Download or read book Military and Defense Critical Thinking Inventory written by Peter A. Facione and published by Insight Assessment. This book was released on 2009-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Assessment of the Command and General Staff Officer Core Course Effectiveness in Developing Student Critical Thinking written by Timothy H. Civils (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a need for critical thinking skills in our society. This research study examines graduate student growth in critical thinking after experiencing a specifically designed curriculum. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Common Core Course to change student critical thinking skills and habits of the mind attributes, and further examined instructor perceptions of the curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors that impact student critical thinking development within the Core Course. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method research design in order to answer the four research questions and test their respective hypotheses. Eight student staff groups (n=120) were selected from the Command and General Staff Officer Common Core Course Class 15 population, and the quantitative data used to conduct the analyses was derived from a pretest and posttest using the Military and Defense Critical Thinking Inventory (MDCTI), a nationally recognized instrument designed specifically for individuals in the defense and military profession. The qualitative component of the study consisted of focus group interviews conducted with instructors from the eight selected staff groups (n=24) to examine their perceptions on the role of the curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors in developing student critical thinking. The data collected from these interviews were analyzed and presented using a collective case study approach. Analysis of the student pretest and posttest score change results indicated statistically significant changes in analysis, induction, deduction, and overall critical thinking skills, and in the communicative confidence, professional confidence, expression, and directness habits of the mind attributes. Further analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant change differences in critical thinking skills or habits of the mind attributes between the teaching team groups. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed nine themes that were categorized within the theoretical framework of curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors. Four additional themes emerged which did not address the role of curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors in developing student critical thinking. These themes included: lack of contact time, the importance of the physical classroom configuration, the military/school culture, and student attributes.
Download or read book Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ARI Workshop, Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command, was held on 5-6 December 2001 at Ft. Leavenworth. The purpose of the Workshop was to: (1) provide an overview of current research in critical thinking and training critical thinking (CT), (2) provide a forum for identifying and discussing issues related to training CT in the Army; and (3) develop recommendations for training and for future directions for research and development in the area of CT training. Participants with a variety of expertise attended - Military officers, instructors in CT and academic researchers in CT. The following papers were presented: Critical Thinking in the 21st Century by MG (Ret.) Lon Maggart; Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking by Diane Halpern; A Framework for Critical Thinking Research and Training by Susan Fischer; A three part theory of Critical Thinking: Dialogue, Mental Models and Reliability by Marvin Cohen; Critical Thinking in Teams by Daniel Serfaty; and A simulation Tool for Critical Thinking Training by Marvin Cohen. The Proceedings includes these papers, with the exception of the Serfaty paper. Workshop participants discussed a variety of issues related to training CT and their recommendations for training and future research are included in the Proceedings."--DTIC.
Download or read book Promoting Critical Thinking in Professional Military Education written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical thinking (CT) is important to professional military education (PME) because it provides a powerful tool to operate in a complex, changing world. Unfortunately, the teaching of such skills has been woefully ignored in American education. This paper examines common elements of successful nation-wide CT programs to develop a simple academic assessment checklist. The checklist is used to assesses the CT curriculum of the United States Air Force's Air Command and Staff College (ACSC)-a PME program for mid-level officers. The Air Force's ACSC CT curriculum has made great strides in improving the cognitive skills of its student body but is still in its infancy. Assessment of the school's program showed that, while some skills and behaviors are taught, the list is far from complete when compared to other nation-wide programs. Furthermore, CT standards, testing, and faculty development efforts are still incomplete.
Download or read book Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battlefield Situation Assessment written by and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In battlefield situation assessment, officers must interpret information that is incomplete, unreliable, and often conflicting and gather new information to improve their assessments and plans. In previous work, a framework for these cognitive activities was developed based on interviews with activity-duty command staff, and a training method was developed. That training helped officers to find and assess the reliability of hidden assumptions and to resolve conflicting evidence. Forty-three U.S. Army officers participated in an experimental training study with scenario-based tests. Trained officers generated more accurate arguments concerning a given assessment than did controls. Improvements in quality were related to the increased relevance of their judgments. In some problems, training countered a tendency to change hypotheses too readily; in other problems, training countered a tendency to hold on to a hypothesis too long. Training did not decrease confidence in evaluations, nor did it hypersensitize officers to information."--DTIC.
