critical thinking year 9

85 Fun Critical Thinking Questions for Kids & Teens

Have you ever thought about using fun questions to practice critical thinking?

Students may need a little guidance to think their way through questions that lack straightforward answers.

But it is that process that is important!

How the Right Questions Encourage Critical Thinking

Every parent knows how natural it is for children to ask questions. 

It should be encouraged. After all, asking questions helps with critical thinking.

As they grow older, however, training them to answer questions can be equally beneficial.

Posing questions that encourage kids to analyze, compare, and evaluate information can help them develop their ability to think critically about tough topics in the future. 

Of course, critical thinking questions for kids need to be age-appropriate—even better if you can mix a little fun into it!

That’s what I hope to help you with today. I’ve organized the questions below into three different ages groups:

• Upper elementary
• Middle school
• High school 

Get a Question-Based Critical Thinking Exercise—Free!

Introduce critical thinking gently & easily with thought-provoking exercises.

Upper Elementary

Students in upper elementary grades can be reluctant to put themselves out there, especially with answers that seem weird. 

In some cases, such hesitancy is actually fear of differing from their peers (and a barrier to critical thinking ). 

But that’s exactly why it’s important to practice answering ambiguous questions. 

We want our children to stand firm for their beliefs—not cave to peer pressure. 

Additionally, students may feel uneasy about answering serious questions, uncertain of tackling “big” problems. 

However, with careful use of creative questions for kids, it’s possible to engage even the most reluctant children in this age group. 

The idea is to simply get them interested in the conversation and questions asked.

If you have an especially reserved student, try starting with the funny critical thinking questions. 

Humor is a natural icebreaker that can make critical thinking questions more lighthearted and enjoyable. 

Of course, most younger kids just like to be silly, so playing upon that can keep them active and engaged.

With that said, here are some great questions to get you started:

1. Someone gives you a penguin. You can’t sell it or give it away. What do you do with it?

2. What would it be like if people could fly?

3. If animals could talk, what question would you ask? 

4. If you were ice cream, what kind would you be and why?

5. Do you want to travel back in time? If yes, how far back would you go? If no, why not?

6. What could you invent that would help your family? 

7. If you could stay up all night, what would you do?

8. What does the man on the moon do during the day?

9. What makes something weird or normal? 

10. Can you describe the tastes “salty” and “sweet” without using those words?

11. What does it feel like to ride a rollercoaster?

12. What makes a joke funny?

13. What two items would you take if you knew you would be stranded on an island and why?

14. Do you have a favorite way of laughing?

15. What noise makes you cringe and cover your ears? Why?

16. If you could be the parent for the day, what would you do?

17. If you could jump into your favorite movie and change the outcome, which one would you pick and why?

18. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

19. What makes a day “perfect”?

20. If you owned a store, what kind of products would you sell?

21. If your parents were your age, would you be friends with them?

22. Would you still like your favorite food if it tasted the same as always, but now had an awful smell?

23. What would you do if you forgot to put your shoes on before leaving home?

24. Who would you be if you were a cartoon character?

25. How many hot dogs do you think you could eat in one sitting?

26. If you could breathe under water, what would you explore?

27. At what age do you think you stop being a kid?

28. If you had springs in your legs, what would you be able to do?

29. Can you describe the color blue to someone if they’re blind?

Middle School

At this point, students start to acquire more complex skills and are able to form their own conclusions based on the information they’re given. 

However, we can’t expect deep philosophical debates with 12 and 13 year olds. 

That said, as parent-teachers, we can certainly begin using more challenging questions to help them examine and rationalize their thought processes. 

Browse the fun critical thinking questions below for students in this age range. 

You might be surprised to see how receptive middle school kids can be to such thought-provoking (yet still fun) questions .

30. What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

31. What does it mean to be lucky?

32. If you woke up in the middle of a dream, where would you be?

33. Is it ever okay to lie? Why or why not?

34. If you were solely responsible for creating laws, what one law would you make?

35. What makes a person a good friend?

36. What do you think is the most important skill you can take into adulthood?

37. If you had to give up lunch or dinner, which would you choose? Why?

38. How much money would you need to be considered rich?

39. If you knew you wouldn’t get caught, would you cheat on a test?

40. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?

41. What is your greatest strength? How is that an asset?

42. If you had an opportunity to visit the International Space Station, would you do it?

43. Is it better to keep the peace or speak your mind?

44. Imagine yourself as your favorite animal. How would you spend your day?

45. Would you be friends with someone who didn’t have the same values as you?

46. How much screen time do you think is too much?

47. Can you describe your favorite color without naming it?

48. If you suddenly became blind, would you see things differently?

49. Would you ever go skydiving?

50. Describe the time you were the happiest in your life. Why did this make you happy?

51. If you had a million dollars, what would you do?

52. If you had to move to a new city, would you change how you present yourself to others?

53. What do you need to do in order to be famous?

54. If you could rewrite the ending of your favorite book or movie, what changes would you make?

55. How would you tackle a huge goal?

56. How would you sell ice to an eskimo in Alaska successfully?

57. What makes you unique?

High School

Critical thinking takes on an entirely different role once students reach high school. 

At this age, they have a greater sense of right and wrong (and what makes things so) as well as a better understanding of the world’s challenges.

Guiding teens to delve deeper and contemplate such things is an important part of developing their reasoning and critical thinking skills. 

Whether it’s fun questions about hypothetical superpowers or tough critical thinking questions about life, older teens typically have what it takes to think their way to a logical conclusion . 

Of course, use your discernment as you choose discussion topics, but here are some questions to help get you started:

58. How can you avoid [common problem] in the future?

59. Do you think it’s okay to take a life in order to save 5, 10, 20 or more people?

60. If you could go back and give your younger self advice, what would it be?

61. Is it better to give or receive a gift?

62. How important is it to be financially secure? Why?

63. If it was up to you, what one rule would you change in your family?

64. What would you do if a group of friends wanted to do something that you thought was a bad idea?

65. How do you know that something is a fact rather than an opinion?

66. What would it take to get you to change your mind?

67. What’s the most important thing in your life?

68. If money were of no concern, what job would you choose and why?

69. How do you know if you’re happy?

70. Do you think euthanasia is moral?

71. What is something you can do today that you weren’t able to do a year ago?

72. Is social media a good thing or not?

73. Is it right to keep animals in a zoo?

74. How does your attitude affect your abilities?

75. What would you do if you found out a friend was doing something dangerous?

76. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?

77. What will life on Earth look like in 50 years?

78. Which is more important, ending world hunger or global warming?

79. Is it a good idea to lower the voting age to 16? Why or why not?

80. If the electrical power went out today, how would you cook if using wood wasn’t an option?

81. If you could magically transport yourself to any other place, where would that be and why?

82. When should teenagers be able to stay out all night?

83. Does the number zero actually exist?

84. What defines a generous person?

85. Does an influential person influence everyone?

Feel free to print out these fun critical thinking questions and incorporate them into your homeschool week!

will your children recognize truth?

About the author.

Jordan Mitchell

Educationise

11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class

Ignite your child’s curiosity with our exclusive “Learning Adventures Activity Workbook for Kids” a perfect blend of education and adventure!

Critical thinking activities encourage individuals to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to develop informed opinions and make reasoned decisions. Engaging in such exercises cultivates intellectual agility, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and honing problem-solving skills for navigating an increasingly intricate world.

Through critical thinking, individuals empower themselves to challenge assumptions, uncover biases, and constructively contribute to discourse, thereby enriching both personal growth and societal progress.

Critical thinking serves as the cornerstone of effective problem-solving, enabling individuals to dissect challenges, explore diverse perspectives, and devise innovative solutions grounded in logic and evidence. For engaging problem solving activities, read our article problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest.

52 Critical Thinking Flashcards for Problem Solving

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a 21st-century skill that enables a person to think rationally and logically in order to reach a plausible conclusion. A critical thinker assesses facts and figures and data objectively and determines what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking skills empower a person to decipher complex problems and make impartial and better decisions based on effective information.

More Articles from Educationise

• 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom
• How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples
• 9 Must-Have AI Tools for Teachers to Create Interactive Learning Materials
• The Future of Education: 8 Predictions for the Next Decade
• The Latest in EdTech: 5 Innovative Tools and Technologies for the Classroom
• 8 Free Math Problem Solving Websites and Applications

Importance of Acquiring Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills cultivate habits of mind such as strategic thinking, skepticism, discerning fallacy from the facts, asking good questions and probing deep into the issues to find the truth. Acquiring critical thinking skills was never as valuable as it is today because of the prevalence of the modern knowledge economy.

Today, information and technology are the driving forces behind the global economy. To keep pace with ever-changing technology and new inventions, one has to be flexible enough to embrace changes swiftly.

Today critical thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills by the companies. In fact, critical thinking skills are paramount not only for active learning and academic achievement but also for the professional career of the students.

The lack of critical thinking skills catalyzes memorization of the topics without a deeper insight, egocentrism, closed-mindedness, reduced student interest in the classroom and not being able to make timely and better decisions.

Incorporating critical thinking lessons into the curriculum equips students with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of the modern world, fostering a mindset that is adaptable, inquisitive, and capable of discerning truth from misinformation.

Benefits of Critical Thinking for Students

Certain strategies are more eloquent than others in teaching students how to think critically. Encouraging critical thinking in the classroom is indispensable for the learning and growth of the students. In this way, we can raise a generation of innovators and thinkers rather than followers. Some of the benefits offered by thinking critically in the classroom are given below:

• It allows a student to decipher problems and think through the situations in a disciplined and systematic manner
• Through a critical thinking ability, a student can comprehend the logical correlation between distinct ideas
• The student is able to rethink and re-justify his beliefs and ideas based on facts and figures
• Critical thinking skills make the students curious about things around them
• A student who is a critical thinker is creative and always strives to come up with out of the box solutions to intricate problems

Read our article: How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples

• Critical thinking skills assist in the enhanced student learning experience in the classroom and prepares the students for lifelong learning and success
• The critical thinking process is the foundation of new discoveries and inventions in the world of science and technology
• The ability to think critically allows the students to think intellectually and enhances their presentation skills, hence they can convey their ideas and thoughts in a logical and convincing manner
• Critical thinking skills make students a terrific communicator because they have logical reasons behind their ideas

Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities

11 Activities that Promote Critical Thinking in the Class

We have compiled a list of 11 critical thinking activities for students that will facilitate you to promote critical thinking abilities in the students. By incorporating these activities, educators can introduce real-world examples of critical thinking in the classroom, empowering students to apply these skills in everyday situations.

We have also covered problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest in our another article. Click here to read it.

1. Worst Case Scenario

Divide students into teams and introduce each team with a hypothetical challenging scenario. Allocate minimum resources and time to each team and ask them to reach a viable conclusion using those resources.

The scenarios can include situations like stranded on an island or stuck in a forest. Students will come up with creative solutions to come out from the imaginary problematic situation they are encountering. Besides encouraging students to think critically, this activity will enhance teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills of the students.

This critical thinking activity not only pushes students to devise innovative solutions in challenging scenarios but also strengthens their teamwork, communication, and problem-solving abilities, making it an engaging and educational experience.

Read our article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

2. If You Build It

It is a very flexible game that allows students to think creatively. To start this activity, divide students into groups. Give each group a limited amount of resources such as pipe cleaners, blocks, and marshmallows etc.

Every group is supposed to use these resources and construct a certain item such as building, tower or a bridge in a limited time. You can use a variety of materials in the classroom to challenge the students. This activity is helpful in promoting teamwork and creative skills among the students.

Incorporating critical thinking games like this into your classroom not only promotes teamwork and creativity but also challenges students to think outside the box as they work together to build their structures.

It is also one of the classics which can be used in the classroom to encourage critical thinking. Print pictures of objects, animals or concepts and start by telling a unique story about the printed picture. The next student is supposed to continue the story and pass the picture to the other student and so on.

This engaging exercise is one of the most effective critical thinking activities for kids, as it encourages them to use their creativity and problem-solving skills while working together to construct innovative structures with limited resources.

4. Keeping it Real

In this activity, you can ask students to identify a real-world problem in their schools, community or city. After the problem is recognized, students should work in teams to come up with the best possible outcome of that problem.

5. Save the Egg

Make groups of three or four in the class. Ask them to drop an egg from a certain height and think of creative ideas to save the egg from breaking. Students can come up with diverse ideas to conserve the egg like a soft-landing material or any other device. Remember that this activity can get chaotic, so select the area in the school that can be cleaned easily afterward and where there are no chances of damaging the school property.

6. Start a Debate

In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and ideas on the topic. Conclude the debate with a viable solution or fresh ideas generated during the activity through brainstorming.

7. Create and Invent

This project-based learning activity is best for teaching in the engineering class. Divide students into groups. Present a problem to the students and ask them to build a model or simulate a product using computer animations or graphics that will solve the problem. After students are done with building models, each group is supposed to explain their proposed product to the rest of the class. The primary objective of this activity is to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills among the students.

8. Select from Alternatives

This activity can be used in computer science, engineering or any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. Introduce a variety of alternatives such as different formulas for solving the same problem, different computer codes, product designs or distinct explanations of the same topic.

Form groups in the class and ask them to select the best alternative. Each group will then explain its chosen alternative to the rest of the class with reasonable justification of its preference. During the process, the rest of the class can participate by asking questions from the group. This activity is very helpful in nurturing logical thinking and analytical skills among the students.

