Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking An Introduction

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking An Introduction to Situation Awareness and Decision Making Thinking about thinking This presentation provides an overview of how to improve situation awareness. It is intended to enhance the reader's understanding, but it shall not supersede the applicable regulations or airline's operational documentation; should there be any discrepancy appear between this presentation and the airline’s AFM /

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Introduction This self-study guide provides advice on how to improve your thinking and introduces the associated aspects of situation awareness and decision making. These activities are essential processes in threat and error management, which must be used in daily operations. Thinking is the core skill in these activities; critical thinking involves controlling your thinking: - thinking about the quality of your thinking. The guide is in five sections: 1. Threat and Error Management 2. Situation Awareness 3. Decision Making 4. Critical Thinking 5. Situation Awareness and Decision Making Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Poor thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically and continuously cultivated. Speakers notes provide additional information, they can be selected by clicking the right mouse button in in Slideshow View, select Screen, select Speakers notes.

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Threat and Error Management (TEM) is a major safety process in aviation. TEM consists of detecting, avoiding or trapping threats and errors that challenge the safety of flight operations. Where threats and errors are not contained the resulting conditions must be managed and their adverse effects reduced. All flight and ground operations Threats Detect Avoid / Trap Mitigate Errors Undesired States Situation Awareness Resist Resolve Recover Decision Making Plane Path People Fly the aircraft, Navigate, Communicate, Manage Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Situation Awareness is having an accurate understanding of your surroundings, where you are, what happened, what is happening, what is changing, why, and what could happen. Good situation awareness requires: 1. Gathering data (sensing, perception), seeking cues in the environment 2. Assembling information to give understanding (comprehension) and then thinking ahead (projection) 3. Thinking about situation awareness involves: – – – directing your attention to seek data; scanning a range of sources evaluating information without bias, for accuracy and relevance understanding, using your knowledge and previous experiences comparing and checking, visualising future events - ‘what if’ planning ahead, considering possible outcomes Gathering data Understanding Situation Planning Ahead Now Future N CA IPA TIC Plane TE S Path AN TE A LU People Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making A EV ER ID NS CO

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Decision Making Decision making is about assessment and choosing a course of action Decision making requires an understanding of the situation and controlled thinking The situation determines the urgency of the decision, the risks, and actions Controlled thinking: THINK – Reduces risk – Moderates behaviour – Manages time constraints – Uses knowledge; seeks options – Judges relevance and the quality of the choice OODA Observe Orient Deduce – Prepares for action, evaluates the outcome of planned action Act DECIDE Detect a change Estimate significance Choose a safe outcome Identify possible actions Do take action Evaluate the result 5 D Detect Determine Decide Do Discipline GRADE Gather Information Review Information Analyse Alternatives Decide Evaluate Outcome of Action Expertise involves knowing how to decide, grade, and think – how to use all of the elements Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking Critical thinking provides the mental control and discipline required for situation assessment and decision making. It involves several skills; these can be learnt, practiced, and improved. Control your mind by: – – Seeking and understanding information, facts, and data Effective planning, briefing, and communication Increasing knowledge; gaining experience Critical Thinking is the skill of Learning within a situation (context) thinking about your thinking Maintain discipline by: – – Being aware of how you think; hazardous attitudes Evaluating your actions; having self regulation Being aware of all available resources Being sensitive to feedback Thinking inside the ‘box’ before you think outside of the box “Are you in charge of your thinking, or is your thinking in charge of you? “ Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - Self awareness - self questioning, self monitoring Am I biased in my thinking Have I made a plan for what I want to do Are my ideas or knowledge on this issue correct Am I aware of my thinking; what am I trying to do Am I using all of the resources for what I want to do Am I evaluating my thinking; what I would do differently next time Am I aware of how well I am doing; do I need to change my actions or intentions Monitoring is checking or testing the accuracy of a situation on a regular basis. It is keeping a close watch over parameters and supervising the outcome of planned action. It is checking for threats and errors in our thinking Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - Knowledge Improving your thinking with Knowledge of Yourself – – – A Commitment to safety, not following feelings or preference Positive Attitudes, persistence, resourcefulness, learning from failure Attention to detail and seeing the big picture; determining relevance, assessing risk Knowledge about the Thinking Processes – – – Knowing the facts necessary to do a task by seeking information Knowing how to do a task, how to scan, understand, and think ahead Knowing why certain strategies work, when to use them, why one is better than another Knowledge to control your Thinking – Self evaluation, assessing current technical knowledge, setting objectives, selecting resources – Self regulation, checking progress; reviewing choices, procedures, and objectives Planning, choosing and evaluating a path to the objective – Planning is the process of thinking about what you will do in the event of something happening or not happening Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - Behaviour Improving your thinking by changing behaviour Changing your thinking habit requires effort; clear thinking is an essential part of airmanship, which has to be developed throughout your career. Basic training only provides those skills necessary to be safe. Safe: Continuation training and experience enables an effective operation. Effective: More technical knowledge, practiced skills, and more experience leads to an efficient operation. Efficient: Skilful command in controlling the aircraft and team leadership adds experience and moves towards an expert operation. Expert: An operator who has gained and who maintains a high standard of technical and non-technical skills as a result of great personal effort. Expert thinkers Focus on relevant issues Identify essential information Consider information on merit Test and check the basis of their awareness and decisions Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - Personal Briefing Improving your thinking - Briefing Before flight, self briefing reinforces memory cues and knowledge, these aid the recall of information for use in situation assessment and decision making. Know on what, who, where, and when to prioritise your attention Always brief routine operations – repetition aids memory Structure the briefing along the intended flight path Visualise your actions (plane, path, people) Consider the significant threats Recall lessons from training Refresh SOPs Questions Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making Do not rush: Your thoughts control your actions

