critical thinking early childhood

MSU Extension Child & Family Development

The importance of critical thinking for young children.

Kylie Rymanowicz, Michigan State University Extension - May 03, 2016

Critical thinking is essential life skill. Learn why it is so important and how you can help children learn and practice these skills.

We use critical thinking skills every day. They help us to make good decisions, understand the consequences of our actions and solve problems. These incredibly important skills are used in everything from putting together puzzles to mapping out the best route to work. It’s the process of using focus and self-control to solve problems and set and follow through on goals. It utilizes other important life skills like making connections , perspective taking and communicating . Basically, critical thinking helps us make good, sound decisions.

Critical thinking

In her book, “Mind in the Making: The seven essential life skills every child needs,” author Ellen Galinsky explains the importance of teaching children critical thinking skills. A child’s natural curiosity helps lay the foundation for critical thinking. Critical thinking requires us to take in information, analyze it and make judgements about it, and that type of active engagement requires imagination and inquisitiveness. As children take in new information, they fill up a library of sorts within their brain. They have to think about how the new information fits in with what they already know, or if it changes any information we already hold to be true.

Supporting the development of critical thinking

Michigan State University Extension has some tips on helping your child learn and practice critical thinking.

• Encourage pursuits of curiosity . The dreaded “why” phase. Help them form and test theories, experiment and try to understand how the world works. Encourage children to explore, ask questions, test their theories, think critically about results and think about changes they could make or things they could do differently.
• Learn from others. Help children think more deeply about things by instilling a love for learning and a desire to understand how things work. Seek out the answers to all of your children’s “why” questions using books, the internet, friends, family or other experts.
• Help children evaluate information. We are often given lots of information at a time, and it is important we evaluate that information to determine if it is true, important and whether or not we should believe it. Help children learn these skills by teaching them to evaluate new information. Have them think about where or who the information is coming from, how it relates to what they already know and why it is or is not important.
• Promote children’s interests. When children are deeply vested in a topic or pursuit, they are more engaged and willing to experiment. The process of expanding their knowledge brings about a lot of opportunities for critical thinking, so to encourage this action helps your child invest in their interests. Whether it is learning about trucks and vehicles or a keen interest in insects, help your child follow their passion.
• Teach problem-solving skills. When dealing with problems or conflicts, it is necessary to use critical thinking skills to understand the problem and come up with possible solutions, so teach them the steps of problem-solving and they will use critical thinking in the process of finding solutions to problems.

For more articles on child development, academic success, parenting and life skill development, please visit the MSU Extension website.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension . For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu . To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters . To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts , or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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4 Strategies for Sparking Critical Thinking in Young Students

Fostering investigative conversation in grades K–2 isn’t easy, but it can be a great vehicle to promote critical thinking.

In the middle of class, a kindergartner spotted an ant and asked the teacher, “Why do ants come into the classroom?” Fairly quickly, educational consultant Cecilia Cabrera Martirena writes , students started sharing their theories: Maybe the ants were cold, or looking for food, or lonely. 

Their teacher started a KWL chart to organize what students already knew, what they wanted to know, and, later, what they had learned. “As many of the learners didn’t read or write yet, the KWL was created with drawings and one or two words,” Cabrera Martirena writes. “Then, as a group, they decided how they could gather information to answer that first question, and some possible research routes were designed.” 

As early elementary teachers know, young learners are able to engage in critical thinking and participate in nuanced conversations, with appropriate supports. What can teachers do to foster these discussions? Elementary teacher Jennifer Orr considered a few ideas in an article for ASCD .

“An interesting question and the discussion that follows can open up paths of critical thinking for students at any age,” Orr says. “With a few thoughtful prompts and a lot of noticing and modeling, we as educators can help young students engage in these types of academic conversations in ways that deepen their learning and develop their critical thinking skills.”

While this may not be an “easy process,” Orr writes—for the kids or the teacher—the payoff is students who from a young age are able to communicate new ideas and questions; listen and truly hear the thoughts of others; respectfully agree, disagree, or build off of their peers’ opinions; and revise their thinking. 

4 Strategies for Kick-Starting Powerful Conversations

1. Encourage Friendly Debate: For many elementary-aged children, it doesn’t take much provoking for them to share their opinions, especially if they disagree with each other. Working with open-ended prompts that “engage their interest and pique their curiosity” is one key to sparking organic engagement, Orr writes. Look for prompts that allow them to take a stance, arguing for or against something they feel strongly about. 

For example, Orr says, you could try telling first graders that a square is a rectangle to start a debate. Early childhood educator Sarah Griffin proposes some great math talk questions that can yield similar results:

• How many crayons can fit in a box?
• Which takes more snow to build: one igloo or 20 snowballs?
• Estimate how many tissues are in a box.
• How many books can you fit in your backpack?
• Which would take less time: cleaning your room or reading a book?
• Which would you rather use to measure a Christmas tree: a roll of ribbon or a candy cane? Why?

