Answer to Question 1
The trainer is correct in saying that people use critical thinking in their everyday life. Every day we all make decisions about what to believe or what to do. When we are being reflective and fair-minded about doing so, we are using our critical thinking skills. The idea behind a critical thinking course is to help us strengthen these skills and fortify our intentions to use them when the occasion arises. If that is true, then there probably is room for improvementjust as with other things we do that we may not have formally studied. But we are not starting from zero. We have critical thinking skills, even if we have not yet refined them to their maximum potential. We know what it means to be open-minded and to take a systematic and objective look at an issue. We are familiar with the ordinary English meanings of common words for talking about thinking such as interpret, analyze, infer, explain, reason, conclusion, fallacy, and argument. And, in a broad sense, we can often tell the difference between strong reasoning and weak reasoning, even if we do not yet know all the details or terminology. These examples indicate that we are not novices at critical thinking.
Answer to Question 2
There is convincing scientific evidence that students can improve their critical thinking. It is essential for students to engage issues and topics that can be unsettling or jarring because thinking carefully about difficult topics and troubling questions often makes us stronger critical thinkers. Just like with sports or music, those who skip practice should not expect to perform at their best when it really matters. Those who are so close-minded that they cannot entertain hypotheticals that diverge from their own opinions will find progress in critical thinking difficult. But the rest of us can expect many interesting and enjoyable opportunities to exercise each of our critical thinking skills and to strengthen our critical thinking habits of mind.