Why Schools Need to Teach Critical Thinking as Its Own Class

Re: Why Schools Need to Teach Critical Thinking as Its Own Class

by Евгений Волков -
Number of replies: 0

Should schools teach critical thinking as its own class?

One way of improving critical thinking skills in the workplace is to start with primary education. Do you agree?
https://www.macat.com/blog/why-schools-need-to-teach-critical-thinking-as-its

  • Shane Fredericks

    Shane Fredericks I think it is a great idea to teach CT as its own class, I think it would remove some of the mystery behind the concepts in CT that are currently prevalent. As a class it should solidify or spark an understanding at an early age that Critical thinking is an actual ‘thing’ which can be used throughout one’s life interactions. It may even assist children once they are experiencing teenage life and some of its pitfalls. A smarter kid is usually what is hoped for by most.Show less

  • Jim King

    Jim King Schools need to involve students in their own learning so they teach themselves.

  • Basima Zaroor

    Basima Zaroor It will be great idea if CT be the main method from KG classes , students will learn how to use their thinking skills instead of be as a bowl full of bank information,The skills will assist him to look for the knowledge , using alternatives , solve the problems , from my experience we don't need to change the curriculum , but we need to provide teachers with the skills of CT. , so he can convert the lesson to questions, stimulated students to think and look for the answer. Show less

  • Gregory Sadler

    Gregory Sadler I tend to think it's best to have a standalone CT class, taught by experts in the field, and then to have CT infused throughout the curriculum. Of course, that requires that the experts be willing to do some faculty development work and partnering - but the benefits of having a robust, consistent focus on CT make that very attractive

  • Chavah Golden

    Chavah Golden Gregory, I am with you on infusing CT throughout the curriculum and developing the faculty. I think that the course should teach kids to THINK... It should include visual thinking, meta-thinking, systems thinking, strategic thinking, and design thinking. I would advise against getting too technical in any of these (except for CT), but being heavy on action learning - through real problem identifying, problem solving, innovating, creating, following through, etc.Show less

  • Chavah Golden

    Chavah Golden Amazingly, this just showed up on my radar. I think it is brilliant. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

  • Dr. Vandana Goswami

    Dr. Vandana Goswami We definitely need to start teaching critical thinking in primary education. However, being an educator working in India, I have a much more fundamental question --- who will teach these skills. I agree totally with Gregory Sadler and Chavah Golden that faculty development is one of the key requirements in incorporating these skills. In countries like India, where a majority of mainstream teachers themselves have no exposure to these skills, expecting them to teach these skills without adequate training is futile. Show less

  • Michael Fletcher

    Michael Fletcher I taught critical thinking to adults for 10 years and that led to many insights. When I began the task the obvious answer was "yes." After many lessons learned, I think that a strongly conditioned "yes" would be the wiser answer. After having taught CT I found that what I had done was actually mild counterproductive to effective thinking. By putting CT into a separate classes we imply it to be some separate and discrete activity when of course it needs to be interwoven with everything we do and think. We did partly solve that problem by present task specific applications, but getting past the assumption that Critical Thinking was a separate activity proved difficult. 
    Thus the wisest but most difficult course is to incorporate the whole basket of 
    CT skills into existing classes. That should include all relevant history and theory, followed by application. 
    Show less

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