Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills are almost completely neglected in most schools yet they are far more important to a child's success in life than many of the core subjects that kids are required to spend most of their time learning. What good is it for kids to learn facts unless they also know how to use those facts, how to sort them out, organize them into logical groups and assign values to them?

Critical thinking is the ability to assign values, perspectives and meaning to facts. It enables kids to evaluate and know the reasons why they should believe one way and not another or why they should act one way and not another. This process of thinking helps kids build a framework for organizing and storing their knowledge and experiences. Without this framework, the knowledge acquired is likely to be under-utilized and unlikely to be effectively communicated with others.

Critical thinking skills don't just happen by accident. They don't come by watching television or browsing through Facebook. They don't even come from studying core subjects like spelling, math or grammar. They come through teaching fundamentals of how to think critically. Learning Things offers a great selection of resources for teaching these skills, including curriculums, brain teasers, games, and activity books.