Critical Thinking in Schools

[dougie]

I have been thinking about critical thinking and it`s teaching in schools. I have two very young children and hope that when they go to school they will be taught this skill, i do not know if there is anything in the current curriculum which will support this, if there is not, i was wondering if you think a petition to Downing street would be a good idea,and also on how to word it and promote it,so it could acheive the maximum efficiency it could in the time limit that Downing street allows,

[lost thought]

I didn't learn about critical thinking untill 3 months ago so I'm still learning to use it, I used to rely on being a cynical person but that can only serve so far it would have been good to have been taught it in school.
I have a grandson and I will be teaching him critical thinking it might spare him some of the hurt and woe of having to learn the hard way.

Lost Thought

[NorthernSoul]

I came out of secondary education in 2006 and still have siblings in secondary and primary education. To the best of my knowledge critical thinking is either not taught at all, or is limitedly taught but the term critical thinking it self is not used.

Some secondary school History classes touch on what to look for in a reputable source but beyond that I can't think anything related that is taught.

There are critical thinking courses at A-Level (16-18) but that's about it to the best of my own knowledge, which is quite possibly wrong.

[Mike Hall]

Oddly enough I've just logged on to plug such a petition:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/criticalthinking/

I'd appreciate signatures (of course), or if you disagree with the aims of the petition I'd appreciate reasons why.

Many thanks

[Pebble]

Oddly enough I've just logged on to plug such a petition:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/criticalthinking/

I'd appreciate signatures (of course), or if you disagree with the aims of the petition I'd appreciate reasons why.

Many thanks

Signed

[bruce]

Signed too

[Mike Hall]

Thanks.

I fully expect that, even if we get thousands of signatures, the petition will not persuade the government to introduce critical thinking into schools. However, I don't see that as a reason not to give it ago anyway. If we push long enough and hard enough then perhaps we may make some progress.

[niggle]

It suspect it might be difficult to introduct this kind of teaching into the curriculum.

As it stands, for the better part of a century, mainstream school teaching has been almost exculsively concerned with ensuring and rewarding conformity, not inquiry. Consider the general structure of much school learning: to put it bluntly we are told what to think about a subject then asked what we think in an exam and those who conform most are permitted to proceed to further conformity, with those who do not held back or excluded.

There have been good reasons for this system; it equipped children for life in an increasingly industrialised and mechanical society. But times change, as does society. If like me you went to school in the seventies, you probably learned to perform long division by hand. And like me you may have asked, why should we learn this when a calculator does it so much better? The common answer, that we wouldn't always have access to a calculator, looks almost comical in a world in which telephones, televisions, computers and watches have calculators built into them. Good advice, well meant, profoundly mistaken.

How long before school children ask, why must we learn all this information by rote when my telephone has a web browser with which I can access wikipedia? What value does simply memorising raw facts have in a world where facts are accessible anywhere and everywhere? Perhaps that makes you uncomfortable - it does me. But the question is already being asked in classrooms everywhere.

So in world where facts and mechanical calculations are common and unremarkable, what has value? The answer is that analysis of facts, the ability to question them, to compare them, to see what fits and what doesn't, to see new and exciting ways to combine and apply them, is what has value.

Imagine a world in which school children are told that atoms have a positively-charged middle and a negatively-charged outside and immediately ask, well then why isn't the outside attracted to the inside? And why don't neighbouring atoms repel each other? A world in which chidlren are not told the sky is blue, but are told to read and discuss, led by a teacher, why the sky is as it is. Imagine a world of children taught to enquire skeptically, who have access to all the information they could need or want on the web and in books, and who have been taught to examine it critically, rejecting what is unsupported or weak and accepting only what is convincing and strong?

Imagine where they could go. Imagine where we could all go.

(whew, sorry for the rant!)

[Tony Williams]

It suspect it might be difficult to introduct this kind of teaching into the curriculum.

You are right that it would require something of a culture change for a lot of teachers. However, ideal as your scenario is, it is possible to build in critical thinking in a much less radical way - or perhaps to develop the existing practices.