Using pictures can inspire interesting math discussions as well, writes K–6 math coach Kristen Acosta . Explore counting, addition, and subtraction by introducing kids to pictures “that have missing pieces or spaces” or “pictures where the objects are scattered.” For example, try showing students a photo of a carton of eggs with a few eggs missing. Ask questions like, “what do you notice?” and “what do you wonder?” and see how opinions differ.

2. Put Your Students in the Question: Centering students’ viewpoints in a question or discussion prompt can foster deeper thinking, Orr writes. During a unit in which kids learned about ladybugs, she asked her third graders, “What are four living and four nonliving things you would need and want if you were designing your own ecosystem?” This not only required students to analyze the components of an ecosystem but also made the lesson personal by inviting them to dream one up from scratch.

Educator Todd Finley has a list of interesting writing prompts for different grades that can instead be used to kick off classroom discussions. Examples for early elementary students include: 

• Which is better, giant muscles or incredible speed? Why?
• What’s the most beautiful person, place, or thing you’ve ever seen? Share what makes that person, place, or thing so special. 
• What TV or movie characters do you wish were real? Why? 
• Describe a routine that you often or always do (in the morning, when you get home, Friday nights, before a game, etc.).
• What are examples of things you want versus things you need? 

3. Open Several Doors: While some students take to classroom discussions like a duck to water, others may prefer to stay on dry land. Offering low-stakes opportunities for students to dip a toe into the conversation can be a great way to ensure that everyone in the room can be heard. Try introducing hand signals that indicate agreement, disagreement, and more. Since everyone can indicate their opinion silently, this supports students who are reluctant to speak, and can help get the conversation started. 

Similarly, elementary school teacher Raquel Linares uses participation cards —a set of different colored index cards, each labeled with a phrase like “I agree,” “I disagree,” or “I don’t know how to respond.” “We use them to assess students’ understanding, but we also use them to give students a voice,” Linares says. “We obviously cannot have 24 scholars speaking at the same time, but we want everyone to feel their ideas matter. Even if I am very shy and I don’t feel comfortable, my voice is still heard.” Once the students have held up the appropriate card, the discussion gets going.

4. Provide Discussion Sentence Starters: Young students often want to add their contribution without connecting it to what their peers have said, writes district-level literacy leader Gwen Blumberg . Keeping an ear out for what students are saying to each other is an important starting point when trying to “lift the level of talk” in your classroom. Are kids “putting thoughts into words and able to keep a conversation going?” she asks.

Introducing sentence starters like “I agree…” or “I feel differently…” can help demonstrate for students how they can connect what their classmate is saying to what they would like to say, which grows the conversation, Blumberg says. Phrases like “I’d like to add…” help students “build a bridge from someone else’s idea to their own.”

Additionally, “noticing and naming the positive things students are doing, both in their conversation skills and in the thinking they are demonstrating,” Orr writes, can shine a light for the class on what success looks like. Celebrating when students use these sentence stems correctly, for example, helps reinforce these behaviors.

“Students’ ability to clearly communicate with others in conversation is a critical literacy skill,” Blumberg writes, and teachers in grades K–2 can get students started on the path to developing this skill by harnessing their natural curiosity and modeling conversation moves.

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How to Teach Your Child to Be a Critical Thinker

Blue Planet Studio / iStockphoto

What Is Critical Thinking?

• Importance of Critical Thinking

Benefits of Critical Thinking Skills

• Teach Kids to Be Critical Thinkers

Every day kids are bombarded with messages, information, and images. Whether they are at school, online, or talking to their friends, they need to know how to evaluate what they are hearing and seeing in order to form their own opinions and beliefs. Critical thinking skills are the foundation of education as well as an important life skill. Without the ability to think critically, kids will struggle academically, especially as they get older.

In fact, no matter what your child plans to do professionally someday, they will need to know how to think critically, solve problems, and make decisions. As a parent, it's important that you ensure that your kids can think for themselves and have developed a healthy critical mindset before they leave the nest.

Doing so will help them succeed both academically and professionally as well as benefit their future relationships. Here is what you need to know about critical thinking, including how to teach your kids to be critical thinkers.

Critical thinking skills are the ability to imagine, analyze, and evaluate information in order to determine its integrity and validity, such as what is factual and what isn't. These skills help people form opinions and ideas as well as help them know who is being a good friend and who isn't.

"Critical thinking also can involve taking a complex problem and developing clear solutions," says Amy Morin, LCSW, a psychotherapist and author of the best-selling books "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do" and "13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don't Do."

