how to teach critical thinking in classroom

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How to Teach Critical Thinking

Last Updated: September 28, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Jai Flicker . Jai Flicker is an Academic Tutor and the CEO and Founder of Lifeworks Learning Center, a San Francisco Bay Area-based business focused on providing tutoring, parental support, test preparation, college essay writing help, and psychoeducational evaluations to help students transform their attitude toward learning. Jai has over 20 years of experience in the education management industry. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 11 testimonials and 100% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 293,524 times.

If you want to teach your students critical thinking, give them opportunities to brainstorm and analyze things. Classroom discussions are a great way to encourage open-mindedness and creativity. Teach students to ask "why?" as much as possible and recognize patterns. An important part of critical thinking is also recognizing good and bad sources of information.

Encouraging Students to Have an Open Mind

• For example, ask students an open-ended question like, "What would be a good way to get more people to recycle in the school?"
• Whether or not it's realistic, offer praise for an inventive answer like, "we could start to make a giant sculpture out of recyclable things in the middle of the school. Everyone will want to add to it, and at the end of the year we can take pictures and then break it down to bring to the recycling plant."

• Try including a brief creative exercise in the beginning of class to help get their minds working. For example, you could ask students to identify 5 uses for a shoe besides wearing it.

• For instance, make columns to name the good things about both a camping trip and a city excursion, then have students think about a happy medium between the two.

Helping Students Make Connections

• For instance, environmental themes may come up in science, history, literature, and art lessons.
• If you are teaching geometry, then you might ask if they have ever seen a building that resembles the shapes you are teaching about. You could even show them some images yourself.

• Explain to your students how the clues and their own personal influences form their final conclusions about the picture.
• For instance, show students a picture of a man and woman shaking hands in front of a home with a "For Sale" sign in front of it. Have students explain what they think is happening in the picture, and slowly break down the things that made them reach that conclusion.

• "To take a train."
• "To get to the city."
• "To meet his friend."
• "Because he missed him."
• "Because he was lonely."
• On a more advanced level, students will benefit from interrogating their research and work to determine its relevance.

Teaching Students About Reliable Information

• For instance, if a student says that there are fewer libraries than there used to be, have them provide some actual statistics about libraries to support their statement.

• Encourage students to ask the simple question, "Who is sharing this information, and why?"
• For instance, an advertisement for a low calorie food product may be disguised as a special interest television segment about how to lose weight on a budget.

• The date it was published, whether or not it has been updated, and how current the information is. Tell students where to find this information on the website.
• What the author's qualifications are. For instance, a medical article should be written by a doctor or other medical professional.
• If there is supporting evidence to back up what the writer says. Sources should always have information to back them up, especially when the source is something your students find on the internet.

• For example, if your students are reviewing the political viewpoint of a senator in the USA, ask your students to look up donations provided to that senator from any special interest groups. This may provide your students with insight into the reasons for the senator’s views.

How Do You Improve Critical Thinking Skills?

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/thinking-skills-learning-styles/think-about-it-critical-thinking
• ↑ Jai Flicker. Academic Tutor. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ https://www.weareteachers.com/10-tips-for-teaching-kids-to-be-awesome-critical-thinkers/
• ↑ https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/11/06/three-tools-for-teaching-critical-thinking-and-problem-solving-skills/
• ↑ http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/lessonplan-07.html
• ↑ http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503129818/study-finds-students-have-dismaying-inability-to-tell-fake-news-from-real
• ↑ http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/ptn/2017/05/fake-news.aspx

About This Article

To teach critical thinking, start class discussions by asking open-ended questions, like "What does the author mean?" Alternatively, have your students make lists of pros and cons so they can see that two conflicting ideas can both have merit. You can also encourage your students to think more deeply about their own reasoning by asking them “Why?” 5 times as they explain an answer to you. Finally, teach students to figure out whether information, especially from online sources, is reliable by checking to see if it comes from a trusted source and is backed by evidence. For more from our reviewer on how to help students make connections that lead to more critical thinking, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Integrating Critical Thinking Into the Classroom

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(This is the second post in a three-part series. You can see Part One here .)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?

Part One ‘s guests were Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Today, Dr. Kulvarn Atwal, Elena Quagliarello, Dr. Donna Wilson, and Diane Dahl share their recommendations.

‘Learning Conversations’

Dr. Kulvarn Atwal is currently the executive head teacher of two large primary schools in the London borough of Redbridge. Dr. Atwal is the author of The Thinking School: Developing a Dynamic Learning Community , published by John Catt Educational. Follow him on Twitter @Thinkingschool2 :

In many classrooms I visit, students’ primary focus is on what they are expected to do and how it will be measured. It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests. But are we producing children that are positive about teaching and learning and can think critically and creatively? Consider your classroom environment and the extent to which you employ strategies that develop students’ critical-thinking skills and their self-esteem as learners.

Development of self-esteem

One of the most significant factors that impacts students’ engagement and achievement in learning in your classroom is their self-esteem. In this context, self-esteem can be viewed to be the difference between how they perceive themselves as a learner (perceived self) and what they consider to be the ideal learner (ideal self). This ideal self may reflect the child that is associated or seen to be the smartest in the class. Your aim must be to raise students’ self-esteem. To do this, you have to demonstrate that effort, not ability, leads to success. Your language and interactions in the classroom, therefore, have to be aspirational—that if children persist with something, they will achieve.

Use of evaluative praise

Ensure that when you are praising students, you are making explicit links to a child’s critical thinking and/or development. This will enable them to build their understanding of what factors are supporting them in their learning. For example, often when we give feedback to students, we may simply say, “Well done” or “Good answer.” However, are the students actually aware of what they did well or what was good about their answer? Make sure you make explicit what the student has done well and where that links to prior learning. How do you value students’ critical thinking—do you praise their thinking and demonstrate how it helps them improve their learning?

Learning conversations to encourage deeper thinking

We often feel as teachers that we have to provide feedback to every students’ response, but this can limit children’s thinking. Encourage students in your class to engage in learning conversations with each other. Give as many opportunities as possible to students to build on the responses of others. Facilitate chains of dialogue by inviting students to give feedback to each other. The teacher’s role is, therefore, to facilitate this dialogue and select each individual student to give feedback to others. It may also mean that you do not always need to respond at all to a student’s answer.

Teacher modelling own thinking

We cannot expect students to develop critical-thinking skills if we aren’t modeling those thinking skills for them. Share your creativity, imagination, and thinking skills with the students and you will nurture creative, imaginative critical thinkers. Model the language you want students to learn and think about. Share what you feel about the learning activities your students are participating in as well as the thinking you are engaging in. Your own thinking and learning will add to the discussions in the classroom and encourage students to share their own thinking.

Metacognitive questioning

Consider the extent to which your questioning encourages students to think about their thinking, and therefore, learn about learning! Through asking metacognitive questions, you will enable your students to have a better understanding of the learning process, as well as their own self-reflections as learners. Example questions may include:

• Why did you choose to do it that way?
• When you find something tricky, what helps you?
• How do you know when you have really learned something?

‘Adventures of Discovery’

Elena Quagliarello is the senior editor of education for Scholastic News , a current events magazine for students in grades 3–6. She graduated from Rutgers University, where she studied English and earned her master’s degree in elementary education. She is a certified K–12 teacher and previously taught middle school English/language arts for five years:

Critical thinking blasts through the surface level of a topic. It reaches beyond the who and the what and launches students on a learning journey that ultimately unlocks a deeper level of understanding. Teaching students how to think critically helps them turn information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. In the classroom, critical thinking teaches students how to ask and answer the questions needed to read the world. Whether it’s a story, news article, photo, video, advertisement, or another form of media, students can use the following critical-thinking strategies to dig beyond the surface and uncover a wealth of knowledge.

A Layered Learning Approach

Begin by having students read a story, article, or analyze a piece of media. Then have them excavate and explore its various layers of meaning. First, ask students to think about the literal meaning of what they just read. For example, if students read an article about the desegregation of public schools during the 1950s, they should be able to answer questions such as: Who was involved? What happened? Where did it happen? Which details are important? This is the first layer of critical thinking: reading comprehension. Do students understand the passage at its most basic level?

Ask the Tough Questions

The next layer delves deeper and starts to uncover the author’s purpose and craft. Teach students to ask the tough questions: What information is included? What or who is left out? How does word choice influence the reader? What perspective is represented? What values or people are marginalized? These questions force students to critically analyze the choices behind the final product. In today’s age of fast-paced, easily accessible information, it is essential to teach students how to critically examine the information they consume. The goal is to equip students with the mindset to ask these questions on their own.

Strike Gold

The deepest layer of critical thinking comes from having students take a step back to think about the big picture. This level of thinking is no longer focused on the text itself but rather its real-world implications. Students explore questions such as: Why does this matter? What lesson have I learned? How can this lesson be applied to other situations? Students truly engage in critical thinking when they are able to reflect on their thinking and apply their knowledge to a new situation. This step has the power to transform knowledge into wisdom.

Adventures of Discovery

There are vast ways to spark critical thinking in the classroom. Here are a few other ideas:

• Critical Expressionism: In this expanded response to reading from a critical stance, students are encouraged to respond through forms of artistic interpretations, dramatizations, singing, sketching, designing projects, or other multimodal responses. For example, students might read an article and then create a podcast about it or read a story and then act it out.
• Transmediations: This activity requires students to take an article or story and transform it into something new. For example, they might turn a news article into a cartoon or turn a story into a poem. Alternatively, students may rewrite a story by changing some of its elements, such as the setting or time period.
• Words Into Action: In this type of activity, students are encouraged to take action and bring about change. Students might read an article about endangered orangutans and the effects of habitat loss caused by deforestation and be inspired to check the labels on products for palm oil. They might then write a letter asking companies how they make sure the palm oil they use doesn’t hurt rain forests.
• Socratic Seminars: In this student-led discussion strategy, students pose thought-provoking questions to each other about a topic. They listen closely to each other’s comments and think critically about different perspectives.
• Classroom Debates: Aside from sparking a lively conversation, classroom debates naturally embed critical-thinking skills by asking students to formulate and support their own opinions and consider and respond to opposing viewpoints.

Critical thinking has the power to launch students on unforgettable learning experiences while helping them develop new habits of thought, reflection, and inquiry. Developing these skills prepares students to examine issues of power and promote transformative change in the world around them.

‘Quote Analysis’

Dr. Donna Wilson is a psychologist and the author of 20 books, including Developing Growth Mindsets , Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , and Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching (2 nd Edition). She is an international speaker who has worked in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, Jamaica, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Wilson can be reached at [email protected] ; visit her website at www.brainsmart.org .

Diane Dahl has been a teacher for 13 years, having taught grades 2-4 throughout her career. Mrs. Dahl currently teaches 3rd and 4th grade GT-ELAR/SS in Lovejoy ISD in Fairview, Texas. Follow her on Twitter at @DahlD, and visit her website at www.fortheloveofteaching.net :

A growing body of research over the past several decades indicates that teaching students how to be better thinkers is a great way to support them to be more successful at school and beyond. In the book, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , Dr. Wilson shares research and many motivational strategies, activities, and lesson ideas that assist students to think at higher levels. Five key strategies from the book are as follows:

• Facilitate conversation about why it is important to think critically at school and in other contexts of life. Ideally, every student will have a contribution to make to the discussion over time.
• Begin teaching thinking skills early in the school year and as a daily part of class.
• As this instruction begins, introduce students to the concept of brain plasticity and how their brilliant brains change during thinking and learning. This can be highly motivational for students who do not yet believe they are good thinkers!
• Explicitly teach students how to use the thinking skills.
• Facilitate student understanding of how the thinking skills they are learning relate to their lives at school and in other contexts.

Below are two lessons that support critical thinking, which can be defined as the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.

