A recent study conducted on 2300 undergraduates by sociologists at New York University shows that 45 per cent of students show no significant improvement regarding the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing at the end of their sophomore years. Little more changes by the end of four years of study.
The reasons for this are up to debate, but empirical evidence seems to suggest that students aren’t challenged to write long papers, and many will chose courses that don’t require hard thinking.
Perhaps those that chose not to challenge themselves to think critically were never asked to do so from a young age. Below, we’ve listed some resources to help foster heightened cognitive capabilities in your kids from the get go. So what things can kids think critically about in everyday life? Well, it ends up pretty much anything.
Andrew Loh from brainy-child.com has compiled a crystal-clear rundown of why critical thinking is important, and some easy ways to apply it during everyday situations and play. He makes it sound fun, easy, and most certainly rewarding. :
Carol Fertig gives three great anecdotes of applied critical thinking in some very common family situations, well worth the read.
For a more academic take on the importance of critical thinking, Kathiryn S. Carr’s article How Can We Teach Critical Thinking? from ERIC Digest might read like sawdust, but it outlines that the proof is in the pudding.