Download or read book The Red Team Handbook written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-07 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Army chartered the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (UFMCS) with the mission to teach Red Teaming to the U.S. Army and other authorized organizations. As the nature of warfare has evolved, so too has our curriculum and academic offerings. Version 9.0 of the Red Team Handbook represents the current state of our program. Although the contents of this volume and our courses are not official doctrine, the practices discussed directly support and are in both Joint and U.S. Army Doctrine. This handbook provides the reader with an introduction to the fundamental concepts, methods, and tools essential to the practice of U.S. Army Red Teaming.Applied Critical Thinking (ACT), provides an improved understanding of our own decision-making processes, as well as the ability to deconstruct arguments and better understand others. It helps identify assumptions, biases, and can allow us to restate ideas using an analogy to describe complex ideas more simply. Perhaps most importantly, it allows us to generate and evaluate alternatives, thereby increasing our chances of finding the path to success. ACT incorporates several fundamentals, including slowing down, asking why, seeking alternatives, and other more-advanced strategies.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.Chapter 1 - Introduction * Why Do We Red Team? * What is Red Teaming? * Four Principles of UFMCS * UFMCS Training * Chapter 2 - Self-Awareness And Reflection * Self-Authorship * Temperament * Emotional Intelligence * Interpersonal Communication * Interpersonal Conflict * Introspection * Chapter 3 - Fostering Cultural Empathy * Understanding Culture for the Red Teamer * Ethnocentrism * Some Cultural Definitions * Some Cultural Frameworks * Cultural Analysis For The Red Teamer * Functional Systems Approach * Cultural Relevance * Chapter 4 - Applied Critical Thinking * What is Applied Critical Thinking? * The Time Factor * Time For Red Teaming * Creating Space And Time * Summary * Chapter 5 - Groupthink Mitigation And Decision Support * Group Dynamics And Groupthink * Groupthink Mitigation * Decision Support * Chapter 6 - Thinking Creatively * The Creative Thought Process * Stage 1: Problem-Finding * Stage 2: Preparation * Stage 3: Ideation * Stage 4: Idea Verification * Stage 5: Communication * Summary * Chapter 7 - Red Teaming Tools, Techniques, & Practices * Tools * A Technique: The Ideal Group Process * Practices * 1-2-4-Whole Group * 1 on 1, 2 on 2, Exchange Emissaries * 4 Ways of Seeing * 5 Whys * 5 Will Get You 25 * 6 Empathetic Questions * 6 Words * Alternative Futures Analysis * Analogy Suitability Analysis * Analysis Of Competing Hypotheses * Appreciative Interview * Argument Deconstruction * Assumption Sensitivity Analysis * Batna * Brainstorming * Circle Of Voices * Circular Response * Critical Variables * Cultural Perception Framework * Deception Detection * Devil's Advocacy * Divergence - Convergence * Dot Voting * Fishbowl * Frame Audit * Gallery Walk * High Impact / Low Probability Analysis * Indicators Or Signposts Of Change * Key Assumptions Check * Mind Mapping * My 15% * Onion Model * Outside-In Thinking * Premortem Analysis * Problem Restatement * Shifting the Burden * Stakeholder Mapping. * State-Elaborate-Exemplify-Illustrate (SEE-I) * Storytelling * String of Pearls * S-W-O-T Analysis * Team A / Team B Analysis * Think-Write-Share * TRIZ * Troika Consulting (Ad Agency) * What If Analysis * Who Am I? * Yes, And This handbook is an unclassified living document and regularly evolves to incorporate new ideas, approaches, and tools. It should provide a compendium of ideas from UFMCS curriculum and serve as both a reference for our graduates and a broad introduction to others.
Download or read book Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command written by Sharon L. Riedel and published by . This book was released on 2001-07 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ARI Workshop, Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command, was held on 5-6 December 2001 at Ft. Leavenworth. The purpose of the Workshop was to: (1) provide an overview of current research in critical thinking and training critical thinking (CT), (2) provide a forum for identifying and discussing issues related to training CT in the Army; and (3) develop recommendations for training and for future directions for research and development in the area of CT training. Participants with a variety of expertise attended - Military officers, instructors in CT and academic researchers in CT. The following papers were presented: Critical Thinking in the 21st Century by MG (Ret.) Lon Maggart; Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking by Diane Halpern; A Framework for Critical Thinking Research and Training by Susan Fischer; A three part theory of Critical Thinking: Dialogue, Mental Models and Reliability by Marvin Cohen; Critical Thinking in Teams by Daniel Serfaty; and A simulation Tool for Critical Thinking Training by Marvin Cohen. The Proceedings includes these papers, with the exception of the Serfaty paper. Workshop participants discussed a variety of issues related to training CT and their recommendations for training and future research are included in the Proceedings.
