Why can’t we think out of the box? Can critical thinking be developed in children regardless of their age, developmental level, and the diverse skills, abilities and needs they bring to the classroom? After reading this, you will understand the need for critical thinking and how to develop it in your kids.

Critical thinking is defined as the mental process of analysing, synthesising, and evaluating collected information through observation, experience, and communication, leading to a decision for action (Papathanasiou, et al., 2014). Knowing this definition now, when does it begin? The striking answer to this is “now,” as you are reading this spot of mine, but preferably in kids at an early age. Children’s early learning is by doing, which involves trials and failures. For example, they like playing pretend. Their imagination guides their action and decision — they wonder how to build a tower with plastic cups without collapsing, and they try it out.

According to Erick Erickson (stage III: initiative vs. guilt ages 4–6), a child starts by imagining and then makes decisions and carries them out, primarily through playing activities (Ramkumar, 2019). So, a strong sense of purpose develops when a child can envision something and pursues it to realization.

Unfortunately, when our children begin school, we, teachers, tend to repeat what our predecessors did. In a society like ours, we generally do not take advantage of children’s natural curiosity to develop their thinking skills. Instead, we ask them to sit quietly and learn what we tell them — often through rote memorization of processes and facts, without encouraging inquiry, i.e., the “why.” Stacey Lange (2014), Academic Dean at Walker Elementary School, states, “Critical thinking is a key skill that our students need to become lifelong learners and self-advocate for themselves.” And I concur with that. Looking at what the educational system creates for a growing society like ours is horrible and despicable — people who do not think out of the box, dependent beings, and people who lack creativity. As educators, it is our responsibility to help students develop the innate critical thinking that they foster through natural curiosity at an early age.

So, as a teacher and parents, you have the opportunity to lead your kids through an experience of curiosity by asking them questions like, “What do you think would happen if …?” or “Why do you think …?”

References

Lange, S. (2014). Strategies to promote critical thinking in the elementary school. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1435-strategies-to-promote-critical-thinking-in-the-elementary-classroom.

Papathanasiou, I. V., Kleisiaris, C. F., Fradelos, E. C., Kakou, K. & Kourkouta, L. (2014). Critical thinking: The development of an essential skill for nursing students. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4216424

Ramkumar, S. (2019). Erik Erikson’s Theory of Development: A Teacher’s Observations. Kfionline.org. http://www.journal.kfionline.org/issue-6/erik-eriksons-theory-of-development-a-teachers-observations