Ways to Enhance Critical-Thinking Skills in Your Child

27th December, 2019

In today’s ever-changing and rapidly growing world, it is essential that children can do more than a repetitive list of tasks. As a result of technological advancements, best CBSE schools in Bangalore and other cities have started following an all-inclusive curriculum that focuses not only on academic growth but also on the holistic development of students. Children need to have sharp critical-thinking skills that will help them analyze information, compare it, and create opinions. As we continue to progress into a technology-driven world, critical-thinking stands as one of the most vital skills that determine the child’s future. But what exactly are critical-thinking skills? Well, it merely means having the ability to imagine, execute, analyze, integrate, and assess the information gathered from observation, experience, or reasoning.

To develop strong critical-thinking skills, children should believe that thinking is fun and want to be good at it. As parents, your primary duty may sometimes be to ask open-ended questions and guide their thinking process. You can also encourage your child to experiment and refine theories on what causes things to happen. Parents can make this learning process fun and beneficial in a lot of ways. Let us look at some of the methods by which you can enhance critical-thinking skills in your child-

Develop reading comprehension skills in them- Reading comprehension skills is one of the most crucial skills children need to develop in order to build critical-thinking skills. You can encourage your kid to become capable and enthusiastic readers by making reading sessions a fun activity. This will help children to improve their ability to differentiate between various forms of information, understand each topic clearly, and analyze the same.

Ask questions- Enabling your kid to ask and answer questions frequently about what they have read is an excellent way to help them think actively as they study. It also allows children to concentrate on what they are learning about, and they can master the ability to understand and interpret better. As parents, this will help you to identify areas of trouble and find solutions to improve their comprehension abilities. 

Metacognition- Understanding one’s thought process and having awareness and knowledge about the same is known as metacognition. You can encourage your child to think about strategies that they can apply to understand a given paragraph or story. This will help to practice various ways to improve their understanding of the subject and eventually enhance their reading comprehension skills. You can sit with them and ask them questions about the why, where, who, when, and how of any given story or paragraph. 

Connecting the dots and summarizing- Children should be able to make connections while reading. By asking relevant questions, you can allow your child to practice critical-thinking skills and let them understand how one paragraph is associated with the other. You can also ask your child to summarize a story or chapter and determine what is essential in the same. This helps your child in remembering and make a critical analysis of potential outcomes, thus improving their critical-thinking abilities.

Developing critical thinking skills early in life helps kids to analyze the world around them with a better view. In an overloaded world of information and technology, top CBSE schools in Bangalore or elsewhere and parents need to promote fun and engaging activities in the child’s learning process that will help them to develop essential skills. These skills add value to the child’s education process and make them ready to compete in the future industry.