Mrs. Dahl prepares her 3rd and 4th grade classes for a year of critical thinking using quote analysis .

During Native American studies, her 4 th grade analyzes a Tuscarora quote: “Man has responsibility, not power.” Since students already know how the Native Americans’ land had been stolen, it doesn’t take much for them to make the logical leaps. Critical-thought prompts take their thinking even deeper, especially at the beginning of the year when many need scaffolding. Some prompts include:

• … from the point of view of the Native Americans?
• … from the point of view of the settlers?
• How do you think your life might change over time as a result?
• Can you relate this quote to anything else in history?

Analyzing a topic from occupational points of view is an incredibly powerful critical-thinking tool. After learning about the Mexican-American War, Mrs. Dahl’s students worked in groups to choose an occupation with which to analyze the war. The chosen occupations were: anthropologist, mathematician, historian, archaeologist, cartographer, and economist. Then each individual within each group chose a different critical-thinking skill to focus on. Finally, they worked together to decide how their occupation would view the war using each skill.

For example, here is what each student in the economist group wrote:

• When U.S.A. invaded Mexico for land and won, Mexico ended up losing income from the settlements of Jose de Escandon. The U.S.A. thought that they were gaining possible tradable land, while Mexico thought that they were losing precious land and resources.
• Whenever Texas joined the states, their GDP skyrocketed. Then they went to war and spent money on supplies. When the war was resolving, Texas sold some of their land to New Mexico for $10 million. This allowed Texas to pay off their debt to the U.S., improving their relationship.
• A detail that converged into the Mexican-American War was that Mexico and the U.S. disagreed on the Texas border. With the resulting treaty, Texas ended up gaining more land and economic resources.
• Texas gained land from Mexico since both countries disagreed on borders. Texas sold land to New Mexico, which made Texas more economically structured and allowed them to pay off their debt.

This was the first time that students had ever used the occupations technique. Mrs. Dahl was astonished at how many times the kids used these critical skills in other areas moving forward.

Thanks to Dr. Auwal, Elena, Dr. Wilson, and Diane for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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How to teach critical thinking, a vital 21st-century skill

A well-rounded education doesn’t just impart academic knowledge to students — it gives them transferable skills they can apply throughout their lives. Critical thinking is widely hailed as one such essential “ 21st-century skill ,” helping people critically assess information, make informed decisions, and come up with creative approaches to solving problems.

This means that individuals with developed critical thinking skills benefit both themselves and the wider society. Despite the widespread recognition of critical thinking’s importance for future success, there can be some ambiguity about both what it is and how to teach it . 1 Let’s take a look at each of those questions in turn.

What is critical thinking?

Throughout history, humanity has attempted to use reason to understand and interpret the world. From the philosophers of Ancient Greece to the key thinkers of the Enlightenment, people have sought to challenge their preconceived notions and draw logical conclusions from the available evidence — key elements that gave rise to today’s definition of “critical thinking.”

At its core, critical thinking is the use of reason to analyze the available evidence and reach logical conclusions. Educational scholars have defined critical thinking as “reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do,” 2 and “interpretation or analysis, followed by evaluation or judgment.” 3 Some have pared their definition down to simply “good” or “skillful thinking.”

At the same time, being a good critical thinker relies on certain values like open-mindedness, persistence, and intellectual humility. 4 The ideal critical thinker isn’t just skilled in analysis — they are also curious, open to other points of view, and creative in the path they take towards tackling a given problem.

Alongside teaching students how to analyze information, build arguments, and draw conclusions, educators play a key role in fostering the values conducive to critical thinking and intellectual inquiry. Students who develop both skills and values are well-placed to handle challenges both academically and in their personal lives.

Let’s examine some strategies to develop critical thinking skills and values in the classroom.

How to teach students to think critically — strategies

1. build a classroom climate that encourages open-mindedness.

Fostering a classroom culture that allows students the time and space to think independently, experiment with new ideas, and have their views challenged lays a strong foundation for developing skills and values central to critical thinking.

Whatever your subject area, encourage students to contribute their own ideas and theories when addressing common curricular questions. Promote open-mindedness by underscoring the importance of the initial “brainstorming” phase in problem-solving — this is the necessary first step towards understanding! Strive to create a classroom climate where students are comfortable thinking out loud.

Emphasize to students the importance of understanding different perspectives on issues, and that it’s okay for people to disagree. Establish guidelines for class discussions — especially when covering controversial issues — and stress that changing your mind on an issue is a sign of intellectual strength, not weakness. Model positive behaviors by being flexible in your own opinions when engaging with ideas from students.

2. Teach students to make clear and effective arguments

Training students’ argumentation skills is central to turning them into adept critical thinkers. Expose students to a wide range of arguments, guiding them to distinguish between examples of good and bad reasoning.

When guiding students to form their own arguments, emphasize the value of clarity and precision in language. In oral discussions, encourage students to order their thoughts on paper before contributing.

In the case of argumentative essays , give students plenty of opportunities to revise their work, implementing feedback from you or peers. Assist students in refining their arguments by encouraging them to challenge their own positions. 

They can do so by creating robust “steel man” counterarguments to identify potential flaws in their own reasoning. For example, if a student is passionate about animal rights and wants to argue for a ban on animal testing , encourage them to also come up with points in favor of animal testing. If they can rebut those counterarguments, their own position will be much stronger!

Additionally, knowing how to evaluate and provide evidence is essential for developing argumentation skills. Teach students how to properly cite sources , and encourage them to investigate the veracity of claims made by others — particularly when dealing with online media .

3. Encourage metacognition — guide students to think about their own and others’ thinking

Critical thinkers are self-reflective. Guide students time to think about their own learning process by utilizing metacognitive strategies, like learning journals or having reflective periods at the end of activities. Reflecting on how they came to understand a topic can help students cultivate a growth mindset and an openness to explore alternative problem-solving approaches during challenging moments.

You can also create an awareness of common errors in human thinking by teaching about them explicitly. Identify arguments based on logical fallacies and have students come up with examples from their own experience. Help students recognize the role of cognitive bias in our thinking, and design activities to help counter it.

Students who develop self-awareness regarding their own thinking are not just better at problem-solving, but also managing their emotions .

4. Assign open-ended and varied activities to practice different kinds of thinking

Critical thinkers are capable of approaching problems from a variety of angles. Train this vital habit by switching up the kinds of activities you assign to students, and try prioritizing open-ended assignments that allow for varied approaches.

A project-based learning approach can reap huge rewards. Have students identify real-world problems, conduct research, and investigate potential solutions. Following that process will give them varied intellectual challenges, while the real-world applicability of their work can motivate students to consider the potential impact their thinking can have on the world around them.

Classroom discussions and debates are fantastic activities for building critical thinking skills. As open-ended activities, they encourage student autonomy by requiring them to think for themselves.

They also expose students to a diversity of perspectives , inviting them to critically appraise these different positions in a respectful context. Class discussions are applicable across disciplines and come in many flavors — experiment with different forms like fishbowl discussions or online, asynchronous discussions to keep students engaged.

5. Use argument-mapping tools such as Kialo Edu to train students in the use of reasoning

One of the most effective methods of improving students’ critical thinking skills is to train them in argument mapping .

Argument mapping involves breaking an argument down into its constituent parts, and displaying them visually so that students can see how different points are connected. Research has shown that university students who were trained in argument mapping significantly out-performed their peers on critical thinking assessments. 5

While it’s possible — and useful — to map out arguments by hand, there are clear benefits to using digital argument maps like Kialo Edu. Students can contribute simultaneously to a Kialo discussion to collaboratively build out complex discussions as an argument map. 

Individual students can plan essays as argument maps before writing. This helps them to stay focused on the line of argument and encourages them to preempt counterarguments. Kialo discussions can even be assigned as an essay alternative when teachers want to focus on argumentation as the key learning goal. Unlike traditional essays, they defy the use of AI chatbots like ChatGPT!

Kialo discussions prompt students to use their reasoning skills to create clear, structured arguments. Moreover, students have a visual, engaging way to respond to the content of the arguments being made, promoting interpretive charity towards differing opinions. 

Best of all, Kialo Edu offers a way to track and assess your students’ progress on their critical thinking journey. Educators can assign specific tasks — like citing sources or responding to others’ claims — to evaluate specific skills. Students can also receive grades and feedback on their contributions without leaving the platform, making it easy to deliver constructive, ongoing guidance to help students develop their reasoning skills.

Improving students’ critical thinking abilities is something that motivates our work here at Kialo Edu. If you’ve used our platform and have feedback, thoughts, or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on social media or contact us directly at [email protected] .

•  Lloyd, M., & Bahr, N. (2010). Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking in Higher Education. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4 (2), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2010.040209
•  Ennis, R. H. (2015). Critical Thinking: A Streamlined Conception. In: Davies, M., Barnett, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
• Lang-Raad, N. D. (2023). Never Stop Asking: Teaching Students to be Better Critical Thinkers . Jossey-Bass.
•  Ellerton, Peter (2019). Teaching for thinking: Explaining pedagogical expertise in the development of the skills, values and virtues of inquiry . Dissertation, The University of Queensland. Available here .
• van Gelder, T. (2015). Using argument mapping to improve critical thinking skills. In The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education (pp. 183–192). doi:10.1057/9781137378057_12.

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How To Promote Critical Thinking In Your Classroom

Promoting Thinking

November 25, 2006, by The Critical Thinking Co. Staff

Modeling of critical thinking skills by instructors is crucial for teaching critical thinking successfully. By making your own thought processes explicit in class - explaining your reasoning, evaluating evidence for a claim, probing the credibility of a source, or even describing what has puzzled or confused you - you provide a powerful example to students, particularly if you invite them to join in; e.g., "Can you see where we're headed with this?" "I can't think of other explanations; can you?" "This idea/principle struck me as difficult or confusing at first, but here's how I figured it out." You can encourage students to emulate this by using them in demonstrations, asking them to "think out loud" in order for classmates to observe how they reason through a problem.

Develop the habit of asking questions that require students to think critically, and tell students that you really expect them to give answers! In particular, Socratic questioning encourages students to develop and clarify their thinking: e.g., "Would your answer hold in all cases?" "How would you respond to a counter-example or counter-argument?" "Explain how you arrived at that answer?"

This is another skill that students can learn from your example, and can use in working with each other. Providing regular opportunities for pair or small group discussions after major points or demonstrations during lectures is also important: this allows students to process the new material, connect it to previously learned topics, and practice asking questions that promote further critical thinking. Obviously, conveying genuine respect for student input is essential. Communicating the message that you value and support student contributions and efforts to think critically increases confidence, and motivates students to continue building their thinking skills. An essential component of this process is the creation of a climate where students feel comfortable with exploring the process of reasoning through a problem without being "punished" for getting the wrong answer.

Researchers have found consistently that interaction among students, in the form of well-structured group discussions plays a central role in stimulating critical thinking. Discussing course material and its applications allows students to formulate and test hypotheses, practice asking thought-provoking questions, hear other perspectives, analyze claims, evaluate evidence, and explain and justify their reasoning. As they become more sophisticated and fluent in thinking critically, students can observe and critique each others' reasoning skills.

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Thinking Classrooms: How To Promote Critical Thinking In Class

The Thinking Classroom is an approach to teaching that prioritizes the development of students’ critical thinking skills. In this type of classroom, the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than a traditional lecturer. Students are encouraged to actively engage with the material and collaborate with their peers.

The key to a Thinking Classroom is to focus on the process of learning rather than simply the acquisition of knowledge. This means that teachers must create opportunities for students to think critically, solve problems, and reflect on their learning.

We’ve rounded up the 14 practices of a Thinking Classroom below. 

What are the 14 Practices of a Thinking Classroom?

The fourteen principles of a Thinking Classroom are designed to promote a classroom environment that encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. 

