Is Your Student a Critical Thinker?

We hear daily complaints that no one thinks critically these days; they just go along with the crowd.

• A simple way to think of it is this:

• Stop to consider all sides of an issue

• Weigh the pros and cons

• Test the data

• Apply common sense

• Look for bias

• Identify emotional appeals over logic

How can you help your student build critical thinking skills?

Young learners who love fun workbooks will love the options at The Critical Thinking Co. (No, I don’t get a kickback.) You can select items for the specific age and subject your student needs. Young learners need to understand what logic is and how it works, and these workbooks make that process fun!

Mind Benders and Balance Benders were two workbooks my own students loved!

Middle school learners will love the detective focused workbooks offered at CTC. They’ll learn how to pull together pieces of information to assemble a logical deduction.

Teen learners love to argue! Use that advantage to engage them in discussions about cultural and political events.

• See if they can identify the two opposing sides of an issue.

• Ask them to identify the underlying worldview or philosophy of each side.

• Help them recognize the good intentions of each side.

• Help them recognize the self-serving interests of each side.

• Find two (short!) opposing news articles to read together. See if they can recognize the biased language. This will be more difficult to detect in articles that support your own bias. You’ll need to be especially rigorous to find it.

(Be honest about your own bias and in any discussion explain how you came to your conclusions. Allow them to challenge your assumptions.)

Love this idea, but not sure how to get started? Contact us and we can help you formulate a plan!