9. Reading and Critiquing

Present an article from a journal related to any topic that you are teaching. Ask the students to read the article critically and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the article. Students can write about what they think about the article, any misleading statement or biases of the author and critique it by using their own judgments.

In this way, students can challenge the fallacies and rationality of judgments in the article. Hence, they can use their own thinking to come up with novel ideas pertaining to the topic.

10. Think Pair Share

In this activity, students will come up with their own questions. Make pairs or groups in the class and ask the students to discuss the questions together. The activity will be useful if the teacher gives students a topic on which the question should be based.

For example, if the teacher is teaching biology, the questions of the students can be based on reverse osmosis, human heart, respiratory system and so on. This activity drives student engagement and supports higher-order thinking skills among students.

11. Big Paper – Silent Conversation

Silence is a great way to slow down thinking and promote deep reflection on any subject. Present a driving question to the students and divide them into groups. The students will discuss the question with their teammates and brainstorm their ideas on a big paper.

After reflection and discussion, students can write their findings in silence. This is a great learning activity for students who are introverts and love to ruminate silently rather than thinking aloud.

Incorporating critical thinking activities for high school students, like silent reflection and group brainstorming, encourages deep thought and collaboration, making it an effective strategy for engaging both introverted and extroverted learners.

Finally, for students with critical thinking, you can go to GS-JJ.co m to customize exclusive rewards, which not only enlivens the classroom, but also promotes the development and training of students for critical thinking.

Share this:

Discover more from educationise.

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Type your email…

4 thoughts on “ 11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class ”

• Pingback: What is Growth Mindset? 50+ Motivational Quotes on Growth Mindset - Educationise
• Pingback: 6 Steps To Implement Project-Based Learning In The Classroom - Educationise
• Pingback: Engaging Problem-Solving Activities That Spark Student Interest - Educationise

Thanks for the great article! Especially with the post-pandemic learning gap, these critical thinking skills are essential! It’s also important to teach them a growth mindset. If you are interested in that, please check out The Teachers’ Blog!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Want a daily email of lesson plans that span all subjects and age groups?

Subjects all subjects all subjects the arts all the arts visual arts performing arts value of the arts back business & economics all business & economics global economics macroeconomics microeconomics personal finance business back design, engineering & technology all design, engineering & technology design engineering technology back health all health growth & development medical conditions consumer health public health nutrition physical fitness emotional health sex education back literature & language all literature & language literature linguistics writing/composition speaking back mathematics all mathematics algebra data analysis & probability geometry measurement numbers & operations back philosophy & religion all philosophy & religion philosophy religion back psychology all psychology history, approaches and methods biological bases of behavior consciousness, sensation and perception cognition and learning motivation and emotion developmental psychology personality psychological disorders and treatment social psychology back science & technology all science & technology earth and space science life sciences physical science environmental science nature of science back social studies all social studies anthropology area studies civics geography history media and journalism sociology back teaching & education all teaching & education education leadership education policy structure and function of schools teaching strategies back thinking & learning all thinking & learning attention and engagement memory critical thinking problem solving creativity collaboration information literacy organization and time management back, filter by none.

• Elementary/Primary
• Middle School/Lower Secondary
• High School/Upper Secondary
• College/University
• TED-Ed Animations
• TED Talk Lessons
• TED-Ed Best of Web
• Under 3 minutes
• Under 6 minutes
• Under 9 minutes
• Under 12 minutes
• Under 18 minutes
• Over 18 minutes
• Algerian Arabic
• Azerbaijani
• Cantonese (Hong Kong)
• Chinese (Hong Kong)
• Chinese (Singapore)
• Chinese (Taiwan)
• Chinese Simplified
• Chinese Traditional
• Chinese Traditional (Taiwan)
• Dutch (Belgium)
• Dutch (Netherlands)
• French (Canada)
• French (France)
• French (Switzerland)
• Kurdish (Central)
• Luxembourgish
• Persian (Afghanistan)
• Persian (Iran)
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Spanish (Argentina)
• Spanish (Latin America)
• Spanish (Mexico)
• Spanish (Spain)
• Spanish (United States)
• Western Frisian

sort by none

• Longest video
• Shortest video
• Most video views
• Least video views
• Most questions answered
• Least questions answered

How could so many people support Hitler?

Lesson duration 05:10

716,310 Views

Can you solve the magical maze riddle?

Lesson duration 04:51

492,875 Views

How to make smart decisions more easily

Lesson duration 05:16

1,366,393 Views

Can you solve a mystery before Sherlock Holmes?

Lesson duration 05:17

536,431 Views

Can you solve the secret assassin society riddle?

Lesson duration 05:01

927,928 Views

How to overcome your mistakes

Lesson duration 04:52

1,070,293 Views

Can you solve the cursed dice riddle?

Lesson duration 04:31

811,239 Views

Why some people don't have an inner monologue

Lesson duration 12:03

2,925,241 Views

Science vs. Pseudoscience

Lesson duration 05:48

374,729 Views

Can you solve the time traveling car riddle?

Lesson duration 05:18

707,070 Views

This one weird trick will get you infinite gold

Lesson duration 05:08

1,184,060 Views

How to quit your job — without ruining your career - Gala Jackson

Lesson duration 06:13

118,829 Views

What if you experienced every human life in history?

Lesson duration 05:21

3,012,444 Views

How to design climate-resilient buildings - Alyssa-Amor Gibbons

Lesson duration 14:12

46,606 Views

The case for free, universal basic services - Aaron Bastani

Lesson duration 19:09

82,569 Views

Can you steal the most powerful wand in the wizarding world?

Lesson duration 05:20

842,100 Views

History vs. Thomas Jefferson

499,245 Views

The best way to apologize (according to science)

Lesson duration 05:06

1,596,790 Views

How do we determine the value of a life?

Lesson duration 06:06

849,204 Views

What’s the smartest age?

Lesson duration 04:53

1,740,196 Views

The Boltzmann brain paradox

Lesson duration 05:40

1,240,095 Views

The 4 greatest threats to the survival of humanity

Lesson duration 05:24

497,835 Views

Can you outsmart the college admissions fallacy?

Lesson duration 06:17

841,294 Views

Can you solve the fortress riddle?

Lesson duration 05:23

1,319,099 Views

• Create a List
• Cathy Duffy Reviews Home >
• Homeschool Extras >
• Critical Thinking & Logic >

Practical Critical Thinking for Grades 9-12+

Practical Critical Thinking for Grades 9-12+ is an introductory course in critical thinking for teens that builds from very basic concepts up through fairly sophisticated applications. While it is written for high school students, I expect many junior high students can easily complete the course as well.

The course has four units with two chapters per unit. Each chapter has from seven to eleven sub-sections, each of which will likely serve as one day’s lesson. That means that by completing about two lessons per week, the course will take one school year to finish.

The first unit, “Becoming a Critical Thinker,” begins with open-ended exercises that challenge students to consider what critical thinking is, how it applies in their own lives, and obstacles such as peer pressure and emotions that can derail critical thinking.

The second chapter in this unit uses puzzles—including some from other books from the same publisher—to help students practice critical thinking skills in different types of applications.

Unit 2, “Adding to My Critical Thinking Toolbox,” continues to lay the foundation. While students should already have learned the difference between fact and opinion, the next chapter begins with a refresher on facts and opinions then pushes students to think through evidence and whether or not it makes conclusions possible, probable, or proven.  This chapter concludes with some interesting exercises to stimulate creative thinking.

The second chapter in this unit addresses “Critical Thinking and Language,” discussing topics such as emotionally charged words, ambiguity, vagueness, euphemisms, and jargon.

You can see how this sequence of lessons lays the groundwork for critical thinking skills. Some students might have already studied some of these topics, and you might be able to skip some sections, but don’t do so unless you are certain that students are proficient in that area.

The third unit, “Critical Thinking and Arguments,” explains the nature of an argument and goes on to explain the difference between inductive and deductive arguments. The second chapter in this unit introduces informal fallacies.

The fourth unit, “Applying My Critical Thinking,” dedicates an entire chapter to advertising. Its goal is to teach students to apply critical thinking to the advertising that bombards them, to understand advertising techniques, to understand informal fallacies in ads, and to consider the pros and cons of advertising.

The final chapter, “Eyewitness Testimony, Direct & Circumstantial Evidence,” exposes students to applications in critical thinking in legal situations and in some fascinating experiments. This last unit, in particular, uses examples from the news and popular culture that will likely be particularly interesting to students.

The course can be used by a single student or a group class. Every chapter concludes with “Group Activities and Discussion,” but the author directs individual homeschoolers to simply do these with a parent. If you are completing two lessons per week, the discussion period would occur about once a month.

The lesson material is only in the student book while the companion teacher’s manual has an answer key plus reproducible pages for all student worksheets. A teacher can teach from the student book, printing out the pertinent reproducible pages for students to look at and then complete. This seems to me the most likely scenario for a group class since student books are the priciest component. However, the student book is printed in full color while the teacher’s manual is black-and-white, and that might make a difference to some students.

I think the course is likely to be most enjoyable if students can meet for a group class for end-of-chapter interaction and discussion. However, if individual homeschooling students work through the student book on their own, their parents will also probably need to read the material to be prepared for the discussion and interaction at the end of each chapter. The answer key has specific answers for some exercises, but many questions do not have specific answers. In these cases, the separate teacher's manual suggests key ideas or concepts that students should address. This help might be sufficient for parents without requiring them to read the entire chapter, but I think this is something that will vary from parent to parent.

Lessons incorporate unique learning tools such as thought experiments, student polls (self-reflection rather than polling other students), puzzles, and continually changing activities and exercises. The combination of self-reflection and practical application with loads of creative learning activities should make Practical Critical Thinking a favorite course for teens.

Pricing Information

When comparison prices appear, please keep in mind that they are subject to change. Click on links where available to verify price accuracy.

student book - $39.99 teacher’s manual: ebook - $9.99, print book - $14.99

Practical Critical Thinking: Student Book

• $42.95 at Amazon.com
• $28.31 Used at Amazon.com Marketplace
• $42.99 at Christianbook.com
• $39.99 at ExodusBooks.com
• $42.99 at Rainbowresource.com

Practical Critical Thinking: Teacher's Manual

• $22.99 at Amazon.com
• $22.99 at Christianbook.com
• $14.99 at ExodusBooks.com
• $22.99 at Rainbowresource.com

Homeschool Extras

• Approaches to Education
• College & Career Prep
• Creative Learning
• Critical Thinking & Logic
• Parent Helps and How-To Books
• Testing & Special Needs
• Worldview Curriculum
• Articles on Education Issues
• Online Schools and Courses
• Register | Log in

Instant Key

• Need For Parent or Teacher Instruction: varies
• Learning Environment: all situations
• Grade Level: grades 7-12
• Educational Methods: critical thinking, discussion, life applications, lots of variety, puzzles
• Technology: other ebook
• Educational Approaches: eclectic
• Religious Perspective: secular

Publisher's Info

• The Critical Thinking Co.™
• (800) 458-4849
• https://www.criticalthinking.com/

Note: Publishers, authors, and service providers never pay to be reviewed. They do provide free review copies or online access to programs for review purposes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact
• About Digital Citizenship
• Digital Citizenship Curriculum
• Digital Citizenship (U.K.)
• Lesson Collections
• All Lesson Plans
• Digital Life Dilemmas
• SEL in Digital Life Resource Center
• Implementation Guide
• Toolkits by Topic
• Digital Citizenship Week
• Digital Connections (Grades 6–8)
• Digital Compass™ (Grades 6–8)
• Digital Passport™ (Grades 3–5)
• Social Media TestDrive (Grades 6–8)

AI Literacy for Grades 6–12

• All Apps and Websites
• Curated Lists
• Best in Class
• Common Sense Selections
• About the Privacy Program
• Privacy Evaluations
• Privacy Articles
• Privacy Direct (Free download)
• Free Back-to-School Templates
• 21 Activities to Start School
• AI Movies, Podcasts, & Books
• Learning Podcasts
• Books for Digital Citizenship
• ChatGPT and Beyond
• Should Your School Have Cell Phone Ban?
• Digital Well-Being Discussions
• Supporting LGBTQ+ Students
• Offline Digital Citizenship
• Teaching with Tech
• Movies in the Classroom
• Social & Emotional Learning
• Digital Citizenship
• Tech & Learning
• News and Media Literacy
• Common Sense Recognized Educators
• Common Sense Education Ambassadors
• Browse Events and Training
• AI Foundations for Educators
• Digital Citizenship Teacher Training
• Modeling Digital Habits Teacher Training
• Student Privacy Teacher Training

Training Course: AI Foundations for Educators

Earn your Common Sense Education badge today!

• Family Engagement Toolkit
• Digital Citizenship Resources for Families

Family Tech Planners

Family and community engagement program.

• Workshops for Families with Kids Age 0–8
• Workshops for Middle and High School Families
• Kids and Tech Video Series

• Get Our Newsletter

Follow our Instagram account for educators!

Keep up with the latest media and tech trends, and all of our free resources for teachers!

