I Need to response to two of my classmate each one is 100 words.

below the discussion questions

1. Define, describe, and explain the principles of critical thinking.

2. Describe a time when you used critical thinking to make a decision.

Classmate # 1

I believe that critical thinking is a tool that is used when you want to make mental progress towards a certain goal. This goal is sometimes hidden or placed behind certain obstacles or challenges. Critical thinking is usually employed when we are faced with a certain challenge that we have not experienced before, and we need to use critical thinking as a tool to progress forward either mentally, or eventually physically, in order to overcome the challenge that has been presented in front of us.

Currently, I am studying abroad, but before I joined up with my school mates on the program, I did a small backpacking trip on my own around Europe. I would definitely say that this entire time during a backpacking trip, I needed to employ critical thinking in order to navigate around unfamiliar situations that I found myself in. Abroad, I have no international phone plan (to try and save some money), so I have to rely on the paper maps, my sense of direction, and asking locals for a lot of the ways around. It was a choice to try and rely on getting around without technology, but I feel as though I can get more acquainted with a city that way. In doing this, I definitely need to employ critical thought as I'm navigating situations and especially being alone in foreign areas, it's important to be on alert just in all aspects making sure that you're properly scanning situations so that you can be best prepared for whatever comes your way! In a good and bad sense.

Classmate # 2

1. There are four main components of critical thinking- summarize, analyze, hypothesize, and evaluate. Summarizing involves taking in a large quantity of information and narrowing it down to a few important main points. Analyzing takes summarizing a step further. In order to analyze information, it is important to process not just what the words on a paper or screen are saying, but also what ideas, opinions, and biases an author is trying to convey using those words. Hypothesizing involves coming up with your own ideas and questions based on the information you have just processed. Evaluation is the assessment of the credibility and validity of a source. It also involves interpreting any bias an author may have.
2. One of the bigger decisions I have made in my life thus far, deciding where to go to college, definitely involved the use of critical thinking. I did a lot of research on schools both in state and out of state. Then I summarized the information I had been collecting by making large lists. I analyzed this information by interpreting the main points I had collected through the lens of what would be an ideal school for me. I then hypothesized what school would work best for me, and made a decision, being sure to evaluate the sources of the information.