Reflective Paper on Critical Thinking

Reflective Paper over Critical Thinking

One of the most difficult class activities for me is studying for my history tests. There is just so much information to remember on each person, place, and event. Also, I usually find all my reading assignments even difficult because reading has never been a strong point for me. One of the ways I approach these difficult activities and/or assignments is by making outlines and note cards. I have found that I am more of a visual learner so by doing this helps me to retain all the information that I am studying. Your thinking process is very critical in the way you process the information you are taking in. That is why there are different types of learners. It is all about how best you absorb the information. Because as you are taking in the information your brain is already starting the critical thinking process. It is trying to figure out what the author is trying to convey and teach you. It is also trying to figure away to make the information you are learning fit into your everyday life or how it will help you with your career or your end goal. All of this is happening in the back of your mind and you don’t even realize you are doing it. Critical thinking is different from just trying to memorize the information. By using critical thinking skills it puts the information in your long term memory. Where the rest of what is going on is in your short term memory. Memorizing something will only store the information in the short term memory. Therefore, you are not really learning anything, but how well you can memorize just depends on the person. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone trying to memorize any kind of large amounts of information, because there is only so much information that can be stored in short term memory before it is “purged”, just like the recycle bin on your computer. In the difficult activity of studying for my history test, if I had used critical thinking skills on it I most likely