How To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

In its simplest type, it is subtly elevating the importance of one thing that backs you up whilst subconsciously ignoring a point of view that challenges it. In its most aggressive kind, it is to willfully overlook data that contradicts your beliefs. This applies to working practices as much because it does to analysis tasks. Send it to heads of different departments and collate the feedback – if a standard theme comes up, you know that that’s positively a precedence to alter. Always assess the credibility of data primarily based on its source and with a mirrored image by yourself biases.

Flexibility is essential; be prepared to pivot if initial results indicate adjustments are needed. For example, suppose a retail retailer is experiencing low weekend gross sales. Potential options include hosting group events, launching limited-time promotions, or adjusting the product combine to swimsuit weekend consumers. Diverse views can be invaluable, so think about involving team members or stakeholders in brainstorming. Brainstorming multiple choices encourages creativity and ensures that all angles are considered. Aim for amount over high quality at this stage—write down each idea, even the unconventional ones, without instant judgment.

The following sections will focus on the importance of these foundational aspects of crucial thinking and supply parents steerage in tips on how to assist their young children’s improvement. At Centre Point School (CPS), Nagpur, we understand the necessity to develop the crucial thinking skills of scholars. Our curriculum and committed educators mix problem-solving and inventive considering. For this cause, our general technique is to nurture our students and develop their important thinking expertise for lifelong learning and success.

Group dialogue and debates put students in circumstances the place they’re in the midst of so many viewpoints. Decision-making course of requires identification of the problems, gathering information and knowledge, analysing and evaluating them. In terms of fixing problems, decision making or interacting with others, such skills function core parts. Self-analysis entails self-analysis of the ability to comprehend and the thought course of, so that we may think rationally.

This approach fosters complete pondering, enhances flexibility, and helps individuals view problems from multiple perspectives, all of which strengthen important pondering abilities. The Ladder of Inference is a model that explains how we make judgments and selections based mostly on data, interpretation, and assumptions. To implement it, reflect on how you interpret information by beginning with observing details, followed by thinking about your interpretations, assumptions, and conclusions.

how to develop critical thinking skills

This allows for a deeper understanding of the issues at hand and fosters a tradition of respect and openness. Plus, it often uncovers insights that may have otherwise been missed. Each argument has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s your job to know and assess them. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with all arguments, however rather, you should be aware and considerate of them.

Granted, this journey is not any walk in the park, but rest assured that the rewards far outweigh the hassle invested. Moreover, don’t hesitate to hunt guidance along the finest way – a seasoned coach can provide invaluable insights and instruments to navigate this expedition successfully. So, take that first step and embark on your crucial considering journey right now. Your enterprise, and certainly your future self, might be endlessly grateful.

how to develop critical thinking skills

Interpretation skills play a pivotal role within the important considering process. Interpretation course of involves synthesizing, analysing and then coming to a well-rounded determination. It includes identifying and analysing the situation, and growing rational solutions. Critical thinking skills are the talents used to analyse and consider information and arguments.

Project-based studying is the great way to introduce new knowledge, ideas, and ideas that motivated the students to learn and likewise develop critical considering expertise in students. It’s essential to actively seek feedback from others to refine your crucial thinking talents. Constructive criticism can illuminate blind spots in your reasoning and assist you to perceive how your thought processes are perceived. Participating in group discussions or constructive debates with trusted friends or colleagues supplies you with diverse viewpoints that challenge your assumptions and encourage deeper evaluation. By valuing and incorporating this feedback, you improve your important thinking toolkit whereas also fostering positive relationships built on trust and openness.

Additionally, practical workouts like case studies, group discussions, and role-playing scenarios present valuable alternatives to use and refine these abilities in real-world contexts. As individuals decide to creating their crucial thinking skills, they will be higher outfitted to navigate the complexities of life and make informed selections. As the world continues to evolve and current new challenges, the development of critical thinking skills remains a cornerstone for personal and professional development. One efficient approach to enhancing crucial pondering in school settings is introducing partaking strategies in school rooms. Educators can develop deep data of their college students by incorporating various studying processes and innovative teaching strategies.

