Why are Critical Thinking Skills Important for Students?
Our lives are full of events that involve non-stop problem solving and decision-making. We are inundated with information from various media outlets and social media platforms. What is the best car to buy? Who should I vote for? People need to know how to sift through all this information and decide what are reliable and credible sources of information to use in their daily lives. And we want to be able to do this in a thoughtful and logical manner.
Critical thinking enables us to analyze, interpret, reflect, evaluate, infer, and explain information to be able to solve problems and make decisions. That is why critical thinking is an essential component of deeper learning. Deeper learning can be described as the capacity for learning how to learn. In order to achieve deeper learning, students must develop certain competencies: When students can think critically and direct their education, they are leading their own learning and will need to continue to do so throughout their life.
How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills in Students
To truly improve and develop critical thinking skills in students, you must commit to an honest reflection of your existing teaching practices. You can begin this journey with a careful analysis of your current instructional strategies, no matter what grade level or subject that you teach.
1. Instructional Strategies
Think about the instructional strategies that you use most often I am referring to your “go-to” tools in your toolbox of instructional strategies. Do these strategies develop deeper learning competencies in your students? For instance, do your students have opportunities to use student choice and voice when working on assignments? Students should be able to create their own projects, define goals, develop their learning plan, and communicate their achievements to a broader audience.
2. Student Relationships
Next, think about how well you know your students. Do you know their personalities? Their families and living situations? It is difficult to teach effectively if you do not have a firm understanding of who your students are and what your students know or do not know.
3. Rigor in the Classroom
What is the level of rigor used in your classroom? If you review the tests, quizzes, and assignments you give students, it would be easy to see the level of higher order thinking that you are requiring of your students. Are assignments and assessments full of memorization-intensive questions? Simply ask yourself, could anyone with access to the internet search and find the answers? If the answer is yes, the rigor needs to be adjusted. Also, reflect if you assess students on the questions they ask in addition to the answers that they provide.
4. Student Engagement
The journey continues as you next evaluate who talks the most in your classroom during instructional time. Students should be heard more often if you are promoting independent learning and a student-centered classroom. What kind of talk is happening? Are you lecturing or providing opportunities for student-led discussions? Do students have opportunities to work in small groups or with partners to be able to teach and learn from one another? All of these conditions help develop critical thinking skills.