Games for Building Critical-Thinking Skills

Students love opportunities to sink their teeth into problems that don't have clear answers, or to tackle tough challenges that test their deduction skills and knowledge. It's often out of this challenging murkiness that new perspectives and ideas emerge. Treat your students to these terrific, fun critical thinking games and watch how they develop thinking skills and more complex understandings of the world. On this list are puzzle games that help students solve problems and think ahead, story-based games that help students understand and unpack local and global issues, and strategy games that get students to manage time and resources.

Minecraft: Education Edition

Stellar collaboration tools, controls make Minecraft classroom-ready

Bottom Line : An excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.

Kahoot! DragonBox Learn Chess

Gentle chess puzzle game ideal for young newbies

Bottom Line : For kids who are new to chess but want to learn how to play, this fun intro to the game provides a well-done tutorial combined with a light overarching storyline.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Influential physics game is still a draw

Bottom Line : Instantly engaging and super accessible to learners of many ages and abilities, Crayon Physics Deluxe fuses conceptual science learning with a brand of playful problem solving that demands creativity.

Contraption Maker

Solve problems, puzzles, brain teasers while creating wacky machines

Bottom Line : Hands-on problem-solving leads to great fun and independent learning with the right curricular wraparound to connect what kids are doing with what they need to know.

Classic logic puzzler gets a beautiful new look

Bottom Line : Promote powerful thinking skills, resilience, and decision-making through purely fun gameplay that will keep students begging for more.

Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep

Bottom Line : An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.

WordWhile: Casual Literary Fun

Clever fill-in-the-blank game playfully promotes literature

Bottom Line : A different spin on reading the classics can engage students in the short term, but teachers should find ways to extend learning.

Little Alchemy 2

Flex alchemical muscles in amusing, discovery-based puzzler

Bottom Line : This amusing puzzle game encourages creativity, perseverance, and systems thinking, and with creative integration it can build interest in math, science, history, and literature.

Addicting gameplay jazzes up geography

Bottom Line : Game-based platform can get kids interested in world geography and expose them to different cultures on a surface level.

Slick ethics game teaches students to make tough decisions

Bottom Line : This versatile game that can teach ethics, argumentation, and civics is light on interactivity but will come alive through discussion.

Scribblenauts Remix

Vocab-building word puzzles inspire creative problem-solving

Bottom Line : Wide-open problem solving builds creativity, vocabulary, and spelling skills, but controls can be tricky.

Tyto Online

Ambitious science role-playing game has bright future

Bottom Line : Diverse characters, immersive experiences, and useful teacher tools make this life science RPG worth checking out.

Beats Empire

Music producing game balances fun with critical thinking and planning

Bottom Line : Students will have a blast with the music production and band-managing theme that carries with it some useful lessons in 21st century skills.

Refinement of strategy game formula supports historical exploration

Bottom Line : Like any consumer-oriented game, this experience will absorb and delight students far more than "educational" games, but it'll require open-minded and creative teaching.

An avant-garde journey of group dynamics sparks discussion

Bottom Line : An unusual app that will confuse and entertain classrooms, generating discussion on a number of societal and philosophical topics.

Mars Horizon

Authentic space agency sim focuses on logistics, planning

Bottom Line : This sim is backed by major space agencies, so it's a neat and trustworthy way to learn about the challenges of past and future space exploration.

NewsFeed Defenders

Social media simulation builds news literacy skills

Bottom Line : This is a great tool to kick off critical discussions about news and social media.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Brilliant, charming puzzler challenges kids' ELA and math skills

Bottom Line : It's on Nintendo DS so it's not easy to weave into a classroom, but it's worth it, bridging ELA and math in complex puzzles guaranteed to absorb students.

The Pack - NYSCI

Deceptively gentle coding game really packs a problem-solving punch

Bottom Line : This gorgeous, immersive programming game encourages novel solutions.

Think Like Churchill

Stunning visuals, thoughtful feedback bring critical decision points to life

Bottom Line : An excellent tool for studying the events and ethics that guide pivotal moments in history.

7 Billion Humans

Amusing puzzler challenges kids, teaches programming principles

Bottom Line : This high-quality puzzle game is a fun way for students to learn effective and efficient programming skills.

BBC iReporter

Spot real stories, dodge fake news in cheeky media literacy sim

Bottom Line : A refreshingly modern way for students to explore how to filter and interpret info and media during breaking news events.

Modern, minimalist fake news game has players be the villains

Bottom Line : Quick, fun, and to the point, this game gets at the social mechanics behind viral falsehoods.

Radio General

WWII game has layers of learning, novel voice-based controls

Bottom Line : This is a refreshingly new approach to a WWII game that offers students a more accurate simulation of battlefield chaos.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Best entry in classic strategy series might not be best for classrooms

Bottom Line : As with all games in this series, Civilization VI is a great learning experience with the right support, but older, cheaper versions may be more practical for classrooms.

Provocative, first-person look at poverty builds empathy

Bottom Line : It'll need some scaffolding, but for students ready for the subject matter it's a great -- if sobering -- way to illustrate to students the daily realities and struggles of poverty in America.

Surviving Mars

Colonizing Mars is in our future, but why wait?

Bottom Line : Lots of potential and perhaps much better in a year or so of updates; use this in a class about space exploration and the harsh realities of colonization.

Political Animals

Charming political campaign sim mixes data analysis and civics

Bottom Line : It's a highly entertaining and surprisingly deep way to help students see the strategy -- as well as ethical choices -- involved in elections.

Papers, Please

Mature immigration game forces tough ethical choices

Bottom Line : It's a provocative simulation about ethics and immigration that could spark debate but might be tough to implement.

Parable of the Polygons

Dynamic interactive helps classrooms explore topics of bias, diversity

Bottom Line : A fascinating way to address how communities become segregated due to individual bias.

The Republia Times

Unassuming editorial sim elegantly exposes the business of bias

Bottom Line : What this game lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in smarts, and it's certain to get students thinking and talking about bias and media politics.

This War of Mine

Strategy game offers superb, mature take on war and civilian survival

Bottom Line : A stark portrayal of civilian life in a war-torn city that requires strategic thinking and invites repeated plays.

Related Content

6 Ways to Teach Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an essential cognitive process that involves actively analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information to form reasoned judgments and solve problems. John Dewey defined reflective thinking as the careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim.

Critical thinking skills include conceptualization, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, synthesis, problem-solving, and openness to new ideas, fostering the ability to discern misinformation, eliminate bias, think independently, and make informed decisions. Thinking critically is vital for personal growth and career advancement. Find out how to develop and teach critical thinking to both adults and children.

Table of Contents

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is a set of skills and habits of mind to go beyond simply accepting information or ideas, but instead analyze the issue, evaluate information, and reason critically to make a conclusion or solve a problem. Thinking critically includes making creative connections between ideas from different disciplines.

American philosopher, psychologist, and educator John Dewey (1859–1952) called this “reflective thinking”. Dewey defined critical thinking as active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge. It involves actively subjecting ideas to critical scrutiny rather than passively accepting their face value.

What are critical thinking skills?

Here are 7 core critical thinking skills.

• Conceptualize : Form abstract ideas and mental models that accurately represent complex concepts.
• Analyze : Break down information into components and relationships to uncover patterns, principles, and deeper meanings.
• Evaluate : Assess the credibility, accuracy, quality, strength, methodologies, and relevance of claims or evidence using logical standards to judge the validity or significance of the information.
• Reason : Applying logical thinking to conclude from facts or evidence.
• Synthesize : Combining different ideas, findings, or information to form a coherent whole or a new perspective.
• Solve problems : Identifying solutions to issues through logical analysis and creative thinking.
• Open to other possibilities : Being willing to consider alternative solutions, ideas, or viewpoints beyond the initial scope.

Why is critical thinking important?

Critical thinking is an important part of cognitive development for the following 8 reasons.

• Discern misinformation : Critical thinking helps us separate facts from opinions, spot flawed arguments, and avoid falling for inaccurate information.
• Identify and eliminate prejudice : It allows us to recognize societal biases and close-mindedness.
• Think independently : It enables us to develop rational viewpoints rather than blindly accepting claims, mainstream narratives, or fads. It also helps children form their own opinions, make wise decisions, and resist peer pressure.
• Make good decisions : It enables logical thinking for better judgment and making rational decisions, not influenced by emotions.
• Communicate clearly : It lets us understand others’ perspectives and improve communication.
• Get better solutions : It broadens our thought process and enables good problem-solving to achieve the best solutions to challenges.
• Cultivate open-mindedness and creativity : It spurs intellectual curiosity to explore new paradigms.
• Grow skills set : It facilitates wiser, more informed choices that affect personal growth, career advancement, and positive relationships.

Why is critical thinking hard to teach?

Critical thinking is hard to teach because to think critically on a topic, deep knowledge about a subject is required to apply logic. Therefore, critical thinking skills are hard to teach by itself. The analytical reasoning skills learned on one topic don’t transfer quickly to another domain.

What are examples of critical thinking?

Here are examples of critical thinking in real life.

• Solving a math problem : Breaking down complex math problems into smaller parts to understand and solve them step by step.
• Deciding on a book for a report : Reading summaries and reviews to select a book that fits the assignment criteria and personal interest.
• Resolving a dispute with a friend : Listening to each other’s perspectives, identifying the problem, and coming up with a fair solution together.
• Navigating social media safely : Assessing the credibility of online information and the safety of sharing personal data.
• Saving up for a toy : Comparing prices, setting a realistic goal, budgeting allowance money, and resisting impulse buys that derail the plan.
• Figuring out a new bike route : Studying maps for safe streets, estimating distances, choosing the most efficient way, and accounting for hills and traffic.
• Analyzing the motive of a storybook villain : Looking at their actions closely to infer their motivations and thinking through alternative perspectives.

How to develop critical thinking

To develop critical thinking, here are 10 ways to practice.

• Ask probing questions : Ask “why”, “how”, “what if” to deeply understand issues and reveal assumptions.
• Examine evidence objectively : Analyze information’s relevance, credibility, and adequacy.
• Consider different viewpoints : Think through other valid viewpoints that may differ from your own.
• Identify and challenge assumptions : Don’t just accept claims at face value.
• Analyze arguments : Break down arguments and claims into premises and conclusions, and look for logical fallacies.
• Apply reasoned analysis : Base conclusions on logical reasoning and evidence rather than emotion or anecdotes.
• Seek clarity : Ask for explanations of unfamiliar terms and avoid ambiguous claims.
• Discuss ideas : Share your ideas with others to gain insights and refine your thought processes.
• Debate respectfully : Engage in discussions with those who disagree thoughtfully and respectfully.
• Reflect on your thoughts and decisions : Question your thoughts and conclusions to avoid jumping to conclusions.

How to teach critical thinking to a child

To teach critical thinking to a child, encourage them to apply deeper thinking in any situation that requires decision-making in daily life. Here are 6 tips on teaching critical thinking.

• Start early and explain everything : Young children often ask lots of questions. Instead of saying, “That’s how it’s supposed to be,” explain things to them as much as possible from an early age. When children are taught from a young age how to ask different types of questions and formulate judgments using objective evidence and logical analysis, they grow up confident in their ability to question assumptions and reason with logic rather than emotions. When you can’t answer specific questions, you can say, “That’s a good question, and I want to know the answer, too!”
• Prioritize reasoned rules over blind obedience : Authoritarian discipline stifles critical thinking, as demonstrated by psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1963 study titled “Behavioral Study of Obedience.” In the study, most subjects, under authoritative orders, would administer electric shocks to a stranger and escalate to potentially lethal levels without questioning the authority. Avoid using “because I said so.” Encourage children to inquire, discuss, and participate in rule-making. Help them understand the reasons behind rules to foster critical thinking. Allow children to question and discuss the legitimacy of what we say.
• Encourage problem-solving activities : Encourage your child to solve puzzles, play strategy games, or take on complex problems to strengthen their analytical skills.
• Foster curiosity : Thinking critically means being willing to have your views challenged by new information and different perspectives. Curiosity drives children to explore and question the world around them, challenging assumptions and leading to a deeper understanding of complex concepts.
• Teach open-mindedness : Keeping an open mind and flexible thinking when approaching a new problem is essential in critical thinking. Suggest different points of view, alternative explanations, or solutions to problems. Encourage children to solve problems in new ways and connect different ideas from other domains to strengthen their analytical thinking skills.
• Explain the difference between correlation and causation : One of the biggest impediments to logical reasoning is the confusion between correlation and causation. When two things happen together, they are correlated, but it doesn’t necessarily mean one causes the other. We don’t know whether it’s causation or correlation unless we have more information to prove that.

References For Critical Thinking

• 1. Willingham DT. Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach? Arts Education Policy Review . Published online March 2008:21-32. doi:https://doi.org/10.3200/aepr.109.4.21-32
• 2. Quinn V. Critical Thinking in Young Minds . Routledge; 2018. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429445323
• 3. Hess RD, McDevitt TM. Some Cognitive Consequences of Maternal Intervention Techniques: A Longitudinal Study. Child Development . Published online December 1984:2017. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1129776
• 4. Slater M, Antley A, Davison A, et al. A Virtual Reprise of the Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments. Rustichini A, ed. PLoS ONE . Published online December 20, 2006:e39. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000039
• 5. Rimiene V. Assessing and Developing Students’ Critical Thinking. Psychology Learning & Teaching . Published online March 2002:17-22. doi:https://doi.org/10.2304/plat.2002.2.1.17
• 6. Dyche L, Epstein RM. Curiosity and medical education. Medical Education . Published online June 7, 2011:663-668. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03944.x
• 7. Schwartz S. The fallacy of the ecological fallacy: the potential misuse of a concept and the consequences. Am J Public Health . Published online May 1994:819-824. doi:https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.84.5.819

Disclaimer: The content of this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider for medical concerns.

