CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

JO-ANN C. MARIMLA

Among the 21st century skills needed by students today is critical thinking and problem solving, or being able to reason effectively.

Teachers should guide their students to use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation. Students must also be taught about systems thinking, or analyzing how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems.

In critical thinking, students should be able to make judgments and decisions and effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs. They too must also be able to analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view and synthesize and make connections between information and arguments.

Teachers should teach students to interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis, and reflect critically on learning experiences and processes.

Solving different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways is a must, but first, students must identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions.

Critical thinking may be perceived as an esoteric exercise of the mind, but it simply means, “what you generate, you know.”

Critical thinking is disciplined, self-directed thinking and requires thinking more clear, more accurate and more defensible. Students can ask questions, gather and assess relevant information, come to well-reasoned conclusions/solutions, and communicate effectively.

Teachers should also learn how to redesign their existing lessons in order to incorporate critical thinking strategies. They should cover content in such a way that students grasp and retain more; engage the students in thinking deeply about the content; and motivate students to take more responsibility for their own learning.

Critical thinking should become an integral part of teaching. Teachers should infuse it on three levels: to plan daily lessons, by modeling good critical thinking practices in front of students and by creating activities that foster critical thinking in the students themselves. — oOo— The author is Teacher III at Sinura Elementary School