Why should they also carry the latest metro train schedule with them daily? The answer is simple, they can take the metro in case the bus gets delayed. So, you see, creating and solving hypothetical situations will boost critical thinking. Once this exercise is done, they will try to create hypothetical events, apply prior knowledge, and find potential solutions.
Inspire creativity — Experts say that creativity is the key to acing critical reasoning skills for children. Teachers and parents should seek innovative ways to utilize available data and create something new. Let young minds invent their unique ways of presenting and explaining concepts.
Go for brainstorming sessions — Brainstorming is a groundbreaking trick to boost critical thinking in young children. It is a group creativity exercise in which all participants come together with their thoughts and ideas. However, it is crucial to create a judgement-free zone to encourage a wild and unfiltered flow of ideas.
Avoid interventions — Intervening can hamper their thought process. Therefore, experts recommend letting students present their ideas first.
If you have any questions to ask, you should wait for a student to finish putting forth his or her ideas first. Teach to reach a solution — The ultimate motive of every critical reasoning exercise is to reach a feasible solution.
Here are the steps to critically analyze a situation and find a solution: Define the problem Create an action plan to investigate the problem Collect and organize available data Interpret and apply the knowledge Consider the consequences and explore other feasible options Reach a solution Prompt them to be unique — Every child is unique and has a different thought process.
And every mentor should encourage students to maintain their individuality while solving critical reasoning problems. Students should have the confidence to come up with their own version of the story, ideas, and explanations without hesitation. Any child who wins this has higher chances of perfecting critical thinking skills in the future. Bottom Line Critical reasoning is a must to excel in every stage of life.
Math is logical. And yes, some kids are brilliant at memorizing facts in the early years. And they may do well in math for a time. But at some point, they will no longer be able to simply regurgitate facts.
They will have to use and apply logic to work out math problems successfully. In a high school geometry class, there is a large emphasis on reasoning and proof. You have to understand the structure of proofs, and then you have to write out a solid mathematical argument for why it is in fact true.
In Algebra, kids will be given countless real world examples of math and word problems which will all require logic to solve. I have some helpful and simple tips to share so that you can raise logical thinkers and problem solvers! They should be so used to having to justify their methods or their answers that when they go to solve a new problem, they think through the why on their own.
There are tons of fun games out there beyond Sudoku or crosswords that will help kids develop their logical reasoning skills.
Try Apples to Apples , Blokus , or Quirkle, just to name a few. Another resource that my kids and I have loved is this set of Grids for Kids logic puzzle books. This set of books is specifically designed to teach kids logical reasoning , and progresses in a way that builds on what kids have already learned. After completing the first two puzzles, she began to notice patterns in the problems and showed a greater confidence in her own ability to solve the next puzzle on her own.
And although I helped significantly with the first puzzle, she is determined to try to solve the rest of the puzzles on her own. I will note that while they suggest starting at age 8, my daughter is 7 and has been able to work through these puzzles with a little help from me.
One of the thing I did to help her was write out sentences with fill in the blanks to make sure she knew what she was trying to figure out once she had filled in the grid. For instance, in Puzzle 1C, the goal is to determine who wears what type of shoe and what color shirt. We wanted to use this love of puzzles to develop her reasoning ability in a non-formal way.
Obviously, her concentration is engaged when working the puzzles. It also ensures that they show their reasoning in a model or image when they answer.
In this instance — interestingly — children knew the process to calculate square numbers but could not articulate or mathematically reason why it worked until after the session.
Instead, asking children to reason their thoughts and explain why they think they are right can allow for greater learning gains and depth of understanding. Admittedly, this is still a work in progress and easier said than done.
Using my example of square numbers, I allowed children time to struggle and wrestle with my question without providing an answer or giving hints. Instead, I questioned to unpick understanding at the beginning of the lesson and brought together mathematical ideas during a whole class discussion.
After a short discussion on how children might show or visualize a square number we began to show a model using arrays, like below:. The children working at greater depth were encouraged to consider cubed numbers and show how they might be represented using multi-link cubes without any input from me. This made sure links were made between mathematical knowledge, mathematical vocabulary, and learning. Take the image below:. Here, children are first required to sort the statement into always, sometimes or never being true.
The next day, they are moved on to the lesson with the title phrased as a question. The children, instantly engaged, begin conjecturing, making predictions and thinking about the next patterns in the sequence this lesson was actually inspired by an Nrich activity.
While small changes will not provide the framework you need to properly embed reasoning in the classroom when implemented alongside ideas such as those mentioned above.
These tips can help instil greater depth in maths in your class for all ability levels. Present answers to SATs question as a puzzle to generate discussion.
Grouping children in threes is the magic number when working through problems. Child one talks through the problem. Child three actively listens and watches. Include reasoning prompting posters around the classroom.
The image below, for example, can be useful to children who are starting to formulate thoughts, predictions and assertions. As the most recent KS2 Maths SATs tests proved, your pupils will need an in-depth understanding of facts and concepts to truly succeed. Plus, they will need to be able to use and apply that knowledge to a range of contexts. Do you have pupils who need extra support in maths?
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