Top Strategies for Building Critical Thinking Skills in Students
A question I often get as a podcast guest is, “How do I prepare my child for the future STEM-based workforce?”
My answer has morphed over the years.
While I strongly believe in providing a creative learning environment where kids engage in a more project-based approach to their education, there is one key element that is crucial to our children’s education.
What is that key?
Well, a few years ago, a friend, who is an engineer, had to fill some open positions. When I asked how the search was going, my friend indicated that the biggest challenge wasn’t the lack of “book knowledge” or how to use the design tools. The challenge was finding the critical thinking skills when it came to applying the knowledge to real-life projects.
Critical thinking skills—THAT is the KEY element that needs to be a cornerstone in our children’s education.
If we are to properly prepare our children not just for a STEM career but for life, we have to teach them to work through problems and situations logically, think creatively, and be discerning in their approach to problems.
In the case of my engineer friend, they weren’t just looking to hire someone who could plug data and parameters into a CAD program; their company needed people who understood the logical application of engineering principles and could apply them to the real-world solutions they design for clients.
Is Focusing Specifically on Developing Critical Thinking Skills Really Necessary?
As a homeschool parent, I understand the overwhelm of homeschooling multiple children, with different subjects, and different curriculum.
Now we’re talking about having to focus on intentionally adding critical thinking activities into the mix; this can seem overwhelming.
So, what are the benefits of intentionally focusing on developing critical thinking skills?
An April 2023 article in the International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences analyzed a large sampling of studies on critical thinking and the impact on academic success. The article, entitled Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom*, concluded that teaching students critical thinking:
- Leads to a deeper learning and understanding because students have to analyze information, understand the arguments, and create a well-reasoned response
- Forces students to think of creative solutions to a problem, which leads them to be are more creative in handling increasingly complex problems.
It’s easy to see how these findings illustrate the importance of helping our children develop critical thinking skills in their math, science, and overall education.
A 2017 study published in Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice investigated the relationship between critical thinking skills and academic achievement in elementary school students. The results showed a positive correlation between strong critical thinking abilities and higher academic performance across various subjects, including mathematics, language arts, and science.
A study presented at the International Conference on Science Education and Technology (ICOSETH) in 2020, reported a positive relationship between strong critical thinking skills in students and their learning motivation and performance in high school science (The study focused on performance in high school physics.)
Teaching our children the logic behind math and science concepts and encouraging critical thinking skills as early as elementary school can have numerous benefits for students.
What are some of the key advantages to having strong critical thinking skills? Critical thinking helps develop:
- Problem-solving skills: Critical thinking allows students to approach problems in a systematic and logical manner. They learn how to break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable parts, and find effective solutions. Math is the perfect school subject for developing this approach.
- Analytical thinking: Students develop the ability to analyze information and data critically. They can evaluate different sources of information, identify patterns, and draw well-reasoned conclusions.
- Creativity and innovation: Critical thinking fosters creativity by encouraging students to think outside the box and explore various possibilities. It enables them to come up with innovative solutions to challenges.
- Improved academic performance: As the research above shows, when students understand the logic and reasoning behind math concepts, they are more likely to grasp the material and retain it. This can lead to improved academic performance in math and other subjects that require problem-solving skills.
- Confidence and independence: By learning how to think critically, children become more confident in their abilities to tackle new problems and challenges independently.
- Effective communication: Critical thinking involves articulating thoughts and ideas clearly and logically. Students who develop these skills can communicate their reasoning and thought processes effectively.
- Decision-making skills: Critical thinking helps students make informed and rational decisions. They learn to consider various factors, weigh pros and cons, and make choices based on evidence and sound reasoning.
- Lifelong learning: When children are taught to think critically at a young age, they develop a love for learning and become more curious about the world around them. This sets them up for a lifelong journey of exploration and growth.