🎒 Back-To-School Sale: 30% OFF + Get a Free Family Plan!

Critical Thinking Games & Activities for Kids

Critical thinking skills are essential to succeed in everyday life, and there are ways to enhance these abilities for children of all ages.

But what is critical thinking for kids? It means being open to new ideas, arguments, and information. Children with strong critical thinking skills are rational and look for alternative ways to solve problems.

We've collected together the best critical thinking games and critical thinking exercises for kids to make them become critical thinkers!

Online Critical Thinking Games

The most effective way to improve your children’s thinking skills is to engage them with educational games. Here are critical thinking games for kids to support their school success

Critical Thinking Game

This fun critical thinking game for kids is all about reasoning as fast and accurately as you can. Let’s try!

Puzzle Critical Thinking Game

It’s important to use your critical thinking skills even when you play with puzzles! Discover Tangram to develop it.

Math Critical Thinking Game

Critical thinking exercises and math can be the best friends! Here is a great critical thinking game with them.

Collaboration Game

Collaboration games are the best, and now it’s time to collaborate these numbers to find 10! Hurry, time is ticking!

Online Critical Thinking Game

Here is a fun critical thinking activity with candies! Attention and critical thinking skills make you eagle-eyed.

Basic Critical Thinking Game

In this critical thinking activity for kids, they need to select the image that is appropriate for the given condition.

Easy Critical Thinking Game

These fun critical thinking questions for kids are perfect for students in the early grades of school to sharpening their counting and math skills.

Cool Critical Thinking Game

It’s a critical thinking test for kids! Use your thinking skills to find out the correct answer!

MentalUP offers 150+ critical thinking games besides attention, concentration, logic, language, visual intelligence, and memory games ! 🚀✨

The best part of the multi-awarded app is all these gamified exercises are developed by pedagogues , academicians , and game designers . 🎓🙌

That’s why kids enjoy playing these games a lot; meanwhile, they boost their cognitive skills. 🤩

As parents, you can track your kids’ development with different report tools . These analyses are helpful to you in determining your kids’ strengths and the skills that need to be improved according to their peers ! 📊🎯

PLAY MENTALUP

Critical Thinking Activities for Kids

Now, let’s take a look at some fun activities that can help you encourage younger children to improve their critical skills! These exercises can help them to think critically whether they are at home, at school, or in online classes. Critical thinking in classroom can make them more successful even in their exams, such as the Kangaroo Math Competition .

1. Encourage Thinking

Children are full of questions, aren't they? So, to encourage their thinking process, you can ask them to try answering their questions or want them to answer would you rather questions for kids . And in the process, you can help them arrive at the answer using logical thinking instead of providing them with a direct answer.

It is possible to improve critical thinking skills even for preschoolers; one of the key elements of high-order thinking is making rational choices and justifying kids' own decisions.

Let's help your preschooler analyse the objects to make a logical decision themselves using critical thinking worksheets for preschoolers.

2. Play Sorting Games

Critical skills include the reasoning ability to solve real-life problems. And, of course, one of the great ways to support children’s reasoning and classification skills is sorting games that also function as strategy games for kids .

This activity will help children see the differences among various groups and enhance their understanding of the objects.

To play, you can simply ask your children to sort the same kind of objects using different features like colors, shapes, or sizes. Or if you would like to have an online solution here it is: Educational Games for 4 Year Olds

3. Solve Brain Teasers Together

To trigger brain activity, you can always benefit from brain teasers. Solving any kind of brain teasers together will allow your children to learn from you and challenge their problem-solving skills at the same time.

Also, brain teasers are one of the greatest and fun critical thinking games for adults!

4. Ask Them Riddles

Riddles are also an excellent way to help your children become critical thinkers, not to mention how fun they actually are. Asking riddles as team building activities high school are great examples of critical thinking in the classroom!

So, let your children promote their reasoning, problem-solving, and many other skills with a critical thinking activity as simple as riddles!

5. Create Games from Real-life Problems

Since critical skills are absolutely necessary for our daily lives, then why not apply them to some educational activities ?

You can take real-world problems like recycling or water scarcity as an open ended questions game and ask your children to think of solutions.

These kinds of pretend competition games for kids will not only boost their problem-solving skills as they focus on creative problems but also help them learn about their environment and develop their good sense.

Critical Thinking Questions and Answers for Kids

These fun critical thinking questions and answers are perfect for students in the early grades of school to sharpen their critical thinking, counting and math skills. It is also a very good alternative for kindergarten math games .

Critical Thinking Test for Kids

Bip bip! Can you tell which scooter will reach the gas station? 🛵

The answer is B!

If you follow the road path, you will see that only B can reach the gas station.

Want to solve more puzzles? Let’s try MentalUP Brain Teaser for Kids

Click to Try

Critical Thinking Example for Kids

Can you guess who is left-handed and why? 🧐

It’s irregular to serve drinks with left hand for a right-handed person. So, the answer is 5.

You’re good at hard riddles! Let’s continue with MentalUP to see your detailed performance reports.

Critical Thinking Activity for Kids

What am I? 😋

Tip: You’re using this magic word every day!

The answer is easy. It’s a plate!

Use the app for more questions and exercises.

Play for free

Critical Thinking for Kids

Which way is the bus going? 🚌

Here is a tip for you: This is a bus in the U.K

The bus is moving left.

Because we cannot see the door of the bus in this picture!

Couldn’t find the answer? You can always do brain exercises and improve your visual attention easily with MentalUP!

get Brain Teasers App!

Critical Thinking Question for Kids

What colour was the bear?

The bear was white!

The only place you can hike 3 miles south, then east for 3 miles, then north for 3 miles and end up back at your starting point is the North Pole.

There are only polar bears in the North Pole, which are white.

Can’t find the answers? Do brain exercises and improve your problem-solving skill with MentalUP Brain Teasers App!

Get the app

Critical Thinking Game for Kids

Which shadow corresponds to the image on the left? 🐓

The correct answer is D.

For more visual brain teasers for kids, download MentalUP and test your visual intelligence skills. You can see your detailed working reports and even compare your results with your peers!

Download MentalUP

FAQ About Critical Thinking For Kids

How to improve a child’s thinking skills.

The most effective way of improving a child’s thinking skills is to support them with educational games. If you are looking for the right games to develop critical skills, you can jump right into MentalUP games specifically designed for your children. Also, don’t forget that MentalUP provides kids with lots of different options such as Math Kangaroo problems , math riddles , and puzzles to empower their critical thinking abilities.

How to raise critical thinkers?

Whether you are a parent or a teacher, you can do activities with your children to help them become critical thinkers. Some of these activities include encouraging their thinking process, playing sorting games, solving brain teasers and riddles, and creating pretend games from real-world problems.

What are the 5 critical thinking skills?

Critical thinking skills are a combination of various abilities, including analysis, evaluation, explanation, problem-solving, and decision-making. There are more elements to be included, but most people accept that these are the 5 most important critical thinking skills.

At what age does critical thinking develop?

They start developing around the age of 2 since a two-year-old can communicate, recognize objects around them, and comprehend the differences between them.

Does critical thinking increase with age?

Critical abilities are related to one’s age and education. But it can be improved with practice at all ages. For example, the list we’ve created “ Best Apps for 11 Year Olds ” offers a huge help for that.

Is critical thinking taught in schools?

It is a part of most educational programs, such as solving math word problems requires critical thinking skills. However, critical thinking in school must be especially encouraged by teachers to help children develop and upgrade these skills. It is possible to improve it by using suitable back to school activities .

What activities improve critical thinking?

Playing critical thinking games for kids like MentalUP, doing puzzles, and solving riddles are the most important thinking activities.

Which game is the best for thinking?

It would be wrong to choose only one game to develop any skills. Instead of looking for the best game, playing beneficial critical thinking games for kids and adults would be more helpful. MentalUP offers 150+ critical thinking games, so the brain keeps being active with different kinds of games all the time.

Is Sudoku good for critical thinking?

Sudoku is suitable as a critical thinking game that both kids and adults enjoy to play. It stimulates other types of cognitive skills like attention and concentration too, so playing Sudoku is always a good choice.

MentalUP Educational Games are designed by academicians, game designers, and scientists to support the mental development process of your children. Because they are in the category of best safe kids games , you can be at ease! 🌈 You can benefit from MentalUP, which is among the best funny apps for kids to boost their skills. 💪

Try MentalUP

Problem Solving Techniques – Best Methods with Examples

How To Succeed in School

What Is Logical Thinking? 8 Tips to Improve Logic

Left Brain and Right Brain Development: Activities & Exercises

Parents' Guide

Developing critical thinking in preteens, introduction.

Teaching your child how to think critically and how to be a critical thinker is now more than ever an important foundational responsibility of parenthood. Challenges abound and there are more pitfalls in today’s media and technology driven society.

Throughout this guide you’ll find case studies, practical exercises, resources, and informational pages designed to assist parents to better understand age specific developmental factors that influence how children can the necessary develop critical thinking skills they need to effectively navigate their formative years as well as their future adult lives.

The four factors (basic reasoning, self-esteem, emotional management, and social norms) we examined in the first part of this guide, concerning children aged five to nine, are still relevant when considering the development of critical thinking in young people aged 10 to 12.

Why is it important to develop critical thinking skills?

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about your actions and your surroundings. Children, given their formative stages of development, are especially vulnerable to outside influences as they’re still developing their capacity for independent thinking and personal identities.

A strong foundation with regard to critical thinking skills allows children to better navigate their surroundings and their relationships with their parents and peers, and even with themselves. The development of these skills is a lifelong process and you may find that even you, as a parent, can gain valuable insights into your own personal development.

Ways to increase critical thinking skills

The development of critical thinking in children aged 10 to 12 will be particularly influenced by the following three factors, around which this section of the guide is organized:

• The development of the ability to reason logically, allowing children to go beyond everyday argument.
• Puberty and its implications for children’s interests, self-esteem, and ability to manage their emotions.
• The digital universe, including video games, internet use, and the development of a new social life (or pseudo-social life) on social networks targeting young people.

These factors both deepen the child’s development in critical thinking and present new obstacles. There is much parents can do to help them further their development along productive tracks and avoid potential pitfalls. 

In terms of reasoning, the big step forward at this age involves the heightened capacity for abstraction and formal logic. Where younger children apply rudimentary reasoning to concrete situations encountered in everyday life, the 10- to 12-year-old begins to draw more general conclusions from his or her everyday experience. Parents can encourage this move to greater abstraction by continually challenging their children with more complex discussions at home and by working on basic formal logic exercises with them. 

This development is challenged by both the onset of puberty—along with the emotions and the process of individuation that accompany it—as well as by the new digital distractions children are increasingly exposed to during this period. Social networks, especially, can put a strain on children at this age.

But if adolescents manage to overcome some of these obstacles to cognitive development, critical thinking can itself serve as a way to channel some of their new energy, curiosity, and desire for independence. By recognizing the changes their child is going through and facilitating intellectual growth, parents can help make this challenging time an exciting and productive one, and prepare their children for the further cognitive advances to come in young adulthood. 

1. Cognitive Biases

In children aged 10 to 12, the argumentative capabilities that we have analyzed in younger children can mature into lines of genuine reasoning, which are increasingly effective and cogent.

Logic, therefore, comes to play a more important role, even though at this age it is primarily applicable only in concrete and imaginable situations and remains subject to multiple cognitive biases. 

What is cognitive bias?

As children’s cognitive capabilities mature, they begin to reason and make judgments about more complex topics. But children are often highly  vulnerable to cognitive biases and errors at this age. They tend to generalize based on their own limited experience.

Parents can help by encouraging children to reflect on their limitations and by bringing up alternative perspectives.

What are examples of cognitive bias?

At a higher cognitive level (for example, in memorizing and recognizing), we encounter cognitive biases. For example, we memorize faces in the context in which we encounter them. If, for example, I only ever see the local baker in the bakery, we may well struggle to recognize each other if we meet by chance on vacation. This is a cognitive bias. 

How can you overcome cognitive bias?

We have all experienced this human bias, but recognizing real life examples of cognitive bias requires a metacognitive process. Unfortunately, metacognition (that is, being aware of a bias) often does not help us correct it. As a rule, the lower the level at which the bias operates (for example, in perception), the greater its resistance to metacognition.

Yet, there is an area in which metacognition does manage to correct certain common cognitive biases: the sphere of social cognition. For example, our cognitive system tends to produce overgeneralizations, which is how social stereotypes are born. The idea that “women are kinder than men” is a social stereotype.

If we learn to understand through metacognition (that is, through a cognitive process capable of analyzing, even correcting, other cognitive processes) how our tendency to overgeneralize leads us to harmful, unjust, and even dangerous stereotypes, we can thus try to stop ourselves from overgeneralizing and overcome common biases. In social cognition, metacognition (which can be improved with practice) is effective in reducing the possibly disastrous effects of cognitive biases.

2. The Development of Reason

What does reasoning mean.

Reasoning is defined as the process by which you reach a conclusion after thinking about all the facts. There are several types of reasoning and each provide some insight into how the human mind processes information. The most commonly referenced types of reasoning are deductive reasoning,  inductive reasoning, and abductive reasoning.

