Collaborative Critical Thinking

Abstract

Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Abstract Command and Control (C2) organizations must operate decisively and synchronously, and do so in highly uncertain and dynamic settings. Individuals succeed in these settings in part by thinking critically about their assessments and plans. We argue that individual team members collaborate in their application of critical thinking in a process called "collaborative critical thinking." We are developing this concept of Collaborative Critical Thinking (CCT) within C2 teams from three research threads concerning 1) individual critical thinking, 2) team process and architecture, and 3) human performance in information age warfare. This paper describes our CCT framework and the tools and training we are developing to improve CCT among team members. IntroductionA fundamental goal of the military is to ensure that Command and Control (C2) organizations operate decisively and synchronously in highly uncertain and dynamic settings. Individuals succeed in these settings by thinking critically; that is by critiquing their understanding of the situation at hand, refining their knowledge, and adapting their decision making and planning to the problems at hand. This project purports that individual team members collaborate in their application of critical thinking in a process called "collaborative critical thinking."