- Resilience and adaptability: Critical thinking teaches students to approach setbacks and challenges with resilience. They learn to adapt their strategies and approaches when faced with difficulties, which is a valuable life skill.
- Reduces reliance on rote memorization: When students understand the logic behind math concepts, they are less likely to rely solely on memorization. This leads to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better retention of knowledge.
Where, When, and How Do We Teach Critical Thinking in Our Homeschools
As a homeschool parent who is already teaching math, history, reading, writing, and science how is it possible to now add a dedicated critical thinking “curriculum?”
Critical thinking isn’t so much a curriculum as an approach to the topics already on your child’s homeschool plan, and the earlier we start helping our children develop these skills, the better. The primary grades are an ideal time to start intentionally helping our children develop logical thinking and critical thinking skills, as indicated in the 2017 research study discussed above.
Let’s use math as an example. When we help our children see the why behind solving a problem a certain way, and not just the how we are helping them make foundational connections. We don’t want them to learn a formula or adopt the thinking, “Well, this is just how the instructor says how to do it.”
As their math becomes more difficult and advanced with each grade level, understanding the why behind solving math problems becomes even more critical for success in pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trig, and calculus.
Our children will be in those courses one day; the time to help them develop critical thinking skills is in the elementary grades.
Where Do We Start with Teaching Critical Thinking?
Where do we begin with helping our children develop these skills?
As the 2017 research quoted above indicated, math and science are important areas affected by critical thinking skills, and the elementary grades are a key place to start.
It’s essential in math that our kids don’t just learn the rote formulas and think “this is how we always do it” when approaching a math problem.
My favorite resource for helping our kids delve into math and truly understand the constructs is LABWAY Math. They use a discussion approach to teaching and have a conversation with your child about math. I have had the benefit of observing some of their student sessions, and it truly is a two-way discussion that guides our children into understanding math and the world around them.
I loved what Derrick Latrielle says about math, “We need to slow down in math, not speed up.” In other words, we need to slow down and not just work through the problems and apply the memorized formula. But we need to slow down and help our kids discover the logic of math.”
One of the families in The Homeschool Scientist community used LABWAY for ten weeks (and still do) and shared their experience with us in this review.
At first their teen wasn’t sure he wanted or needed the math coaching, but when it came time for their initial eight weeks to end, he was highly disappointed. So, they continued on with their coaching sessions.
Check out the review to read more about how it helped his logic and critical thinking skills.
Isn’t that one of our goals as parents–raising children who, as adults, are able to think critically, apply logic, analyze, and handle the problems that pop up in our everyday lives.
LABWAY’s use of questioning techniques encourages students to think deeply about concepts and develops critical thinking through inquiry. LABWAYMath coaches come alongside you and your math curriculum and guides your kids through how to talk about math and see the logical connections.
Their coaching does not replace your curriculum; it helps your child understand the why behind the concepts taught in the curriculum.
These coaching discussions are an excellent way to help our kids develop the ability to actively engage in a critical thinking conversation to discover the logic of math. Then, as they develop those conversations and logic and critical thinking skills, our kids are naturally inclined to apply these skills to the real-world.
So, you can see how fostering discernment, communication, and problem-solving skills in our child’s education not only helps them in an area like math, but in all areas of life.
Visit the LABWAYMath website, watch some of their sample coaching sessions, and start your discussion with them NOW.
What Are Other Ways to Help Build Critical Thinking
Here are some other actionable and practical ways to work critical thinking activities into your homeschool:
Science Experiments: Conduct hands-on science experiments where students need to observe, predict, and analyze the results. Encourage them to ask questions and think critically about the scientific concepts involved. Select some of our science experiment activities found here.
Debates and Discussions: Organize debates or discussions on various topics. Spend time as a family talking about a variety of topics or working through a problem. This encourages students to think critically, articulate their ideas, and support their arguments with evidence. Older student can participate in a debate club or present an argumentative paper on a topic.