In fact, critical thinking is an essential part of problem-solving, decision-making, and goal-setting . It also is the basis of education, especially when combined with reading comprehension . These two skills together allow kids to master information.

Why Critical Thinking Skills Are Important

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which evaluated 15-year-old children in 44 different countries, more than one in six students in the United States are unable to solve critical thinking problems. What's more, research indicates that kids who lack critical thinking skills face a higher risk of behavioral problems.

If kids are not being critical thinkers, then they are not thinking carefully, says Amanda Pickerill, Ph.D. Pickerill is licensed with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Board of Psychology and is in practice at the Ohio State School for the Blind in Columbus, Ohio.

"Not thinking carefully [and critically] can lead to information being misconstrued; [and] misconstrued information can lead to problems in school, work, and relationships," she says.

Critical thinking also allows kids to gain a deeper understanding of the world including how they see themselves in that world. Additionally, kids who learn to think critically tend to be observant and open-minded.

Amy Morin, LCSW

Critical thinking skills can help someone better understand themselves, other people, and the world around them. [They] can assist in everyday problem-solving, creativity, and productivity.

There are many ways critical thinking skills can benefit your child, Dr. Pickerill says. From being able to solve complex problems in school and determining how they feel about particular issues to building relationships and dealing with peer pressure, critical thinking skills equip your child to deal with life's challenges and obstacles.

"Critical thinking skills [are beneficial] in solving a math problem, in comparing and contrasting [things], and when forming an argument," Dr. Pickerill says. "As a psychologist, I find critical thinking skills also to be helpful in self-reflection. When an individual is struggling to reach a personal goal or to maintain a satisfactory relationship it is very helpful to apply critical thinking."

Critical thinking also fosters independence, enhances creativity, and encourages curiosity. Kids who are taught to use critical thinking skills ask a lot of questions and never just take things at face value—they want to know the "why" behind things.

"Good critical thinking skills also can lead to better relationships, reduced distress, and improved life satisfaction," says Morin. "Someone who can solve everyday problems is likely to feel more confident in their ability to handle whatever challenges life throws their way."

How to Teach Kids to Be Critical Thinkers

Teaching kids to think critically is an important part of parenting. In fact, when we teach kids to be critical thinkers, we are also teaching them to be independent . They learn to form their own opinions and come to their own conclusions without a lot of outside influence. Here are some ways that you can teach your kids to become critical thinkers.

Be a Good Role Model

Sometimes the best way to teach your kids an important life skill is to model it in your own life. After all, kids tend to copy the behaviors they see in their parents. Be sure you are modeling critical thinking in your own life by researching things that sound untrue and challenging statements that seem unethical or unfair.

"Parents, being the critical thinkers that they are, can begin modeling critical thinking from day one by verbalizing their thinking skills," Dr. Pickerill says. "It’s great for children to hear how parents critically think things through. This modeling of critical thinking allows children to observe their parents' thought processes and that modeling lends itself to the child imitating what [they have] observed."

Play With Them

Children are constantly learning by trial and error and play is a great trial and error activity, says Dr, Pickerill. In fact, regularly playing with your child at a very young age is setting the foundation for critical thinking and the depth of their critical thinking skills will advance as they develop, she says.

"You will find your child’s thinking will be more on a concrete level in the earlier years and as they advance in age it will become more abstract," Dr. Pickerill says. "Peer play is also helpful in developing critical thinking skills but parents need to be available to assist when conflicts arise or when bantering takes a turn for the worse."

As your kids get older, you can play board games together or simply spend time talking about something of interest to them. The key is that you are spending quality time together that allows you the opportunity to discuss things on a deeper level and to examine issues critically.

Teach Them to Solve Problems

Morin says one way to teach kids to think critically is to teach them how to solve problems. For instance, ask them to brainstorm at least five different ways to solve a particular problem, she says.

"You might challenge them to move an object from one side of the room to the other without using their hands," she says. "At first, they might think it’s impossible. But with a little support from you, they might see there are dozens of solutions (like using their feet or putting on gloves). Help them brainstorm a variety of solutions to the same problem and then pick one to see if it works."

Over time, you can help your kids see that there are many ways to view and solve the same problem, Morin says.

Encourage Them to Ask Questions

As exhausting as it can be at times to answer a constant barrage of questions, it's important that you encourage your child to question things. Asking questions is the basis of critical thinking and the time you invest in answering your child's questions—or finding the answers together— will pay off in the end.

Your child will learn not only learn how to articulate themselves, but they also will get better and better at identifying untrue or misleading information or statements from others. You also can model this type of questioning behavior by allowing your child to see you question things as well.

Practice Making Choices

Like everything in life, your child will often learn through trial and error. And, part of learning to be a critical thinker involves making decisions. One way that you can get your child thinking about and making choices is to give them a say in how they want to spend their time.

