Nurturing Critical Thinking Skills in Children
Critical thinking is the ability to analyse facts and form a perception on the basis of your observation. People with well-developed critical thinking skills are able to look beyond the apparent and have the insight to understand things that are visible from the ‘outside’. They are also able to form logical connections between various ideas, concepts, and situations and are able to consider different perspectives. Critical thinking abilities not only make a difference in our professional lives but also matter in our personal lives as well. As critical thinkers, we are able to come up with the best possible solutions for complex problems.
Critical thinkers are successful in their careers and are generally happy individuals. It is easy to identify children with well-developed critical thinking skills as they usually look at learning situations with an open mind and understand the fact that there may be more than one answer to a question. They don’t shy away from asking relevant questions and tend to support their answers with appropriate pieces of evidence. They are able to analyse information and make inferences on the basis of their analysis. Children with good critical thinking skills are able to reflect better in any given situation and share their thoughts and ideas on the basis of their reflective thinking.
We might wonder what are some things we can do to support children develop good critical thinking skills. While there may not be one straight strategy for this, we can certainly be mindful of the way we answer some of their questions. Children at a very young age are in a habit of asking a lot of ‘why’ questions. We often tend to avoid answering these questions which can be due to any reason like not knowing the answer ourselves, being busy working on an office presentation or being involved in household chores. However, by answering these questions carefully and encouraging children to think of the different possible answers, we are showing them the pathway to developing their critical thinking skills.
Model critical thinking for them and encourage thinking in new ways. Avoid jumping in immediately to provide solutions to a problem. Instead, pause and give them time to think about possible solutions. Ask questions like- what do you think is happening here, why do you think it is happening, what do you think about that, and what other ideas can we try? Questions like these often encourage them to think independently and nurture their critical thinking skills.
Another important thing we can do to develop critical thinking skills is to let children play and also play with them! Playing is the easiest and the most popular medium that children use to communicate. They understand the language of play more than anything else. While playing together, children learn to navigate many different situations like resolving interpersonal conflicts, learning to fix their broken toys, thinking of strategies while playing board games, and a lot more. All of this gives them an opportunity to critically examine the issues and find solutions to them. Once children gain the confidence, that they can solve simple problems on their own, they are motivated to solve the more complex ones as well. Playtime gives them an opportunity to do all of this in a fun way.
Inculcate a habit of reading in children. It's a great medium for them to connect with the outside world and also instills a sense of curiosity in them. Also, give them age-appropriate responsibilities which will make them think about how they should be going about fulfilling their task. This leads to the development of critical thinking skills and instills a sense of confidence in children. Allow them to do things their own way. It may not always be perfect but fills them with a sense of achievement and also develops thinking skills in them. Accept their mistakes and allow them to make mistakes. This gives them an opportunity to think differently and learn new things.
Giving our children the right ‘space’ and ‘support’ can go a long way in nurturing their critical thinking skills and making them self-sufficient in their personal and later in their professional lives.