Critical Thinking & Children!

         

      My facilitation of the topic of Critical Thinking during the period of June 25-July 05 brought up some interesting highlights in relations to this topic. We all seemed to agree that Critical Thinking is important, as it’s crucial for university students and adults to analyze and evaluate their surroundings. Nonetheless, an important message I took away from facilitating my forum on Critical thinking was that what needs to be in fact examined is the importance of critical thinking for children. Many children struggle to find their place in a post-secondary world as they are not used to thinking for themselves and questioning authority, which becomes overwhelmingly encouraged at the university level.

    As such, I strongly believe one of the useful ways in enhancing Critical Thinking abilities is to help students put their feelings into words, and this seemed to be a common ground in various fields. Incorporating teaching strategies that would be sought useful in enhancing Critical Thinking especially in children is at the center of debate in today's educational wold. Metacognition constitutes the foundation of Critical Thinking. Thus, as educators it is our responsibly to create an open-learning environment wherein learners (i.e. children) are provided with the freedom to really explore and evaluate their thoughts. 

       Thus, in this context parents as well as the environments play a rather influential role in providing the children with the opportunity to explore and sharpen their Critical Thinking skills. Furthermore, enhancing Critical Thinking skills in children requires getting them involved in their own thinking process by asking questions.