In this section, the affective skills and dispositions of critical thinking are presented. The dispositions take into account the affective aspects of a person’s ability to act or behave in a
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way conducive to effective critical thinking. Having reviewed the meaning of critical thinking suggested by the authors within my conceptual framework, the dispositions containing affective skills which are common to them are listed below.
• Being open-minded involves showing an appreciation for different views and having reflective scepticism whereby you consider alternative ways of doing things which can be constituted as lateral thinking (Brookfield, 2002), or consensus-seeking, as appropriate.
• Being inquisitive enough to ask questions, follow up premises and get clarity on complex matters. In addition, by being prudent in making or suspending judgment and not acting impulsively, acknowledging that good thinking is hard work that requires diligent persistence. Schoenfeld (1985, in Halpern, 1997) found that success rates among mathematics students varied with the level of persistence in that unsuccessful students believed that if a problem could not be solved in less than ten minutes, that they would not be able to solve it. By contrast, successful students persisted in working through the difficult problems.
• Seek the truth and be courageous to ask questions in order to obtain the best knowledge on the matter and being well-informed even if you do not use the information in your decision making.
• Being analytical by ensuring you weigh up reason with the evidence and are able to anticipate consequences.
• Being systematic and having an organised manner in how you think through problems at all levels of complexity, including willing to plan and persist at a complex task. • Have self-confidence whereby you trust your own reasoning and the manner in which
you interrogate an issue in order to create the best outcome.
• Have a tendency towards moral sensitivity and moral behaviour grounded in ethical expectations where one is honest and fair-minded in one’s belief, bias or prejudices. • Have self-awareness to correct one’s thoughts or actions through self-reflection and
being mindful through metacognition. Good thinkers acknowledge that mistakes do occur, but, instead of being defensive, they are willing to learn from their mistakes and demonstrate care and empathy for another’s dignity and welfare.
• Be flexible enough to seek alternate views which involves being willing to consider new options by trying things in a new or different way rather than responding negatively to new ideas by demonstrating unwillingness. An open-minded person is willing to suspend judgment, gather more information, and attempt to clarify difficult issues. Halpern (1989) clarifies that this does not mean that all opinions are equally good or that judgment should take a backseat to openness. Consensus-seeking in
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collaboration with other persons or groups in a work situation is commonplace and critical thinkers need to possess good communication skills in order to find ways to compromise and to achieve agreement. This is a very important step in converting thought to action.
These dispositions are crucial to the empathetic, safe and ethical practice of diagnostic radiography. In addition, the professional and regulatory bodies of the profession seek to ensure that practitioners are achieving these dispositions as a minimum standard for practice. It is essential therefore that radiography training includes not only the cognitive but also the affective skills and dispositions for critical thinking so that they are able to meet this important requirement and expectation of professional autonomous practice. In relation to the skills and dispositions previously presented, Bloom’s taxonomy of the affective domain indicates how a person’s behaviour is affected at different stages of their development, as depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Bloom’s taxonomy of the affective domain (adapted from
Krathwohl et al., 1973)
There is a dearth of published work on the affective skills of critical thinking hence the use of Bloom’s (1956) affective domain. I wanted to include this taxonomy to explore whether Bloom perceived the development of affective skills as a hierarchy similar to that of the cognitive domain. This domain relates to how we deal emotionally with daily encounters, for example, feelings, values, appreciation, motivations, and attitude. This is an area of particular
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importance and relevance in diagnostic radiography due to the need for radiographers to have a balanced engagement of cognitive and affective skills. Too much or little of one could be counterproductive in their decision-making process, which can have consequences for their practice and patient outcomes. The behaviour as depicted in the hierarchy moves from a category of simple behaviour (bottom of the pyramid) to the category of the most complex behaviour (top of the pyramid). Each category is briefly described below. I consulted the work of Krathwohl et al. (1973) to aid the analysis of the taxonomy.
The taxonomy presents ‘receiving phenomena’ as its lowest dimension and relates to giving attention, being willing to hear, and having awareness of one’s self. This skill can manifest by listening to others with respect and matches the disposition that Facione (1990) and Halpern (1989) speak off in relation to ‘willingness to listen’. At its basic level, a radiographer may demonstrate this by acknowledging a patient’s anxiety and demonstrate empathy in patient care.
The next category is called ‘responding to phenomena’ during which the expectation is active participation by learners where they are required to attend and react to a certain phenomenon by demonstrating a willingness or motivation to respond. Examples of this may be seen in active participation by students in group discussions or presentations, and in discussing new concepts or ideas. This closely matches the disposition of seeking the truth through courageously asking questions to obtain the best knowledge on the matter as mentioned by McPeck (1981), Ennis (1989), Halpern (1989) and Facione (1990).
The third category is called ‘valuing’ and is related to the value or worth that a person attaches to a particular object, phenomenon or behaviour. These are expressed through their behaviour and become identifiable as a person’s personal attributes and moral and ethical attitude and behaviour. In radiography, this will typically manifest as a person showing understanding of cultural differences where diversity is valued. This skill predominantly relates to the disposition of being honest and fair-minded in one’s belief, bias or prejudices as mentioned by both Halpern (1989) and Facione (1990).
The fourth category is called ‘organisation’ where the emphasis is placed on comparing and relating values according to what one would consider a priority value. Here there is a need for balance between one’s freedom and responsible behaviour, where there is the expectation that professional ethical standards will be accepted. These are expressed through effective time management where the needs of the organisation, family and the person are met; as well engaging in systematic planning in solving problems. This directly relates to the professional
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commitment of a student radiographer where behaviour and practice have to meet the expectation of the professional and regulatory bodies. Again, there are similarities between the description of this category with the affective skills and dispositions mentioned by Halpern (1989) and Facione (1990), viz. being systematic and having an organised manner to think through problems, willing to plan and persist at a complex task, and having a tendency towards moral sensitivity and behaviour.
The fifth category is called ‘internalising values’ and involves having behaviour that is consistent, predictable and characteristic of the student. These manifest by a student’s ability to demonstrate self-reliance when working independently, using an objective approach when problem-solving, being committed to professional and ethical practice, revising judgment and decisions in light of new information, and in valuing people in a non-judgmental way. This will apply to student radiographers at Level six where they are expected to perform at a high level of decision-making in their justification of complex radiographic examinations and in prioritising the order in which those patients are examined. This category resonates with Ennis (1989) when he says that one should give due regard to the welfare and dignity of others, as well as having the ability to withhold judgment until the clear evidence is available, rather than acting impulsively. Lastly, demonstrating self-reliance, when problem-solving, is similar to Halpern’s (1989) and Facione’s (1990) disposition of having self-confidence and self-awareness. Thinking can thus be self-correcting through self-reflection.
The taxonomy of the affective domain is indeed a true hierarchy from simple behaviour to complex behaviour and presents how feelings and attitudes grow from one stage to the next. This structure is linked to the cognitive domain where there exists a lower and higher level of thinking. In their learning, students are expected to first grasp the lower level expectation in order to move to the higher level. In diagnostic radiography practice, it can be related to a student’s development from achieving the lower level requirements, then moving past that stage to the higher-level requirements. In my experience, however, students can be performing at a lower level in relation to the cognitive domain, but at a higher level in relation to the affective domain. They may not achieve ‘good grades’ in their academic study yet they excel in the clinical placement environment. What is interesting within this domain is the role of a learner’s motivation to move from one stage to the next. Thus, critical thinking skills application is dependent on a person’s inclination to use their skills, the extent of which is demonstrated by the structure of the affective domain.
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