When I co-taught a Constitutional literacy co-op class, we had the students bring in a current event news article related to the parts of the Constitution we had studied up to that point. It was a great way to help students work through a reasoned discussion and debate response. It was so much fun and led to some lively discussions, even parents started to stay for the class and joined the conversation and debates.
Puzzle Solving: Provide puzzles such as crosswords, Sudoku, logic puzzles, or jigsaw puzzles that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills to complete.
Start early with pattern blocks, geoboards, and tangrams in K-early elementary.
We used to start several homeschool mornings with the Red Herring series of critical thinking brain teasers.
Creative Writing: Assign creative writing tasks that require students to think imaginatively and critically. For example, ask them to write a story with a specific problem that needs to be solved.
Blend a science study with creative writing. In our butterflies and sharks resources, we have incorporated a creative writing assignment. Students are asked to take the facts they’ve learned and weave them into a story about the animals. The goal with these assignments is to step away from memorizing the facts and creatively putting what knowledge had been internalized into a story. Again, building those logic and creativity skills.
Role-Playing: Engage your kids in role-playing scenarios where they need to think critically to make decisions and solve problems as different characters.
Logic Games: Introduce logic games like chess, Catan™, SET™, and Dutch Blitz™, Ticket to Ride, Qwirkle, For younger children, we have enjoyed the Sequence™ series of games. Rush Hour™ was one we used in the car, it is best for ages 8-9 and up.
One of our favorite, low-cost games is to hand out slips of paper and pencils to each player. They then write the name of a historical person, place, or event. We then get to ask questions trying to guess the answer. It was a way to blend the time period in history with some family fun time.
Real-Life Problem Solving: Present real-life scenarios and challenges for your children to brainstorm solutions collaboratively. This can include issues within the your everyday life or your community that they can address.
One way to incorporate real-life problem solving in your community is to look into the issues facing your community. When our community was facing a drought, we visited our city water department to learn what they do. Once the kids in our small co-op of 8 had identified and researched the problem, they were tasked with coming up with an invention homeowners could use to reduce water usage. They then built their proposed product with Legos™.
In a second critical thinking, problem-solving project, I asked the students in our co-op to work together to address another civic-related problem. So, we visited our city traffic division to learn about how they operate and ask questions about traffic issues in our city. Again, we repeated the same assignment of identifying a problem and creating a prototype of their solution.
Mystery Box: Use a mystery box filled with various objects and ask students to make logical deductions about the contents based on clues and sensory information. We also did mystery bags in preschool and kindergarten. If we were studying a certain letter, I’d place objects that started with that letter in the bag. So, it’s easy to incorporate critical thinking activities into what you are already doing.
Predict and Hypothesize: Before conducting certain experiments or reading a story, ask students to predict outcomes or develop hypotheses. Then, discuss the actual results afterward.
Compare and Contrast: Encourage students to compare and contrast different concepts, characters, or events in stories, history, or science to enhance their analytical thinking.
In some of the printables on our freebies page, we incorporate Venn diagrams. Again, incorporating some critical thinking activities can be very simple, but significant.
Take That First Step
So, you see adding a strategy to develop critical thinking in your child is an essential part of their homeschooling, and it’s also very doable with resources like LABWAY Math. Visit LABWAYMath HERE and add their affordable math coaching to your homeschool plan. It’s easy, online, and builds your child’s math confidence!
*You can read the full study here.
I hold a master’s degree in child development and early education and am working on a post-baccalaureate in biology. I spent 15 years working for a biotechnology company developing IT systems in DNA testing laboratories across the US. I taught K4 in a private school, homeschooled my children, and have taught on the mission field in southern Asia. For 4 years, I served on our state’s FIRST Lego League tournament Board and served as the Judging Director. I own thehomeschoolscientist and also write a regular science column for Homeschooling Today Magazine. You’ll also find my writings on the CTCMath blog. Through this site, I have authored over 50 math and science resources.