What are 3 types of reasoning?

Deductive reasoning is a formal logic process of reasoning  that uses information from one or more statements or premises  to reach a logically certain conclusion. It’s a form of top-down formal logic that you use everyday to navigate both small and large tasks and problems.

Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which observations are taken and considered as evidence for a plausible truth. It’s a bottom-up logic that unlike deductive reasoning doesn’t end with a certain conclusion but rather a probable conclusion.

Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference that seeks to find the most likely conclusion from a set of observations. Like inductive reasoning this form of reasoning leads to a probable conclusion rather than a certain conclusion. Where they differ is that abductive reasoning looks for a cause and effect relationship whereas inductive reasoning seeks to form probable conclusions from general rules.

At this age, children’s reasoning evolves from a focus on the concrete world toward increasingly abstract problems. Children make progress by way of challenges that force them to think more abstractly.

Parents can help by supplementing their school learning with games, discussions, and problems that exercise their emerging logic and reasoning abilities.

Reasoning skills

In terms of reasoning skills, children aged 10 to 12 undergo a stage between the “concrete operational stage” (where children reason only with immediately present objects) and the “formal operational stage” (where abstract reasoning detached from the sensory world becomes possible). 

It is worth reiterating that from the age of nine or 10, children improve their ability to conceptualize and create lines of reason and reasoning that still nonetheless require a direct relationship to concrete factors. A certain degree of abstraction also allows children to develop reasoning ability and grapple with disciplines like mathematics beyond arithmetic. It becomes possible for them to resolve problems involving numbers and reasoning, but which still involve immediately present objects. The ability to systematically resolve abstract problems involving several variables is rare at this stage.

From the age of 11 to 12, children gradually develop what Piaget called “formal operations.” The new capacities that come with this stage, such as working logically with if-then statements and establishing abstract relationships, are generally mastered around the age of 15 or 16. At the end of this stage, teenagers can, like adults, use formal and abstract logic, but only if they have learned the language of logic (“if,” “then,” “therefore,” etc.) and have practiced using it. Teenagers also become capable of extrapolating and generalizing on the basis of concrete situations.

Therefore, between the ages of 10 and 12, children should be stimulated intellectually and pushed to reflect on and establish lines of basic logical reasoning. In this way parents can help them gradually move beyond the everyday logic based on action and observation onto logic based on rules of deduction that are independent of the situation at hand.

Reasoning examples

Our mind develops concepts by extracting shared features from a variety of different objects. For example, young children who hear the word “tree” spoken by others every time they encounter a dry plant 1 to 2 meters tall (dry climate trees like the Sahelian tree) will automatically extract shared features in order to produce a model of the concept of a tree. 

But they have never had a formal definition of the word. If we take these children to a temperate climate for the first time, stand under a verdant 20-meter oak tree, and tell them it is a tree too, their previously established model will collapse. This immense object, very leafy and very green, with a central, vertical trunk, does not respond to their “visual concept” of a tree —based only on small, dry plants. This collapse forces the cognitive system to revise its concept of tree, defining it with more complex and increasingly abstract properties that are common to the large, green oak tree and the small, dry plant.

Patterns and Reasoning

We learn about our environment and our native language in this way, departing from concrete situations and creating an assembly of memorized links between words and sensory representations.

It would be convenient to have a formal, universal definition for a tree and to simply insert it into a child’s cognitive system. But this is impossible: on the one hand, because children have yet to master basic language and even less so logical language; and on the other, because children are not yet capable of learning by deduction.

But children can train themselves to identify and extract invariable properties of increasing complexity—creating a mental representation of the world by repeatedly calling into question and refining the concepts created by the cognitive system. Through this process and through the progressive accumulation of vocabulary, children become capable of extracting representations not only from sensory fact, but also from previously memorized representations.

One way to define thinking is the articulation of representations combined at will through language in one’s mind. When this combination of representations is structured by links of deduction (if-then statements), this thought becomes reasoning.

A field of immense possibilities opens up before teenagers, who become able to reason toward universal conclusions in unfamiliar contexts.

Near age 10, situations requiring logical deduction will be gradually encountered at school. Students will be forced to consider when and how to use basic operations to resolve concrete problems. These situations are also sometimes encountered in a family setting, if the child’s parents promote an environment favorable to reasoning and if they take the time to make sure it benefits their child.

Through encountering situations requiring deduction, in which we collect data, work through it rationally, and reach a conclusion, children will gradually manage to identify invariable properties in the data and to internalize the rules for deduction. 

This begins developing slowly but surely around the age of 11 and stabilizes toward the ages of 14 to 15. This is how children reach the formal operational stage. Reasoning no longer requires imaginable, concrete situations. It no longer requires concrete elements, and it is even freed of the need to draw on memories of previously resolved problems. A field of immense possibilities opens up before teenagers, who become able to reason toward universal conclusions in unfamiliar contexts.

But this only happens if they are spurred on by having problems to resolve. Logical ability only improves with training. Adults must therefore encourage children to resolve problems. The struggle will create multiple new neural pathways and networks in the brain. These challenges are indispensable for the development of the brain and the capacity for reasoning.

3. Universal Reasoning

The capacity for universal reasoning—using the logical rules of deduction—begins to grow around the ages of 10 to 12. This means children can start using logic in situations that are not concrete—in areas that seem ruled only by language. The development of this faculty allows children to turn a critical gaze on someone else’s remarks. At this age, reasoning can become a powerful tool, especially to combat faulty or misleading reasoning.

During this intermediary stage, between the ages of 10 and 12, it is fundamental that parents train themselves if they are to aid the development of logical competence and critical reasoning in their children. To this end, families can play logic games, escape games, enigmas, or investigative games such as Clue together, combining the task of reasoning with fun.

As their reasoning becomes more abstract, children can begin to construct arguments of increasing complexity. They also start learning to identify errors in other people’s arguments.

If the child rounds off what they have learned at school within a family environment which promotes reasoning, this places their critical faculties in good stead when it comes time to progress onto more powerful, more universal critical reasoning.

We have seen that from the ages of five to 10, argumentation is a way of nourishing the child’s critical faculties in the period prior to the development of reasoning faculties. From the age of 10, the development of logical skills and the growing body of acquired knowledge will allow the child to combine argumentation and reasoning to support the effective use of critical thinking.

It is far easier to weaken, or even disprove, an idea through critical reasoning than it is to demonstrate its validity. For example, if someone makes a sweeping statement like, “Female politicians are all less aggressive than male politicians,” one needs only to use a  counterexample to prove that this is false. 

It would be more difficult to disprove the claim that female politicians are less aggressive than male politicians, on average. We cannot prove this false by way of a counterexample, a single “aggressive” female politician. 

This kind of logical error is often made even by adults. Demonstrating that the latter proposition is true or false would require a rigorous method, reliable indicators, and statistical calculations. By undertaking this kind of logical procedure, we can teach older children to go beyond mere argumentation.

Universal Reasoning

4. puberty and adolescence, encouraging effort in the name of deferred gratification.

When the reproductive system begins to function, sexual hormones induce changes and veritable upheavals on every level. The brain is deeply impacted, and several interests and character traits can change considerably.

Puberty is itself influenced by numerous biological, psychological, cognitive, sociological, and chemical factors. We are seeing an increasingly early onset of puberty as a result of synthetic chemical substances called endocrine disruptors . 

The age between 10 and 12 is particularly fraught for many children because of the physical changes brought on by puberty. It is also a transitional phase in their cognitive development. Strong critical thinking skills can help stabilize this period, especially if children are able, with the help of their parents, to avoid distractions.

Exposure to media outlets and the internet plays a role in this as well: sexualized content that is increasingly accessible to young people contributes to directing their central nervous and hormonal systems (consciously or not) toward competition, seduction, aggression, and sexual impulses—in short, toward the survival of the species.

The immediate pursuit of pleasure is encouraged prematurely in pre-adolescents by advertising, magazines, films, TV, and the internet. Social norms also push in this direction: sports personalities, artists, educators, and psychologists talk more about pleasure than they do about effort. Yet, we have seen that, at the age when puberty starts, reasoning and formal logic gradually start to take root through practice and intellectual effort.

There are two opposing movements at play. On the one hand, we have the development of knowledge and understanding (language, reasoning, problem solving). This takes place through school, family, sports, the arts, and certain media outlets that can aid the development of the faculties of reasoning and critical argumentation. 

On the other hand, puberty and the norms of immediate gratification and freedom for all tend to direct thoughts and behavior toward rapidly attained pleasures that require the least possible effort—far from the demands of critical thinking.

Puberty vs. Critical Reasoning

It is therefore wise to start training children as early as possible (from earliest childhood) to use their faculties of reasoning. Once this habit has taken root, not even puberty or phases of adolescent conflict can destroy these critical faculties. They become something akin to a second language.

Teenagers do not destroy their mother tongue even if they reject virtually everything associated with their family and society. They may use terms and expressions specific to their age group, but these remain rooted to the language they learned when they were younger.

The window between the ages of 10 and 12—the pivotal moment between childhood and adolescence—is an optimal time for developing and consolidating critical faculties.

Likewise attitudes, behavior, and understanding acquired prior to their adolescence may be called into question during this critical period. But they are not wholly eliminated, and they also return at the end of adolescence. This is, in fact, how our culture is passed down.

In fact, intellectual curiosity is often high as students reach the end of primary school. Psychoanalyst Melanie Klein called this thirst for learning, “the  epistemophilic instinct .” Freud spoke of the  sublimation  of impulses at this stage, that is, the diverting of energy from unconscious sexual impulses toward sporting or intellectual activities.

We should seize this moment before puberty to direct children toward intellectual pleasure and critical reasoning. Children from ages 10 to 12 have the capacity to hone their critical faculties for reasoning and argumentation. They must be exposed to a multitude of subjects and be encouraged not to accept everything they read or hear. In a majority of cases, this works well. The influence of parents and schools remains solid even as the need to affirm and distinguish oneself develops.

5. Adolescent Social Life

Social development in adolescence.

In addition to changes in personality and behavior, puberty tends to set in motion changes to the child’s social life. It generates a massive boost of individuation in children, and thus their parents’ “fall from grace.” Children begin distancing themselves from their parents, both on a psychological level and at the level of occupations and interests.

Pre-adolescents start to define themselves by their circle of friends at school or elsewhere. New social influences gradually contribute to the decoupling of children from their parents.

In these new social encounters, as well as in intellectual challenges, children often experience error and failure along with many other social challenges of adolescence. These can be tough experiences at this age in terms of identity and emotion. On a neurophysiological level, sexual hormones increase emotional instability. On a psychological level, the conflict between the desire for emancipation, on the one hand, and inexperience and gaps in knowledge, on the other, brings failure, notably in human relationships.

Children seek to break out of the family cocoon through their ideas, tastes, actions, and activities. But their lack of experience often makes them awkward. Parents must help them to deal with their errors in practical terms and without histrionics. Parents must also encourage them to persevere without bringing their whole existence into question at the slightest mistake.

Children’s social lives tend to undergo dramatic changes around this age, presenting new challenges. These can put a strain on children’s emotions. Parents can help by encouraging growth and new intellectual pursuits pursuits as well as helping children identify interests that will engage them.

Emotional social development in adolescence

At 10 to 12 years of age, emotional management becomes challenging. Emotional management takes place in nerve centers that are still immature at this stage. And puberty, of course,  intensifies emotions  and can lead children to act out.

By spending enjoyable downtime with their children (going fishing or playing chess, for example) parents can help them rein in the chaotic side of their emotions and restore a sense of calm while addressing the social needs of adolescence. With their emotions in check, children can access their critical faculties more serenely, drawing upon their cognitive faculties without being overwhelmed by emotions that are too strong to manage.

At this age, critical faculties can respond to rigorous intellectual demands. The prefrontal lobe has developed considerably, allowing executive functions to analyze situations, break down problems, and plan the stages and actions required to resolve them. This executive understanding combines with a growing mastery of language—both in comprehension and production—to develop critical reasoning and enable children to deal with complex situations or ideas.

But we must consider the growing individuality of pre-adolescents and help them find and develop their own interests so that they can invest in them and hone their critical faculties on them. Cultivating their interests and assisting them in their reasoning not only helps critical faculties mature into ingrained character traits, but also helps critical thinking mature into critical reasoning. By finding happiness in applying their reasoned point of view to areas that interest them, children will learn to practice such critical reasoning more generally.

At this age, other people’s perspectives play an increasingly important role for children. Though they may seem to be becoming more independent, often children are just coming under new influences. Friends, YouTubers, and other figures gradually replace parents.

What are some factors that influence emotional changes throughout adolescence?

We must consider the growing individuality of pre-adolescents and help them find and develop their own interests so that they can invest in them and hone their critical faculties on them. Cultivating their interests and assisting them in their reasoning not only helps critical faculties mature into ingrained character traits, but also helps critical thinking mature into critical reasoning. By finding happiness in applying their reasoned point of view to areas that interest them, children will learn to practice such critical reasoning more generally.

At this age, other people’s perspectives play an increasingly important role for children.  Though they may seem to be becoming more independent, often children are just coming under new influences. Friends, YouTubers, and other figures gradually replace parents as their social development deepens..

Parents should alternate between playing the role of educators and protectors and that of supportive “friends” who help their children become individuals.

