Critical Thinking

Capacity 1 Limited 2 Emerging 3 Present (MPS Standard) 4 Complex

Inquiry

Posing, pursuing, and refining significant questions to deepen understanding about a topic or issue.

 I was unclear about the problem/topic and/or did not identify significant questions for investigation.

I clarified the problem/topic, but posed questions that may lack relevance or depth.

I collected information from sources with limited perspectives, so there wasn’t a variety of information to synthesize, and I relied heavily on my preconceptions.

I clarified the problem/topic 
and developed meaningful, relevant questions for investigation. 

I refined meaningful, relevant questions for investigation. 

I did this by collecting, organizing and synthesizing new and prior learning from a variety of sources to determine relevance.
 

 I fully met the MPS standard with at least one of the following:
  • Continuing my initial investigation with new questions, deeper investigations through a variety of sources 
  • Pursuing a broader and deeper scope of knowledge about a topic or issue from my initial conception
  • Expressing a nuanced understanding of the problem

Analyzing

Examining information/data/ evidence from multiple sources to identify possible underlying assumptions, patterns, and relationships in order to make inferences.

I looked at information/data/ evidence considering limited perspectives/ strategies on a superficial level. 

I was not able to identify patterns or relationships, make inferences, draw conclusions, or create viable solutions.

I looked at information/data/ evidence considering limited perspectives/ strategies that may have lacked relevance. 

I made literal interpretations and only identified the most obvious patterns and relationships in the information I examined. Therefore, my inferences, conclusions, and solutions are not well-supported and have limited meaning or workability.

I examined information/data/ evidence considering multiple sources/strategies that were relevant to my focus, omitting extraneous information. 

I identified patterns, relationships, and underlying assumptions. 

This allowed me to make inferences; draw well-informed conclusions; and/or create workable solutions.
 

I fully met the MPS standard with at least one of the following:

  • Carefully and independently synthesizing disparate sources/strategies
  • Making insightful inferences 
  • Drawing complex, nuanced, well-informed conclusions
  • Creating novel solutions
  • Forming interpretations supported by multiple instances/data points/strategies.