{"ops":[{"insert":"I’ve listened to this first episode of the podcast series more than once and, each time, I’ve gained new insights and understandings! I’m always thrilled to realize how deeply and richly my learning about critical thinking can grow.\n\nHere are just a few points that I learned from this time I listened to Episode 1: “The Analysis of Reasoning: Going Deeper – Analysis Overview”:\n \n1. There are two kinds of analysis. \nIn other words, analysis of inanimate, natural objects and analysis of human reasoning. When we break something down into its parts, we are checking what it is made of or what constitutes it. When we are analyzing human thinking, then, as Dr. Nosich explains, we are asking: “What is going on in this thinking?” In this way, the Elements of Thought, though always present in my  thinking, are essential to clearly and explicitly “go through” the parts of my thinking to aid my understanding about what is really going on in my reasoning. \n \n2. Relevance between the Elements of Thought, the parts of our thinking, is really important because we are trying to analyze how things are connected within a particular context. In other words, when we analyze, we are trying to figure out the logic of that thinking. \n \n3. Dr. Nosich’s clarification that there is a difference between “the parts of the thing” and “the parts of my "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"thinking"},{"insert":" about the thing” was an incredibly helpful point! \n \n4. Bloom’s Taxonomy doesn’t include or refer to any Intellectual Standards (Nosich). As an educator, I find this exposes a significant gap in the assumptions we have about using Bloom’s Taxonomy in teaching. Without using clear Intellectual Standards, we cannot teach our students how to assess the quality of their own thinking! An implication of not having clear standards is that our students might assume that ALL learning and assessment is arbitrary and that it doesn’t matter "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"how well"},{"insert":" they remember, apply, analyze, or create. \n \n5. A caution: the Standards and Elements can be used self-deceptively and, therefore, we can miss the purpose of critical thinking – developing the Essential Intellectual Traits in ourselves.\n"}]}