For example, it helps establish advert hominem attacks that attack the particular person, not the argument. Critical pondering refers back to the capacity to interpret, evaluate, and analyse details and data, using that analysis to decide or type a judgement. These are very important abilities to develop and keep in all areas of life. Before making a choice, use evidence, logic, and deductive reasoning to assist your personal opinions or challenge ideas.

The “Five Whys” technique is an analytical talent that can assist you to uncover the source of a problem. The activity was created by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, and consists of repeatedly asking “why? And generally, they type ideas or opinions that they may really feel hesitant to share.

In addition to using these techniques, keep in thoughts that any sort of new studying is equally helpful for critical thinking. Every time you read about something new, join a category or deal with a difficult e-book, you’re becoming a sharper, smarter thinker. The following 5 workouts will all help you with the crucial thinking course of.

Critical thinking is a vital ability in today’s fast-paced, information-rich world. It enables individuals to investigate information, make knowledgeable decisions, and clear up problems successfully. As an educator, fostering critical pondering in your college students is essential for their tutorial success and future careers. Technology, when used successfully, could be a highly effective device to enhance important considering skills.

Many of these students are scared to fail and don’t wish to take dangers. Teaching college students that it’s okay to discover and make mistakes can help them enhance their critical thinking expertise and confidence. Life is about discovering and exploring and when the students perceive that those are necessary expertise to have in life, it can assist them to analyze better throughout the classroom setting. After navigating via two years of the pandemic, students have to develop crucial considering abilities now more than ever. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that there isn’t any substitute for in-person classroom instruction.

As a college scholar, you would possibly be tasked with partaking and increasing your thinking skills. Critical considering is necessary as a result of it relates to nearly all duties, situations, matters, careers, environments, challenges, and opportunities. It’s a “domain-general” thinking skill—not a pondering ability that’s reserved for a one topic alone or restricted to a selected subject space. Developing analytical studying skills is crucial for considering critically. This helps uncover biases or assumptions that may cloud your judgment. Effective reflection often entails contemplating alternative viewpoints.

Instead, we can rely on logical reasoning and evidence to kind our opinions and make choices. Whether it’s in the office, lecturers, or on an everyday basis life, the power to assume critically allows us to strategy issues and decision-making with readability and precision. Critical thinking abilities are essential in today’s complicated and rapidly altering world. They enable individuals to investigate info, consider arguments, and make extra informed selections. In a society overwhelmed with information and opinions, having robust crucial pondering skills is essential for navigating via the noise and arriving at well-reasoned conclusions. Critical considering is the method of analyzing and evaluating information before forming opinions or making decisions.

Problem-solving may be improved by designing a structured method to analyzing situations, weighing options, and implementing plans. This course of builds the strength, adaptability, and agility to handle complex points with more confidence and accuracy. Try reconstructing an argument from its premises and conclusions or debating an issue from either side. This stage of analytical rigor will infuse your daily reasoning with higher readability and precision, equipping you for more practical decision-making and enhancing your total important considering. In today’s fact-challenged world, being in a position to identify fallacies is essential. In as little as four hours every week, you presumably can learn to discover out whether or not an argument is deductively valid, plus analyze and assess five widespread forms of inductive arguments.

Moreover, assessments that focus on critical considering abilities often reveal a direct correlation with students’ success in solving real-world issues. When students study to query assumptions and consider a number of perspectives, they turn into more adept at navigating challenges. This skill set not only prepares them for tutorial success but in addition equips them with the instruments needed for future skilled endeavors.

Effective communication clearly articulates ideas, arguments, and ideas whereas actively listening to others. Decision-making is about evaluating choices and choosing the most effective course of action. It requires weighing potential outcomes, understanding dangers, and aligning choices with goals. Open-mindedness is the power to strategy situations without bias or preconceived notions.

Historically, there has been little settlement on the method to conceptualize crucial considering. Of the literally dozens of definitions that exist, one of the organized efforts to define (and measure) important considering emerged from analysis done by Peter Facione and others within the early Nineties. Initial results from the Delphi report were later confirmed in a nationwide survey and replication study (Jones et al., 1995). Develop important thinking abilities in students is essential because it helps you make hard decisions and lets you proceed to develop brilliantly after you graduate. The crucial considering arrange opportunities for students to find connections in learning.

