Consciousness is a characteristic of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment (http://en.wikipedia.org)

 

Analysis utilises techniques of observation and interpretation to accurately determine what is taking place, why it is taking place and the impact of its existence.

Critical thinking is a mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism. (The Critical Thinking Community)

Brookfield (1988) identifies four activities central to critical reflection

Assumption analysis – Involves thinking in such a manner that it challenges our beliefs, values, cultural practices, and social structures in order to assess their impact on our daily actions.

Contextual awareness – Realising that our assumptions are socially and personally created in a specific historical and cultural context.

Imagining alternative ways of thinking about phenomena in order to provide an opportunity to challenge our prevailing ways of knowing and acting.

Questioning of universal truth claims or unexamined patterns of interaction through the prior three activities - assumption analysis, contextual awareness, and imaginative speculation. It is the ability to think about a subject so that the available evidence from that subject's field is suspended or temporarily rejected in order to establish the truth or viability of a proposition or action.

The process of forming an opinion or decision based on considered theories, ideas and hypothesis. Strategic judgement calls into play the notion of future states in order to allow for change and alteration.