“As we educate children for the future, we need to teach them to think critically about the information they are receiving. They need to question facts, information and ideas that come from teachers, adults, peers and especially computers. ”
Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog. My name is Elizabeth Blaetz, and I’m the Founder and Head of School at Vanguard Gifted Academy. Today, I’ll be continuing our series, Educating Children for the Future, with a discussion on why educators must promote critical thinking.
The Importance of Critical Thinking In a Digital Age
A couple of decades ago, education faced huge changes because of the growth in computer use. The model of teachers being the “sage on the stage” — imparting knowledge to students who sat excitedly quiet and acted like sponges, absorbing their great wisdom — was going nowhere.
As computers evolved, many thought that computers would just replace teachers. They had all the information; they could share it easily with students. This theory readily became defunct as we realized that students didn’t need to learn how to access information but how to use the information that was readily available at their fingertips. What they need is critical thinking skills — the ability to analyze and apply this wealth of information that is now available to them.
Critical Thinking In Practice
One of my students learned this the hard way during a novel study unit. I was reviewing his work and was quite surprised at his responses. Most of the time he shows a deep understanding of literature, but this time his answers just didn’t seem to jive. I sat down with him to ask him questions about the chapter. When he was unable to answer the questions, he soon admitted that he hadn’t read it. He had merely typed the questions for the chapter into his computer and listed the answers it gave him on his paper. I responded with a chuckle and said, “Well, the computer got the answers wrong. So you’ll have to read the chapter and see if your mind can do better.”
Had my reading student used critical thinking, he would have realized the answers from the computer did not make sense based on his prior reading and our class discussions. Teaching students how to ask questions and analyze information is the key to developing this skill, and its value cannot be overstated. After all, students’ ability to uncover the answers to their own questions is key to their future success, and investigating these and teacher-given questions in school helps them get there.
Staving Off Illusions of Knowledge
Children need to learn to compare, analyze and discuss information, to dig deeper through research to find authentic information and then reflect on those findings. They may find that they have uncovered mistaken understandings — I like to call those “illusions of knowledge” — and are really amazed at the valuable learning they can achieve by leaving them behind. Critical thinking skills lead to improved decision-making, which is an invaluable resource as students continue to problem solve, innovate and create throughout their lives.
That said, beware! Once you turn a child into a critical thinker, your life as a parent or a teacher will change. A young student and I were talking about dinosaurs, and I had included the pterodactyl in our conversation. The student firmly stated the pterodactyl is not a dinosaur. I questioned her knowledge, and she held firm. We did some research, looking at several sources, and, sure enough, she was right. Her classmates were delighted. This occasion led them to question other things I said. I lost the battle, but I won the war — critical thinking was growing in my classroom.
Thank you for reading. We hope that Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog will continue to be a resource for you. If you have any comments or questions about what we’ve discussed today, please visit our website, or call us at (224) 213-0087.
Please join us next time as Dr. Judy Jankowski rejoins us to share about communication and collaboration. I think you’ll be surprised to find the many ways we communicate every day. Before then, catch up on Dr. Jankowski’s previous blog on the state of creativity in education.