It is essential to reinforce positive sentiments toward children and to spend quality time that is not “educational” with them. This maintains a healthy bond and parents’ influence despite normal and necessary individuation. Quality time such as this will contribute greatly to maintaining high levels of self-esteem. Children also won’t feel as if they are simply education receptacles. By participating in, rather than resisting, individuation parents can better protect their children from harmful influences of undesirable friends or the internet.

Self-Esteem

For children aged 10 to 12, social aspects of adolescence and the development of self-esteem are intrinsically tied. This requires striking a balance between educational time and time for fun, where the hierarchy of teaching is put on hold. In such moments, children feel that they’re being treated as people and can more easily accept the advice and authority of parents and educators in the face of other influences, which may turn out to be harmful or dangerous.

Parents should alternate between playing the role of educators and protectors and that of supportive “friends” who help their children become individuals. If this balance is struck successfully, children’s self-esteem becomes firmly rooted. Their critical faculties can, furthermore, be used to reject harmful influences.

But from this point onward, an opposing force to critical thinking is a part of many children’s lives: the digital universe.

6. Media and Children

For 10 to 12 year olds, the digital universe is principally centered on two domains: gaming and using the internet to watch videos or simply browse.

We have seen how puberty exacerbates emotions, which makes it more difficult to manage them. The primary challenge is to resist the temptations of instant gratification and of giving in to one’s impulses. Controlling and distancing oneself from one’s own emotions is indispensable to critical thinking and reasoning at any age.

Impact of media on children

You may be wondering what are the negative effects of media. The digital universe has an adverse effect primarily on emotional control.

At this challenging age, digital distractions can easily become a way for children to avoid painful emotions. Parental control software and other limits can help control how media influences child development. But it’s more important that parents help their children work through these emotions. Parents should also spend time discussing the harms of excessive screen time with their children.

Firstly, gaming, like web browsing, transports us into the realm of imagination and magic, akin to that of our earliest childhood. For example, we can have many lives after having been “killed,” we can teleport wherever we like, and we can rapidly obtain answers to numerous questions. This begs the question of what effect this has on the immediate gratification of our impulses. Yet, this seemingly infinite power does not reward the effort and distancing necessary for the development of critical thinking and reasoning.

Moreover, we have seen that children’s distancing themselves from their parents is complicated, notably because their identities are still works in progress. Online, children witness the emergence of a new cohort of idols from YouTube and elsewhere. They also encounter multiple characters while gaming; they can even begin to identify with these characters. 

In this way, grappling with frustrations linked to puberty (foiled freedoms and impulses) and with an identity still “under construction,” children can escape their negative emotions through gaming: at the push of a button they can enter a separate world. Alternatively, they can assume an online life through videos posted by other children.

By fleeing their emotions through digital distractions, children deprive themselves of an opportunity to reflect on and overcome their emotions and impulses.

How media influences children's behaviour, 7. video game addiction, causes of video game addiction.

Video games are more accessible and inexpensive than ever. Phones, tablets, and computers can all be used for playing video games. And the days when video games could only be played on pricey consoles are long gone. Accordingly, the video-game business model is evolving.

Today, many children aged 10 to 12 own a phone, a tablet, and/or a console. And, of course, today these technologies can all be easily and systematically connected via the internet. The “freemium” subscription model entices many children to nag their parents to purchase such-and-such virtual accessory. A  game that was initially free can end up costing a lot of money.

Video games are more widespread and accessible than ever. Addiction and overexposure are genuine problems that can stunt children’s cognitive development. Parents should be clear about these problems with their children and take steps to address them early on.

We know that this intermediary period between childhood and adolescence is a sensitive time. Many children, especially boys, are drawn in by games in which power and violence predominate. These video games respond simultaneously to impulses aroused by puberty and to the need to escape the unpleasant realities of daily life (e.g., school). Such games are more and more commonly designed to be addictive. Today, children’s addiction to video games is an affliction recognized by both psychiatrists and psychologists. Of course, not every child who plays these games reaches this point, but addiction must be recognized as a danger.

When asking how to stop video game addiction it’s important to understand the underlying mechanisms at play. Our brains are genetically programmed to seek pleasure and satisfy our impulses. It is only education that can lead children to control and defer their impulses. The pleasure of playing a video game and being forced to stop sets off a sensation of withdrawal from the so-called neurological reward circuit. This is the same addictive mechanism at work with drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol.

The part of the brain which allows us to defer pleasure and control our emotions and impulses is located in the prefrontal lobe. If children regularly cave in the face of immediate gratification, they do not have the mental energy to self-regulate. From the age of 10 to 12, the prefrontal lobe, whose function is to inhibit, is far from being fully developed (which happens after the age of 20). What’s more, the less children try to stop themselves playing, the less they reinforce their inhibitive neural networks, and the more difficult this task becomes.

Anyone who becomes a video game addict, be they a child or adult, begins losing interest in other activities.

Effects of video game addiction.

What relationship can we establish between this phenomenon and the development of critical thinking and reasoning? Addiction to any substance or activity adversely affects our self-image. Anyone who finds themselves addicted, be they children or adults, begins losing interest in other activities. They don’t feel that intellectual, cultural, or sporting activities have anything to offer. The only things that are important are immediate gratification and that which invokes it. This no longer leaves any room for critical thinking and reasoning and can even cause regression.

Addicted children will rationalize their lack of motivation by stating that everything else is uninteresting and that they play the game out of free will—because it’s the only interesting thing out there. This absence of critical thinking about oneself will forestall the possibility of shaking the addiction and even leads to video game withdrawal.

Overexposure to video games can therefore be disastrous for pre-adolescents and teenagers in terms of the development of their critical faculties. It can affect children’s future for good. It can deprive children from experience in sublimating their impulses and in taking joy in learning.

How to stop video game addiction

• Wait as long as possible before introducing children to video games, other than those which are cognitively or intellectually stimulating. 
• Guide children in the direction of games that do not play into impulses linked to domination, violence, or seduction, but that instead stimulate curiosity and reflection. You can find some good examples here .
• If children have already taken a liking to an addictive game, it will be necessary to limit their access to it and to make it conditional on participating in other activities that facilitate critical thinking and reasoning.
• Parents should also converse with an addicted child to try to get them to recognize that games are stifling his or her interest in other things.

Video-Game Addiction

8. children and the internet.

The Internet can be an extraordinary tool for developing children’s critical faculties, but, if it’s used without care or reflection, it can quickly become toxic.

Everything that has been said about video games also applies to various parts of the internet.

Studies have shown that a significant percentage of children  have already watched pornographic videos . Just as in the case of video games, these videos can become addictive and have the same effects on critical thinking and reasoning. Moreover, unlimited viewing of pornography from the age of 10 to 12 disturbs children when they are at an important developmental stage.

Also troubling can be the personal channels run by video content creators. Certain channels have millions of followers  who are often very young children . Some of this content is, well, drivel, and some inspires violent, provocative, and/or disrespectful behavior.

The Internet is, for this younger generation, the place where the “truth”—the world beyond their limited experience—emerges. Earlier generations had the same relationship to what they saw on television. But the internet has an almost boundless capacity for broadcasting, targeting, and updating.

Like video games, the internet can pose serious problems for children’s cognitive development. Online advertising, inappropriate content, and bad information can all hamper children’s critical faculties.

Parents should impose limits, keep an eye on their children’s activity and habits, and spend time browsing the internet with their children and practicing good habits.

We must help children learn to evaluate information online by reading and browsing attentively and checking facts.

Internet safety for children

“ Fake news ” arises from the convergence of this power, the ill intentions of certain agents, and a lack of critical acumen in consumers analyzing information. This is a growing problem. We must help children learn to evaluate information online through attentive reading and fact-checking.

Texts, videos, and photos are always uploaded for a particular reason. We must first teach children, as soon as they start using the internet, that online content on is not necessarily true. This must be repeated tirelessly.

Sources must be viewed as having varying degrees of credibility (something that bears repeating to adults as well). Wikipedia should not be equated with reputable educational institutions like Harvard or Oxford. We should also teach students which sites are reliable for each area of knowledge, whether it be IT, science, or culture.

How should parents monitor their children's internet use

Parental supervision on the internet is essential. Parents should keep quantitative and qualitative surveillance over children’s Internet browsing. For this, parental control software is required. But this is becoming more and more difficult, notably because of mobile phones, which can access the internet in its entirety. It is therefore necessary to spend time browsing with children, to set a good example of healthy browsing habits. Stupid, derisive, pornographic, and violent websites and videos must be forbidden.

Internet risks for children are numerous. That said, we must not lose sight of the fact that the internet also provides a magnificent opportunity to develop children’s critical faculties. If children are guided well by their teachers and parents, they will find many activities to nourish their curiosity, increase their general knowledge, laugh, and encounter artistic (or other) expressions of emotions. They can also be entertained by videos on the art of rhetoric and logic, which are not taught in elementary or primary school.

Excellent content and methodology for developing critical and reasoning faculties can be found on the internet. It is all a question of adults guiding children. The adults themselves must call into question their own use of the internet and their own application of their critical faculties. We can only teach what we know. Here are a few examples of reliable educational content online:

PBS | Encyclopedia Britannica | Library of Congress | Digital Public Library of America | Khan Academy | TedEd

Searching the Web

Browsing and marketing, reboot case studies.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Whereas younger children are typically only capable of refining their everyday reasoning, which is bound to a particular concrete situation, adolescents are increasingly able to use abstract reasoning and formal logic in arguments. They can formulate and evaluate deductive arguments. 

At this stage, therefore, parents should begin to push their children to formulate arguments in more coherent logical terms. They should point out mistakes in logical deduction, logical leaps, or the use of unwarranted generalizations, and they should challenge their children to use more abstract reasoning in evaluating the claims that others make.

Consider the following anecdote:

Lionel, 11 years old, says to Pamela: “Motorcyclists are all reckless drivers. My father doesn’t have a motorcycle. So he’s not a reckless driver.”

From the age of 10, more and more children, when tasked with a puzzle requiring the use of logic, can respond like Helen does: “Just because your father doesn’t have a motorcycle doesn’t mean he’s not a reckless driver.”

It is unlikely that a 10 year old would come up with such a response but it becomes increasingly likely as they approach the age of 15. 

Yet, some adults can make claims like Lionel’s over the entire course of their lives, fostering a culture of illogical thought within their respective families. This will contribute to difficulties with mathematics, which will appear as soon as higher reasoning beyond arithmetic is required.

At this age, it is possible for children to begin to grasp logical concepts and logical entailment more precisely. Their development in this regard can be helped by prompting from parents and teachers. Ask them, for example, to explain exactly why Lionel’s argument doesn’t work. Are the facts on which he bases his argument true? Does his conclusion follow from them? How could he change the argument to make it coherent? 

During early adolescence, puberty inevitably threatens to interfere with schoolwork, attention, and cognitive development more generally. It is crucial for parents not to make their children feel ashamed about these changes or blameworthy for them. Instead, parents should be sure to reinforce the fact that these changes and the challenges they produce are universal and positive. 

At the same time, they should help their child prevent the challenges of puberty from interfering with developmental goals. In the anecdote below, two different approaches to addressing a problem puberty presents to cognitive development are offered.

Sarah and Paul are in sixth grade. This morning, they are seated next to each other in science class. The teacher is lecturing on the diversity of living beings and their classifications.

Sarah and Paul share a passion for animals and would normally both be interested in the teacher’s lecture. Yet, since the beginning of term, they have fostered a romantic interest in each other, passing notes of affection written in their diaries, not following anything taught in the class, and certainly not taking any notes on the coursework.

The teacher eventually picks up on their behavior, confiscates the notes, and contacts the two children’s parents.

Sarah’s father, who is very angry after speaking with the teacher, summons Sarah for “a discussion.”

He forbids her from sitting next to Paul in class. “You’re too young for this,” he tells her, alluding to the love notes exchanged between the two kids. Furthermore, he declares, from now on, every night he will check to see if Sarah has taken notes in all of her classes that day. “And if this keeps up, I’ll contact Paul’s parents and find out exactly what is going on,” he concludes.

Sarah goes to her room, sobbing and feeling ashamed.

Paul’s father waits until bedtime. As he goes to wish his son goodnight, he tells him that he received a phone call from the science teacher. “He’s worried about your studies, you know. He doesn’t want you to give up on science.” 

Paul’s father then talks to him about Sarah. “Being in love is a beautiful thing, and I’m happy for you. It’s the best thing that can happen to you. But you need to be careful. It’s such a strong emotion that it can sweep away everything in its path! If you and Sarah neglect your school work, you will have to catch up on your classes from your friends, and it’s not easy to understand someone else’s notes, because everyone has their own way of doing it. 

“Plus, if you don’t listen in class, a great deal of information slips by you; and then you’ll be in trouble for your exams. The risk is that you or Sarah, or both of you, will get bad grades. That’s not what you want, is it? Neither for you nor for Sarah? Promise me that you’ll talk to her. You will have other moments to talk to each other. She can come here one afternoon, if her parents are okay with that, or she can come to the movies or the swimming pool with us some time.”

In this situation, we can figure out two distinct reactions from the parents:

Sarah’s father tries to overcome the problem by imposing a ban on his daughter. He is denying the beginning of puberty and the impulses that arise from it, construing her behavior as inappropriate. In doing so, he is not ridding her of these impulses, but rather simply inciting her to hide them and even to be ashamed of them.

