Critical thinking is disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence. It's a process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea without letting feelings or opinions affect you.
Critical thinkers rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value.
Critical thinkers seek to determine whether the ideas, arguments and findings represent the entire picture and are open to finding that they do not.
Critical thinkers will identify, analyze and solve problems systematically, based on evidence rather than by intuition or instinct.
Simply put, critical thinking requires students to use their ability to reason. It is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.