Here’s a summary of each principle to help teachers create an engaging and effective learning environment:

1. Classroom Culture of Thinking

Create a classroom culture that values thinking, learning, and intellectual development. Start with thinking tasks that are separate from your curriculum. This eases the transition to everyday thinking classroom activities. It’s hard for students to think deeper and for longer periods, so this transition should be gradual. You can start with non-curricular tasks as an ice breaker at the beginning of the school year.

2. Opportunities to Think in Groups

Provide opportunities for students to think and engage in meaningful group learning experiences. The Thinking Classroom practices emphasize “visibly random groups” that change frequently. This reduces social anxiety in the group and decreases communication barriers. 

3. Vertical and Non-permanant Workspaces

You may have noticed that the traditional method of having students sit at their desks and take notes is only sometimes the best way to promote active thinking in your classroom. Recent research has shown that students are more engaged and productive when standing and working on vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPSs) like whiteboards, blackboards, or windows. The fact that the surface is non-permanent encourages risk-taking and experimentation, while the vertical orientation prevents students from disengaging. 

4. Room Layout

Research has shown that traditional, front-facing classrooms promote passive learning. At the same time, a more flexible, de-fronted setup—where students are free to face any direction—can be much more effective in promoting active thinking and engagement. So when designing your classroom layout, it’s essential to consider how the physical space can support the learning you want to see.

5. Answer Questions that Promote Thinking

You answer hundreds of questions each day in class. But not all of the questions encourage your students to keep thinking. Here are the common types:

• Proximity questions: Questions students ask because you’re close by and convenient.
• Stop-thinking questions: Questions students ask so they can mark a task complete. (i.e., Is this right?)
• Keep-thinking questions: Questions that help them along, so they can continue working through a task.

Answer only questions that keep students thinking.

6. Give Tasks in the Right Manner

Give tasks early in class while students are standing around a teacher. Give verbal tasks, and avoid visual cues that promote passive learning. This differs from the traditional manner of giving examples from the textbook or a worksheet.  

7. Homework

Stop giving homework and instead give students opportunities to check their understanding. Make it optional so students can freely engage with authentic practice. 

8. Promote Student Autonomy

As step 5 outlines, don’t solve problems for students. Let them struggle so they build confidence in their independence. This may mean asking a peer for help or looking around the room for a hint. When students are on their own, they take ownership of their learning. 

9. Give Support So Students Can Learn at Their Own Pace

Encourage students to learn at their own pace by creating hints, extensions, and practice that meets them where they are in their learning. This is different from the typical guided practice that occurs in most classrooms. 

10. Consolidate Lessons

Consolidation is crucial to help students combine different parts of a task or activity and ultimately form a more comprehensive understanding of the concept taught. Traditionally, teachers have relied on methods like showing, telling, or explaining to help students achieve their learning objectives.

In a thinking classroom, consolidation takes a different approach. Instead of relying on teacher-led instruction, consolidation works upward from the basic foundation of a concept. By drawing on the student work produced during their thinking on a common set of tasks, teachers can help students develop a deeper understanding of the concept.

To facilitate this process, teachers should provide open-ended questions, encourage peer-to-peer discussions, or engage in activities that allow students to explore and experiment with the concept taught.

11. Give Students Autonomy Over Notes

Only one in five students review their notes again after taking them in class. Give students the option of choosing which notes to take while learning. They are more likely to refer back to notes later.

12. Evaluate Values That Matter Most

If you want your students to participate, take risks, and persevere in the classroom, you should incorporate these values into evaluations. Assessment should go beyond curriculum knowledge. 

13. Bring Students into Formative Assessment

Your students need to understand where they are and where they need to be with their learning. This means that they need to be a partner in formative assessment . Like students taking the lead over homework, they need to take the lead on owning their success in formative assessment. 

14. Assessment Needs to Connect to an Outcome

Use assessments that measure and value thinking and understanding, not just rote memorization. This may look like standards-based grading. Students need to understand what they know and don’t know after they complete an assessment.

By implementing these principles, teachers can create a dynamic and engaging classroom that promotes deep learning and helps students develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to succeed in school and beyond.

TeacherMade helps teachers infuse technology into their Thinking Classrooms.

TeacherMade does more than convert PDFs into online activities. Teachers use TeacherMade to promote critical thinking skills. You can incorporate the Thinking Classroom practices with TeacherMade:

• Every TeacherMade assignment is a non-permanent surface. Students can complete assignments again and again until they have reached mastery. 
• Create a culture of practice rather than homework and worksheets. With TeacherMade, you can choose to grade or not grade assignments. Students can complete practice as many times as they need.
• TeacherMade supports asynchronous learning so that students can learn at their own pace.
• Students are more involved with formative assessment when they receive instant feedback via auto-grading. 
• You can leave feedback, hints, and notes so that students fully understand their assessment results.

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The pervasiveness of social media has significantly changed how people receive and understand information. By steering people to content that’s similar to what they have already read, algorithms create echo chambers that can hinder critical thinking. Consequently, the person may not develop critical thinking skills or be able to refine the abilities they already possess.

Teachers can act as the antidote to the algorithms by strengthening their focus on teaching students to think critically. The following discusses how to teach critical thinking skills and provides resources for teachers to help their students.

What is critical thinking?

Oxford: Learner’s Dictionaries defines critical thinking as “the process of analyzing information in order to make a logical decision about the extent to which you believe something to be true or false.” A critical thinker only forms an opinion on a subject after first understanding the available information and then refining their understanding through:

• Comparisons with other sources of information

A person who is capable of critical thought relies entirely on scientific evidence, rather than guesswork or preconceived notions.

Key critical thinking skills

There isn’t a definitive list of key critical thinking skills, but Bloom’s Taxonomy is often used as a guide and illustration. It starts with base skills, such as remembering and understanding, and rises to optimal skills that include evaluating and creating.

• Remembering: Recalling specific facts
• Understanding: Grasping the information’s meaning
• Applying: Using the information in a new but similar situation
• Analyzing: Identifying connections between different source materials
• Evaluating: Examining the information and making judgments
• Creating: Using the information to create something new

Promoting critical thinking in the classroom

A Stanford Medicine study from 2022 finds that one quarter of children aged 10.7 years have mobile phones. This figure rises to 75% by age 12.6 and almost 100% by age 15. Consequently, children are routinely exposed to powerful algorithms that can dull their critical thinking abilities from a very young age. 

Teaching critical thinking skills to elementary students can help them develop a way of thinking that can temper the social media biases they inevitably encounter. 

At the core of teaching critical thinking skills is encouraging students to ask questions. This can challenge some educators, who may be tempted to respond to the umpteenth question on a single subject with “it just is.” Although that’s a human response when exasperated, it undermines the teacher’s previous good work.

After all, there’s likely little that promotes critical thinking more than feeling safe to ask a question and being encouraged to explore and investigate a subject. Dismissing a question without explanation risks alienating the student and those witnessing the exchange.

How to teach critical thinking skills

Teaching critical thinking skills takes patience and time alongside a combination of instruction and practice. It’s important to routinely create opportunities for children to engage in critical thinking and to guide them through challenges while providing helpful, age-appropriate feedback. 

The following covers several of the most common ways of teaching critical thinking skills to elementary students. Teachers should use an array of resources suitable for middle school and high school students. 

Encourage curiosity

It’s normal for teachers to ask a question and then pick one of the first hands that rise. But waiting a few moments often sees more hands raised, which helps foster an environment where children are comfortable asking questions. It also encourages them to be more curious when engaging with a subject simply because there’s a greater probability of being asked to answer a question.

It’s important to reward students who demonstrate curiosity and a desire to learn. This not only encourages the student but also shows others the benefits of becoming more involved. Some may be happy to learn whatever is put before them, while others may need a subject in which they already have an interest. Using real-world examples develops curiosity as well because children can connect these with existing experiences. 

Model critical thinking

We know children model much of their behavior on what they see and hear in adults. So, one of the best tools in an educator’s toolbox is modeling critical thinking. Sharing their own thoughts as they work through a problem is a good way for teachers to help children see a workable thought process they can mimic. In time, as their confidence and experience grow, they will develop their own strategies.

Encourage debate and discussion

Debating and discussing in a safe space is one of the most effective ways to develop critical thinking skills. Assigning age-appropriate topics, and getting each student to develop arguments for and against a position on that topic, exposes them to different perspectives. 

Breaking classes into small groups where students are encouraged to discuss the topic is also helpful, as small groups often make it easier for shy children to give their opinions. The “think-pair-share” method is another strategy that helps encourage students hiding out in class to come out of their shells.

Provide problem-solving opportunities

Creating tailored problem-solving opportunities helps children discover solutions rather than become frustrated by problems they don’t yet understand. Splitting classes into groups and assigning each an age-appropriate real-world problem they can analyze and solve is a good way of developing critical thinking and team working skills. Role-playing and simulation activities are engaging and fun because the children can pretend to be different people and act out scenarios in a safe environment.

Teach children how to ask the right questions

Learning how to ask the right questions is a vital critical-thinking skill. Questions should be open-ended and thought-provoking. Students should be taught different question stems, such as:

• “What if …?”
• “Can you explain …?”
• “What would happen if …?”
• “What do you think about …?”

Teachers should be aware of students who don’t use these stems. A gentle reminder of how to phrase a question can impact the answer received.

Encourage independent thinking

Critical and independent thinking are partners that are more effective together than either can be apart. To encourage independent thinking, teachers should allow children to pick some of their own topics of study, research, and projects . 

Helping students identify and select different ways to complete an assignment can build their confidence. They should be persuaded to think of as many solutions to problems as possible, as this can open their minds to a wider scope of opportunities.

Provide feedback

Constructive feedback is a crucial part of the learning process. The following list summarizes key strategies that teachers can apply to encourage students through feedback:

• Identify what the child did well and what needs improving.
• Provide feedback as soon as possible after the task or assignment.
• Use positive and encouraging language devoid of criticism or negative language.
• Offer specific suggestions for improvement.
• Provide positive and negative feedback and focus on how to progress without dwelling on mistakes.
• Ensure the feedback is easy to understand and give examples if necessary.
• Be consistent with feedback for all students to avoid being seen as having favorites.
• Listen to the student’s responses to feedback and be open to their perspective.

A mind muscle

Finally, critical thinking is a mind muscle. If it is not exercised, it gets weak, and intellectual laziness takes its place. Teachers might consider asking students to present instances of how they used critical thinking outside of the classroom, which provides practice and reminds the students that these skills aren’t only for the classroom.

You may also like to read

• Critical Thinking Resources for Middle School Teachers
• Critical Thinking Resources for High School Teachers
• Teaching Critical Thinking Through Debate
• Build Critical Thinking Skills With Believing and Doubting Games
• Try These Tips to Improve Students' Critical Thinking Skills
• Teaching Styles That Require Abstract Thinking

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Developing Critical Thinking

• Posted January 10, 2018
• By Iman Rastegari

In a time where deliberately false information is continually introduced into public discourse, and quickly spread through social media shares and likes, it is more important than ever for young people to develop their critical thinking. That skill, says Georgetown professor William T. Gormley, consists of three elements: a capacity to spot weakness in other arguments, a passion for good evidence, and a capacity to reflect on your own views and values with an eye to possibly change them. But are educators making the development of these skills a priority?

"Some teachers embrace critical thinking pedagogy with enthusiasm and they make it a high priority in their classrooms; other teachers do not," says Gormley, author of the recent Harvard Education Press release The Critical Advantage: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in School . "So if you are to assess the extent of critical-thinking instruction in U.S. classrooms, you’d find some very wide variations." Which is unfortunate, he says, since developing critical-thinking skills is vital not only to students' readiness for college and career, but to their civic readiness, as well.

