Unit 1: Critical Thinking Solution
(Know Thyself)
Working with words
A. Find the words from the text that match with the following meanings.
a. Shuffle – walking by dragging one’s feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground
b. Doodle – drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else
c. Plaque – a piece of flat metal with writing on it
d. Precepts – a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought
e. Sneaky – move or go in a furtive or stealthy way
B. Consult your teacher and define the following thinking skills.
Ans:
a.Convergent thinking: Convergent thinking occurs when the solution to a problem can be deduced by applying established rules and logical reasoning. This type of reasoning involves solving a problem within the context of known information and narrowing down the solution based on logical inference.
b.Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, non-linear manner, such that many ideas are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion.
c.Critical thinking Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.
d.Creative thinking:Creative thinking is a skill that lets you consider things from a fresh perspective and different angles. It’s an inventive thought process that results in surprising conclusions and new ways of doing things. Creative thinking can be aided by brainstorming or lateral thinking to generate ideas.
Comprehension
Answer the following questions.
a.Who was Jack? How did he make children laugh ?
Ans.: Jack was a classmate of the narrator who had many friends. He made children laugh by telling jokes.
b. Why are.”Sharks” important to Reid?
Ans.: “Sharks” are important to Reid because he thinks that sharks eat dead things in the ocean.
C. What does Mr. Browne think about the most important thing?
Ans.: Mr. Browine thinks that the most important thing is knowing oneself.
d. What is that has not been noticed by the student ?
Ans.: The plaque next to the door of the school has not been noticed by the student.
e.How did Jack make fun of the English class?
Ans.: Jack made fun of the English class by stating that the students are meant to learn English while the teacher was explaining something different from the English curriculum.
f.What were the students going to do at the end of the month ?
Ans.: At the end of the month, the students were going to write an essay about the precept of each of them.
g.What particular act of students surprised a girl student?
Ans.: Students who were working on their percept during their vacations and mailing it to the teachers surprised a girl student.
Critical thinking
a.Have you made your own precept after you read this lesson? What is it? Share it with your friends.
Ans.: Yes, I have made a percept after reading this lesson. I’m much more curious and fond of playing cricket. I have a great love and passion for this game. I have thought of focusing on the cricket game along with my study. At present, I’m trying to maintain the balance my study and career. However, after passing Grade 12, I’ll focus more on cricket between rather than my further study. I am also very much concerned about taking this game as my career too. And, for this, I will join a cricket academy soon after the Grade 12 exams. In fact, I have a dream of playing cricket for my nation and I would like to establish myself as a renowned and great cricket player across the world in the near future. And, in order to achieve this dream, I would set myself in strict discipline and work hard day and night.
b. Accoding to Josh Lanyon, “If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.” Justify this statement with your logic.
Ans.: Life skills are basic skills that help individuals in leading a meaningful life and better adjustment in society. The different types of life skills that a man requires in his everyday life are creative thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making, etc. Among these several life skills, critical thinking or thinking with critical objectivity is a very important life skill that we require in our everyday activities. Critical thinking is self- directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities as well as a commitment to overcome native egocentrism and sociocentrism. A critical thinker shows inquisitiveness to understand things in detail and while doing so, keeps himself unaffected by his biases by having an open-minded approach to assimilate and evaluate new information. Critical thinking is an important life skill as it inculcates the tendency to evaluate information objectively and from wider perspectives
Critical thinking is about more than acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, it is not like daydreaming or intuitive thought, rather critical thinking is inextricably connected to both problem solving and decision making. It always has a goal – usually to solve a problem or come to a decision. For example, students might apply critical thinking in their science lessons to work out the best way to approach their group project. They make decisions such as who will complete each task, in what time frame. They solve problems like how and where they will meet outside of school hours to work together. These might sound like small steps, but they pave the way for making bigger decisions and solving the larger problems they’ll encounter in the future. A critical thinker possesses different skills. They are understanding links between ideas, determining the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas, recognising, building and appraising arguments, identifying inconsistencies and errors in reasoning, approaching problems consistently and systematically and reflecting on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.