This article offers an summary of complete methods for growing critical considering talents. Findings from associated important psychological analysis and conceptual frameworks support these. Expose your self to completely different views, follow writing analytically, and explore moral dilemmas. These actions will boost your thinking skills and put together you for making robust decisions in life and work. More than simply being curious about the world around them, critical thinkers make connections between logical ideas to see the larger image.

These questions pressure children to decelerate and actively interact within the info, as a substitute of simply taking it in passively. It’s more necessary than ever to lift youngsters who can sift by way of proof, determine reliable sources, and assume for themselves. Decision-makers can use Rolljak to assess individuals’ understanding and awareness levels relating to the topic matter, ensuring everyone is on the identical web page. It requires analyzing the facts, gathering as a lot info as potential, thinking open-mindedly, after which forming a judgment. Anshu Kumari holds a graduate diploma in psychology whereas pursuing writing as her freelance profession.

We have also lined drawback solving actions that improve student’s interest in our another article. Sometimes we predict in virtually any way but critically, for example when our self-control is affected by anger, grief or pleasure or once we are feeling simply plain ‘bloody minded’. Critical thinkers will establish, analyse and remedy problems systematically somewhat than by intuition or intuition. While it provides access to information, over-reliance on it could scale back impartial pondering. People usually rely on assumptions or jump to conclusions without checking information. Elevate your digital marketing expertise with our expertly crafted on-line courses, overlaying every thing from search engine optimization to social media strategy to boost your career.

By clarifying the reasoning course of, this system helps establish weak arguments and improves one’s ability to evaluate complex ideas logically, which reinforces crucial pondering expertise. Participating in debates and discussions helps you articulate your thoughts clearly and think about opposing viewpoints. It challenges the important considering abilities of students concerning the evidence introduced, decoding arguments, and constructing logical reasoning.

Reflection is the act of examining your own ideas, emotions, and actions, and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. By reflecting on your pondering, you’ll have the ability to identify your biases, assumptions, and gaps in your data or skills. You can even study from your errors, successes, and suggestions, and improve your future efficiency.

Uses brainstorming, open-mindedness, and imagination to explore new ideas. Participate actively in the discussions, accepting various opinions to gather extra knowledge. You can take sensible steps to promote the mandatory considering abilities to attain academic greatness. However, the essence lies in applying these technological tools judiciously and wisely.

By, for instance, seeing the a number of completely different methods available for solving a math drawback, kids can start to think about their very own thought processes and evaluate numerous cognitive methods. They will start to pay extra attention to how they clear up problems or full duties involving reasoning, as an alternative of focusing solely on answering accurately or completing the duty. This intellectual aptitude is crucial to a healthy social life as properly.

Research ensures that conclusions and decisions are primarily based on comprehensive, credible evidence. Analyzing case research enhances your capability to apply important thinking ideas in real-world conditions. Mind mapping encourages inventive considering and helps see connections between ideas. A marketing team is making ready to launch a model new product however discovers potential risks in their initial plan. Using crucial pondering, they conduct a SWOT evaluation, identifying weaknesses like insufficient customer schooling about the product’s features.

Before you start any crucial pondering task, you want to have a clear function and goal. By defining your objectives, you’ll have the ability to focus your consideration, avoid distractions, and set sensible expectations. You also can use your goals as a information to prioritize, organize, and evaluate your info and actions. Critical thinkers tend to question everything, and that can drive lecturers and fogeys a little loopy.

Once again, integrating important pondering into your day by day routine can rework how you strategy challenges and alternatives. By consciously making use of analytical abilities in your day-to-day actions, from conversations to decisions, you’ll cultivate deeper insights and more practical outcomes. This proactive approach not solely enhances your private progress but also empowers you to handle obstacles with higher confidence.

Observation is key to figuring out patterns which might be essential for sound decision-making. In addition to those titles, many tutorial journals and publications give attention to critical considering analysis and methodologies. Subscribing to journals such as the Journal of Critical Thinking or the International Journal of Educational Research can maintain you up to date on the most recent findings and practices within the field. The availability heuristic is a psychological shortcut that depends on quick examples that come to thoughts when evaluating a selected subject, idea, methodology, or decision.

Problem-solving goes beyond traditional logic and requires creativity. Encouraging students to assume outside the box and contemplate multiple options to a problem helps them develop flexibility of their considering. Comparison of writing and nonwriting group efficiency based on critical thinking component skill uncooked scores (CCTST subscales).