"It's important to recognize that critical thinking is not just something that takes place in the classroom or in the workplace, it's something that takes place — and should take place — in our daily lives," says Gormley.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Gormley looks at the value of teaching critical thinking, and explores how it can be an important solution to some of the problems that we face, including "fake news."

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iT unes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber and co-produced by Jill Anderson, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

An education podcast that keeps the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and communities

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Daniel Willingham is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. His paper explores the ongoing debate over how critical thinking skills are developed and taught. He also outlines a plan for teaching specific critical thinking skills.

Willingham argues that while there is plenty of evidence to support explicit instruction of critical thinking skills, the evidence for how well critical thinking skills transfer from one problem to another is mixed.

Published: 2019.

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How to teach critical thinking (PDF 373KB)

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5 Critical Thinking Skills Every Kid Needs To Learn (And How To Teach Them)

Teach them to thoughtfully question the world around them.

Little kids love to ask questions. “Why is the sky blue?” “Where does the sun go at night?” Their innate curiosity helps them learn more about the world, and it’s key to their development. As they grow older, it’s important to encourage them to keep asking questions and to teach them the right kinds of questions to ask. We call these “critical thinking skills,” and they help kids become thoughtful adults who are able to make informed decisions as they grow older.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking allows us to examine a subject and develop an informed opinion about it. First, we need to be able to simply understand the information, then we build on that by analyzing, comparing, evaluating, reflecting, and more. Critical thinking is about asking questions, then looking closely at the answers to form conclusions that are backed by provable facts, not just “gut feelings” and opinion.

Critical thinkers tend to question everything, and that can drive teachers and parents a little crazy. The temptation to reply, “Because I said so!” is strong, but when you can, try to provide the reasons behind your answers. We want to raise children who take an active role in the world around them and who nurture curiosity throughout their entire lives.

Key Critical Thinking Skills

So, what are critical thinking skills? There’s no official list, but many people use Bloom’s Taxonomy to help lay out the skills kids should develop as they grow up.

Source: Vanderbilt University

Bloom’s Taxonomy is laid out as a pyramid, with foundational skills at the bottom providing a base for more advanced skills higher up. The lowest phase, “Remember,” doesn’t require much critical thinking. These are the skills kids use when they memorize math facts or world capitals or practice their spelling words. Critical thinking doesn’t begin to creep in until the next steps.

Understanding requires more than memorization. It’s the difference between a child reciting by rote “one times four is four, two times four is eight, three times four is twelve,” versus recognizing that multiplication is the same as adding a number to itself a certain number of times. Schools focus more these days on understanding concepts than they used to; pure memorization has its place, but when a student understands the concept behind something, they can then move on to the next phase.

Application opens up whole worlds to students. Once you realize you can use a concept you’ve already mastered and apply it to other examples, you’ve expanded your learning exponentially. It’s easy to see this in math or science, but it works in all subjects. Kids may memorize sight words to speed up their reading mastery, but it’s learning to apply phonics and other reading skills that allows them to tackle any new word that comes their way.

Analysis is the real leap into advanced critical thinking for most kids. When we analyze something, we don’t take it at face value. Analysis requires us to find facts that stand up to inquiry, even if we don’t like what those facts might mean. We put aside personal feelings or beliefs and explore, examine, research, compare and contrast, draw correlations, organize, experiment, and so much more. We learn to identify primary sources for information, and check into the validity of those sources. Analysis is a skill successful adults must use every day, so it’s something we must help kids learn as early as possible.

Almost at the top of Bloom’s pyramid, evaluation skills let us synthesize all the information we’ve learned, understood, applied, and analyzed, and to use it to support our opinions and decisions. Now we can reflect on the data we’ve gathered and use it to make choices, cast votes, or offer informed opinions. We can evaluate the statements of others too, using these same skills. True evaluation requires us to put aside our own biases and accept that there may be other valid points of view, even if we don’t necessarily agree with them.

In the final phase, we use every one of those previous skills to create something new. This could be a proposal, an essay, a theory, a plan—anything a person assembles that’s unique.

Note: Bloom’s original taxonomy included “synthesis” as opposed to “create,” and it was located between “apply” and “evaluate.” When you synthesize, you put various parts of different ideas together to form a new whole. In 2001, a group of cognitive psychologists removed that term from the taxonomy , replacing it with “create,” but it’s part of the same concept.

How To Teach Critical Thinking

Using critical thinking in your own life is vital, but passing it along to the next generation is just as important. Be sure to focus on analyzing and evaluating, two multifaceted sets of skills that take lots and lots of practice. Start with these 10 Tips for Teaching Kids To Be Awesome Critical Thinkers . Then try these critical thinking activities and games. Finally, try to incorporate some of these 100+ Critical Thinking Questions for Students into your lessons. They’ll help your students develop the skills they need to navigate a world full of conflicting facts and provocative opinions.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

This classic Sesame Street activity is terrific for introducing the ideas of classifying, sorting, and finding relationships. All you need are several different objects (or pictures of objects). Lay them out in front of students, and ask them to decide which one doesn’t belong to the group. Let them be creative: The answer they come up with might not be the one you envisioned, and that’s OK!

The Answer Is …

Post an “answer” and ask kids to come up with the question. For instance, if you’re reading the book Charlotte’s Web , the answer might be “Templeton.” Students could say, “Who helped save Wilbur even though he didn’t really like him?” or “What’s the name of the rat that lived in the barn?” Backwards thinking encourages creativity and requires a good understanding of the subject matter.

Forced Analogies

Practice making connections and seeing relationships with this fun game. Kids write four random words in the corners of a Frayer Model and one more in the middle. The challenge? To link the center word to one of the others by making an analogy. The more far out the analogies, the better!

Learn more: Forced Analogies at The Owl Teacher

Primary Sources

Tired of hearing “I found it on Wikipedia!” when you ask kids where they got their answer? It’s time to take a closer look at primary sources. Show students how to follow a fact back to its original source, whether online or in print. We’ve got 10 terrific American history–based primary source activities to try here.

Science Experiments

Hands-on science experiments and STEM challenges are a surefire way to engage students, and they involve all sorts of critical thinking skills. We’ve got hundreds of experiment ideas for all ages on our STEM pages , starting with 50 Stem Activities To Help Kids Think Outside the Box .

Not the Answer

Multiple-choice questions can be a great way to work on critical thinking. Turn the questions into discussions, asking kids to eliminate wrong answers one by one. This gives them practice analyzing and evaluating, allowing them to make considered choices.

Learn more: Teaching in the Fast Lane

Correlation Tic-Tac-Toe

Here’s a fun way to work on correlation, which is a part of analysis. Show kids a 3 x 3 grid with nine pictures, and ask them to find a way to link three in a row together to get tic-tac-toe. For instance, in the pictures above, you might link together the cracked ground, the landslide, and the tsunami as things that might happen after an earthquake. Take things a step further and discuss the fact that there are other ways those things might have happened (a landslide can be caused by heavy rain, for instance), so correlation doesn’t necessarily prove causation.

Learn more: Critical Thinking Tic-Tac-Toe at The Owl Teacher

Inventions That Changed the World

Explore the chain of cause and effect with this fun thought exercise. Start it off by asking one student to name an invention they believe changed the world. Each student then follows by explaining an effect that invention had on the world and their own lives. Challenge each student to come up with something different.

Learn more: Teaching With a Mountain View

Critical Thinking Games

There are so many board games that help kids learn to question, analyze, examine, make judgments, and more. In fact, pretty much any game that doesn’t leave things entirely up to chance (Sorry, Candy Land) requires players to use critical thinking skills. See one teacher’s favorites at the link below.

Learn more: Miss DeCarbo

This is one of those classic critical thinking activities that really prepares kids for the real world. Assign a topic (or let them choose one). Then give kids time to do some research to find good sources that support their point of view. Finally, let the debate begin! Check out 100 Middle School Debate Topics , 100 High School Debate Topics , and 60 Funny Debate Topics for Kids of All Ages .

How do you teach critical thinking skills in your classroom? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, check out 38 simple ways to integrate social-emotional learning throughout the day ..

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A Critical Thinking Framework for Elementary Students

Guiding young students to engage in critical thinking fosters their ability to create and engage with knowledge.

Critical thinking is using analysis and evaluation to make a judgment. Analysis, evaluation, and judgment are not discrete skills; rather, they emerge from the accumulation of knowledge. The accumulation of knowledge does not mean students sit at desks mindlessly reciting memorized information, like in 19th century grammar schools. Our goal is not for learners to regurgitate facts by rote without demonstrating their understanding of the connections, structures, and deeper ideas embedded in the content they are learning. To foster critical thinking in school, especially for our youngest learners, we need a pedagogy that centers knowledge and also honors the ability of children to engage with knowledge.

This chapter outlines the Critical Thinking Framework: five instructional approaches educators can incorporate into their instruction to nurture deeper thinking. These approaches can also guide intellectual preparation protocols and unit unpackings to prepare rigorous, engaging instruction for elementary students. Some of these approaches, such as reason with evidence, will seem similar to other “contentless” programs professing to teach critical thinking skills. But others, such as say it in your own words or look for structure, are targeted at ensuring learners soundly understand content so that they can engage in complex thinking. You will likely notice that every single one of these approaches requires students to talk—to themselves, to a partner, or to the whole class. Dialogue, specifically in the context of teacher-led discussions, is essential for students to analyze, evaluate, and judge (i.e., do critical thinking ). 

The Critical Thinking Framework

Say it in your own words : Students articulate ideas in their own words. They use unique phrasing and do not parrot the explanations of others. When learning new material, students who pause to explain concepts in their own words (to themselves or others) demonstrate an overall better understanding than students who do not (Nokes-Malach et al., 2013). However, it’s not enough for us to pause frequently and ask students to explain, especially if they are only being asked to repeat procedures. Explanations should be effortful and require students to make connections to prior knowledge and concepts as well as to revise misconceptions (Richey & Nokes-Malach, 2015).

Break it down : Students break down the components, steps, or smaller ideas within a bigger idea or procedure. In addition to expressing concepts in their own words, students should look at new concepts in terms of parts and wholes. For instance, when learning a new type of problem or task, students can explain the steps another student took to arrive at their answer, which promotes an understanding that transfers to other tasks with a similar underlying structure. Asking students to explain the components and rationale behind procedural steps can also lead to more flexible problem solving overall (Rittle-Johnson, 2006). By breaking down ideas into component parts, students are also better equipped to monitor the soundness of their own understanding as well as to see similar patterns (i.e., regularity) among differing tasks. For example, in writing, lessons can help students see how varying subordinating conjunction phrases at the start of sentences can support the flow and readability of a paragraph. In math, a solution can be broken down into smaller steps.

Look for structure : Students look beyond shallow surface characteristics to see deep structures and underlying principles. Learners struggle to see regularity in similar problems that have small differences (Reed et al., 1985). Even when students are taught how to complete one kind of task, they struggle to transfer their understanding to a new task where some of the superficial characteristics have been changed. This is because students, especially students who are novices in a domain, tend to emphasize the surface structure of a task rather than deep structure (Chi & Van Lehn, 2012).

By prompting students to notice deep structures—such as the characteristics of a genre or the needs of animals—rather than surface structures, teachers foster the development of comprehensive schemata in students’ long-term memories, which they are more likely to then apply to novel situations. Teachers should monitor for student understanding of deep structures across several tasks and examples.

Notice gaps or inconsistencies in ideas : Students ask questions about gaps and inconsistencies in material, arguments, and their own thinking . When students engage in explanations of material, they are more likely to notice when they misunderstand material or to detect a conflict with their prior knowledge (Richey & Nokes-Malach, 2015). In a classroom, analyzing conflicting ideas and interpretations allows students to revise misconceptions and refine mental models. Noticing gaps and inconsistencies in information also helps students to evaluate the persuasiveness of arguments and to ask relevant questions.