Download or read book Exploring Strategic Thinking written by Department of Defense and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-06 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research product provides a thorough examination of the question: "How can the Army assess, develop, and retain strategic thinkers?" Expert input from within and outside the military provide a variety of perspectives that highlight areas of convergence and divergence, as well as, exemplar techniques, processes and insights that inform and change the conceptualization and practice of strategic thinking in the military. This compendium does not provide the answer to all of the Army's strategic thinking challenges, but it does provide many possible avenues to explore with the goal of enhancing the Army's strategic thinking capabilities. Topics and subjects covered include: qualitative thinking, metacognitive ability, cognitive flexibility, abductive reasoning, system theory, critical thinking, visualization, PME curriculum, strategic theory. Section 1: Strategic Thinking - Big Picture * Chapter 1: The Identification and Education of U.S. Army Strategic Thinkers * Chapter 2: Strategic thinking: Requirements, Development, and Assessment * Chapter 3: Recruiting, Training, and Developing Strategic Thinkers * Section 2: Impact of Culture * Chapter 4: Developing Army Strategic Thinkers * Chapter 5: The Sociology of STRATEGY: Romancing the Image * Chapter 6: Creating an Organizational Culture to Support Strategic Thinking * Chapter 7: Implementing a Culture of Strategic Thinking in the U.S. Army * Section 3: Insights from Outside the Military * Chapter 8: Strategic Intuition in Army Training * Chapter 9: Creativity in Strategic Thinking * Chapter 10: Strategic Thinking. A Design Contribution * Section 4: Ways of Thinking * Chapter 11: Professional Military Education's Imperative of Linear/Nonlinear Thinking Style Balance for Improved Strategic Thinking * Chapter 12: A Science of Context: The Qualitative Approach as Fundamental to Strategic Thought * Chapter 13: The Genome Doodle of Strategic Thinking: Times, Epistemologies, and Narratives To begin understanding strategic thinking in the military, one must first have a basic sense of what strategic thinking is and what it is not. Examination of literature on strategic thinking does not lead to one common definition of strategic thinking. However, there are some identified common attributes of strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is built on a systems perspective, intent driven, hypothesis driven, intelligently opportunistic (capitalizing on new possibilities as the situation changes), and involves the ability to think in time (linking past, present, and future elements). The confusion about the definition of strategic thinking is exacerbated by the confounded concepts of strategic thinking, strategic planning, strategy, and the strategic thinker. In addition to the lack of common definition of strategic thinking, Heracleous notes that there is no common definition of strategic planning or common understanding of the relationship between strategic thinking and strategic planning. Liedtka outlines several differences between strategic thinking and strategic planning that include reliance on systems thinking, the role of measurement and control, and a focus on the outcome (strategy) versus the process. For the purpose of this compendium, we have focused extensively on concepts related to strategic thinking (cognitive processes) and the strategic thinker (characteristics of a person). This work does not extensively address the concepts of strategy (outcome) or strategic planning (programmatic, analytical process). Strategic thinking in the military comes with unique challenges and opportunities. It is different than strategic thinking in the private sector.
Download or read book Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command ARI Workshop Proceedings written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ARI Workshop, Training Critical Thinking Skills for Battle Command, was held on 5-6 December 2001 at Ft. Leavenworth. The purpose of the Workshop was to: (1) provide an overview of current research in critical thinking and training critical thinking (CT), (2) provide a forum for identifying and discussing issues related to training CT in the Army; and (3) develop recommendations for training and for future directions for research and development in the area of CT training. Participants with a variety of expertise attended - Military officers, instructors in CT and academic researchers in CT. The following papers were presented: Critical Thinking in the 21st Century by MG (Ret.) Lon Maggart; Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking by Diane Halpern; A Framework for Critical Thinking Research and Training by Susan Fischer; A three part theory of Critical Thinking: Dialogue, Mental Models and Reliability by Marvin Cohen; Critical Thinking in Teams by Daniel Serfaty; and A simulation Tool for Critical Thinking Training by Marvin Cohen. The Proceedings includes these papers, with the exception of the Serfaty paper. Workshop participants discussed a variety of issues related to training CT and their recommendations for training and future research are included in the Proceedings.
