Question: In my child's high school, there is great emphasis now on developing critical thinking. For the most part, learning to think critically means working together in teams to solve problems. Is this the best approach? -- Just Thinking
Answer: In too many classes, children are or have been no more than passive receptors of information from their teachers and textbooks. As we all know, the amount of information today is absolutely massive and is likely to continue to grow.
In order to make wise decisions about their own lives as well as civic affairs, children are going to need to learn how to weed through all of this information. The way that they will learn to evaluate information and come to their own conclusions is by learning critical thinking skills, which will give them the ability to make reasoned judgments.
There is no one best way to teach critical thinking. Working as part of a team is considered a good way for teachers to help students become critical thinkers. Being part of a team lets students see multiple approaches to a problem. It also can lead to debates where team members have to defend their positions.
Students also can learn more about how to think critically when their teachers think out loud about how they solved a problem by modeling the specific steps they took. And teachers can give assignments that move far beyond just memorizing and regurgitating facts by asking students to analyze problems and issues and to explore solutions.