You must keep dedicated and have an extended sufficient timeline to tackle this objective. Luckily, growing targets is an amazing approach to sharpening your critical considering skills. Whether you are an business professional or a school scholar, setting SMART objectives will elevate your capacity to think critically. Debates provide a structured approach to follow crucial thinking expertise.

Teachers can encourage curiosity by making a secure environment where students feel snug expressing their ideas. Valuing questions and exploring ideas together can spark interest and excitement about studying. Encouraging artistic considering through storytelling is another efficient means. This course of helps them understand how ideas fit together in actual life.

There’s additionally a plethora of online courses that may guide growth in critical considering, from Australian and worldwide universities. Importantly, important thinking is not strongly correlated with intelligence. While some imagine intelligence is principally mounted (though there is debate round this), we are ready to learn to suppose critically. The time period “fake news” is used to discredit anybody attempting to make clear reality from fiction. Fake news is a canopy for some folks when they are being intentionally deceptive. AI acts as a cautionary instance of the way during which the landscape can remodel quickly and dramatically.

Analytical considering is an important part of critical thinking that lets you dissect complicated situations, understand their underlying issues, and draw conclusions based mostly on logic. It includes the flexibility to see patterns, relationships, and trends in information or data, enabling you to make sense of it and type an accurate view of the scenario. Are you a visible learner, or do you grasp ideas more successfully by way of reading or discussion? Do you rely on instinct when making decisions, or do you require time for contemplation?

In debates, you must contemplate different viewpoints and assemble rational arguments. For example, participating in a debate a couple of topical problem allows you to analyse the evidence before forming a reasoned argument. To embed significant evaluation of critical thinking talents, lecturers need to transcend surface-level efficiency. The focus shifts towards cognitive expertise, artistic thinking, and the way well students navigate cognitive biases or interact with historical pondering, mathematical considering, or everyday problem-solving.

To develop necessary thinking abilities, we must put aside our assumptions and beliefs. This allows us to explore and question subjects from a “clean page” viewpoint and distinguish reality from opinion. More than just being curious in regards to the world round you, as a critical thinker, you make connections between logical concepts to see the larger image.

I just lately chatted with Nikki from the “What I Wish My Mother Taught Me,” podcast. We talked about important thinking expertise, why they’re essential in early childhood, and the way mother and father can encourage these expertise in their younger youngsters. I’ve summarized our discussion here so you’ll be able to study more about this crucial topic. We have insisted on the truth that, for younger youngsters, though mental rigor is tough to achieve, it’s crucial to develop self-esteem and self-affirmation. But we now have additionally seen that from around the age of eight, it’s essential to maneuver towards educating them primary reasoning abilities. Although their logical reasoning abilities are undeveloped, younger youngsters can argue and express opinions.

The more precisely you define the problem, the easier it turns into to create strategies that effectively target the core problem. With clarity, efforts to resolve the difficulty could additionally be directed, leading to wasted time and assets. This structured method ensures challenges are addressed systematically, minimizing wasted effort and maximizing results.

These standards emphasize the importance of critical considering abilities and require students to have interaction with complex texts and problems on a deeper stage. The emphasis on higher stage pondering is reflected by employers seeking individuals who can assume critically, analyze info, clear up problems creatively, and collaborate successfully. There are additionally many online sources that provide ready-to-use classes and actions centered on crucial considering. These platforms usually embrace leveled readings, guiding questions, and interactive features to assist diverse learners. In addition, tools like Padlet and Google Docs promote collaboration, allowing college students to brainstorm, give feedback, and build shared tasks in actual time.

Problem-solving is a systematic method to figuring out solutions to challenges. It requires clearly defining the problem, exploring potential options, and implementing the best one. It divides advanced issues into smaller, manageable elements and evaluates each part logically. To strengthen this step, guarantee your sources are reliable and up-to-date.

In the realm of research, important pondering is vital for formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, and interpreting information. Researchers should assess the validity of their sources, scrutinize methodologies, and draw conclusions based mostly on proof quite than assumptions. For instance, when conducting a literature evaluate, a researcher should critically evaluate the credibility of assorted research, considering components similar to pattern size, research design, and potential biases. Group discussions provide a possibility for individuals to have interaction with diverse views and challenge their very own pondering.

