One of the most important things for a growing child is their ability to think critically. In the modern world, education has exceeded the point where facts were taught to students. The world has become competitive and critical thinking has become a major part of education. Critical thinking is someone’s ability to process facts, information, analyze situations and act accordingly.
Top CBSE schools in India like G.D. Goenka, have introduced a lot of activities in their curriculum that help students to develop critical thinking abilities. Their initiatives help many students in better preparing for the challenges in their future life. Some of the best residential schools in India have introduced a lot of after school activities under which students learn the basics of critical thinking in practical scenarios.
Following are some tips from counsellors of top CBSE schools in India that will help you to make your child think critically.
Provide opportunities to play and explore
Understanding how everything works is very vital to develop critical thinking. The best residential schools in India have separate games or extracurricular periods in which kids are left in the open to explore things on their own. Some of the top CBSE schools in India have special classes organized just to allow the kids to learn how different things work. Classes like robotics, crafts, and arts are some of the main steps taken by these schools to promote critical thinking. If your child breaks toys to find out what’s inside and how it works don’t be mad at them as they are just trying to understand it’s working. Instead, make them understand the working. Also, advise them not to do so without supervision.
Do not intervene immediately
Whenever your child gets stuck with a problem, you shouldn’t intervene to help him immediately. According to teachers from some of the best residential schools in India, intervening immediately will make your child dependant on you as he will know that you will be there whenever he gets stuck. Always let your child come up with his solutions first, try them and realize what went wrong. Respect his decisions and if he is wrong, then correct him and motivate for the future.
Ask critical questions that have open-ended answers
Schools conduct various tests regularly to develop and promote critical thinking. These tests generally have different day to day scenarios followed by questions like ‘How would you solve this problem?’, ‘what should we do?’ etc. This makes kids think about it. You should also do such things, not by tests, but by general life experiences. Ask for his point of view about various scenarios and how he would have dealt with it.
Encourage them to think differently
Suppose any day to day life event is happening, ask your kid questions like, ‘how can it be done?’ or ask them for ideas. When you ask them for ideas about anything, they get motivated to think. This increases there thinking ability and will also promote them to avail more information about things so that they can have a better answer next time.
Make them develop their hypothesis
It may not necessarily be right, but you should allow your kids to develop their hypothesis and appreciate them for it. When kids make their hypothesis, they analyze that subject matter for a long time and try to figure out various aspects of it. This is a great brain exercise which brings forward the analytical and creative thinking of your kid. This can greatly help them in developing critical thinking in early ages.
Promote their inquisitiveness
Children are naturally inquisitive and can be seen asking a lot of question. A lot of parents avoid answering those illogical questions as they find them irrelevant. Parents shouldn’t do so and instead promote them for being inquisitive and answer the questions. This will make your child understand the world around him and understand the logic behind everything.
