You should start eating healthy! You should buy a car! You should start doing self-care! You don’t drink enough water! You should do some investment now! You don’t have an active lifestyle! More screen time is bad for you!
Then, you are tired of being coned or just done falling for each pitch. You are done with making bad decisions or just so anxious about your mindless ramblings.
If you are overwhelmed with so much information, think of a kid and wonder how he is coping with all of this.
Thinking critically is the only answer to a world full of too much information. In this blog post, we will discuss how we can teach Critical thinking to kids. But before that let's know what critical thinking is and why it is important to teach kids to think critically now than ever.
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What is Critical Thinking?
If you ask a school kid “What is thinking?”, he will answer “Thinking is about being brainy.”.
Sometimes they wish not to be so small or want to fly high in the sky. All of this can count as wishing or mere daydreaming but critical thinking has nothing to do with this.
Critical thinking is the deliberate exploration of an experience for a purpose. That purpose can be understanding, decision-making, planning, judgment, action, and problem-solving.
It is not about accumulating information. A person with a better memory and who knows a lot of stuff is not always a critical thinker. But one who analyzes that information and can come up with some result from that information is.
A critical thinker can do the following:
Can Logically connect different ideas.
Know how to Identify, construct, and evaluate ideas.
Can detect differences and common mistakes in reasoning.
Can justify their own beliefs and logic.
Why teaching critical thinking to kids is important?
When I was a kid, I was underweight and all my siblings were chubby. I grew up listening to “Don’t you eat food? Do your parents give you enough food?” I used to get belittled because I never knew that these claims were vague enough to be rejected then and there. I didn't even know, we had to analyze any information thrown at us. I was never taught to think critically.
We were exposed to so little information, yet we struggled to digest it and felt bad about things that were not even true. Now think about today's tech-driven age, kids are bombarded with information from various sources. It becomes crucial for them to critically examine every piece of information before believing it. They can fall for misinformation and fake news. They can also get attracted to persuasive yet flawed arguments.
Critical thinking will enable them to make better decisions and not get manipulated by others. They will be able to form their own opinions.
Process of Critical Thinking
We have three key stages in critical thinking: The claim stage, the Argument stage, and the convincing stage. Let’s explore each stage with kids-appropriate examples.
Let's start........
1️⃣What's the Claim?
A claim is a statement or assertion, you want to prove or argue. This is the first stage of critical thinking where claims are made. Claims come from three sources:
Someone Making Claims to You: These claims are made by others that you need to evaluate.
For example,
Claim 1: Rohit says, “ I didn’t post that mean comment.”
Claim 2: Anika says, “Give me back that toy.”
You Making Claims to Someone: You make these claims to others they need to evaluate.
Examples,
Claim 3: You say, “You should vote for my entry in the contest.”
Claim 4: You say, “I didn’t cheat in the game.”
You Making Claims to Yourself: You make these claims yourself and need to evaluate them for yourself.
Examples,
Claim 5: “I should start playing badminton.”
Claim 6: “I should eat more chocolates.”
Let's move to step 2,
2️⃣Are you following Arguments?
Once claims are made, you must follow for arguments. If you are the one who put the claim then, you must build an argument for the same. You can also make multiple arguments for one claim.
Let's take the examples of claims we quoted in Step 1 and follow the arguments that came after them.
Claim 1: Rohit says, “ I didn’t post that mean message .”
Argument: "I didn't post that mean message! Someone must have hacked my account because I was offline when it was posted, you can see my chats. "
Claim 2: Anika says, “Give me back that toy .”
Argument: "Give me back that toy, or I'll tell Mom. “
Claim 3: You say, “You should vote for my entry in the contest.”
Argument: "Please vote for my entry in the art contest by clicking the link below! I've worked hard on this piece, and winning would encourage me to do more."
Claim 4: You say, “I didn’t cheat in the game.”
Argument: "Guys, I swear I didn't cheat in the game! My controller just glitched.”
Claim 5: “I should start playing badminton regularly.”
Argument: “ I should start playing badminton daily because I like playing it and people who practice daily enhance their skills and can qualify for state tournaments.”
Claim 6: “I should eat more chocolates.”
Argument: “I should eat more chocolates because I want to.”
Moving to Step 3,
3️⃣Are you convinced?
This is the stage where we analyze the argument for relevance and credibility. This phase decides whether the claim can be accepted as truth or rejected as a lie.
True Claim: A claim is true when the argument or arguments that follow it have a relevant reason and evidence to support it.
False Claim: A claim is false when the argument or arguments that follow it, lack a relevant reason, evidence, or both.
A true claim should be accepted and a false claim must be rejected.
Let us continue our examples for the analysis:
Claim 1: Rohit says, “ I didn’t post that mean message .”
Argument: "I didn't post that mean message! Someone must have hacked my account because I was offline when it was posted, you can see my chats. "
Reason: Account Hacking.
Evidence: Offline, can see my chats.
Analysis: Rohit provides a reason (account hacking) and evidence (being offline and allowing us to see his chats ) to support the claim that they didn't post the mean comment. Both reason and evidence are relevant. It's a true claim.
Claim 1 Accepted
Claim 2: Anika says, “Give me back that toy .”
Argument: "Give me back that toy, or I'll tell Mom “
Reason: None
Evidence: None
Analysis: The statement that follows the claim seems more like a threat than an argument. There is no reason or evidence. It's a false claim.
Claim 2 Rejected
Claim 3: You say, “You should vote for my entry in the contest.”
Argument: "Please vote for my entry in the art contest by clicking the link below! I've worked hard on this piece, and winning would encourage me to do more."
Reason: worked hard
Evidence: showing the art piece, can win the contest.
Analysis: Your claim follows an argument that has a reason (worked hard) and evidence ( your art piece and encouragement, if they like it). It's a true claim.
Claim 3 Accepted
Claim 4: You say, “I didn’t cheat in the game.”
Argument: "Guys, I swear I didn't cheat in the game! My controller just glitched.”
Reason: The Controller just glitched.
Evidence: None
Analysis: Your claim follows an argument that has a reason (controller glitch) but no evidence to support it. It's a false claim.
Claim 4 Rejected
Claim 5: “I should start playing badminton regularly.”
Argument: “ I should start playing badminton daily because I like playing it and people who practice daily enhance their skills and can qualify for state tournaments.”
Reason: I like playing it.
Evidence: enhancing skills, qualifying for state tournaments.
Analysis: Your claim follows an argument that has a reason ( you like playing it) and evidence (enhanced skills and can qualify for state tournaments) to support it. It's a true claim.
Claim 5 Accepted
Claim 6: “I should eat more chocolates.”
Argument: “I should eat more chocolates because I want to.”
Reason: want to.
Evidence: not
Analysis: Your claim follows an argument that has a reason ( want) but no evidence. This is a false claim.
Claim 6 Rejected
Practice it
Teaching critical thinking to kids is very important to help them navigate this complex world filled with conflicting information and persuasive arguments. You can implement this in your classroom and at home through games, debates, presentations, and peer reviews. Kids should learn to articulate their responses and arguments clearly. They should also learn to analyze the statements of others. It will prevent them from falling for the wrong people and online fraudsters.
Let me know in the comments if you want to learn more about critical thinking in practice.
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