Break down complex problems into smaller elements, evaluate outcomes before performing, and replicate afterward. Asking questions encourages you to be curious concerning the things that curiosity you. This applies to anything from easy tasks like selecting a dress colour to major financial selections like buying a property. It helps in creating a mindset that prepares you to tackle extra necessary and in-depth questions. To take benefit of working in a gaggle or group, set up clear targets, foster open communication, leverage individual strengths, encourage energetic listening, and embrace variety.

Having these expertise can let one comprehend advanced problems and discover a logical resolution to them. Digital storytelling combines narrative with multimedia components, such as images, audio, and video. This method permits students to convey advanced ideas and data in a compelling and engaging means. Moreover, Rolljak allows for creating quizzes and scenarios that simulate decision-making situations, helping individuals practice and prepare for real-world decisions. It’s additionally a useful tool for collecting suggestions, polling opinions, and constructing team cohesion, promoting efficient communication and cooperation. Rolljak can considerably aid the decision-making process by fostering participant engagement, collaboration, and data evaluation.

It enables you to analyze questions thoroughly, establish patterns, and construct well-supported arguments. A 2022 Pew Research Center research found that college students who actively interact in important thinking persistently outperform their peers, reaching higher grades and excelling in problem-solving duties. Critical thinkers don’t just memorize—they perceive, connect, and apply knowledge effectively. Developing sturdy important considering skills might help people turn out to be simpler drawback solvers. It also helps them make higher selections by considering all attainable outcomes before taking action. Additionally, it allows individuals to develop their unique views on various topics, which can result in inventive options for troublesome problems.

According to a examine by the American Philosophical Association, important pondering is a hardworking process of actively conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, and evaluating info. Meanwhile, when you, your baby, or your students haven’t discovered a guide that’s personally affected them, I urge you to resolve that. Reading improves vocabulary, organizational skills, and the power to read, comprehend, and analyze textual content. Plus, it can provide people with important historic perspective, encourage sympathy for other human beings, and promote appreciation for variety and understanding of other cultures. Starting with the author’s place, agenda and credibility, dive into the knowledge they’re presenting and do your best to unpick it. Does the author have any inherent biases that haven’t been accounted for?

Diverse sources can provide a extra comprehensive understanding of the topic and help determine any inconsistencies or misinformation. Analyzing your logic and the explanations behind it might possibly allow you to improve this skill. What’s the distinction between crucial thinking and analytical thinking? Analytical thinking is a subset, targeted specifically on breaking down and analyzing information. Critical thinking permits people to view conflicts objectively, consider all sides, and find truthful and reasoned solutions, decreasing emotional biases.

In this activity, the instructor can act as a facilitator and spark an attention-grabbing dialog in the class on any given matter. The subject could be related to present affairs, technological development or a new discovery within the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and concepts on the subject. Conclude the debate with a viable answer or contemporary ideas generated during the activity by way of brainstorming. Our eBooks are best for college students at all phases of schooling, faculty, school and university. They are stuffed with easy-to-follow sensible information that may help you to be taught more successfully and get better grades.

As children’s brains develop, and specifically the prefrontal cortex which is liable for planning decision making and complicated pondering, the ability to suppose critically additionally develops. This is the premise for more complex downside solving throughout childhood and into adolescence. After all, there’s probably little that promotes crucial considering greater than feeling protected to ask a question and being encouraged to explore and examine a topic. Dismissing a question with out clarification risks alienating the scholar and those witnessing the change. Each self-discipline provides distinctive insights and methods that can improve your critical thinking. Engaging with numerous opinions can sharpen your argumentative skills and pressure you to think critically about your stances.

It is the fundamental premise, William’s preliminary declaration that there are solely two sorts of Labradors, that’s false. It is, therefore, possible for William to attract a false conclusion although his logic is technically appropriate. On the opposite hand, we cannot simply slip back into old social conventions whereby youngsters were informed to simply keep quiet and be taught their lessons passively.

