One of the “buzz” words in
today’s education is critical thinking.
Teachers are encouraged to have their students use critical thinking skills
throughout the day across all disciplines and content areas. Critical thinking
skills are vital to the success of your children in the classroom, on
standardized tests, and in real-world applications. How can parents,
grandparents, and others help their youngsters improve critical thinking
skills?
Here are a few examples of
easy things you can do with your children to enhance their critical thinking
skills:
Ask open-ended questions. Asking questions that don't have one right
answer encourages children to respond creatively without being afraid of giving
the wrong answer. Try answering a question with a question!
Categorize and classify. Classification plays an important role in
critical thinking. This type of thinking requires identification and sorting
according to a rule, or set of rules, that kids must discover, understand, and
apply. If you play classification games at home, be sure to follow up the
activity with questions about the similarities and differences between the
groups. You can sort everything from dirty laundry to Legos to produce to doll
clothes in order to promote critical thinking.
Make decisions. Help your child consider pros and cons, but
don't be afraid to let them make a wrong choice. Ask your child, "How do
you feel about your decision? What would you do differently next time?" Evaluating
their decisions and discussing these decisions validates your support of their
thinking process.
Find patterns. Whatever you're doing, whether it's going to
the park or watching television, encourage your child to look for patterns or
make connections for critical thinking practice. For example, relate a favorite
television show to a real-life situation. Or, while driving in the car, have
your child identify different shapes in roads signs and in the windows and
roofs of passing houses.
Whether you are driving in
the car, or talking with your child around the kitchen table, we encourage you
to discover new ways to think critically with them. Critical thinking is not
just a “buzz” word, but a life skill that will serve children well in school
and in the future.
Adapted from:
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