Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is, basically, being able to think for yourself. But it's more than that. A critical thinker is open-minded, rational, makes informed opinions and decisions, and is not afraid to disagree (or agree, for that matter). Because they process ideas, rather than just take them at face value, they can add to, improve, and invent. It's a beautiful skill, and isn't stressed enough.
Examples
In 11th grade, my English class was assigned to write an argumentative paper (below), for or against the death penalty. The death penalty is highly controversial, but we each had to do our own research and come to our own conclusions in order to make an argument. While it's an unpleasant topic, it's also an important one. This paper required us to use critical thinking and address what we thought should be done, if anything, through a written essay.
In 12th grade I wrote a Media Analysis paper, in which we selected a piece of media and, you guessed it, analyzed it. I chose to look at the role of education in the Disney movie, The Sword and the Stone. This paper is an example of critical thinking, because rather than just taking a piece of media for granted and simply choosing to like or dislike it for reasons unknown even to yourself (like many people do), it requires tearing it apart to understand what's really going on, what it means, and what you think about it.
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Integration of Knowledge
DRSLs
Effective Communication