Reason with evidence : Students construct arguments with evidence and evaluate the evidence in others’ reasoning. Reasoning with evidence matters in every subject, but what counts for evidence in a mathematical proof differs from what is required in an English essay. Students should learn the rules and conventions for evidence across a wide range of disciplines in school. The habits of looking for and weighing evidence also intersect with some of the other critical thinking approaches discussed above. Noticing regularity in reasoning and structure helps learners find evidence efficiently, while attending to gaps and inconsistencies in information encourages caution before reaching hasty conclusions.

Countering Two Critiques

Some readers may be wondering how the Critical Thinking Framework differs from other general skills curricula. The framework differs in that it demands application in the context of students’ content knowledge, rather than in isolation. It is a pedagogical tool to help students make sense of the content they are learning. Students should never sit through a lesson where they are told to “say things in their own words” when there is nothing to say anything about. While a contentless lesson could help on the margins, it will not be as relevant or transferable. Specific content matters. A checklist of “critical thinking skills” cannot replace deep subject knowledge. The framework should not be blindly applied to all subjects without context because results will look quite different in an ELA or science class.

Other readers may be thinking about high-stakes tests: how does the Critical Thinking Framework fit in with an overwhelming emphasis on assessments aligned to national or state standards? This is a valid concern and an important point to address. For teachers, schools, and districts locked into an accountability system that values performance on state tests but does not communicate content expectations beyond general standards, the arguments I make may seem beside the point. Sure, knowledge matters, but the curriculum demands that students know how to quickly identify the main idea of a paragraph, even if they don’t have any background knowledge about the topic of the paragraph.

It is crucial that elementary practitioners be connected to both evolving research on learning and the limiting realities we teach within. Unfortunately, I can provide no easy answers beyond saying that teaching is a balancing act. The tension, while real and relevant to teachers’ daily lives, should not cloud our vision for what children need from their school experiences.

I also argue it is easier to incorporate the demands of our current standardized testing environment into a curriculum rich with history, science, art, geography, languages, and novels than the reverse. The Critical Thinking Framework presents ways to approach all kinds of knowledge in a way that presses students toward deeper processing of the content they are learning. If we can raise the bar for student work and thinking in our classrooms, the question of how students perform on standardized tests will become secondary to helping them achieve much loftier and important goals. The choice of whether to emphasize excellent curriculum or high-stakes tests, insofar as it is a choice at all, should never be existential or a zero-sum game.

From Critical Thinking in the Elementary Classroom: Engaging Young Minds with Meaningful Content (pp. 25–29) by Erin Shadowens, Arlington, VA: ASCD. Copyright © 2023 by ASCD. All rights reserved.

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How to Teach and Develop Critical Thinking of Your Students in the Classroom

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Teaching critical thinking skills to students is like planting the seeds of inquiry to help them develop analytical minds. It is essential to foster these skills amidst the overwhelming amount of information available today. Picture a classroom where students are not just absorbing facts but actively engaging in constructing their own knowledge of the world.

By incorporating activities like role-playing, Socratic questioning, and analyzing visual media, students can start to untangle the complexities of critical thinking. To further guide them on this journey of intellectual exploration, educators can provide support and encouragement in applying these skills to real-life situations and problems.

It is through this hands-on approach that students can truly enhance their critical thinking abilities and become independent thinkers.

Examples of critical thinking activities in the classroom

In my classroom, I like to engage students in activities that promote critical thinking. Role-playing helps students think in new ways, while using Socratic questioning encourages them to analyze more deeply.

By examining visual advertisements, debating current events, and participating in mind mapping exercises, students can develop their critical thinking skills effectively.

These activities not only foster creativity but also enhance students’ abilities to think critically and solve problems.

Role-Play Scenarios

Engaging students in role-play scenarios is a great way to help them think critically. Role-play simulations let students explore different perspectives and situations, pushing them to analyze and solve problems in a dynamic setting.

Here are four ways role-play scenarios can enhance critical thinking skills:

• Real-World Application : By applying what they learn in class to real-life situations, students can see how theory connects to practice.
• Decision Making : Role-play encourages students to make choices based on the information at hand, which helps develop their analytical thinking skills.
• Collaboration : Working together in role-play scenarios fosters teamwork and improves communication skills as students navigate challenges as a group.
• Creativity : Role-play pushes students to think creatively by exploring different solutions and outcomes, sparking their imagination.

Socratic Questioning Techniques

Implementing Socratic Questioning Techniques in the classroom is a practical and effective approach to fostering critical thinking skills in elementary and high school students. By incorporating inquiry-based learning methods, students are prompted to delve deeply into topics through thought-provoking inquiries. This technique stimulates critical analysis as students learn to assess information, explore various viewpoints, and express their ideas clearly.

Through the use of Socratic questioning, students enhance their problem-solving abilities by participating in conversations that challenge assumptions and promote logical reasoning. These interactive sessions not only enhance critical thinking but also aid in cognitive development by facilitating a profound comprehension of intricate concepts.

Analyzing Visual Advertisements

Studying visual advertisements in class is a great way to help elementary and high school students develop critical thinking skills. When students analyze ads, they learn to question, evaluate, and understand the messages in images.

By breaking down ads, students go beyond the surface to consider who the ads are targeting, what persuasive techniques are used, and any biases present. This process encourages students to think critically about how media influences society and helps them become savvy consumers of information.

Debating Current Events

Discussing current events in class helps elementary and high school students improve their critical thinking skills by analyzing, questioning, and evaluating real-world issues. Engaging in these discussions enables students to exercise critical thinking through debates.

By exploring different viewpoints on a subject, students can enhance their comprehension and broaden their perspectives. Through debates, students grasp the significance of evaluating arguments and substantiating their points with evidence and logic.

Teachers play a vital role in guiding students to form well-informed opinions by considering diverse perspectives and assessing the soundness of arguments presented. These classroom debates not only enhance critical thinking but also encourage active involvement with the world around them.

Mind Mapping Exercises

In my elementary and high school classroom, I often use mind mapping exercises to enhance critical thinking skills in students.

These exercises involve brainstorming strategies to encourage free idea generation, visual mapping techniques using colors and images to help organize information, interactive group activities to promote collaboration, critical analysis tasks to evaluate information and form opinions, and problem-solving challenges that require analytical thinking and collaborative solutions.

Evaluating Online Sources

When I teach my students about critical thinking, I also emphasize the need to assess online sources for accuracy and credibility. We talk about checking if the author is knowledgeable in the subject and if the information is backed by reliable sources.

Fact-checking becomes an engaging activity where students verify details from multiple sources to ensure they’re correct. It’s crucial to be aware of any personal, political, or commercial biases that might affect the information presented.

Researching online then becomes like a treasure hunt as we sift through different sources to find trustworthy information. We wrap up our lesson by highlighting the significance of relying on information that’s credible and dependable.

Creating Decision Matrices

When you create decision matrices in the classroom, you help students analyze options systematically, which boosts their critical thinking skills through hands-on practice. To conduct effective decision matrix activities, consider the following key aspects:

• Decision-Making Strategies : Encourage students to lay out clear steps for decision-making within the matrix. This helps them structure their thought process and approach the problem methodically.
• Critical Analysis : Prompt students to assess the significance and relevance of each criterion in the decision-making process. By evaluating these factors, students can make more informed and thoughtful decisions.
• Problem-Solving Techniques : Teach students how to accurately identify and define the problem before filling in the matrix. This foundational step ensures that the criteria and options align with the actual issue at hand.
• Logical Reasoning : Guide students in employing logical connections between criteria and options to make well-founded decisions. By emphasizing logical reasoning, students learn to make decisions based on sound judgment and analysis.

Solving Real-Life Problems

Incorporating real-life problem-solving scenarios into elementary and high school classrooms helps students develop critical thinking skills and apply their learning practically. By presenting case studies that require problem-solving, critical analysis, and decision-making, students can use their knowledge in real-world situations.

These activities encourage students to think critically, assess evidence, consider different viewpoints, and make informed choices. This approach deepens their understanding of the subject matter and its relevance to the world.

Engaging students in real-life problem-solving not only enhances their critical thinking abilities but also equips them to tackle challenges and make sound decisions in their future pursuits.

Reflective Journal Writing

Reflective journal writing is a valuable tool for helping elementary and high school students develop critical thinking skills. By engaging in reflective writing, students can analyze their thoughts, participate actively in class discussions, and deepen their understanding of various topics. Here are some ways in which reflective journal writing can enhance critical thinking skills:

• Writing Prompts : Giving students specific prompts helps them delve deeply into different subjects and encourages critical thinking.
• Thoughtful Analysis : By prompting students to analyze their own thoughts and ideas, reflective journal writing fosters a more profound comprehension of the material.
• Classroom Discussions : Using journal entries as a springboard for classroom conversations allows students to share and debate ideas, honing their critical thinking abilities.
• Self-Awareness Exercises : Reflective journal writing aids students in developing self-awareness and gaining insight into their own cognitive processes, which is crucial for critical thinking development.

Peer Feedback Sessions

Peer feedback sessions are a valuable tool for promoting critical thinking skills among elementary and high school students. By engaging in peer critique, students can provide constructive feedback to their classmates, fostering a culture of respect and growth.

Group analysis enables students to collaboratively evaluate each other’s work, encouraging diverse perspectives and stimulating critical discussions. Through collaborative assessment, students learn to work together to assess projects or assignments, promoting teamwork and development of analytical skills.

Additionally, team reflection allows students to reflect on their own work as well as their peers’, enhancing their ability to think critically about different viewpoints. Partner evaluation further encourages students to explore alternative approaches and strengthen their reasoning abilities through thoughtful assessment of their peers’ work.

These peer feedback sessions not only enhance students’ critical thinking skills but also promote a supportive and collaborative learning environment.

Collaborative Problem-Solving

Introducing collaborative problem-solving activities in the classroom is a powerful way to enhance students’ critical thinking skills through hands-on participation and teamwork. Here are some effective strategies to implement:

• Group brainstorming : Encourage students to share their ideas and build upon each other’s thoughts to collectively solve problems. This fosters creativity and encourages active participation from all group members.
• Team problem-solving : Assign tasks that require students to collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths to find innovative solutions. This approach promotes cooperation and communication among team members.
• Cooperative learning : Create a supportive environment where students work together, rely on one another, and strive towards common objectives. This not only enhances critical thinking but also cultivates important social skills.
• Collective decision-making : Engage students in discussions where they consider various perspectives before reaching a consensus as a group. This helps students learn to appreciate different viewpoints and make informed decisions collaboratively.

Practical ways to teach and develop critical thinking of your students in the classroom

Critical thinking is the ability to question, analyze perspectives, and solve problems.

To help students develop this skill, it’s essential to encourage questioning and open-mindedness.

By engaging students in problem-solving activities, they can practice and apply critical thinking in practical ways.

This approach nurtures their ability to think critically and enhances their problem-solving skills, preparing them for success in academics and beyond.

Define Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a crucial skill for students as it involves analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information effectively. It’s essential for cognitive growth and preparing students for future challenges. To teach and enhance critical thinking skills in elementary and high school students, educators should focus on the following aspects:

• Critical Thinking Strategies : Teachers should introduce various methods to help students think critically, such as problem-solving techniques and logical reasoning.
• Classroom Applications : It’s important to demonstrate how critical thinking can be applied across different subjects, showing students the practical relevance of this skill in real-world scenarios.
• Student Engagement : Creating an interactive and collaborative learning environment encourages active participation and discussion, fostering critical thinking skills through peer interactions.
• Analytical Skills Development : Emphasizing the development of students’ abilities to assess information critically equips them with the tools needed to make informed decisions and solve complex problems.

