Critical thinking – Inculcate the habit in children at an early age

Source: Education World

• Ayesha Sirajuddin, Head of South Campuses, Ekya Schools, Bangalore

In the past, schools have been focusing on teaching content to students and mastering knowledge by rote. Many schools are now moving ahead to find ways that help students apply content knowledge and conceptual understanding across content areas also known as transfer of learning.

According to Grant Wiggins (2013)- co-author of the framework, understanding by design, “Transfer is the bottom-line goal of all learning, not scripted behaviour. Transfer means that a learner can draw upon and apply from all of what was learned, as the situation warrants, not just do one move at a time in response to a prompt.”

This need for ‘transfer of learning’ calls for classrooms to become places where students can use ‘thinking’ to help them integrate concept knowledge at a deeper level. By applying transfer skills, they can develop a deeper understanding of how to use this knowledge in a new situation.

Therefore, it is important to provide them opportunities to develop skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration in our classrooms through immersive lessons and engaging experiences.

How do we help develop critical thinking skills in our children?

Critical thinking, by definition, is the ability to think clearly and make logical connections between ideas. It is an essential life skill that includes skills like questioning, predicting, investigating, hypothesizing, analysing, reflecting, revising, comparing, evaluating and forming opinions. It is meta-cognitive, which means it is a process of thinking that enables us to reflect on our learning as we develop knowledge and skills.

Encourage Questions: Research has shown that critical thinking skills begin to develop at a very early age. Therefore, parents, caregivers and teachers need to nurture this skill in children as early as possible. Children should be a part of learning environments that help them build these skills. 

Encourage children to learn how to ask and answer good questions using the 5W’s and H (who, what, why, when, where and how), compare and contrast, evaluate ideas, identify problems, make predictions, conduct research, find and create solutions to real-world problems, explain and present their learning to the world.

Answering essential questions that lead our students to longer-lasting learning is a great way to develop critical thinking skills. All our lessons begin with an essential question that helps explore various aspects of a topic and gain new learning through the process. Students develop different and new perspectives by answering these essential questions.

Encourage brainstorming –  Brainstorming helps students collaborate on a topic, problem-solve by hearing others’ perspectives, listen actively and with empathy to arrive at inferences, categorize ideas and make connections to the larger topic being discussed. 

Create opportunities for your child to read, write and reflect – Reading helps children build essential vocabulary, understand and analyse characters and settings, understand the point of view of the author and identify situations of conflict or a problem in a story, think of an alternate solution or ending to stories, explain their reasons for their choices by drawing on what they read helps build this skill.

Writing allows children to make meaning of what they have learned. It offers children multiple experiences to engage in reflective processes like writing exit tickets and self-reflection. The intent of doing this is that they can identify their strengths and weaknesses and think about the process of learning itself.  These writing practices serve as a safe space for children to share their thoughts freely and help teachers and parents discover their creativity and thinking skills. 

As parents, you could help your child jot down thoughts, ideas, doodles, illustrations and feelings in a journal and talk about what they do in school and why they do it on a regular basis.

Create opportunities to problem-solve by inspiring imagination and creativity – To inculcate imagination and creativity, children should be presented with ongoing tasks and authentic tasks which are based on real-world problem-solving wherein children apply their learning of concepts and come up with solutions. For example – In the Science Curriculum, children apply knowledge from the topic Matter and Materials to build a roof for an outdoor pet shelter; In Computer Science-they design a robot using recycled materials, In English, writing a poem with rhyme or writing a story about a problem and solution. While learning languages, children share their opinions and evaluate different objects, events and experiences.

Parents may take advantage of problem situations you may face at home to hone this skill. Ask children to explain the problem, talk about possible solutions by drawing on their knowledge and experiences.

In conclusion, we could say that critical thinking is a skill that should be included in the school curriculum by design. Lessons should provide time for asking and answering open-ended questions, think and express ideas through discussions, talk and interact with their peers, write, and reflect on learning.