Work smarter not harder! By keeping critical thinking at the forefront of your planning, you can help your thinkers push themselves to a deeper level of thinking and analysis! Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Professional Development. Raising Critical Thinkers. Colin Seale. Home About. Partner Login. Twitter Instagram Facebook-f Linkedin-in. Padlet www. Socrative www. Our students need to be able to think critically to make rational decisions on what to believe or what course of action to take. An inability to think critically can leave students vulnerable to muddied thinking and the possibility of believing in unsound ideas.
Critical thinking helps students to filter the wheat from the chaff, intellectually speaking. Developing strong critical thinking skills helps students to eliminate dubious data to leave only the strongest, most reliable information.
At its core, critical thinking is about having good reasons for our beliefs. It helps us to navigate through bias our own and that of others to avoid manipulation or becoming enslaved by our feelings. These are essential skills in an age of overwhelming information. Helping our students to develop their critical thinking skills not only inoculates them against embracing flawed ideas, but these skills are also some of the most in-demand by employers and this looks set to continue to be so well into the future.
This is due to the ever-increasing pace of technological change. It is impossible to accurately predict the specific requirements of many future jobs. One thing is for sure though, so-called soft skills such as critical thinking will ensure students will be able to adapt to whatever shapes the workplace of the future will take.
There are any number of ways to introduce critical thinking into the classroom, either as discrete activities, or interwoven into lessons with other stated objectives. However, it is helpful to students to take the time to teach a variety of strategies to help them think critically about the ideas they encounter which will help them form their own opinions.
An opinion based on critical thinking does not rely on gut feeling, but rather on rational reasoning which often requires some form of initial research. It is packed full of great content whether you are just starting out, or looking to go further. It makes relevant connections to technology, STEM, critical and creative thinking.
The following process is a useful template to teach students. When embarking on their own research, this template provides a step-by-step process which they can use to structure their investigations. In the age of the Internet, access to information is longer the major hurdle facing the inquisitive student investigator. If anything, the real problem now is knowing how to appropriately sift through the almost inexhaustible amount of information out there.
The key to this filtration process is the formulation of the research question. How the question is composed and formatted will inform exactly what information the student is looking for and what information can be discarded.
The type of question formatted here will depend on the purpose of the research. For example, is the question intended to establish knowledge? Then, it may well be a straightforward What type question, for example, What are the consequences of a diet high in processed sugars?
If the question is geared more towards the use of that information or knowledge, then the question may be more of a Why type question, for example, Why do some commentators claim that a diet high in processed sugars is the greatest threat facing public health?
Once the question has been clearly defined, then the process of gathering the information begins. Students should frequently refer back to their research question to ensure they are maintaining their focus. As they gather information in relation to their question, reference to their initial question will help them to determine the relevance of the information in front of them. They can then weigh up whether or not the information is helpful in moving them further towards answering their initial research question.
The ability to think critically about information is of no use unless the understandings gained can be applied in the real world. The most practical application of this skill is seen when it is used to inform decision-making. When faced with making a decision, encourage students to reflect on the concepts at work in regards to the choice they face. Other sites, such as Edutopia. The site, which is part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, is divided by grade level and has a special section focused on producing critical thinking high school students: Grades High School.
The site describes three fundamental skills it believes necessary for students to become lifelong learners in the 21 st Century:. The site combines original articles and instructional videos with other valuable critical thinking resources from around the globe.
The site is set up like a blog and puts the most recent articles at the forefront, and also includes a community forum for both students and teachers to use.
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