Encourage Questioning Skills

Encouraging students to ask questions is essential for developing their critical thinking skills. By fostering a classroom environment that values curiosity and inquiry, educators can help students think deeply and reflect on various topics.

Using inquiry-based learning methods can prompt students to ask meaningful questions, explore different viewpoints, and participate in analytical discussions. Teaching effective questioning strategies can ignite students’ curiosity and enhance their understanding of the subjects they’re studying.

Foster Open-Mindedness

In the classroom, fostering open-mindedness in students is crucial for developing their critical thinking skills. When educators promote open-mindedness, they help students embrace diverse perspectives, improve their analytical abilities, and encourage inquiry-based learning.

Here are four practical strategies to cultivate open-mindedness in students:

• Promote Respect : Encourage students to respect different viewpoints to create a safe environment for discussion and learning.
• Encourage Exploration : Inspire students to explore new ideas and perspectives, fostering a sense of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.
• Challenge Assumptions : Teach students to question their own beliefs and assumptions, promoting self-reflection and personal growth.
• Provide Exposure : Introduce students to a variety of sources and materials to broaden their understanding of different viewpoints and experiences.

Analyze Multiple Perspectives

Incorporating multiple perspectives into classroom discussions challenges students to think critically and gain a broader understanding of complex issues. When students compare different viewpoints, they can see various angles on a topic, while contrasting perspectives help them identify significant differences.

Analyzing arguments enables students to break down the reasoning behind each perspective, empowering them to effectively critique opinions. Through evaluating beliefs, students can assess the strengths and weaknesses of different viewpoints, leading to a deeper comprehension of the subject matter.

Encouraging students to participate in these activities not only enhances their critical thinking skills but also promotes empathy and understanding towards others’ opinions, fostering a more inclusive and thoughtful learning environment.

Practice Problem-Solving Activities

When teaching critical thinking to elementary and high school students, it’s essential to engage them in practical problem-solving activities to enhance their analytical skills effectively. Incorporating these activities in the classroom can be done through various approaches:

• Encourage students to think creatively and work together by organizing brainstorming exercises and problem-solving challenges.
• Foster reasoning skills and logical thinking in a fun way by introducing critical thinking games and analytical puzzles.
• Provide real-world scenarios for analysis and solution by implementing inquiry-based learning and decision-making simulations.
• Push students to explore diverse solutions and assess their effectiveness through creative problem-solving tasks and logical reasoning activities.

Engage in Debates

Engaging students in debates is a powerful way to enhance their critical thinking skills in elementary and high school. By analyzing arguments, students learn to evaluate different perspectives and develop a deeper understanding of complex issues.

Exploring opposing viewpoints helps them cultivate empathy and broaden their perspective. Research skills are sharpened during debate preparation as students gather evidence to support their arguments. They naturally start questioning ideas and evidence presented, strengthening their ability to think critically.

When students are exposed to conflicting viewpoints, they’re challenged to articulate and defend their positions thoughtfully. Participation in debates not only improves critical thinking but also nurtures essential communication and analytical skills crucial for academic and personal development.

Stimulate Creativity and Curiosity

In elementary and high school classrooms, sparking creativity and curiosity plays a vital role in developing students’ critical thinking abilities. To accomplish this, I implement various effective strategies:

• Brainstorming Sessions: I encourage students to freely generate ideas, fostering their creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Creative Challenges: By presenting students with unique and open-ended tasks, I challenge their creativity and encourage them to think innovatively.
• Inquiry-Based Learning: Engaging students in hands-on investigations and research projects stimulates their curiosity and prompts them to ask insightful questions.
• Discovery Activities: Providing opportunities for students to explore new topics and interests expands their knowledge and nurtures a passion for learning.

Evaluate Sources and Information

In the classroom, igniting creativity and curiosity lays the groundwork for teaching students how to assess sources and information critically. I stress the importance of checking the credibility of sources by prompting students to consider the author’s expertise and any potential biases.

Evaluating information involves teaching students to question the accuracy and reliability of the content they come across. Through engaging activities, students are encouraged to delve deeper into the material, spotting logical fallacies and inconsistencies to enhance their critical thinking skills.

Fact-checking becomes a habit as students learn to verify information before accepting it as true. By engaging in research validation exercises, students develop the ability to differentiate between trustworthy sources and unreliable ones, cultivating a habit of seeking out reliable information.

Develop Decision-Making Skills

Incorporating real-life scenarios and role-playing activities effectively helps students develop decision-making skills, boosting their critical thinking abilities in elementary and high school settings. Students engage in various activities such as:

• Case studies : Students analyze real or hypothetical situations to make decisions based on available information.
• Group projects : Collaborative projects encourage peer discussion to reach a consensus or make collective decisions.
• Ethical dilemmas : Students confront moral challenges, prompting them to consider ethical principles in decision-making.
• Critical analysis : Students evaluate diverse perspectives and information to make well-informed decisions.
• Problem-solving simulations : Students tackle scenarios that require critical thinking to find effective solutions.

These activities not only enhance decision-making skills but also foster a deeper understanding of complex issues and promote teamwork among students.

Utilize Real-World Scenarios

Incorporating real-world scenarios into elementary and high school classrooms is crucial for enhancing students’ critical thinking skills. By presenting practical challenges that mirror everyday dilemmas, students are encouraged to think critically, analyze situations, and hone their problem-solving abilities.

These real-life scenarios prompt students to assess information, consider various viewpoints, and make well-grounded decisions. Through engaging in problem-solving tasks based on authentic situations, students not only enhance their critical thinking skills but also prepare themselves for applying these skills beyond the classroom.

Encourage Collaborative Discussions

Engaging students in collaborative discussions is a vital way to enhance critical thinking skills in elementary and high school classrooms. Through group activities like brainstorming and critical analysis, students can explore diverse perspectives and sharpen their analytical abilities.

Peer-led debates and problem-solving tasks help students develop the skills to think critically, assess evidence, and communicate effectively. Working together on collaborative projects encourages deep thinking as students tackle complex problems and explore a variety of ideas.

Interactive discussions challenge students to express their thoughts clearly and engage thoughtfully with their peers, promoting analytical thinking. Team-based challenges, paired with reflective questions, push students to critically analyze information and make well-informed decisions.

Enhance Logical Reasoning Abilities

Improving students’ logical reasoning skills in the classroom involves helping them analyze patterns, make connections, and draw well-founded conclusions based on evidence. To foster this development, I incorporate a range of activities designed to challenge their critical thinking abilities.

One way I enhance logical reasoning is by presenting students with real-life ethical dilemmas that require them to think critically and consider different perspectives. These challenges encourage them to weigh options, evaluate consequences, and make informed decisions.

In addition, I incorporate logical reasoning games like Sudoku puzzles to engage students in problem-solving tasks that require them to apply deductive reasoning and strategic thinking. These games help sharpen their analytical skills and enhance their ability to recognize patterns and make logical deductions.

Furthermore, I include analytical thinking tasks such as dissecting arguments to help students evaluate the validity of statements and identify logical fallacies. By analyzing the structure of arguments and evidence presented, students learn to construct sound reasoning and draw well-supported conclusions.

Moreover, I introduce problem-solving puzzles inspired by escape room scenarios to immerse students in interactive challenges that demand teamwork, creative thinking, and logical problem-solving. These activities encourage students to think critically, collaborate effectively, and apply logical reasoning to overcome obstacles.

Lastly, I incorporate creative thinking exercises like brainstorming innovative ideas to inspire students to think outside the box and explore creative solutions to complex problems. By encouraging divergent thinking and fostering creativity, students develop a well-rounded approach to logical reasoning that incorporates innovative thinking.

Integrate Technology Tools

Integrating technology tools in the classroom is a practical way to enhance critical thinking skills in elementary and high school students. By using digital resources, students can strengthen their analytical thinking.

Online platforms offer interactive activities that challenge students to develop problem-solving abilities. Virtual tools create a dynamic learning environment where students can engage with diverse educational materials, fostering cognitive growth.

Through the use of technology applications, students are prompted to think critically while tackling tasks and solving problems, thereby enhancing their reasoning skills. Embracing technology integration enriches the learning journey and equips students with vital skills for navigating an increasingly digital landscape.

Promote Active Listening Skills

Fostering active listening skills is crucial for developing critical thinking abilities in elementary and high school students. When students actively participate in discussions, they practice listening attentively, a skill essential for critical analysis.

Engaging in meaningful conversations and asking open-ended questions can help students enhance their critical thinking capabilities. In a classroom environment that encourages interactive discussions, students can share their perspectives and gain insights from their peers.

Encouraging thoughtful responses to inquiries and prompts further refines their critical thinking skills. Through active listening, students not only improve their communication abilities but also learn to consider different viewpoints, which enhances their problem-solving and decision-making approaches.

Emphasize Importance of Evidence

Understanding the value of evidence plays a crucial role in nurturing critical thinking skills among elementary and high school students. To effectively convey the significance of evidence, I emphasize the following key points:

• Examining Evidence : I encourage students to critically evaluate sources to determine their reliability and relevance to the topic at hand.
• Questioning and Analyzing : By teaching students how to question and analyze information effectively, they learn to distinguish between credible and questionable sources.
• Drawing Inferences : Guiding students in logical deduction helps them draw sound conclusions based on the evidence presented, fostering their ability to make informed decisions.
• Logical Thinking : By fostering rational thinking skills, students develop the capacity to think logically, assess information objectively, and arrive at well-founded conclusions. This enables them to navigate complex issues with clarity and coherence.

Teach Reflection Techniques

Reflective thinking is a powerful tool to enhance students’ critical thinking skills in the classroom. By incorporating techniques like keeping a reflective journal, using Socratic questioning, and creating mind maps, educators can help students deepen their understanding and problem-solving abilities.

For instance, students can write in a journal about a challenging problem they solved, explain their reasoning through Socratic questioning, or visually map out their thought processes for better organization and clarity. These techniques foster a culture of critical thinking, encouraging self-awareness, growth, and confidence in approaching academic challenges.

Provide Constructive Feedback

In the elementary and high school classroom, it’s crucial to provide constructive feedback to help students enhance their critical thinking skills. Here are some effective ways to do so:

• Peer Feedback : Encourage students to give constructive feedback to their classmates on assignments and class discussions. This peer critique helps students learn from each other and improve their critical thinking abilities.
• In-Class Guidance : During classroom activities, offer specific and actionable feedback to steer students in the right direction when it comes to critical thinking. This real-time feedback can help them understand and apply critical thinking concepts effectively.
• Self-Evaluation : Involve students in self-assessment activities where they reflect on their critical thinking processes. By evaluating their own work, students can identify areas for improvement and develop a deeper understanding of critical thinking strategies.
• Balanced Feedback : When providing feedback, focus on both areas that need improvement and strengths to motivate students. By acknowledging their strengths and offering constructive criticism, students are encouraged to work on enhancing their critical thinking skills effectively.

Teaching critical thinking skills to students is essential for their development. By incorporating interactive activities and encouraging meaningful discussions, educators can nurture this crucial ability.

Stay tuned for more valuable tips and effective strategies to foster critical thinking in the classroom.

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• In research for "A More Beautiful Question," I did a deep dive into the current crisis in critical thinking.
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• Here is a series of questions you can ask yourself to try to ensure that you are thinking critically.

Conspiracy theories. Inability to distinguish facts from falsehoods. Widespread confusion about who and what to believe.

These are some of the hallmarks of the current crisis in critical thinking—which just might be the issue of our times. Because if people aren’t willing or able to think critically as they choose potential leaders, they’re apt to choose bad ones. And if they can’t judge whether the information they’re receiving is sound, they may follow faulty advice while ignoring recommendations that are science-based and solid (and perhaps life-saving).

