Critical Thinking involves the application of the skills, attitudes and behaviour needed to effectively research, organize, evaluate and use information from a variety of digital and non-digital sources for specific purposes.
Each core competency is divided into three levels to support your growth and learning. Below are indicators and examples of the competency at each level.
Involved level Engaged level Leading level
Involved-level Competency
Students know the indicator or the criteria for demonstrating it. They can talk about it, write about it, describe it or explain it.
Competency indicators
How might someone demonstrate this competency?
- Describes the nature of information and the forms it can take.
- Explains various formal and informal ways to conduct research.
- Lists strategies and tools to organize information.
- Defines sharing and attribution.
- Identifies reliability, validity, authority and bias.
What are some specific ways this competency might be demonstrated?
- Tells a group member that they will need to conduct interviews and do a library search for their project.
- Talks to a friend about how to find an article that contains a specific study.
- Explains how to order data alphabetically in an Excel file.
- Chats with a classmate about how to avoid plagiarism.
- Checks who created and funded an information video to determine credibility.
Engaged-level Competency
Students can perform or demonstrate the indicator or criteria; that is, they can do it.
Competency Indicators
How might someone demonstrate this competency?
- Uses various forms of information.
- Employs appropriate formal or informal ways to conduct research.
- Applies strategies and tools to organize information.
- Demonstrates appropriate sharing and attribution.
- Uses indicators of reliability, validity, authority and bias.
What are some specific ways this competency might be demonstrated?
- Observes children playing outdoors and records data for a project.
- Selects keyword and subject heading searches in databases.
- Writes a paper using APA-style formatting and citations.
- Asks permission before sharing a friend’s photo and using it for a project.
- Uses fact checking websites to determine the validity of a story posted on social media.
Leading-level Competency
Students are innovating, extending, transforming, showing initiative, integrating, or collaborating.
Competency Indicators
How might someone demonstrate this competency?
- Prioritizes various forms of information based on requirements.
- Designs innovative ways to conduct research.
- Synthesizes information for understanding and clarity.
- Considers the value of attribution and the issues surrounding the use of information.
- Determines credibility of sources based on indicators of reliability, validity, authority and bias.
What are some specific ways this competency might be demonstrated?
- Uses a peer-reviewed paper rather than a magazine article for a scientific paper.
- Employs a mobile survey app to collect data for a presentation.
- Writes a paper that uses data and quotes from readings to support the thesis.
- Creates an original recipe and contemplates whether to post it on the internet.
- Finds authoritative, unbiased resources for an annotated bibliography and decides against using a peer-reviewed article sponsored by a pharmaceutical company.