Take our degree quiz that will help you establish the diploma program that most accurately fits your interests and embark on a path of knowledge and future success. For instance, you possibly can describe conditions where you efficiently applied crucial pondering to resolve problems or make selections. With these expertise, you’ll be capable of assume exterior the field, adapt to alter, and handle risks with greater efficiency. By bettering your crucial thinking abilities, you are setting your self up to succeed in any subject. Moreover, literature might help students develop the critical-thinking expertise many employers suppose are missing in today’s faculty graduates before they even get to college. “Jurassic Park” gave me a perspective on how people work together with the biological world and what we will do to change things — particularly with genetic engineering.

Even in case your data is factually right, it doesn’t essentially mean that it’s related to no matter data, info, or state of affairs you are attempting to investigate. It may turn out that there are only a handful of information factors that are necessary to the scenario. Data and data doesn’t all the time include a clear, foregone conclusion connected to it. Most of the time, you’ll need to draw your individual conclusions from the data that’s out there. A person really needs to be in tune with who they’re, what they consider, and why they consider it to have the power to identify their own bias of their perceptions of a piece of data or an issue.

The capacity for common reasoning—using the logical rules of deduction—begins to grow around the ages of 10 to 12. This means youngsters can begin utilizing logic in conditions that aren’t concrete—in areas that seem ruled only by language. The improvement of this faculty allows kids to turn a crucial gaze on somebody else’s remarks. At this age, reasoning can become a powerful tool, especially to combat defective or deceptive reasoning. This begins developing slowly however surely around the age of 11 and stabilizes towards the ages of 14 to 15. It no longer requires concrete elements, and it is even freed of the necessity to attract on memories of beforehand resolved issues.

This technique additionally helps in mitigating procrastination, ensuring that you simply maintain momentum and make immediate choices. Additionally, time-boxing can improve your capability to adapt to fast-paced conditions, because it trains you to work effectively underneath constraints and handle time effectively in high-pressure eventualities. If you loved this guide and found it helpful, be at liberty to share it with pals, colleagues, or anyone who would possibly benefit from studying the way to develop critical thinking skills. Let’s empower more folks to suppose deeply, decide wisely, and reach every problem they face. At its core, important considering entails the objective analysis and analysis of a difficulty to kind a judgment.

Through this challenge, members enhance their teamwork talents and study to refine ideas for more practical solutions, gaining insight into engineering principles and design considering. This train enhances participants’ capacity to purpose morally by encouraging them to reflect on numerous viewpoints and consider the implications of their actions. Ethical Dilemma Experimentation challenges members to confront advanced conditions the place they have to weigh conflicting ethical ideas and make troublesome choices.

Puzzles and riddles are a traditional method for participating young minds and fostering critical thinking. They’re not just for enjoyable, they’re practical tools to help kids make connections and understand the world better. Whether it’s a easy baking soda and vinegar volcano or a more complicated science package, experimenting brings the scientific technique to life. It teaches children to query, hypothesize, observe, analyze, and conclude – all vital components of crucial thinking.

Far too usually we drive ourselves into a narrow path of thinking based mostly on the information that is given to us. Just being conscious of the bias and striving to not use it as a basis of your examination, judgment, and choice making will provide you with a a lot higher edge in your crucial pondering. The pointers and rules of important pondering can serve to guide our ideas. If we know, by virtue of the information that we’ve, that some side of a project won’t work out, we can deduce that we want a better solution rather than counting on what we all know or looking for a shortcut. Arguably, the most important to know and concentrate on is confirmation bias. This is the act of only looking for out or contemplating information that supports your viewpoint.

Thus, it is becoming increasingly more common for college kids (with disconcerting self-assurance) to appropriate their teachers on aspects of historical past or other points which are issues of reality. This raises some necessary questions, notably relating to the role of the educator, the goals of training, and the relationships between generations. Before youngsters can learn to investigate and criticize complicated material or controversial opinions, they should have a powerful sense of themselves.

That is based on a examine done by the Institute for the Future, in 2017. They cite the increasing quantity of expertise (think synthetic intelligence and machine learning) as carving out thousands of latest jobs that we can’t even comprehend today. The phrases drawback fixing or logical and lateral pondering get used quite a lot too. ❌If your youngster memorised the lyrics to their favorite track that might NOT be crucial thinking.✔️But in the event that they compared and contrasted it to lyrics of different songs by the identical artist, then it might be. ❌ If your child did the multiplication 6 x 9 to get fifty four that might NOT be critical pondering.