Promoting Critical Thinking in our Primary Classrooms
Story appeared in the 2015 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.
BY ELLEN ARNDT, ALYSSA DZHEVELEKYAN, PATTI SMALL, AND YVONNE SNOW
The concept of critical thinking has been around since the time of Socrates. But how do you teaching critical thinking and habits of the mind to young children who are also busy grasping the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy, all the while learning how to engage and connect with their peers in a positive and compassionate manner?
At Queen Margaret’s School, this means creating a caring environment where kids feel safe to express their ideas free from judgement. It means designing activities where we practice critical thinking, which is defined in the Primary Centre as the ability to use criteria to make decisions. For example, a teacher may pose a question to the students that requires their thoughtful opinion, based on their prior knowledge and ability to analyze detail, such as, “Would it be better to live in a castle or a tree house? Why?” The children would learn to evaluate, by comparing each option and applying their previous knowledge, to form their conclusion.
Another activity we have implemented at the Primary Centre is participating in purposeful discussions about specific characteristics of critical thinkers. For exam-ple, the students would have previously discussed the quote,“Successful people try different ways to solve problems. They think of different approaches,” (taken from a program promoting the habits of mind for children). At the QMS Parents’ Association Easter celebration, for example, groups of students were given a stick of spaghetti, some tape, and a marshmallow and challenged to work together to build the highest freestanding tower possible…with the intact marshmallow on top!
Both in and out of the classroom, students in the Queen Margaret’s School Primary Centre are regularly challenged to apply their critical thinking and problem solving strategies.
When problems arise out on the playground, the students brainstorm ideas back in the classroom and then use critical thinking criteria to decide on the best course of action. Examples of the criteria are:
Is it safe?
Is it fair?
How would others feel about it?
Will it work?
Whether exploring new concepts in the classroom, navigating the playground, or even trying new lunch options in the cafeteria,
the spirit of discovery that guides critical thinking in the Primary Centre also guides our students to when confronted with making decisions in their everyday lives.