Critical Thinking for Kids

girls observing. big sur

Often when we are driving Sienna will look at Olivia who is blissfully zoning out in the perfect way that babies do and say, "Olivia is thinking with her mind."

The first time Sienna said that, I got a huge smile and warm heart. She understands.

In light of this topic, I have begun to look at how everyday we are shaping our children's inner and outer worlds. With Sienna, I see that daily we talk a lot about making choices and what the outcome is for her or another person. We talk about thinking before acting and choosing our words carefully. Sienna knows that we value her opinion of things and that we let her take time to think something through for herself before we answer. We also talk a lot about concentrating and using our mind to help us learn. As I have begun to research this topic, I realize that these are the foundation for critical thinking.

Though there are many aspects to critical thinking, it is commonly defined as the process of thinking about one's thinking, a conscious evaluation of one's thoughts. Critical thinking can be understood as a way of becoming aware of and taking control of one's own thinking processes in order to think more effectively. It is consciously directing one's thinking to make it more rational, clear, accurate, and consistent.

Critical thinking helps us ask relevant questions, weigh evidence offered in support of arguments, interpret complex problems, and make wise decisions. This is especially important when you realize that many problems do not lend themselves to clear-cut solutions.

In terms of what we can begin to do to teach critical thinking to our children, the American Philosophical Association's has some tips:

• Start early. Young children might not be ready for lessons in formal logic. But they can be taught to give reasons for their conclusions. And they can be taught to evaluate the reasons given by others. Wondering where to begin? If you have young child, check out these research-based tips for teaching critical thinking and scientific reasoning to preschoolers.

• Avoid pushing dogma. When we tell kids to do things in a certain way, we should give reasons.
• Encourage kids to ask questions. Parents and teachers should foster curiosity in children. If a rationale doesn’t make sense to a child, she should be encouraged to voice her objection or difficulty.

• Ask kids to consider alternative explanations and solutions. It’s nice to get the right answer. But many problems yield themselves to more than one solution. When kids consider multiple solutions, they may become more flexible thinkers.

• Get kids to clarify meaning. Kids should practice putting things in their own words (while keeping the meaning intact). And kids should be encouraged to make meaningful distinctions.

• Talk about biases. Even grade school students can understand how emotions, motives--even our cravings--can influence our judgments.

• Don’t confine critical thinking to purely factual or academic matters. Encourage kids to reason about ethical, moral, and public policy issues.

• Get kids to write. This last recommendation doesn’t come from Facione or the APA, but it makes good sense. As many teachers know, the process of writing helps students clarify their explanations and sharpen their arguments. In a recent study, researchers assigned college biology students to one of two groups. The writing group had to turn in written explanations of their laboratory work. The control group had to answer brief quizzes instead. At the end of the term, the students in the writing group had increased their analytical skills significantly. Students in the control group had not (Quitadamo and Kurtz 2007).

As Children, what were you taught about approaching problems, reasoning and making decisions? How do you help teach your children about critical thinking?