Download or read book Adaptive Decision Making and Intellectual Styles written by Francesco Sofo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exciting publication provides the reader with a theoretical and practical approach to adaptive decision making, based on an appreciation of cognitive styles, in a cross-cultural context. The aim of this Brief is to describe the role of thinking-through different options as part of the decision-making process. Since cognitive style influences decision behavior, the book will first examine thinking styles, which involve both cognitive and emotive elements, as habits or preferences that shape and empower one’s cognition and emotion. The information contained in this Brief will be a useful resource to both researchers studying decision making as well as to instructors in the higher education sector and to human resource development practitioners, especially those working in international, multi-cultural companies.
Download or read book Critical Thinking A Strategic Competency written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From my previous experience as an instructor at the Defense Systems Management College and as a student at the US Army War College, the strategic importance of critical thinking is not being accepted, adopted or used by students. This research project explores the reasons for this outcome and provides recommendations and techniques to enhance acceptance of critical thinking as a tool for strategic leaders. It is my premise that critical thinking is either a strategic leader core competency or is a fundamental process for mastering strategic leader core competencies. Either way, critical thinking is a strategic imperative. This project researches critical thinking, specifically how to improve its acceptance and application in the strategic military environment. The project focuses on four areas, which if analyzed clearly and completely, will address how well critical thinking is being taught and accepted by students at the Army War College (AWC). The first area is the critical thinking concept. The objective of this element was to identify a critical thinking definition and concept, from the many that exist, which would be most useful to the AWC and for follow-on use in the strategic military environment. The second area is the audience. This element addresses how the audience effects learning. The third area is defining the benefits of CT. This area how well the audience sees the need, value or benefit of CT in their real-life. The fourth area is the current teaching approach. This area reviews the current CT approach taken by the AWC. The project offers recommendations for improving the acceptance and follow-on application of critical thinking in the strategic military environment.
Download or read book Finding Ender Exploring the Intersections of Creativity Innovation and Talent Management in the U S Armed Forces written by Susan F. Bryant and published by . This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current national-level strategic documents exhort the need for creativity and innovation as a precondition of America's continued competitive edge in the international arena. But what does that really mean in terms of personnel, processes, and culture? This paper argues that an overlooked aspect of talent management, that of cognitive diversity, must be considered when retooling military talent management systems. Going one step further, talent management models must incorporate diversity of both skill set and mindset into their calculus. Specifically, the Department of Defense (DOD) needs to recruit, retain, and utilize Servicemembers and civilians with higher than average levels of creativity and a propensity for innovative thinking. It needs "enders."There is an inherent tension between encouraging creativity within the Armed Forces and maintaining military discipline. Academic studies have shown that military personnel score lower on average for creativity than their civilian counterparts and that those Servicemembers with higher levels of creativity are more likely to leave than remain for a career. Furthermore, this paper argues that there is an embedded bias in favor of critical thinking at the expense of creative thinking at all levels of professional military education (PME). Finally, given that military culture is authoritarian by nature, creativity can only flourish if commanders are open to out-of-the-box suggestions. Studies of military officers indicate that "openness" among officers actually decreases as rank increases.The mandates of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which stresses the need for innovation, require change in military culture, processes, education, and talent management if they are to be fully accomplished. To that end, the authors propose eight recommendations to leverage the creative potential of the DOD workforce. These include recognizing that cognitive diversity is multifaceted, adopting a commercial off-the-shelf instrument to test all personnel for creativity and innovation potential, determining the jobs in which highly creative individuals are most necessary, adopting industry best practices for achieving innovative outcomes, introducing design thinking and divergent thinking earlier in PME to reduce "convergence bias," making sure leaders are exposed to the idea of cognitive diversity as part of their PME, actively recruiting personnel with high creative potential, and continuing to study small number (n) populations within DOD for high concentrations of cognitive outliers.
