Download Critical Thinking Workshop for Parents – KS1 and KS2

AIMS
- To become familiar with the key concept and components of
critical thinking;
- To gain an awareness of why critical thinking is so important
to your child’s education;
- To gather ideas and strategies for supporting critical thinking
at home.
Why is Critical Thinking Important?
Link to Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl_bO9nwpig&feature=youtu.be
A brief explanation (with examples) about why critical thinking is
particularly important in modern society. With the increasing power of
technology to complete process-related tasks, an ability to think critically
can enable children to maintain their relative advantage.
Children, learn the essential, universal, transferrable skills that they need to
succeed in the ever-changing 21st Century world.
Creativity and Change
Resourcefulness/
Problem-Solving
Children learn to tackle
problems themselves,
rather than relying upon
others to tell/ help them.
Review/Reflection
Children are more able to
evaluate effectively, and
make changes where things
are not working.
By challenging preconceptions and
‘thinking outside the box’, children
become lifelong learners who catalyse
change and development.
Why is critical thinking
so important?
Communication
As they are using reasoning and
careful thought, children
become better able to articulate
their ideas
Increased Academic
Acheivement
Children understand content
on a deeper, more lasting level.
Elder and Paul have found
that children who develop
strength in these areas
perform better academically
(2008) Many universities and
entrance exams now contain
critical thinking questions.
Relationships/Empathy
Children learn to collaborate and
take other ideas on board, and
so enhances their ability to work
with different people.
Critical Thinking in English:
How does it work?
- Students gain a deeper understanding of the subject content
through application, as opposed to simple definition or
identification;
- It provides students with an opportunity to challenge
preconceived ideas and misconceptions;
- Students judgements and decisions based on others' points of
view, interpret information and draw conclusions.
- A useful by-product of this is that they also build valuable
speaking and listening skills – also essential in English.
Critical Thinking in
English Ideas
Development of Critical Thinking
in English at Primary
“Research shows that children begin to think critically at a very young age. These skills develop during the
natural, back and forth conversations children have with the important adults in their lives.” (Hanen, 2016)
Critical Thinking @ FS
Critical Thinking through Creativity:
- Child-led, with the sensitive
contributions of others;
- Children become absorbed in
exploring the world around them;
- Children discover new meanings
through exploring possibilities and
creating new connections between
people, places, and things.
- Children review and reinvent.
-
-
-
Critical Thinking @ KS1
Critical Thinking @ KS2
Introducing comprehension/ review of:
Developing analysis/evaluation/application of:
Content (writer’s purpose, inference
and deduction, character/plot,
application to other contexts, links
within and between texts)
Language (vocabulary – meanings and
connections, linguistic techniques,
connections between words)
Structure (sentence/paragraph use,
whole-text coherence, layout)
Accuracy (spelling, punctuation,
grammar)
-
-
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Content (writer’s purpose, inference
and deduction, character/ plot,
application to other contexts, links
within and between texts)
Language (vocabulary – meanings and
connections, linguistic techniques,
connections between words)
Structure (sentence/paragraph use,
whole-text coherence, layout)
Accuracy (spelling, punctuation,
grammar)
How can critical thinking
aid writing?
Define/
Remember
Identify/
Recall
Analyse/
Explain
Evaluate/
Review
Create
Without teaching children to think critically about written features, they
never learn to use them effectively.
For example, a child who is just told that ‘big’ is a boring adjective, and
‘humongous’ is a better word, will not always understand why – they will just
be compliant. However, sometimes the word ‘big’ is the most appropriate!
Children need to think more deeply about the meanings and effects of
different features and techniques.
Critical Thinking in
English Ideas
COMPREHENSION
Critical Thinking in Reading
Closed, frequently
asked questions
Questions that promote
critical thinking
-
What is the story
about?
-
-
Can you summarise
the writer’s main
points?
How can I tell what the
author’s intentions are?
-
How is the news
article presented?
-
Can you find a fact
and an opinion?
-
List some of the
features of the
layout.
How does this piece
make me feel? Why?
-Is the writer biased?
How do I know?
-
Why has the author
chosen to present
the article in this
way? Is it successful?
-
What features help
the writer to get
across ideas? Are
they successful?
Supporting this at home…
A number of strategies for supporting critical engagement with texts at home is provided on the
‘Reading Rockets’ website. Click on the link below for access.
http://www.readin
grockets.org/articl
e/how-increasehigher-orderthinking
Critical Thinking in
English Ideas
SPAG
I tried to write the title of my meeting later
three times.
Teacher’s Meeting
Teachers’ Meeting
Teachers Meeting
Did I write the title correctly in the end?
Prove it.
Supporting this at home…
Bad punctuation is, unfortunately, all around us! Have a look around
at shop signs, notices, road signs, and billboards. Ask children to
gauge whether punctuation has been used correctly. More
importantly, ask them justify why they feel this. Mix up some correct
and incorrect examples to keep them on their toes!
Riddles!
Riddles are a great way to get children to think in creative ways about spelling and grammatical
patterns, puns, homophones, and homonyms. Try a couple of these:
Question: Why is the
Question: What animal
number six afraid of
keeps the best time ?
the number seven?
Answer: A
Answer: Because
watchdog!
seven eight nine!
Question: What fiveletter word becomes
shorter when you add
two letters to it??
Answer: Short!
Critical Thinking in
English Ideas
VOCABULARY
Vocabulary Challenge
As part of her role as Principal, Ms. Sasha has to
spend a good deal of her day talking to people
about their emotions. In order to understand the
many responses that she gets from different
staff and children, she decides to make a
continuum: from ‘happy’ to ‘sad’, with ‘OK’ in
the middle.
As a group, can you help her to plot the words
along her scale? What do you find?
Vocabulary Venn Challenge
You are going to be given a pack of words, and a Venn diagram. Place each
word into the area of the Venn that you feel the word belongs in. If you feel
that it belongs in more than one category, then place the word card in the
middle section.
Supporting this at home…
There are a couple of ways to support expanding your child’s vocabulary through critical thinking at home:
Reading: There is no more effective substitute for
expanding vocabulary than frequent, wide-ranging
reading. You can influence the depth to which words are
remembered with a few subtle questions:
Games: Age-old games such as Scrabble can be adopted
very slightly to help consolidate vocabulary, as can apps
such as What's the Word, and Word Stack. Add in the
questions below to improve depth of understanding:
- What do you think (the word) means?
- How do you know?
- What is the difference between (the word)
and (another word)?
- Can you apply (the word) to another
sentence?
- Can you think of a better word the writer
could have used?
Further Reading
Iakovos, T. (2011) ‘Critical and Creative Thinking in the English Language Classroom’
Lai, E. (2011) ‘Critical Thinking: A Literature Review’
King, P. et al (1994) ‘Developing Reflective Judgment: Understanding and
Promoting Intellectual Growth and Critical Thinking in Adolescents and Adults.’
Blythe, T. (1998) ‘The Teaching for Understanding Guide’
Paul, R.W. and Blinker, A.J (1990) ‘Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs To
Survive in a Rapidly Changing World.’