Critical thinking skills allow for wiser decision making and have helped our very survival. They incorporate analysis, interpretation and evaluation to help us make better sense of the world and make pragmatic decisions. We have paired up with an independent sixth form college in London to share advice on how to help your child with their critical thinking skills.
Encourage Your Child to Have an Open Mind
An open mind and separation from personal beliefs can help your child to consider other ways of thinking. Often, we limit ourselves and our creativity by sticking to one set way of thinking. This can be explored with your child by experiencing different cultures while on holiday or on a field trip.
Brainstorm to Encourage Lateral Thinking
An essential part of critical thinking is comparison and by considering all alternatives, we can make better choices. To build your child’s lateral thinking skills, set them quick-fire tasks to list all the different ways of doing things. This could be all of the different ways that you can fly. There are many different ways to look at this. For example, you can fly in an aeroplane or attach your picture to a flying drone.
Prompt Questions
By getting into the habit of asking questions, your child can be more critical in their thinking. To encourage this, question your child as they learn new things so that they can begin to form their own. This might be to ask questions such as what they think will happen next when watching TV or what they think about a character’s actions.
Play Makes Good Practice
Children learn new things through play, and it can help them to form their own questions too. To help with their problem solving, act as a guide and be present during play to make challenges seem less daunting.