WGU C168 Module 2: Elements and
Standards of Critical Thinking: Questions
And Solutions Latest Updates
2024/2025.Already Passed
Elements of Reasonin... [Show More] g or the Elements of critical thinking - answers Purposes,
questions, assumptions, implications, information, concepts, inferences, and points of
view. Also knows as the parts of thinking or the fundamental structures of thought.
Standards (what we use to evaluate the elements): Can All Small Dogs Bark Really
Loud For People? - answers Clarity, Accuracy, Significance, Depth, Breadth,
Relevance, Logic, Fairness, Precision
Elements (the components of our thinking): Quick Iguanas Chase All People Into
Purple Igloos - answers Questions, Implications, Concepts, Assumptions, Points of
view, Information, Purpose, Inferences
The elements of reasoning are its components. They are also called the: - answers
parts of thinking
or fundamental structures of thought
nuts and bolts" of critical thinking - answers fundamental structures of thought and
parts of thinking
What logically follows from reasoning - answers implication
The goal or objective of reasoning - answers purpose
Points of View - answers The particular perspective from which something is observed
or thought through
General categories or ideas by which we interpret or classify information used in our
thinking - answers Concepts
Being unambiguous and easily understood - answers clarity
a logical process of drawing conclusions - answers inference
Unstated or hidden beliefs that support our explicit reasoning - answers assumptions
Purpose - answers The goal or objective of reasoning. It describes the desired
outcome or intent.
Question - answers how to clearly frame the question, problem, or issue at which your
reasoning is directed
Assumptions - answers Encompass everything taken for granted as true in order to
figure out something else and are always present in any form of reasoning.
Implications and consequences - answers Reasoning delivers us to a position or
viewpoint about something. The implications of our reasoning are what extend beyond
the position we reach. They form the answer to the question, "What follows from our
reasoning?"
define information - answers The data, facts, opinions, and experiences that factor in
your reasoning
Information - answers Statistical data, observations, testimony, etc; In thinking critically
about an issue, we must determine what information is relevant to it. We rely on
information to direct us to a supportable conclusion.
Concepts - answers General categories or ideas by which information is interpreted or
classified when used in thinking.
Inferences - answers To come to conclusions. Begins with information or
misinformation and concludes something else based on that information.
Standards, Elements, and Traits Interactions - answers The standards (clarity,
accuracy, etc.) must be applied to the elements (purposes, questions, etc.) as the
critical thinker learns to develop intellectual traits (intellectual humility, intellectual
empathy, etc.).
How the Elements work - answers → Our purpose affects how we ask questions.
→ How we ask questions affects the information we gather.
→ The information we gather affects the inferences we make from it.
→ What we infer from the information affects how we conceptualize it.
→ How we conceptualize the information affects the assumptions we make.
→ The assumptions we make affect the implications that follow from our thinking.
→ The implications affect how we see things—i.e., our point of view.
Thinking to Some Purpose - answers Understanding the direction one's thinking is
moving and the ends it seeks. One's purposes are not necessarily consistent with one
another and one's announced purposes are not necessarily their actual purposes.
What is the term for the goal or desired outcome of our reasoning? - answers purpose
Theories are examples of blank________. - answers concepts
Which of the following best describes activated ignorance? - answers mentally taking
in and actively using false information
What are the three kinds of implications that may be involved in any situation? -
answers possible, probable, necessary
In some cases, the conclusions we draw are based on assumptions that operate at a(n)
blank________ level. - answers subconscious
Which of the following statements is correct? - answers The standards of critical
thinking must be applied to the elements as the critical thinker learns to develop
intellectual traits.
In reasoning, we make blank__________ based on blank___________. - answers
inferences/assumptions
Taking Command of Concepts - answers Embracing the mind's power to create
concepts through which the world is seen and experienced. Becoming master of one's
own conceptualizations and not becoming trapped in one set of concepts.
Assessing Information - answers Seeking trustworthy information sources, being
vigilant about the information sources used, and being alert to the use one makes of
one's own experience, which could be biased, distorted, or self-deluded.
Distinguishing between Inferences and Assumptions - answers An inference is a
mental step by which one concludes something is true based on something else being
true or appearing to be so and might or might not be accurate, logical, or justified. An
assumption is a presupposition, a truth taken for granted.
Thinking through Implications - answers Distinguishing between what a situation
actually implies and what may be inferred from it. Critical thinkers always strive to infer
only what is implied, no more and no less.
Thinking Across Points of View - answers Thinking this is how I see things from some
point of view instead of this is how things are. Recognizing that situations can be
different when viewed from a different viewpoint.
relativism - answers the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to
culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.
Standards of Critical Thinking - answers Clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth,
breadth, logic, significance, and fairness [Show Less]