Paul’s father explains to his son that he understands the situation and that he accepts it . He even says that, in certain respects, it is a very positive situation. He recognizes and acknowledges the beginnings of puberty and the impulses it arouses in his son. For all that, he doesn’t deny the difficulties it produces and tries to make his son understand the risks for both children, how the situation could work against them and eventually cause them a lot of harm. To this end, he proposes several options, including inviting Sarah around outside of school hours. He wagers that his son’s capacities for reason will allow him to overcome the situation, and he assures Paul of his support.

Along with the internet, video games present adolescents with new temptations and new potential obstacles to cognitive development. At its worst, video-game addiction can lead adolescents to replace the real world with a fantasy world. They can come to identify too strongly with fictional characters. Real life can begin to seem dull by comparison with the fast-paced thrills of the game. The consequences for adolescents’ patience, emotional stability, and concentration can be dire.

Twelve-year-old William clutches his gaming console. Playing in his darkened room he prepares to attack a pack of seemingly peaceful wild boars. It’s his first mission of the day. He shoots; the wild boars become enraged and, grunting, surround him, charge, and trample William underfoot. In spite of the assault rifle that he just bought for 50 cents, William is no match for the onslaught. 

On screen, William’s avatar lies dead on the ground. A message appears on the screen, suggesting that he dissociate his soul from its current body and find a new one to inhabit. William accepts. Now William only has an hour to find another body for his avatar, and the countdown has already begun. If he fails, he will lose his streak and the weapons and features purchased using his parents’ credit card. He makes the most of his new status as a phantom, flying over lakes and volcanoes until he reaches the Isle of Sirens… 

A light knocking at his bedroom door diverts his attention. William’s father has come to tell him that it’s lunchtime. But William can’t come down to eat; otherwise he will die. His father insists and his voice goes up a few notches. William flies into a blind rage.

In the wake of this incident, how might William’s parents bring up the issue of video game addiction with him? Here is one suggestion:

“William, this video game has started to take on a problematic role in your life. We are concerned about yesterday, when you didn’t even want to come have lunch with us.”

“It just wasn’t the right time. If I had come down to lunch, I would have died. And I would have lost everything.”

“You wouldn’t have died. OK, maybe your avatar would have died. The real you—William—needs regular, healthy meals. The real you also needs light, fresh air, and exercise. Not to mention a little time with family—and friends. When you spend so much time locked up in your room taking care of your avatar’s needs, you start forgetting about your own!

“How long has it been since you last played ping-pong or volleyball at the park? You used to love that. We want you to realize that the health and strength of your avatar are working at odds with your own health. But he is virtual and you are not. You identify strongly with him, and we sometimes get the impression that you are living his life instead of your own. 

“You love playing your game and we don’t want to stop you from doing so, but we do want to lay down some ground rules, so that you can strike a balance between time spent on your game and time spent doing group activities and playing sports.”

In this situation, William’s parents are trying to make him understand the dynamics of his relationship to the video game. To this end, they explain to him that in order to succeed in the game, he would have to spend all his free time on it (and spend money on accessories); this is exactly the outcome the game’s creators want. 

Consequently, players who wish to succeed in the game must cut themselves off from everything and play for hours on end, which leads to a decline in both their health and their social lives. In a nutshell, the stronger William’s avatar becomes, the weaker William himself becomes. His parents therefore do not suggest banning the video game, but rather spell out for him what they feel is necessary to strike a balance regarding his health and developmental needs.

Searching the Web​

Although the internet puts a wealth of information and media at our fingertips, it is a challenge to filter out the distracting or outright malicious content from what is of value. As adolescents begin to use the internet more independently to complete their homework and pursue their interests, they need guidance and instruction in how to use the internet productively to expand their knowledge and horizons, and in how to avoid distractions and potentially harmful material.

Parents, along with teachers and other adults, can help by accompanying their children when they conduct searches for information online and discussing how to find genuine and useful content. Consider the following anecdote:

Jonathan is very interested in sharks. He owns shark-themed books, games, and even figurines. One rainy Sunday afternoon, he asks his mother if he can watch videos of sharks on the family laptop.

His mother is wary, and she suggests that they browse together.

“So, what are you putting into the search engine?” she asks.

“‘Shark video,’ right?” responds Jonathan.

“OK, try that.”

Here are some of the suggestions on the first page of results from the search engine.

“You see, Jonathan, most of these are violent videos that a child your age shouldn’t be watching. They’re not appropriate for adults either! We don’t even know if these videos are for real. We just can’t tell. And when in doubt, it’s better not to watch them.” 

“You mean that I can’t watch the videos?”

“Not these ones, that’s for sure. They’ll give you nightmares. Let’s go to the National Geographic website. Should we try that? National Geographic is a magazine that’s been around for over 100 years and specializes in great photography of nature, animals, countries, and things like that. The videos on their site are really interesting and beautiful. We won’t find any nonsense there. Here, look…”

“Whoa, OK, that looks good!”

Jonathan’s mother ensures that he understands that anything can be found on the internet, making him especially aware of the lowest-quality content. She shows him how to do a thoughtful, critical search on the internet, ensuring that he only gets verified content. Jonathan now understands that to find a result that corresponds accurately to his demand, it is necessary to consider the best route to take, and that the quickest, most direct route is not necessarily the best.

With the rise of online shopping, online advertising, and other digital marketing techniques, children and adults alike face a new set of obstacles to their concentration and calm. 

While many adults have already developed the habits of mind and attention management techniques to cope with these challenges, children and adolescents are often more vulnerable to them. If children succumb routinely to them, these attempts to control users’ attention can have long-standing negative impacts on cognitive development.  

It is therefore vital that parents set clear ground rules for their children’s use of digital devices and that parents talk to their children about how to avoid getting involuntarily sucked in by marketing ploys. Consider this anecdote:

Iris asks her father for permission to use the family’s digital tablet. She has a passion for horses and wants to watch videos of Arabian thoroughbreds, her favorite breed. After getting permission from her father, she seizes the tablet and types “Arabian thoroughbred” into the search engine.

She starts browsing, looks at some photos, watches some videos, and then cries out: “Dad! Come look. There’s a great book about Arabian thoroughbreds. Can we order it? Please!” 

“Iris, we’ve spoken about this before. Don’t get sucked in. When you search for something on the internet, the search engine uses the keywords you entered and proposes links to you. But it will also try to sell you things related to those words. The company selling that book on Arabian horses pays the search engine to show you their ad. They are working together to try to sell you this book. But you didn’t start by entering, ‘books for sale about Arabian horses,’ did you? You just wanted to see some videos of them.”

“Oh… that’s true. I get it now. It’s true that I wasn’t thinking about books at all when I started searching…”

Iris’s father has ensured that she understands what a “created demand” is and how personalized marketing works on the basis of data provided by search engine users. While her initial desire was simply to obtain information, the search engine suggested Iris make a purchase. 

Free Critical Thinking Resources​

Subscribe to get updates and news about critical thinking, and links to free resources.

Reboot Foundation, 88 Rue De Courcelles, Paris, France 75008

[email protected], ⓒ 2024 - all rights are reserved, privacy overview.

Our mission is to develop tools and resources to help people cultivate a capacity for critical thinking, media literacy, and reflective thought.

15 Critical Thinking Questions for Kids: Spark Curiosity and Problem-Solving Skills

By Maureen Leming

Each student walks across the graduation stage, diploma in one hand and a proverbial toolbox in the other. Inside the box is every skill and piece of knowledge they've learned throughout their childhood. The contents of this toolbox will be their building blocks to success beyond high school.

In addition to impressive classroom discoveries — like producing electricity from potatoes or building their own paper mache volcano — there's a vital skill every student should possess: critical thinking. They'll use this skill to assess, critique, and create, propelling them to thrive in the real world as they participate in engaging conversations and offer constructive solutions to real-world issues.

Fortunately, this valuable skill can be developed both inside and out of the classroom. Teachers and parents can encourage kids to think deeply and critically about the world by asking good questions. We'll explore why, as parents and teachers, the questions we ask our kids matter — and what we can be asking to help them excel.

How Questions Guide Young Students’ Critical Thinking 

Critical thinking is about so much more than simply knowing the facts. Thinking critically involves applying reason and logic to assess arguments and come to your own conclusions. Instead of reciting facts or giving a textbook answer, critical thinking skills encourage students to move beyond knowing information and get to the heart of what they really think and believe. 

15 Questions to Encourage Critical Thinking

What is one of the best ways to encourage critical thinking? By asking excellent questions! 

We have compiled a list of 15 critical thinking sample questions that you, as a teacher or parent, can ask to encourage kids to think outside the box. Let's dive in.

1. How Do You Know This? 

Whether it was by word of mouth, classroom knowledge, or a news report, this question prompts students to consider whether their source of information is reputable.

2. How Would Your Perspective Be Different If You Were on the Opposing Side?

This critical thinking question encourages kids to role-play from an opposing person’s viewpoint and discover a perspective outside their own so that they can better understand the broader situation. Extracurriculars like debate class — mandatory for all Hun middle school students — is a powerful way to accomplish this goal, as students must thoughtfully anticipate their opposition's arguments in order to counter them.

3. How Would You Solve This Problem?

Finding creative solutions to common problems is a valuable life skill. This question is the perfect opportunity to encourage young minds to wander!

4. Do You Agree or Disagree — and Why?

Choosing a side in any debate challenges students to consider both perspectives, weigh the arguments, and make an informed choice. 

5. Why? Why? Why?

Just like when you were a young kid, ask why repeatedly to push students beyond a simple first, second, or even third answer, to get to the real depth. Be careful, though, not to ask them to the point of frustration — you want learning and exploring to be a positive experience.

6. How Could We Avoid This Problem in the Future?

Ask students to apply critical thinking by analyzing how they could prevent a certain issue from reoccurring.

7. Why Does It Matter?

Whether they're learning about a historical event or a mathematical concept, it's important to understand why the topic is relevant today.

8. What's Another Way to Look at This Issue?

It can be easy to learn one worldview and automatically believe it is the only, or the best, way. Challenging kids to think of a creative alternate perspective encourages them to think more broadly.

9. Can You Give Me an Example?

Inventing an example, or pulling from experience to share a real one, is an excellent way to apply critical thinking skills.

10. How Could It Have Ended Differently?

It takes some innovation and careful analysis to storyboard a different ending, considering "what could have been" rather than "what is." 

11. When Will We Be Able to Tell If It Worked?

Kids will be pushed to consider what constitutes success and how it can be measured in scenarios where the results aren't set in stone.

12. Why did you ask that question?

Instead of answering a question at face value, this critical thinking question encourages kids to think about what the merits of the question may be.

13. Who Would Be Affected by This?

Students as the next generation of leaders and game-changers. When making any decision, it's important to consider who will be impacted and how.

14. What Can This Story Teach Us About Our Own Lives?

From literature to social studies, students interact with all kinds of different stories. Help them take these narratives one step further by examining how it relates to their lives.

15. Why Is This a Problem?

Analyzing why something is a problem — rather than just accepting that it is — will help students develop strong problem-solving skills of their own.

The Hun School of Princeton Teaches Critical Thinking

At the Hun School of Princeton, our teachers ask these critical thinking questions, and more, in combination with our student-centered learning approach that helps kids of all ages think critically about what they’re learning. 

As a premier private school in Princeton, NJ , we aim to help students think deeply and develop well-rounded skill sets through immersive, problem-based learning . 

Schedule a tour today to see our program in action!

Schedule a Tour

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Get our mega Halloween worksheets bundle! 👻

10 Tips for Teaching Kids To Be Awesome Critical Thinkers

Help students dig deeper!

For more tips, check out Mentoring Minds’  Critical Thinking Strategies Guide —a flip chart packed with question stems and lesson ideas to help teach kids to become better critical and creative thinkers. 

Getting students to dig deeper and answer questions using higher-level thinking can be a challenge. Here are our favorite tips for teaching critical thinking skills, adapted from Mentoring Minds’ Critical Thinking Strategies Guide,  that help kids solve problems by going beyond the obvious response.

1. Slow down the pace.

It’s easy to fall into a routine of calling on one of the first kids who raises a hand. But if you wait even just 3 to 5 seconds after asking a question, you’ll probably find the pool of students willing to give an answer grows significantly. Plus, it helps the speedy kids learn that the first answer that pops into their head isn’t always the best. There are times you may even want to wait up to a minute or longer if the question is particularly complex or time-consuming. To avoid an awkward pause, you can let kids know that they have 10 seconds to think before answering the question or that you need to see 10 hands raised from volunteers before you hear a response.

2. Pose a Question of the Day.

Put a new spin on bell ringers by asking a Question of the Day. Use a questioning stem (e.g., create a riddle that uses the mathematics term “multiply” in one of the clues or write a letter to a classmate recommending this book) and put it on the board. Students can write answers in their critical-thinking journals. Then have a class discussion at the end of the day.

3. Make a response box.

Write a random critical-thinking question on the board, (e.g., Is there a better way to work out this problem? Explain your thinking.). Give students a specified amount of time to provide a written response and put it in the response box. Pull out entries one by one and read them aloud to the class. Alternatively, you can give a prize—like a homework pass or free time—to the student with the first appropriate response whose name is drawn from the box or to everyone who submitted appropriate answers.