Science lessons are an obvious example: questioning the validity of evidence, and comparing conflicting claims on the basis of the evidence for them, ought to be a part of the curriculum anyway. The same applies to history; there are lots of examples of conflicting viewpoints, it would not be difficult to put them together and get students to compare them and discuss the meaning of historical "truth". In current affairs and politics we are givven examples every day of politicians from different parties making opposite claims on the basis of the same data - so let's look at those. I think that most teachers would find such exercises rather fun - I know I would.

Of course, the big stumbling block will be the politicians, especially those in government. They would be horrified at the notion of a less gullible public, it would force them to change their whole MO...

[niggle]

They would be horrified at the notion of a less gullible public, it would force them to change their whole MO...

Oh yes. And then some. And if you'll excuse me speaking bluntly, there are a few religious institutions who might not be too pleased either.

[Admin]

I think that in this 'information age' we're living in, Critical Thinking skills would be a more useful tool to have than ever.

The Internet is great for many things but it's also full of nonsense and some very bad information, so the ability to discern the good from the bad will become more of a required skill as time goes on.

It would be good to see critical thinking taught at some level from the age of 11 onwards (the age at which children can engage in 'scientific thinking').

[Mojo]

There's been some previous discussion of attitudes towards qualifications in critical thinking:

http://www.ukskeptics.com/forum/show...=6486#post6486

[newatheist]

I think that in this 'information age' we're living in, Critical Thinking skills would be a more useful tool to have than ever.

The Internet is great for many things but it's also full of nonsense and some very bad information, so the ability to discern the good from the bad will become more of a required skill as time goes on.

It would be good to see critical thinking taught at some level from the age of 11 onwards (the age at which children can engage in 'scientific thinking').

Very true.
I suggest that anyone interested in examining a source trys WHOIS.

http://www.whois.net/

[docsquee]

Imagine a world in which school children are told that atoms have a positively-charged middle and a negatively-charged outside and immediately ask, well then why isn't the outside attracted to the inside? And why don't neighbouring atoms repel each other? A world in which chidlren are not told the sky is blue, but are told to read and discuss, led by a teacher, why the sky is as it is. Imagine a world of children taught to enquire skeptically, who have access to all the information they could need or want on the web and in books, and who have been taught to examine it critically, rejecting what is unsupported or weak and accepting only what is convincing and strong?

Imagine where they could go. Imagine where we could all go.

(whew, sorry for the rant!)

Erm, no need to imagine, we're already there, well, in my school at least.

I teach in a state secondary including sixth-form. There is a critical thinking GCE available at A-Level open to any pupils in or above year 9 (14) so long as you have a good humanities department to run it, which luckly we do (web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/critical_thinking_new.php). Although CT isn't woven into the curriculum in a pure form it is slowly working its way in under guise of reasoning and reflective learning.

I agree that CT should form a discrete and distinct part of the national curriculum not just because it allows you to pick apart Derren Brown or make no friends at sunday school but because it has massive potential in terms of allowing pupils to understand how they learn, not just what they learn.

(I understand the point, this isn't aimed at you) Wikipedia? Not a chance, most pupils know how information changes on a daily basis and know they can't trust it implicitly. Web browser? Some of the time, but we encourage pupils not to rely on single sources, to question everything and know that what they find is influenced by where they found it. Most teachers love being put on the spot and I'd sooner shred a lesson plan than let a good skeptical question pass a class by. Examples of pupils doing this on a daily basis come not only from formal lessons but from pastoral time (e.g. pupils questioning vaccination; don't worry, they got them done) and school council meetings.

I admit, I had no exposure to critical thinking skills when I was at school in the 90s, or at least I didn't recognise them, but in most schools pupils won't be taught it a rote fashion, investigation forms a part of most subject's lessons.

I would question Lost Thought's use of the term cynic, I hope that pupils are not taught to be cynical, instead they should be encouraged to be skeptical and know the best ways in which to communicate their skepticism to others.

[Mulder]

Web browser? Some of the time, but we encourage pupils not to rely on single sources, to question everything and know that what they find is influenced by where they found it.

Multiple sources wouldn't help if they were looking up information on the paranormal. Almost all the sources are nonsense.