Moreover, as a society, if we can’t think critically about the many serious challenges we face, it becomes more difficult to agree on what those challenges are—much less solve them.

On a personal level, critical thinking can enable you to make better everyday decisions. It can help you make sense of an increasingly complex and confusing world.

In the new expanded edition of my book A More Beautiful Question ( AMBQ ), I took a deep dive into critical thinking. Here are a few key things I learned.

First off, before you can get better at critical thinking, you should understand what it is. It’s not just about being a skeptic. When thinking critically, we are thoughtfully reasoning, evaluating, and making decisions based on evidence and logic. And—perhaps most important—while doing this, a critical thinker always strives to be open-minded and fair-minded . That’s not easy: It demands that you constantly question your assumptions and biases and that you always remain open to considering opposing views.

In today’s polarized environment, many people think of themselves as critical thinkers simply because they ask skeptical questions—often directed at, say, certain government policies or ideas espoused by those on the “other side” of the political divide. The problem is, they may not be asking these questions with an open mind or a willingness to fairly consider opposing views.

When people do this, they’re engaging in “weak-sense critical thinking”—a term popularized by the late Richard Paul, a co-founder of The Foundation for Critical Thinking . “Weak-sense critical thinking” means applying the tools and practices of critical thinking—questioning, investigating, evaluating—but with the sole purpose of confirming one’s own bias or serving an agenda.

In AMBQ , I lay out a series of questions you can ask yourself to try to ensure that you’re thinking critically. Here are some of the questions to consider:

• Why do I believe what I believe?
• Are my views based on evidence?
• Have I fairly and thoughtfully considered differing viewpoints?
• Am I truly open to changing my mind?

Of course, becoming a better critical thinker is not as simple as just asking yourself a few questions. Critical thinking is a habit of mind that must be developed and strengthened over time. In effect, you must train yourself to think in a manner that is more effortful, aware, grounded, and balanced.

For those interested in giving themselves a crash course in critical thinking—something I did myself, as I was working on my book—I thought it might be helpful to share a list of some of the books that have shaped my own thinking on this subject. As a self-interested author, I naturally would suggest that you start with the new 10th-anniversary edition of A More Beautiful Question , but beyond that, here are the top eight critical-thinking books I’d recommend.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark , by Carl Sagan

This book simply must top the list, because the late scientist and author Carl Sagan continues to be such a bright shining light in the critical thinking universe. Chapter 12 includes the details on Sagan’s famous “baloney detection kit,” a collection of lessons and tips on how to deal with bogus arguments and logical fallacies.

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results , by Shane Parrish

The creator of the Farnham Street website and host of the “Knowledge Project” podcast explains how to contend with biases and unconscious reactions so you can make better everyday decisions. It contains insights from many of the brilliant thinkers Shane has studied.

Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World , by David Robert Grimes

A brilliant, comprehensive 2021 book on critical thinking that, to my mind, hasn’t received nearly enough attention . The scientist Grimes dissects bad thinking, shows why it persists, and offers the tools to defeat it.

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know , by Adam Grant

Intellectual humility—being willing to admit that you might be wrong—is what this book is primarily about. But Adam, the renowned Wharton psychology professor and bestselling author, takes the reader on a mind-opening journey with colorful stories and characters.

Think Like a Detective: A Kid's Guide to Critical Thinking , by David Pakman

The popular YouTuber and podcast host Pakman—normally known for talking politics —has written a terrific primer on critical thinking for children. The illustrated book presents critical thinking as a “superpower” that enables kids to unlock mysteries and dig for truth. (I also recommend Pakman’s second kids’ book called Think Like a Scientist .)

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters , by Steven Pinker

The Harvard psychology professor Pinker tackles conspiracy theories head-on but also explores concepts involving risk/reward, probability and randomness, and correlation/causation. And if that strikes you as daunting, be assured that Pinker makes it lively and accessible.

How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion and Persuasion , by David McRaney

David is a science writer who hosts the popular podcast “You Are Not So Smart” (and his ideas are featured in A More Beautiful Question ). His well-written book looks at ways you can actually get through to people who see the world very differently than you (hint: bludgeoning them with facts definitely won’t work).

A Healthy Democracy's Best Hope: Building the Critical Thinking Habit , by M Neil Browne and Chelsea Kulhanek

Neil Browne, author of the seminal Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, has been a pioneer in presenting critical thinking as a question-based approach to making sense of the world around us. His newest book, co-authored with Chelsea Kulhanek, breaks down critical thinking into “11 explosive questions”—including the “priors question” (which challenges us to question assumptions), the “evidence question” (focusing on how to evaluate and weigh evidence), and the “humility question” (which reminds us that a critical thinker must be humble enough to consider the possibility of being wrong).

Warren Berger is a longtime journalist and author of A More Beautiful Question .

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“Stop Coddling Your Grown Child”: 21 Essential Life Skills That You Should Be Teaching Your Child Before They Leave for College

Posted: February 22, 2024 | Last updated: February 22, 2024

As your child prepares to leave the nest for college, there are certain life skills they need to master to thrive on their own. From learning how to do laundry to budgeting and cooking, these essential skills seem obvious, but many young adults are sent off to college without them.

Doing Laundry

Learning how to do laundry is a crucial skill for any college student. Start by teaching them how to separate colors and fabrics and the right temperature to use for each. Explain the importance of cleaning the lint trap in dryers and how to use laundry detergent properly.

Basic Cooking

Knowing basic cooking skills can save your child from a diet of instant noodles. Teach them how to cook simple, healthy meals like pasta, stir-fries, and salads. Emphasize kitchen safety, including handling knives and managing the stove.

Budgeting is key to managing college expenses. Show them how to track their income and expenses and the importance of saving. Discuss the dangers of credit card debt and impulsive purchases.

Time Management

Time management skills are vital for balancing study, work, and social life. Teach them how to prioritize tasks and use a planner or digital calendar. Stress the importance of setting aside time for studying and relaxation. Good time management can be the difference between success and burnout.

Cleaning and Housekeeping

A clean living space is essential for health and well-being. Teach them basic cleaning skills like dusting, vacuuming, and disinfecting surfaces. Show them how to maintain a clean bathroom and kitchen. Cleanliness plays a big role in making a good impression on roommates and friends.

Grocery Shopping

Teach them how to make a grocery list based on planned meals, compare prices, and select fresh produce. Explain the benefits of buying in bulk and choosing store brands to save money. Show them how to read nutrition labels to make healthier choices. “Grocery shopping on my own was a reality check on adulting,” shared an online commenter.

Public Transportation

Understanding how to navigate public transportation is essential in many college towns. Teach them how to read transit maps, use apps for schedules, and understand fare systems. Discuss the importance of being aware of their surroundings and personal safety while commuting.

Basic First Aid

Basic first aid knowledge can be a lifesaver in minor emergencies. Teach them how to treat cuts, burns, and sprains and when to seek professional medical help. Show them how to create and maintain a basic first aid kit. This skill is not just for them, but for helping others too.

Personal Hygiene

Good personal hygiene is crucial for health and social interactions. Discuss the importance of regular bathing, oral hygiene, and clean clothes. Teach them about skincare and the need for regular haircuts. As a commenter says, “Good hygiene goes a long way in making a good first impression.”

Communication Skills

Effective communication is key in both personal and professional life. Teach teens how to communicate respectfully and assertively, both in person and online. Discuss the importance of active listening and empathy in building relationships.

Basic Sewing

Knowing how to sew a button or fix a minor tear can save time and money. Teach them basic sewing skills and how to use a sewing kit. This is not just practical but also a great way to be self-reliant. Plus, it’s a useful skill for costume parties!

Dealing with Emergencies

Teach them how to respond to various emergencies, like power outages, fire alarms, and severe weather. Discuss the importance of knowing emergency contacts and evacuation routes. “Being prepared for emergencies gave me peace of mind when I lived on my own,” says an online commenter.

Understanding Insurance

Understanding basic insurance concepts like health, auto, and renter’s insurance is important. Teach them how to read and understand an insurance policy and the importance of keeping documents safe. This knowledge is crucial for protecting themselves and their belongings.

Networking and Socializing

Teach teens how to network and the importance of socializing in a healthy, balanced way. Discuss how to approach professors, join clubs, and attend campus events. Networking can lead to friendships, mentorships, and even job opportunities.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are essential in and out of the classroom. Encourage them to think independently, question assumptions, and approach problems logically. These skills will help them navigate complex situations and make informed decisions.

Digital Literacy

Teach teens about online safety, using search engines effectively, and managing digital files. Discuss the importance of a professional online presence. As one commenter said, “Digital literacy is as important as reading and writing.”

Personal Safety

Personal safety is paramount. Teach teens about situational awareness, trusting their instincts, and basic self-defense. Discuss the importance of staying safe in social situations and understanding consent.

Stress Management

College can be stressful, so knowing how to manage stress is key. Teach them relaxation techniques, the importance of exercise, and healthy coping mechanisms. Discuss the value of seeking help when needed. Managing stress effectively can enhance their college experience.

Laundry Etiquette

In shared laundry facilities, etiquette is essential. Teach teens about respecting others’ laundry, not leaving clothes unattended, and cleaning up after themselves, which will keep the peace and foster a sense of community responsibility.

Cooking for Special Diets

Knowing how to cook for special diets is helpful if they or their friends have dietary restrictions. Teach them about vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly cooking. This skill is not only considerate but also expands their culinary horizons.

Voting and Civic Engagement

Understanding the importance of voting and civic engagement is crucial. Discuss how to register to vote, the basics of local and national politics, and the importance of staying informed. “Voting for the first time made me feel like a true adult,” shared a commenter.

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Professional learning

Find a range of professional learning and classroom resources to help teachers stay up-to-date with the latest from the digital world.

Professional learning resources for teachers

A collection of tools to help teachers gain relevant skills in teaching students about digital citizenship.

Microsoft Educator: Digital Citizenship

This 60-minute self-directed training course from Microsoft helps you teach students responsible online behaviour.

As a teacher, the course will help you:

• teach digital citizenship through a positive lens
• identify ways to integrate digital citizenship skills into lessons and activities.

The course gives you access to an Educator Toolkit , including an interactive workbook.

eSafety Schools' Hub

Schools can use the Office of the eSafety Commissioner's resources hub to: 

• develop a whole-school community approach to online safety
• support classroom learning
• access professional development, and
• respond to online incidents.

Cyber security training

The NSW Department of Education offers a range of cyber security courses for teachers on the staff professional learning portal MyPL. These are:

• Cyber Security training – all staff
• Phishing Awareness – Beginner
• Phishing Awareness – Advanced
• Vishing Awareness
• Understanding social engineering
• Be aware of Ransomware
• Be password smart

The University of Adelaide offers courses for teachers on cyber security, aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies.‍ The university's Computer Science Education Research (CSER) Group has created a suite of massively open online courses (MOOCs) for teachers.

Cyber security and awareness training for primary and secondary teachers are $99 each, and include practical activities for the classroom.

Cybermarvel professional learning

Use Cybermarvel online safety resources to learn how you can:

• protect against phishing and ransomware attacks
• encourage good digital citizenship in the broader school community.

Critical thinking

Learn more about how students' critical thinking skills apply to all content areas and help them process large amounts of data.

Digital learning selector

The NSW Department of Education provides information and resources to help teachers use up-to-date digital technology in their practice.

The Digital Learning Selector allows users to search for digital tools according to what they want to do, and includes teaching and strategy recommendations.

Google Education

The Google Education: Teacher Center offers several free online courses. Teachers in NSW can access courses by logging into the Teacher Center using your Google credentials (@education.nsw.gov.au).

Natalie Brown: Challenging LDS Church orthodoxy, even at BYU, can help students build their faith

Critical thinking is key to navigating the religious questions that will inevitably arise..