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - Personal Debrief Improving your thinking - Debrief After each flight consider the following points; Plus, Minus, Interesting (PMI) Plus: What was good What went according to plan Minus: What was not so good, and why What didn’t you know, find the answer before the next flight Interesting: Have you changed the way in which you see things; threats, risks, people or procedures What did you learn, why, and where did the information come from Will you share this with others, if not why not Anything for a safety event report (ASR) Any issues for confidential reporting Did you experience: - Plus High workload Minus Poor attitudes Biased opinions Interesting Mismanaged time Unanswered questions Debriefing Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Thinking about Situation Awareness and Decision Making depend on our ability to think. Thinking enables humans to be very successful, but this ability also enables errors, which if not controlled increase the risks in our daily activities. All flight and ground operations Value your ability, use it wisely Threats Senses: See Hear Errors Undesired States Feedback Situation Awareness Action Decision Making Response Touch Smell Pattern recognition Comparison Taste Working memory Long term memory - knowledge, bias, beliefs Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making Choice Selection Monitor Review

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - for Situation Awareness Critical thinking for Situation Awareness – seeking information Essential components: – Accuracy; is the information true Clarity; is the information understood Precision; seek detail to understand the situation – Relevance; is the information connected to the situation – Depth; does the information address the complexity of the situation – Breadth; are there other points of view or other ways to consider this situation – Logic; does your understanding of the situation make sense – – Whenever you don’t understand something, ask yourself a question for clarification ? Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking - for Decision Making Critical thinking for Decision Making – the choice of action Essential components: – What are the immediate risks – What is the time available for the decision – State the objective of the decision to be made – Identify information to be used in making the decision – Gather the evidence and information required to make a decision – Make a decision based on criteria (a safe outcome), information, and risks – Ask, what does the evidence and information mean considering the objective? Situation Routine Trained For Unusual Novel Need s Skill Uses Requires Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making Almost automatic action; actions have been thought-through during training Rules Think about which action applies to the situation, compare with training Knowledge Think about the situation, compare with standard actions, training, and previous experience

Copyright D Gurney 2006 Critical Thinking Critical thinking is at the centre of all safety processes and human activity. Threat and Error Management Critical Thinking Situation Awareness Critical Thinking - Situation Awareness and Decision Making Decision Making

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