Everyday life involves a lot of problem-solving. How do you
encourage your children to get along with others? What’s the best way to help
your child learn to manage money? Should you let your kids play video games and
which ones are off-limits?
Without realizing it, you’re making logical decisions every
day, and your kids need to learn how to make sound, logical decisions as well.
Not just in their social and emotional lives, but in their reading, their
writing, and their math and science explorations as well.
In short, a child who knows how to think logically will be a
better student who comprehends his or her reading at a higher level, is able to
think creatively to solve math and science problems, can communicate clearly
and may even score higher on IQ tests.
Critical thinking is a complex skill learned over time. It
involves being able to evaluate information for accuracy, interpret
information, make predictions and inferences (conclusions based on evidence and
reasoning), recognize fact vs. opinion and explain one’s thinking clearly.
So….it’s kind of hard. But, there are simple ways to build
these logical thinking skills and you can begin to teach them in easy and fun
ways. Here are some skills to work on at home to ensure your child is a strong,
clear and logical thinker.
Analyze Analogies
Analogies are comparisons between two different things. They
show a relationship between two items. The skill involved requires your child
to first identify the relationship and then select the words demonstrating that
relationship. The use of analogies increases understanding in virtually all
areas of learning.
For example: day is to light as night is to ____. To solve
this analogy, you first see that it is light in the daytime, then supply the
opposite concept, dark, to night.
Or, book is to read as song is to _____. One reads a book.
What do we do with a song? We sing it.
Analogies can demonstrate a number of relationships such as
part to whole, opposites, cause and effect, or degree of intensity (cool is to
freezing as warm is to ____.)
You can find workbooks with analogies in them or try the
following websites to practice solving analogies. Kids enjoy doing them and you
might create a family game in which you create your own analogy problems for
one another.
funtrivia.com (search analogy quizzes)
study.com/ (search
analogies)
Create Categories and
Classify Items
Sorting items for like attributes has always been fun for
kids. For example you can sort buttons by color, size, number of holes, shape,
etc. You can group animals into size, habitats, pets vs wild, stripes and no
stripes or any other categories you create. And what kid wouldn’t want to sort
M & M’s by color? You can go further and have children graph their
information in a simple bar graph or pie chart. Classifying items builds both
math and language skills and leads the way to simple science explorations.
You’ll find lots of information on classifying at:
mensaforkids.org classifying animals
study.com/ animal classification
education.com/worksheets/graphing
READ MORE: Tips for boosting your child’s IQ
Identify Relevant
Information
In the process of problem-solving, it’s crucial to be able
to pull out the information that matters. For example, consider the following
sentence and the question to be answered: Tom had four quarters and three
dimes. He also had a frog in his pocket. How much money does Tom have?
Obviously the frog in the pocket is not important to
determining the correct amount of money. But selecting out only pertinent
information can be quite challenging. Go to study.com
and search for relevant information in
math. You’ll find videos followed by simple quizzes to practice this important
skill.
Test Hypotheses
A hypothesis is an educated guess based on the current
information known. Your child needs to be able to consider what is known and
predict what might happen next, then test it out to see if the hypothesis was
correct. This is an important skill in all of learning.
When your child is reading a book, ask: “What do you think
will happen next?” Then after reading you can evaluate the accuracy of the
prediction and determine why it was or wasn’t right.
In math and science it’s also important to make logical
hypotheses and then go on to test and evaluate them. Go to study.com
and search for “How do you Develop a Hypothesis”.
Distinguish Between
Evidence and Interpretations of Evidence (facts vs. opinions)
In this day of information overload and cries of “fake news”
all around, children must know how to recognize facts from the opinions of
others. Facts are always true. Opinions are beliefs held by an individual and
can vary from person to person.
Help your child learn the difference between fact and
opinion.
Watch the YouTube video on Fact and Opinion by BrainPop.
Critical thinking is a skill that grows over time. Ask your
children to answer questions in their own words and clarify what they mean.
Point out that some problems have more than one correct answer or more than one
way of arriving at that answer. Help them see how emotions and motives can
affect thinking. Encourage them to write out their answers to questions to
build skill in coming up with clear and concise answers to problems.
Kids benefit when they have opportunities to practice
problem solving using critical thinking skills. And don’t forget that
old-fashioned conversation around the dinner table is a great time to pose
questions that require clear, logical thinking.
Resources
Teaching Critical Thinking: An Evidence-based Guide by Gwen
Dewar, Ph.D.
Mind in the Making, Problem Solving, by Ellen Galinsky.
readingrockets.org
pbskids.org
Jan Pierce, M.Ed., is a retired teacher
and reading specialist. She specializes in parenting, education and family life
pieces. She is the author of "Homegrown Readers and Homegrown Family Fun:
Unplugged" available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Find Jan at janpierce.net.