4. Take a side.

First, read a statement that has two opposing views (e.g., Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why?). Ask kids who agree to stand on one side of the room and those who disagree to stand on the other side. Then have kids talk about why they chose each side. They can switch sides if they change their minds during the discussion.

5. Ask “why?” five times.

When you encounter a problem in class, you can help the class come up with a solution by using the Why? Five Times strategy. Ask the first why question (e.g., Why didn’t the class do well on the spelling test?), and after a response is given, ask why four more times (e.g., Why didn’t students study for the test?, Why didn’t students have time to study for the test?, etc.). The idea is that after the fifth question is asked, the problem will be solved.

6. Role-play.

Come up with an imaginary scenario and have kids work through the steps to solve a problem as a class. First, identify the problem and write it as a question (e.g., Why didn’t the science experiment work as planned?). Then brainstorm ideas to solve it and choose the best one to write as a solution statement. Finally, create an action plan to carry out the solution.

7. Go “hitchhiking.”

Practice creative thinking by collaborating on a storyboard. Write a problem on an index card and pin it on the top of a bulletin board. Then put different headings on index cards and pin them below the main card. Have kids brainstorm ideas that develop each of the heading cards and let kids pin them on the board. Encourage kids to “go hitchhiking” by building onto their classmates’ ideas.

8. Turn around.

A great way to focus on the positive in not-so-positive situations is the Turn Around thinking strategy. If a student forgets to bring his homework to school, you can ask, “What good can come of this?” The student can answer with ideas like, “I will change my routine before I go to bed.”

9. Put your pocket chart to good use.

Choose six completed questioning stems from different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and put them in a pocket chart. Choose some strips as mandatory and let kids pick two from the higher levels to answer aloud or in a journal.

10. Hold a Q&A session.

One way you can figure out how well kids are grasping critical-thinking skills is by holding question-and-answer sessions. Ask a variety of questions one-on-one or in small groups and take note of the levels of thought individual students use regularly and avoid over time. You can review your notes to help build more higher-order-thinking questions into your lessons.

FREE E-BOOK! How to Build a 36-Week Character Education Program . S upport  social-emotional learning through a critical thinking lens with  36 projects and activities plus tips, research, and more!

You Might Also Like

5 Critical Thinking Skills Every Kid Needs To Learn (And How To Teach Them)

Teach them to thoughtfully question the world around them. Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

10 of the Best Children’s Books That Promote Critical Thinking

Mikkaka Overstreet

Mikkaka Overstreet is from Louisville, Kentucky by way of Saginaw “Sagnasty”, Michigan. She has been an educator since 2006 and earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction in 2015. By day she is a mild-mannered literacy specialist. By night she sleeps. In between, she daydreams, writes fiction, and reads books. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and cats.

View All posts by Mikkaka Overstreet

Unfortunately, there are people and groups more interested in an industrious than a thoughtful population. The general public doesn’t agree on the purpose of public education . Neither, it seems, do education stakeholders. During recent remarks, North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt declared 2022 “the year of the workforce.”

Truitt explained, “We have got to redefine what the purpose of K–12 education is. Some would say it’s to produce critical thinkers, but my team and I believe that the purpose of a public K–12 education is to prepare students for the postsecondary plans of their choice so that they can be a functioning member of the workforce.”

While that statement makes my skin crawl, it’s more than unsettling: it’s contradictory. Employers regularly cite problem-solving and critical thinking skills as ideal qualities they seek in employees. According to a study from the Association of American Colleges and Universities , 95% of employers view critical thinking specifically as “very important” or “somewhat important.” Thus, preparing kids to think critically is preparing them for the workforce — and beyond.

Undoubtedly, our society needs more critical thinkers . We have lots of problems, both old and new, that will require innovative solutions. The following books will help encourage the next generation of big thinkers.

10 Children’s Books That Promote Critical Thinking

The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López

The incomparable Jacqueline Woodson has done it again. In this newly released children’s book, readers journey into the vivid imaginations of the central characters. Woodson tells the story of children stuck inside because of bad weather. Rather than succumb to boredom, the children use their imaginations to escape the confines of their apartment. Surely, this will inspire children to dream big.

What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom

This inspiring picture book centers on a child with an idea. We get to follow the child as they nurture the idea and watch it grow. Undoubtedly, this simple story will resonate with anyone who has ever been afraid to share their big dreams with the world.

Shadow by Suzy Lee

This gorgeous wordless picture book is a guaranteed hit. The young protagonist uses her imagination and her shadow to create a fantasy world. Mirrored illustrations show both the true objects and the magical world the girl has built.

Going Places by Peter H. Reynolds and Paul A. Reynolds

I’m a big fan of Peter H. Reynolds’s work. He has a whimsical style and encourages creativity and self-love in his several excellent picture books. In this story, written with his twin brother, Reynolds introduces us to another uniquely wonderful protagonist. Maya enters a go-cart competition and must create a winning vehicle out of one of the identical kits given to all contestants. Of course, Maya doesn’t think inside the box she’s given. This is another fun story with a great lesson.

Mistakes Are How I Learn by Kiara Wilson

As we all know, mistakes are a part of the learning process. In this encouraging book, Wilson reminds kids to give themselves grace and space to make mistakes. Similar to The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes , this book is a good reminder for little perfectionists.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

This picture book takes the well-known duck or rabbit puzzle and tells a story. Obviously, readers will feel compelled to see both sides of this argument. This is a humorous introduction to considering varying viewpoints.

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

In this Caldecott Honor winner, seven blind mice try to determine the identity of an unfamiliar object. In Young’s take on the classic Indian tale, each mouse only gathers partial information. Of course, it takes the wisdom of the seventh mouse to put the pieces together and solve the puzzle.

What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban

You can probably guess what’s going to happen in this book, right? Clearly, there’s a metaphor here. Enjoy all the things a child can imagine with outside-of-the-box thinking in this rhythmic tale.

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

This book brilliantly executes a creative concept. Using strange and gorgeous illustrations, Wenzel depicts how differently individuals can perceive the same object. Consequently, readers are pushed to consider multiple viewpoints and how our perceptions color what we see.

Solutions for Cold Feet and Other Little Problems by Carey Sookocheff

Follow one little girl and her dog through the challenges of a normal day in this fun story. The girl asks lots of questions and persists when she encounters problems. This tale will inspire kiddos to see problem-solving as a positive and necessary part of life.

Hopefully, you’ve found something on this list that inspires you to think and dream. If you’d like more content like this, check out 7 Board Books for Woke Babies and 10 Science Books for Curious Kiddos . Read, think, and dream BIG!

You Might Also Like

Translate this page from English...

*Machine translated pages not guaranteed for accuracy. Click Here for our professional translations.

A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Matters

Defining critical thinking dispositions and why they’re crucial..

Posted September 23, 2024 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• Another way to think about and measure critical thinking is to include aspects of motivational dispositions.
• Dispositions include open-mindedness and a willingness to be reflective when evaluating information.
• People scoring low in critical thinking dispositions tend to “keep it simple” when something is complex.
• Critical thinking dispositions help individuals avoid oversimplification and can facilitate awareness of bias.

Critical thinking springs from the notion of reflective thought proposed by Dewey (1933), who borrowed from the work of philosophers such as William James and Charles Peirce. Reflective thought was defined as the process of suspending judgment, remaining open-minded, maintaining a healthy skepticism, and taking responsibility for one’s own development (Gerber et al., 2005; Stoyanov & Kirshner, 2007).

Kurland (1995) suggested, “Critical thinking is concerned with reason, intellectual honesty, and open-mindedness, as opposed to emotionalism, intellectual laziness, and closed-mindedness. Thus, critical thinking involves… considering all possibilities… being precise; considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; weighing the effects of motives and biases; being concerned more with finding the truth than with being right…being aware of one’s own prejudices and biases” (p. 3). Thus, being able to perspective-take and becoming conscious of one’s own biases are potential benefits of critical thinking capacities.

Reviews of the critical thinking literature (e.g., Bensley, 2023) suggest that the assessment of this construct ought to include aspects of motivational dispositions. Numerous frameworks of critical thinking dispositions have been proposed (e.g., Bensley, 2018; Butler & Halpern, 2019; Dwyer, 2017); some commonly identified dispositions are open-mindedness, intellectual engagement, and a proclivity to take a reflective stance or approach to evaluating information and the views and beliefs of both oneself and others. Demir (2022) posited that critical thinking dispositions reflect persons’ attitudes toward and routine ways of responding to new information and diverging ideas, willingness to engage in nuanced and complex rather than either/or reductionistic thinking, and perseverance in attempts to understand and resolve complex problems.

Other examples of dispositions are inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, tolerance for ambiguity, thinking about thinking, honesty in assessing or evaluating biases, and willingness to reconsider one’s own views and ways of doing things (Facione et al., 2001). Individual personality attributes associated with these proclivities include a need for cognition (a desire for intellectual stimulation), which is positively associated with critical thinking, and the need for closure (a motivated cognitive style in which individuals prefer predictability, firm answers, and rapid decision making ) and anti-intellectualism (a resentment of “the life of the mind” and those who represent it), both negatively associated with critical thinking.

Further, an ideological component that can impede critical thinking is dogmatism . In addition, rigid, dichotomous thinking impedes critical thinking in that it oversimplifies the complexity of social life in a pluralistic society (Bensley, 2023; Cheung et al., 2002; Halpern & Dunn, 2021) and tries to reduce complicated phenomena and resolve complex problems via “either/or” formulations and simplistic solutions.

In other words, folks with low critical thinking dispositions would tend to “keep it simple” when something is really quite complicated, and think it absolute terms and categories rather than seeing “the gray” in between the black and white extremes.

In sum, critical thinking dispositions are vitally important because they may help individuals avoid oversimplifying reality; they also permit perspective-taking and can facilitate their awareness of diversity and systematic biases, such as racial or gender bias . Some research has indicated that critical thinking dispositions uniquely contribute to academic performance beyond general cognition (Ren et al., 2020), and may help to reduce unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy beliefs (Bensley, 2023; Lantian et al., 2021).

But before we can study the potential impact of critical thinking dispositions, it is necessary to have a reliable, valid, and hopefully brief measure for this construct. I will discuss the development and validation of a measure of critical thinking dispositions in another post.

Bensley, D.A. ( 2023.) Critical thinking, intelligence, and unsubstantiated beliefs: An integrative review. Journal of Intelligence, 1 , 207. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11110207

Bensley, D.A. (2018). Critical thinking in psychology and everyday life: A guide to effective thinking . New York: Worth Publishers.

Butler, H.A., & Halpern, D.F. (2019). Is critical thinking a better model of intelligence? In Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.) The Nature of Intelligence (pp. 183–96). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cheung, C.-K, Rudowicz. E., Kwan, A., & Yue, X.. (2002). Assessing university students’ general and specific criticalthinking. College Student Journal, 36 , 504 – 25.

Demir, E. (2022). An examination of high school students’ critical thinking dispositions and analytical thinking skills. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 6 , 190–200. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPR.202217357

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process . Lexington: Heath and Company.

Dwyer, C. P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines . Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Facione, P., Facione, N,C,, & Giancarlo, C.A.F. (2001(. California Critical Disposition Inventory . Millbrae: California Academic Press.

Gerber, S., Scott, L., Clements, D.H., & Sarama, J. (2005). Instructor influence on reasoned argument in discussion boards. Educational Technology, Research & Development, 53 , 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504864

Halpern, D. F., & Dunn, D.S. (2021). Critical thinking: A model of intelligence for solving real-world problems. Journal of Intelligence, 9 , 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9020022

Kurland, D. (1995). I know what it says… What does it mean? Critical skills for critical reading . Belmont: Wadsworth.

Lantian, A., Bagneux, V., Delouvee, S., & Gauvrit, N. (2021). Maybe a free thinker but not a critical one: High conspiracybelief is associated with low critical thinking ability. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35 , 674 – 84. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3790

Ren, X., Tong, Y., Peng, P. & Wang, T. (2020). Critical thinking predicts academic performance beyond general cognitiveability: Evidence from adults and children. Intelligence, 82 , 101487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101487

Stoyanov, S., & Kirschner, P. ( 2007). Effect of problem solving support and cognitive styles on idea generation:Implications for technology-enhanced learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40 , 49–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2007.10782496

Kyle D. Killian, Ph.D., LMFT is the author of Interracial Couples, Intimacy and Therapy: Crossing Racial Borders.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Self Tests NEW
• Therapy Center
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

It’s increasingly common for someone to be diagnosed with a condition such as ADHD or autism as an adult. A diagnosis often brings relief, but it can also come with as many questions as answers.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

Are there any services that can help me use more critical thinking?

We understand that it's difficult to learn how to use critical thinking more effectively in just one article, but our service is here to help.

We are a team specializing in writing essays and other assignments for college students and all other types of customers who need a helping hand in its making. We cover a great range of topics, offer perfect quality work, always deliver on time and aim to leave our customers completely satisfied with what they ordered.

The ordering process is fully online, and it goes as follows:

• Select the topic and the deadline of your essay.
• Provide us with any details, requirements, statements that should be emphasized or particular parts of the essay writing process you struggle with.
• Leave the email address, where your completed order will be sent to.
• Select your prefered payment type, sit back and relax!

With lots of experience on the market, professionally degreed essay writers , online 24/7 customer support and incredibly low prices, you won't find a service offering a better deal than ours.