In a nutshell, critical thinking skills are the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement and a critical thinker will identify, analyse and solve problems systematically rather than by intuition or instinct which makes him different and unique from a common person. Hence, to draw a conclusion from all the above-stated reasons, it can be justified what Josh Lanyon had stated, that is, if there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.
WRITING
Write an email to your friend explaining an interesting class you had.
Ans.:
Dear XYZ,
I am fine here and I hope you are doing great there. In the last email, you have asked me about an interesting class in my school. I am going to talk about an English lesson which I had taken during my school days.
I was not very good at the English Language. So, in order to improve my English skills, I had to attend a few extra English classes. Most of the lessons were not very noteworthy, apart from the one class which was very appealing and I liked attending that class a lot. Therefore, it would be a pleasure for me to share my experience of attending that pleasant lesson.
It was primarily a lesson of spoken English. But this lesson was unlike all other lessons. It’s because in this class grammar was given much importance and at the same time, we learnt English in very funny and different ways. Our trainer was quite skilled to get our complete attention during her lecture. Her name was Miss Julie. In fact, she was one reason why I remember that English lesson so much. She used to tell us many stories and current affairs of the world. The way she communicated with us in the class in simple English made me more interested in spoken English.
I learned an abundance of skills from this lesson. I got introduced to plentiful constructive tips and tricks on the way to develop my skills in speaking fluently and accurately. Additionally, she showed us some real-life examples of how people make silly mistakes in speaking and instructed us how not to do the same.
To be more precise, it was one of the most enjoyable lessons I have ever done. If you ask young learners about such classes, they generally say that the class is boring and not attractive. Some say they feel sleepy in class time. In my case, it was different. I was very lucky to take such a lesson. It improved my skills in English rapidly. Miss Julie’s teaching method was very remarkable. I still have a notebook for that lesson. I carry it everywhere. Whenever I make any mistake, I take a look at the notebook to correct myself.
That’s all about my favourite English lesson which I enjoyed. I hope you read this email and write about your experience too.
Regards,
[Your Name]
Grammar
Rewrite the following sentences adding appropriate question tag.
a. Gill does not know Ann, does he?
b. I’m very patient, aren’t I?
c. They’d never met me before, had they?
d. Listen carefully, will you?
e. Let’s have a break, shall we?
f. Let us invite them, will you?
g. Hari used to live in France as a boy, didn’t he?
h. You’d better not take a hard drink, had you?
i. Sheep eat grass, don’t they?
j. Mr. Pande can speak nine languages, can’t he?
k. She’s finished her classes, hasn’t she?
l. She barely managed to reach the goal, did she?
m. Don’t let him swim in that pond, will you?
n. There are lots of people here, aren’t there?
Read the following situations. What do you say in these situations? Use question tags.
a. The sky is full of cloud. You can see lightning and hear thunder.
It’s going to rain soon, isn’t it?
b. You want to pay the taxi fare but you are short by 100 rupees.
Shyam, you have to lend me Rs. 100, haven’t you?
c. You have met a stranger at a party and you want to have a chat with him/ her.
We will talk later, won’t we?
d. You came out of the film hall with your friend. You enjoyed the film.
The film was very enjoyable, wasn’t it?
e. You and your friend listened to a comedian on the stage and felt spellbound by his/her performance.
He gave an excellent presentation, didn’t he?
f. You think your friend’s father has arrived from the US but you are not sure.
Your father has not arrived from US, has he?
g. You think Susan will join the new job tomorrow but you are not sure.
Susan will go to her new job tomorrow, won’t she?
h. Your friend’s hair looks too short.
You have got too short hair, haven’t you?
i. You want to go for a picnic with your friends in class.
Let’s go to picnic, shall we?
j. You want permission from your father to go for a walk.
Let me go for a evening walk, will you?