Why We Must Always Teach Critical Thinking

In the words of Bertrand Russell, "Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed."

Every educator, regardless of year level or subject specialisation, must begin to recognise critical thinking as one of the top skills our students need to succeed beyond school. The base capacity for independent critical thought and its processes enhances some of our other favourite tools and methodologies, like problem-solving and inquiry-based learning (Allegretti & Frederick, 1995). But just how essential are critical thinking skills? Additionally, what evidence can we look to to see the benefits of teaching them to our learners?

Although critical thinking is often widely discussed in many educational circles, the conversations are not always about how to pursue it and the next steps for bringing it into our classrooms. If these are the aptitudes our students require for global workforces in an ever-changing world like ours, doesn't teaching these skills deserve a place of honour in our classrooms?

What we want to do here is find a way to move past discussion and into action. Let's discuss why teaching critical thinking matters to our learners' futures. Afterward, we'll look at how we can make it happen for our young learners as a regular practice in our teaching.

Who Believes in Critical Thinking?

If you look at many education-based organisations, you'll find critical thinking features in almost everyone's extensive list of the skills learners need. For example, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the International Baccalaureate, and the Common Core Standards are just some who reflect this.

Even so, much of the debate seems to revolve around the precise definition of critical thinking. For interest's sake, here are some definitions from around the Web:

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualising, applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action."—University of Lousville

"Critical thinking is a widely accepted educational goal. Its definition is contested, but the competing definitions can be understood as differing conceptions of the same basic concept: careful thinking directed to a goal."—Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking while you're thinking in order to make your thinking better."—Richard W. Paul

"If all I do is 'teach' you things and then you have to show me you 'learned' then, strictly speaking, there is no need for either of us to really think. A need to think only emerges when the work itself is designed to make us both question, really question what we are doing."—Grant Wiggins

Critical thinking is clear, rational, logical, and independent. It's about improving modes of thought by analysing, assessing, and reconstructing how we think (Leicester, 2009). Critical thinking involves mindful communication, problem-solving, and freedom from bias or ego. It's also about thinking in a self-regulated and self-corrective manner.

However, critical thinking isn't easy, and often the assumption is that it's much harder to teach. After all, how do you teach someone to think?

In 2006, Mark D. Halx and L. Earle Reybold wrote an article called "A Pedagogy of Force." In it, they made an observation that is just as relevant as it was over a decade ago. They claimed that even though learning requires effort, critical thinking requires our total expenditure of intellectual capability (Halx & Reybold, 2006). Their research also found that students and teachers both struggle emotionally with the aspect of personal reflection it requires.

Critical thinking isn't easy, and often the assumption is that it's much harder to teach. After all, how do you teach someone to think?

However, the truth is that critical thinking is not something to be feared. Instead, we must learn to embrace it in our schools and classrooms because the world desperately needs it (Holmes, Weiman, & Bonn, 2015). From solving problems and exploring inquiry-based activities in class to facing the challenges of everyday life, we all need critical thinking skills. Beyond this, one study also suggests "most educators agree that it is essential that students develop such skills while engaged in academic learning because they enable students to engage in purposeful, self-regulatory judgment" (Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011).

In addition to the obvious applications, consider the world our children live in now and the one they will inherit. They'll be called on to solve problems and face challenges we cannot conceive. Furthermore, the openness of the Internet and our ability to create and upload our content to social media channels has created an information overload. Therefore, the ability to think critically and analytically using the skills of media savvy and information fluency is crucial for our learners and us.

The Benefits of Critical Thinking Development

While it may not be easy, critical thinking is one of the most worthwhile things we can pursue in our classrooms. But how do we know how beneficial it is? If we teach critical thinking, how do we have a sense of how much good it will actually do our young learners?

