline to find only the pertinate information to solve the problem at hand. This to me is something that takes time and good mentors to apply adequitlly.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good way to look at it but not only to cherry pick but to intergrate those ideas into a big picture and make them useful is what I would consider to be the main goal!
ReplyDeleteVirtual philosopher can be found at
ReplyDeletehttp://web.uncg.edu//dcl/courses/vicecrime/vp/vp.html
-Chris England-
Virtual Philosopher scored my first two responses as inconsistent and the last one as consistent. I have learned that my own critical thinking might not be as strong as I thought it to be. In the future I need to think more critically before I respond. In the future I need to stop and think more before coming to a conclusion. I believe this was even true in my responses in Virtual philosopher, because the first two I just kind of clicked through. The last one I stopped to think what each family would want realizing they would want each of their family members to have the liver. I then perceived everyone as an equal thus implementing the lottery for who would get the liver.Virtual Philosopher scored my first two responses as inconsistent and the last one as consistent. I have learned that my own critical thinking might not be as strong as I thought it to be. In the future I need to think more critically before I respond. In the future I need to stop and think more before coming to a conclusion. I believe this was even true in my responses in Virtual philosopher, because the first two I just kind of clicked through. The last one I stopped to think what each family would want realizing they would want each of their family members to have the liver. I then perceived everyone as an equal thus implementing the lottery for who would get the liver.
ReplyDeleteI remember from reading our text earlier in the semester that critical thinking was about looking into all aspects of a problem to find the new whole. That, to me, is the definition of being interdisciplinary. Our job is to take all of the differing pieces of a problem or the disciplines related to it and integrate them to find the overall idea, concept, or in other words the new whole. To be an interdisciplinarian it is almost impossible to be successful without critical thinking; the two go hand in hand. The very nature of interdisciplinarity is embracing and employing critical thinking in every aspect of the work that you do.
ReplyDeleteChris -- I also scored two out of three as inconsistent. I know what you mean about trying to re-examine our own personal critical thinking skills. I feel like in theory everyone can pretty much feel their way to the right decision, but when we are presented with real life situations like those in virtual philosopher our human nature can tend to get the better of us. I know that I am a highly emotional person when it comes to making decisions, but I feel like sometimes, a person needs to give a problem a little more thought than just examining the facts. According to the results of virtual philosopher, I am critical thinking if my answers remain consistent, but I think it takes even more critical thinking on a personal level to wade through the emotional aspects of an issue as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Emily. Critical thinking is the job of being interdisciplinary. I also believe that interdisciplinary requires a different type of critical thinking. It requires you to think critically within many different subject areas while combining them. Critical thinking within just an individual discipline requires you just to think how that discipline has taught you to think.
ReplyDelete-Chris England-
So true Chris. The virtual philosopher exercise seemed to be set up in that one track mind type of way. I realized that the title at the top of the page dealt with crime and vice, so it seemed like the "correct" answers were the legally logical choices. The exercise didn't take into account the use or the need of emotional critical thinking, which when dealing with such a sensitive topic would actually be quite useful.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris for posting the website for the virtual philosopher. I scored inconsistent on one but consistent on two. They were very difficult questions and I agree very much with you Chris and Emily, I feel it did not take all aspects of critical thinking which leads to one ultimate decision. I am also like you Emily in the fact that I am an emotional person and that often plays into my decision making even when I feel I have used my best critical thinking. However just like ethics, there are always shades of grey on what should be considered for an ultimate decision.
ReplyDeleteI like you Janelle scored inconsistent on one and consistant on two. The test to me was too black and white. In my opinion critical thinking involves dealing in the grey. For example on the one I was inconsistant on, it said I thought it was okay to lie, but I would not lie to a friend to make him or her feel better. They assume I think its okay to lie to my friends. When in actuallity I feel more inclined to lie to a boss about how I spent my weekend.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Emily that it takes emotional analysis as well as critical thinking to solve personal isssues. This test probably should have presented questions only dealing with the relm of business relationships. In this arena emotions are less of a factor. Which could make for more accurate results from this survey because the answer would require less of an opinionated response. That to me is what degrades this survey.
ReplyDeleteI beleive critical think deals alot in the grey area too abraham! I also beleive that if emotions were less of a factor decisions would have been different.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is a huge part of being interdisciplinary. Since being interdisciplinary involves combing several skills, it is ones critical thinking skills which help integrate and successfully use those skills hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteThe virtual professor scored all my responses as inconsistent and I think this is mostly because I went through them quickly and did not sit down and give my brain time to process all facets and give an in depth response.