3 ways to build children's critical thinking ability, calmly meet various challenges in the future, and benefit for a lifetime
introduction
Even late-sighted parents know that in this era of rapid development of artificial intelligence, our children face unprecedented challenges and opportunities in the future.
There is no doubt that at present, the acquisition of knowledge is no longer achieved through simple memorization and repetition, but is related to the development of children's lifelong learning ability, information integration ability, independent thinking ability and expression ability.
These are the abilities of children to meet the challenges of the future and benefit them for a lifetime, and these abilities can be exercised through critical thinking.
The so-called critical thinking ability, simply put, is the ability to think and analyze, which is not only a simple critical thinking, but a deeper understanding of knowledge and information, as well as the ability to comprehensively analyze and solve problems.
It can be said that cultivating children's critical thinking ability is one of the key points of our education.
Parents play an indispensable role in cultivating their children's critical thinking skills. Parents are not only their children's first teachers, but also role models and guides of critical thinking.
So, as parents, how can we help our children develop critical thinking skills? We can help children build critical thinking skills through the following three tips.
01 Cultivate children's critical thinking ability through "borrowing".
In the cultivation of children's critical thinking ability, if parents always tell their children the truth, it is easy for children to be disgusted, especially when we lack of training experience in this area, we may as well cultivate children's critical thinking ability through "borrowing", which can also achieve our training purpose.
One is to let the children watch the philosophical enlightenment cartoon
Now there are many websites that have launched small animations about philosophical enlightenment, such as a well-known foreign website has published a set of philosophical animations, each episode of which is an exploration of a small problem, animation presents the problem from different angles, inspires children to think about the problem from different angles, but it does not give a specific standard answer.
Because there is no so-called standard answer, after reading it, parents should take their children to discuss and collide with each other's views.
Of course, this is also a big challenge to parents' ability to see problems, parents should stand high, and only then can they see the problem further, so as to train children to think and look at problems in multiple dimensions.
The second is to let the children listen to professional thinking courses
There are many high-quality professional thinking courses on the Internet, for example, some thinking courses are to discuss various current affairs, literary works, hot topics, values and other issues among children, guiding children from expressions without purpose to logical output, and parents can guide their children to listen to them.
If parents are good at guiding, they can also carry out such discussions at home, you can choose the topics that children are interested in, and carry out equal dialogues with children to help them develop reading thinking and expression skills.
The third is to let children read books in the field of critical thinking
What we know to be the truth is often not the truth, which requires us to think critically. In primary school, it is necessary to consciously guide children to gradually develop this aspect of thinking.
Critical reading is an active process of inquiry through which children learn to question, discern, and reconstruct information. This is not only to acquire knowledge, but also to cultivate their ability to think and analyze independently, so that they can effectively distinguish the truth and value in the era of information explosion.
Allowing children to read more books that inspire them to think critically can help them open up the world of critical thinking.
Our children are not tools for batch training, and we are not able to change the large educational environment, but we can try to change the small family education environment.
Every child is unique, and with the ability to think critically, children can look at problems from multiple angles and think about a problem in three points.
Taking writing essays as an example, children with critical thinking ability will naturally no longer keep a running account, follow the clouds, and make up the number of words, with unique thinking angles and wonderful views, children with this level of writing will have very obvious advantages in Chinese subjects.
02 Create a family environment that nurtures critical thinking
The environment can change and shape a person. In order for children to develop critical thinking skills, we need to create a family environment for children to cultivate critical thinking skills.
Specifically, there are three ways we can create a home environment for children to nurture critical thinking.
1. Create a family culture that encourages curiosity and critical thinking in children
Creating a family culture that encourages children's curiosity and critical thinking can cultivate children's interest and ability to continue learning, which is the "soil" for cultivating critical thinking skills.
An open family environment in which parents encourage their children to ask questions about what they have learned, and all family members actively cooperate with their children to explore the answers, can effectively promote the formation of children's critical thinking.
2. Create an atmosphere that promotes independent thinking and expression
In daily life, parents can use a range of educational strategies to encourage their children to think independently and express themselves freely.
Most commonly, we can encourage children to either share their daily observations and thoughts, take their opinions into account in family decision-making, provide a space free from external distractions and allow children to fully immerse themselves in reading, writing, or other creative activities, or ask open-ended questions to stimulate their curiosity and desire to explore, thereby promoting the development of their critical thinking skills.
It is important to note that in many cases, excessive guidance or criticism from parents may hinder children's independent thinking. For example, many children have a strong dependence on their parents when writing essays, to a large extent, because from the first time the child writes the essay, parents over-guide their children's writing, which is called guidance, which is really distracting. The more children are "guided" by their parents, the less they will be able to write, and the more they will become dependent on their parents.
3. Parents motivate their children through self-improvement and change
Parents are their children's first teachers. When parents take the initiative to show their children their enthusiasm for learning, children will also highly imitate these behaviors and internalize their own attitudes towards learning and thinking.
Obviously, this kind of self-improvement and change of parents is a win-win model.
03 Avoid fixed thinking that restricts your child's vision
It is possible for each of us to be unconsciously bound by our own fixed thinking.
As parents, in the process of accompanying their children's growth, if they do not reflect and adjust, these fixed thinking will invisibly become obstacles to children's cognition of the world, thus hindering them from exploring new worlds.
Remember, we don't want to make our fixed thinking a ceiling for our children's growth, in other words, to avoid imposing our own fixed thinking on our children.
The environment in which children grow up should be inclusive and open-minded. To do this, we encourage children to dare to ask questions, question and even challenge conventional ideas.
Our goal is not to confine children to their comfort zone, but to nurture children with a growth mindset.
Every time we reflect on ourselves and make adjustments, we are opening a new window for children to explore the world.
epilogue
As the leader of children's growth, parents should realize that "critical thinking" is not only academic training or skill improvement, but also a life attitude and a way to deal with problems.
When parents show their respect for knowledge, tolerance of different points of view, and unremitting pursuit of exploring the truth through example and words, they can imperceptibly pass on this attitude to their children, and then help them build a good character that is willing to explore, dare to question, and dare to express.
The cultivation of critical thinking ability is not limited to the learning framework, it is consistent in every corner of children's life, from daily family conversations to school class discussions, to various experiences in social practice.
Our educational responsibility is to create an environment full of opportunities for children, so that children can learn to think, learn to choose, learn to live, and learn to judge.
In this way, children will be able to face future challenges more confidently and effectively, maximize their potential, and eventually grow into an individual with independent personality and critical thinking skills.