The ability to think critically is one of the most helpful skills human being is capable to develop. The term "critical thinking" was developed in the middle of the 20th century. The concept is broad, but it can be said that critical thinking is the capacity of analyzing the information we get with accuracy, clarity, precision, good reasoning, and fairness. In our current world, children must be able to process the facts they get, rather than just repeat those facts without analyzing them.
There are some tips or ideas to help students to develop critical thinking. Here they are:
• Provide opportunities for playing: With very young learners, time for playing is crucial. In this process, children learn how things work, and explore cause and effect while having fun.
• Pause and wait: It is necessary to provide time enough for children to think by themselves before they give a response. This gives the children the time to reflect and refine their responses.
• Ask open-ended questions: Rather than asking closed question, which can be answered with a simple "yes/no", the teacher must ask questions like "what do you think is happening in this process?", "how can we solve it?", or "what ideas do you have about this?". Then, respect their answers.
• Help students develop hypotheses: Take a moment to ask the students questions like "what would happen if we do this?" or "what will happen next?". These simple questions help students a lot to develop their critical thinking skills.
• Encourage thinking in new and different ways: Allow the students to find any possible solution for the problems proposed in class. The teacher may ask "what other ideas do we have?" or say "think about all the possible solutions".
By applying these simple tips, the teacher, the teacher lays the foundations of critical thinking in his students; that is one of the most important and useful things a teacher can do for students and society in general.
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