Download or read book Supporting Critical Thinking with Critiquing Systems in Military C2 Environments written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing interest for the integration of critical thinking, defined as the capacity of thinking about one's own reasoning, into military practices. In this paper, we discuss the potential of critiquing systems (critics) - software programs that provide a critique of the user-generated solution - for training critical thinking skills. More specifically, we discuss the use of two types of critics, generic and experiential, which respectively use doctrine-related and case-related knowledge. The generic critic applies general knowledge about standard practices, while the experiential critic makes the practitioner consider distributional data, as provided by case bases and lessons learned. This paper discusses the type of issues that can thus be addressed. The aim of the present paper is to show the usefulness of critiquing systems (critics) for supporting critical reasoning in the military context. We argue here that these advisory systems can, on the one hand, provide generic critiques that would remind the user of general doctrine-related knowledge, and on the other hand, bring him, by means of experiential critics, to consider relevant knowledge retrieved from similar cases and lessons learned. The paper is organized as follows: first, we outline the principles of critical thinking as discussed in relevant literature (Section 2), and then we compare the dynamics of collaborative criticism dialogues in the human-critic setting with the internalized dialogue of critical reasoning (Section 3). In Section 4, we discuss the type of judgment biases that the use of critics can correct. Next, we show how generic critics can guide the user in his problem solving process by reminding him of relevant issues and factors (Section 5) and how the experiential critic, using case-based reasoning and lessons learned, can make the user consider or learn from previously experienced cases (Section 6).
Download or read book The Noncommissioned Officer and Petty Officer written by Department of Defense and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-10 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Noncommissioned Officer and Petty Officer BACKBONE of the Armed Forces. Introduction The Backbone of the Armed Forces To be a member of the United States Armed Forces--to wear the uniform of the Nation and the stripes, chevrons, or anchors of the military Services--is to continue a legacy of service, honor, and patriotism that transcends generations. Answering the call to serve is to join the long line of selfless patriots who make up the Profession of Arms. This profession does not belong solely to the United States. It stretches across borders and time to encompass a culture of service, expertise, and, in most cases, patriotism. Today, the Nation's young men and women voluntarily take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and fall into formation with other proud and determined individuals who have answered the call to defend freedom. This splendid legacy, forged in crisis and enriched during times of peace, is deeply rooted in a time-tested warrior ethos. It is inspired by the notion of contributing to something larger, deeper, and more profound than one's own self. Notice: This is a printed Paperback version of the "The Noncommissioned Officer and Petty Officer BACKBONE of the Armed Forces". Full version, All Chapters included. This publication is available (Electronic version) in the official website of the National Defense University (NDU). This document is properly formatted and printed as a perfect sized copy 6x9".
Download or read book Critical Thinking Training for Army Officers Development and assessment of a web based training program written by Susan C. Fischer and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking written by Diane F. Halpern and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1996 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thinking is not a spectator sport. Research has shown that the skills of critical thinking must be practiced with a wide variety of problems in many different contexts in order to be learned and retained. The exercises, questions, and reviews in this workbook are designed to provide the systematic practice needed to help readers become more critical thinkers. By reading and responding to the questions before reading the accompanying chapter in the text, readers will develop a framework that will help them to comprehend, anticipate, and organize the information in the accompanying chapter. Based on principles of active learning with authentic tasks, all of the exercises were written to be similar to problems and situations readers are likely to encounter in real life -- and they provide numerous examples for both short and extended writing assignments. Problems include topics such as saving money; understanding a research report that appears in a newspaper; recognizing propaganda; reaching reasoned conclusions; avoiding common biases; and deciding when a risk is "too risky." These exercises also work well for cooperative learning projects and are designed to help adult learners develop the skills and the habits of mind essential for life-long learning. Designed to be used in conjunction with Halpern's text, Thought & Knowledge, this workbook could also be used with other texts or as a stand-alone enhancement in courses on thinking skills and cognitive psychology. All exercises along with syllabus suggestions and self assessments are available in the Instructor's Manual.
Download or read book Changing Minds in the Army written by Stephen J. Gerras and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History and organizational studies both demonstrate that changing one's mind is quite difficult, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that this change needs to occur. This monograph explains how smart, professional, and incredibly performance-oriented Army senior leaders develop frames of reference and then oftentimes cling to their outdated frames in the face of new information. It describes the influence of individual-level concepts -- personality, cognitive dissonance reduction, the hardwiring of the brain, the imprints of early career events, and senior leader intuition -- along with group level factors to explain how frames of reference are established, exercised, and rewarded. It concludes by offering recommendations to senior leaders on how to structure Army leader development systems to create leaders comfortable with changing their minds when the environment dictates.