GEAR UP YOUR STUDENTS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is a quality that has gathered much discussion and less action. Students are lacking this skill and it has become necessary to succeed in higher education and workplace. It is not really being focused on and the results of students and is one of the causes of lack of critical thinking. It is important to practice critical thinking as a skill but how to practice, is a question. How to implement it in school learning sessions?

 

Use of figurative language

Use figurative language as a warm-up exercise in order to gear up your students for critical thinking. To practice this, ask your students to prepare a sentence in their own words and language that perfectly describes “a specific word”. It won’t be that easy for everyone to understand the same. You can also ask your students to present a few images that best describe their sentence.

 

Students are sure to struggle with this practice in the beginning. It is nonetheless a challenge for them to make a connection between real life and figurative language.

 

There are numerous elements that are essential while preparing your students for critical thinking. Teachers at Presidium are doing the same. Thinking skills needs to be instilled in the child at his early age. This makes Presidium stand as one of the best nursery schools in Hisar.

 

Let the power of adages work

It takes a good amount of time for the students to connect with the fact, “Things are not always like they seem” or the irony that the "name of Britain’s biggest dog is 'Tiny'". The dicho is sometimes difficult to understand for the students. Where some of the students find it difficult to understand the two pairs of fact and irony, some find it interesting and are excited to gather more knowledge about the same.

 

When you take along with you, the students on the journey of thinking deeply, do not forget to consider a few skills like critical, analytical and creative thinking. Each mentioned thinking skill is difficult than the prior and creative thinking being the most difficult, requires more time, concentration and mindfulness.

 

“Residue of memory is thought”, is a beautiful quote given by Daniel Willingham. Your memory can be a good reason to insist your students to think creatively, analytically and critically. Make them understand the meaning of the words first and then give them a chance to describe it with the possible meanings. This is the time, where they can apply their creativity and might come up with a better explanation, than yours.

 

Take help from the pictures

The scripted and linguistic description can sometimes make it more difficult for the students to understand. The visual description can be more powerful and help the students to understand the real meaning more clearly and easily.  

 

For example, show them two pictures where the first one depicts the picture of a boy flaunting his big scoop of ice cream to his younger brother carrying a small one. On the other hand, the second picture depicts a rag picker gathering the leftover food from the trash outside a food stall. 

This depiction of two different situations will light various bulbs in a classroom. It will help the students to understand the concept and a deep meaning behind the two pictures.

 

Fun learning at its best

It was a struggling challenge for the students at the start but as they kept practicing, they start enjoying. They become more proficient in the task with improved critical thinking skills. When they get to know that they have reached to the understanding of the concepts, they enjoy sharing thoughts and views of what they have learned.