How can you accomplish this?
Debate with your child!
When students are forced to take a side and defend a position, it gives them a chance to hone their thinking and articulate their views.
Unfortunately, many students accept one viewpoint without fully looking at the topic from different angles.
Encourage your child to look at both sides of an issue and weigh the positives/negatives BEFORE forming an opinion.
A good critical thinking exercise is to have “friendly debate” with your child:
Pick an interesting and engaging topic.
Have a back-and-forth discussion about the positives and negatives of an issue.
To illustrate this, let’s use a simple topic:
What’s the best dessert?
If your child mentions chocolate ice cream, ask why your child thinks it’s the best.
You can pick a different dessert to encourage a friendly debate.
Discuss the positives and negatives of each dessert- but make sure it’s a conversation.
Children don’t like to be interrogated. The interaction should feel like a casual and engaging discussion.
By having your child consider different sides of an issue, it will help him or her arrive at an informed opinion.
Would you like to learn more about helping your child elevate critical thinking?
Contact us today!