We can locate the answers in studies like Predicting Real-World Outcomes (Butler, Pentoney, & Bong, 2017). Critical thinking skills, they deduce, are a far better indicator for making positive life decisions than simple raw intelligence:

"Over one hundred years of research on intelligence testing has shown that scores on standardised tests of intelligence predict a wide range of outcomes, but even the strongest advocates of intelligence testing agree that IQ scores … leave a large portion of the variance unexplained when predicting real-life behaviours … critical thinking ability had a greater association with real life decisions, and it added significantly to explained variance, beyond what was accounted for by intelligence alone." (Butler, Pentoney, & Bong, 2017)

In the Deakin University article 4 Examples of Critical Thinking That Show Its Importance, the following scenario illustrates how critical thinking improves our abilities as problem-solvers:

"Imagine you're at work. Someone, potentially your manager, presents you with a problem. You immediately go off and start looking for solutions. But do you take a step back first to analyse the situation, gathering and reviewing as much information as possible? Do you ask each of the different people involved what their opinion is, or how the problem affects their and the broader business' day-to-day? And do you decide to run with the first solution you find, or take the time to come up with a number of different options and test each before making your final judgement? While a lot of people may think they have problem-solving skills, if you aren't taking the time to follow the above steps, you're not really being a critical thinker. As such, you may not find the best solution to your problem." (Deakin University, 2019)

And what about our classrooms? The Pearson article "The Importance of Teaching Critical Thinking to Students" echoes our own beliefs about this fascinating subject:

"Critical thinking is the foundation of strategic thinking, creative thinking, good judgement and good decision making. Good critical thinking results in the ability to draw the right conclusions more often. The good news is that there is substantial evidence showing that critical thinking can be improved with training. Research also suggested that improving critical thinking ability has a knock-on effect in improving problem-solving ability, openness, creativity, organisation, planning and making the right choices in life." (Zulfiqar, 2018)

The list of critical thinking advocates and accolades goes on, but one thing remains clear: our focus on critical thinking deserves a high seat at the education table. There's no better time to begin shifting to this practice than now.

Research and Discussion Questions

Explore these questions either solo or in a group setting to develop your own next steps for teaching critical thinking.

1. What other benefits of critical thinking are there besides what we've read about?
2. How does critical thinking development shift responsibility for learning to our learners and promote agency among them?
3. What examples can you pinpoint of how we call on critical thinking in everyday life to use as relevant instructional examples that connect to our learners' lives?
4. Why do you think schools have not placed more of a focus on such skills in the past?
5. What improvements have you seen in this over the past few years?
6. What activities would build our learners' capacities to think critically about the subjects we teach?
7. What curricular barriers exist to teaching critical thinking, and how can we overcome them?
8. How do you intend to start bringing critical thinking instruction into your own classrooms?
9. Who can you call on to help you, and how can you help them do the same?
10. How best would you measure students' results and progress with these skills?

Have you ever heard the expression "if it were easy, then someone else would be doing it"? That's the attitude we must take when approaching critical thinking as a goal of teaching and learning. If we can support our learners in acquiring these skills in the safest and most appropriate ways, their benefits are immeasurable. It begins with realising that the teacher shifts to facilitator of knowledge while the learners take the lead.

References

Allegretti, C. L. & Frederick, J. N. (1995). A Model for Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 46-48.

Behar-Horenstein, L. S., & Niu, L. (2011). Teaching critical thinking skills in higher education: A review of the literature. Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 8(2).

Butler, H. Pentoney, C. Bong, M. (2017). Predicting real-world outcomes: Critical thinking ability is a better predictor of life decisions than intelligence. Thinking Skills and Creativity; 25, 38-46.

Deakin University. (2019). 4 examples of critical thinking that show its importance. Retrieved from https://credentials.deakin.edu.au/4-examples-of-critical-thinking-that-show-its-importance/, Dec. 8, 2022.

Halx, M. Reybold, L. (2006). A Pedagogy of Force: Faculty Perspectives of Critical Thinking Capacity in Undergraduate Students. The Journal of General Education. 54. 293-315. 10.1353/jge.2006.0009.

Leicester, M. (2009). Teaching critical thinking skills. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Holmes, N. Wieman, C. Bonn, D. (2015) Teaching critical thinking. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112, Issue 36, Pages 11199-11204. Paul R. & Elder L. (2020). Critical thinking : tools for taking charge of your professional and personal life (Second). Rowman & Littlefield.

Wiggins, G. (n.d.) Lately, I've Been Thinking About A Lack Of Thinking. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/thinking-about-thinking/, Dec. 9, 2022.

Zulfiqar, A. (2018). The importance of teaching critical thinking to students. Retrieved from https://www.talentlens.com.au/blog/teaching-critical-thinking-to-students, Dec. 8, 2022.