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Students walk between classes on the BYU campus in Provo in 2022. Tribune guest columnist Natalie Brown says higher education needs to teach students to think critically, arguing that can help them build a more robust faith.

Latter-day Saint apostle Jeffrey R. Holland’s “musket fire” speech will soon become required reading for incoming students at Brigham Young University. In this speech, Holland encourages the school’s faculty to expend more effort defending The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ position on same-sex marriage. He points to concerns raised by some members that insufficient orthodoxy on campus might be causing students to leave the faith or experience “confusion.” Holland also signals the possibility that adherence to BYU’s mission might mean retreating from the American educational establishment at a “future time,” even at the cost of “professional affiliations and certifications.”

There is nothing surprising about a church-owned school teaching the church’s positions. It is appropriate, of course, that students reflect critically on the history and aims of the university education they are receiving. The content of this speech and its inclusion in the curriculum, however, have concerned some that BYU is more interested in cultivating minds that defend a particular viewpoint than think critically about the ideas they encounter. It is difficult, after all, to have a robust conversation about a sermon by an apostle at a university controlled by the church, particularly when that sermon implicitly endorses members complaining to church leadership about viewpoints expressed in the classroom and has left many LGBTQ students feeling less safe.

The speech assumes a fundamental tension between the historic purposes of a university education in teaching students to encounter and think critically about a range of ideas and the church’s legitimate interest in building its faith. These aims, however, are not necessarily in tension. Encountering a range of thinkers, including those who might challenge church orthodoxy, can be the best preparation for maintaining faith.

In full disclosure, I did not attend BYU. I went to the University of Chicago, a school known today for its robust commitment to free speech on campus . At the time, the University of Chicago was best known in Latter-day Saint circles for its association with apostle Dallin H. Oaks , who graduated from and later taught at its law school. In attending the school, Oaks was following in the footsteps of earlier Latter-day Saints. In the 1930s, the church, in fact, called scholars to attend the University of Chicago Divinity School to prepare to teach in the Church Educational System . Although the church oscillates between embracing and distancing itself from secular education, saints who sought education in universities outside of Utah played large roles in shaping the Mormon experience.

How higher ed can lead to higher faith

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the governing First Presidency, speaks at General Conference in 2023. Oaks graduated from — and later taught at — the University of Chicago Law School.

By the time I went to Chicago in the early 2000s, Latter-day Saints were often more suspicious of outside learning than eager to bring it to Zion. Attending the University of Chicago was admirable for Oaks, but many people worried that I was headed toward apostasy and spinsterhood. Today, I credit my education in Chicago for helping me cultivate a testimony that has proved resilient over time. It did so by teaching me to lean into my questions and dig deeper into ideas and history rather than defend a particular viewpoint or turn a blind eye to the facts.

The University of Chicago requires students to take an extensive core curriculum that introduces them to the key thinkers throughout intellectual history and across the political spectrum. We read foundational conservative figures of Western thought as well as theorists of race and gender. We examined their assumptions, their historical contexts and their political motivations. We did not avoid ideas. We were given the tools to evaluate what we encountered.

The people who warned me against Chicago assumed that I would leave the church if I encountered ideas that challenged the faith’s teachings. Instead, critically studying a variety of perspectives allowed me to place the church in its historical context, consider sacred text complexly, and extend grace to the humans running the church. Sometimes, my education led me to the conclusion that certain church practices were a product of history rather than eternal truth — an insight that gave me patience while waiting for change. Often, my education helped me make sense of practices that seem odd today.

I was unfazed, for example, when people argued that polygamy , multiple accounts of the “ First Vision ” or Joseph Smith using a seer stone to bring about the Book of Mormon disproved the church. These supposedly dispositive facts were consistent, or at least not incompatible with, my more general understanding of history, relationships and the writing process. An education that allows us to think with historical and intellectual nuance matters, given that concerns about history and the Book of Mormon rank among the top reasons that members leave the church .

Confront the facts

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland speaks to faculty at Brigham Young University on Aug. 23, 2021.

Today, students have access to every argument on the internet. They need the ability to discern good arguments from bad in an era when many members are being misled by disinformation and conspiracy theories . Students need the ability to understand and converse civilly with those who disagree with them. They need a solid grasp of the facts within our own history and in the larger world. These cross-cultural skills are particularly required for students who we hope will serve as missionaries and leaders in their communities. They are unlikely to be acquired through an education that focuses on defending a single viewpoint, ensuring students’ intellectual comfort or sequestering students from wider debates.

Indeed, the church itself recently caused an avoidable social media firestorm when it posted a factually inaccurate message about women’s power and authority in the Latter-day Saint community compared to other religions. Failing to think critically about the assertions we make, however well intended, does not result in arguments that hold up over time. A robust faith must account for and grapple with reality.

I do not need to distort facts, gloss over history or ignore the lived experiences of other people to maintain my faith. There are parts of church history and current policy that disappoint me. I understand why many members who are more sophisticated thinkers than I am decide that the individual costs of continued participation are too high. Yet what I have learned in secular settings has not been a deal-breaker for my faith.

My testimony is narrow but resilient: I believe in a God who loves us, and I have found that love in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I see his love, grace and individual guidance — alongside the pain and human missteps — as I allow myself to dive deeper into the messiness of our history and culture. When I encounter dirt on the church, I dig deeper until I have a stronger foundation.

Studying Holland’s speech should be the beginning, not the end, of an ongoing and important conversation. We should study what Holland and other apostles have said about the aims of a church education. We should study what people outside our faith have said, too. There is every reason to model for Latter-day Saint students how to think critically about the ideas they will inevitably discover.

(Courtesy) Natalie Brown, Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist.

Natalie Brown is a Latter-day Saint based in Colorado. She is writing in her personal capacity. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the church or her employer.

Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible

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Why Teaching Students How to Use Artificial Intelligence Could Make Them Employable Adults

Wendy Jones is a K–12 Education Strategist Manager for CDW•G.

Jennette Vanderpool is an Education Strategist at CDW.

K–12 schools looking to adequately prepare students to participate successfully in a rapidly changing 21st century economy can no longer avoid artificial intelligence. There is an increasing consensus that teaching students to use AI is more than just a nice-to-have — it will make them competitive job candidates later in life. Harvard Business School professor Karim Lakhani, who has long studied AI and machine learning in the workplace, says, “ AI is not going to replace humans , but humans with AI are going to replace humans without AI.”  

The Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology recently produced a report noting that teachers play a critical role in the AI revolution: “Teachers and other people must be ‘in the loop’ whenever AI is applied in order to notice patterns and automate educational processes. We call upon all constituents to adopt Humans-in-the-Loop as a key criteria.”

Click the banner to unlock complimentary resources from CDW for your modern K–12 classroom.

Without Understanding AI, Graduates Risk Becoming Unemployable

Frankly, schools that do not integrate AI into the K–12 curriculum could be exacerbating the digital divide, especially for traditionally disadvantaged groups. The recent National Educational Technology Plan noted that one of the three digital divides in K–12 is the digital use divide, which describes the opportunities students have to use technology to further their learning.

According to the Office of Educational Technology’s release on the plan, this includes “dynamic applications of technology to explore, create and engage in critical analysis of academic content and knowledge.” What this means is that while students may have access to devices and other technology, they may only be using it to passively consume content instead of using it as a tool for creation.

No matter how many new technologies crop up that allow students to learn on their own, teachers remain subject matter experts and can still serve as a guide to help guide students. Such is the case with AI exploration. Unfortunately, students who get few or no opportunities to explore this new technology risk falling behind in the new economy, threatening their ability to secure AI-supported employment.

LEARN MORE: Check out new AI guidance from the Department of Education .

How Embracing AI Can Improve Critical Thinking in K–12

For those educators who worry that AI will negatively impact learning, it might help to think of it more as a resource that students can use to expand their efficiency and capacity. In the pre-internet era, students seeking to better understand a subject matter would go to libraries and hunt through physical encyclopedias for information. Today, students can do the same with generative AI. Much more powerful and efficient than legacy forms of information-gathering, AI can quickly collect and summarize data from across the web and present it in an easy-to-digest format.

What this means is that educators and librarians still have a job to do. They must understand AI in order to help students properly vet these sources. This is, in fact, not unlike how students learned to evaluate and cite references before generative AI became publicly available. This has also been part of the digital literacy wave that’s washed over K–12. As students are bombarded by millions of pieces of information everywhere they turn — from social media to traditional print and broadcast sources — more schools are implementing a digital citizenship curriculum to help students think critically and question more deeply the flood of information and disinformation that they face each day. When students produce projects informed by subject matter experts, websites or books, we ask them to properly cite their sources. Educators must teach them how to do the same thing with ChatGPT or other forms of AI. In fact, professional style guides such as MLA and APA already include entries on how to correctly cite generative AI.

Karim Lakhani Professor, Harvard Business School

Teaching prompt engineering in high school would not only help students learn what questions to ask but also how to validate the answers received, as generative AI is not always accurate. California State University, Sacramento recently established an AI institute where teachers are developing AI-driven assignments. In one such course “students will learn to use chatbots by inputting and refining various prompts and assessing the output via written response. … Faculty will then assess the work to determine if students’ written essays show the same command of the subject matter.”

It is well within reason to see how students with a firm grasp on using AI could leave school today and become competitive in the workforce. A recent work trends report found that there has been a jump in roles on LinkedIn that mention generative pretrained models — and this wouldn’t just apply to students planning for college-prep careers.

Students who take career and technology education routes to the workforce are already being affected. For example, students who go into the auto industry must know how to operate the computers that are built into each new car, and it’s conceivable that AI’s presence will grow in that industry. Students who go into the beauty industry could also lean on AI to help create 3D models to build and test beauty products or even help clients with color analysis .

DIVE DEEPER: K–12 schools can use AI in education.

How Schools Can Get Started with AI Today

If your school is still on the sidelines with AI, know that the longer you wait, the more you risk students falling through the cracks. Become better informed today so you can prepare your students tomorrow. Getting students ready for the AI workforce starts with taking a systemic approach and putting the best frameworks in place. Here are some things to consider:

Create an AI task force. Include participants from disciplines across your district, along with parents. A comprehensive approach will require that educators consider all the ways implementing this new tool might impact those inside and outside the classroom.

One of the responsibilities of the task force would be to help inform board policy on AI , create syllabi, define AI tool use, address cybersecurity, and discuss how AI could improve efficiency at the central office and in the classroom.

Select AI tools with an educational context. As more generative AI tech pops up on the market, schools need to consider how these tools could impact student data privacy. Merlyn Mind , an AI assistant that employs an education-based large language model, was specifically designed for education . Other AI tools may have privacy concerns or age restrictions. Before you bring AI into the classroom, vet the tool.

Incorporate AI learning into professional development. Because teachers already have a heavy workload, and the teacher shortage is ongoing, some of the best advocates for AI could be teachers who benefit from the tools. AI can help teachers write lesson plans or create rubrics for lessons. Once the tools allows teachers to become more productive without adding more hours to their workday, they will be more comfortable passing their AI knowledge on to students. This would require schools to provide professional development dedicated to AI, and is why board policies and creating memoranda of understanding around regular PD on AI should be included in teachers union contracts.

RELATED: AI can help reduce teacher burnout and boost productivity.

Work with your technology partners. Getting an outside perspective can be a valuable investment in your AI journey. Partners such as CDW can help you avoid costly mistakes and get your school set up for success. Connect with your CDW account manager or educational strategist to discuss AI offerings , such as CDW’s Mastering Operational AI Transformation strategy or its work with Aisera, a maker of generative AI solutions that can help resolve back-end IT issues.

Check out these slides from our AI in education presentation for more information.

This article is part of the  ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology  series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the  #ConnectIT  hashtag.

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