Allow them to say no thank-you to playdates or party invitations if they want. You also can give them an allowance and allow them to make some choices about what to do with the money. Either of these scenarios requires your child to think critically about their choices and the potential consequences before they make a decision.

As they get older, talk to them about how to deal with issues like bullying and peer pressure . And coach them on how to make healthy choices regarding social media use . All of these situations require critical thinking on your child's part.

Encourage Open-Mindedness

Although teaching open-mindedness can be a challenging concept to teach at times, it is an important one. Part of becoming a critical thinker is the ability to be objective and evaluate ideas without bias.

Teach your kids that in order to look at things with an open mind, they need leave their own judgments and assumptions aside. Some concepts you should be talking about that encourage open-mindedness include diversity , inclusiveness , and fairness.

A Word From Verywell

Developing a critical mindset is one of the most important life skills you can impart to your kids. In fact, in today's information-saturated world, they need these skills in order to thrive and survive. These skills will help them make better decisions, form healthy relationships, and determine what they value and believe.

Plus, when you teach your kids to critically examine the world around them, you are giving them an advantage that will serve them for years to come—one that will benefit them academically, professionally, and relationally. In the end, they will not only be able to think for themselves, but they also will become more capable adults someday.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA): Results from PISA 2012 problem-solving .

Sun RC, Hui EK. Cognitive competence as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review .  ScientificWorldJournal . 2012;2012:210953. doi:10.1100/2012/210953

Ghazivakili Z, Norouzi Nia R, Panahi F, Karimi M, Gholsorkhi H, Ahmadi Z. The role of critical thinking skills and learning styles of university students in their academic performance .  J Adv Med Educ Prof . 2014;2(3):95-102. PMID:25512928

Schmaltz RM, Jansen E, Wenckowski N. Redefining critical thinking: teaching students to think like scientists .  Front Psychol . 2017;8:459. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00459

By Sherri Gordon Sherri Gordon, CLC is a published author, certified professional life coach, and bullying prevention expert. 

Parents' Guide

Introduction, critical thinking development: ages 5 to 9.

Critical thinking must be built from a solid foundation. Although children aged five to nine are not yet ready to take on complicated reasoning or formulate detailed arguments, parents can still help their children lay a foundation for critical thinking. 

In order to develop high-level critical thinking skills later in life, five- to nine-year-old children must first make progress along four different tracks. This includes developing basic reasoning skills and interests, building self-esteem, learning emotional management skills, and internalizing social norms that value critical thinking. The following sections will discuss the importance of these foundational aspects of critical thinking and offer parents guidance in how to support their young children’s development. 

1. Logic and Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is different from logical thinking. logical thinking is like math: it involves formal reasoning skills that can only be learned later in life. in contrast, critical thinking builds on everyday reasoning. so parents should guide their children’s critical thinking development from a very young age..

Formal logic is an important part of critical thinking, but ultimately critical thinking involves habits and skills going far beyond the domain of logic. Children are able to develop their critical faculties not from logical analysis, but everyday reasoning.

There are three main factors to keep in mind in differentiating logic from the everyday reasoning that underpins critical thinking.

First, logic is not a natural human trait. If logic were natural, we wouldn’t have to learn how to reason, and math wouldn’t be considered so difficult in school. The natural reasoning displayed by children is often founded on sensory experiences and marred by the cognitive biases discussed in the introduction. Consider this example. Someone says: “If it rains, I’ll take my umbrella with me.” And then a moment later adds: “It’s not raining.” What may we conclude? The vast majority of people — including both adults and children old enough to understand the question — will conclude that the person will not take an umbrella. In context, that is a reasonable conclusion to draw. 

Logic is not natural to humans and can only be acquired through learning.

But from a purely logical perspective, it does not follow. The fact that if it does rain, the speaker will take an umbrella implies nothing, strictly speaking, about what will happen in the case that it is not raining. Logic, the cognitive capacity for formal and reliable deduction, is not natural to humans. We can only acquire it through learning—and only at an age when the cognitive system and brain development allow for such learning (between ages 12 and 15).

Second, although logic is not natural, it can be taught with varying degrees of success, according to personality, cognitive profile, and so on. Multiple developmental psychology studies since Piaget have shown that our cognitive system can only become proficient in logical analysis later on, and with the correct training.

Third, if parents train children from ages five to nine to make more or less complex logical deductions, no deep knowledge is acquired. At a young age, the cognitive system does not yet have the capacity to discern logical invariables (i.e., the ability to reproduce a line of reasoning in a variable context). 

This is why we only explain mathematical principles to children when they are 13 to 14 years old. But again parents can encourage the basics of critical thinking at an early age by promoting social factors like self-esteem. 

Logic and Brain Development

Complex reasoning predominantly takes place in the prefrontal cortex and areas of the brain devoted to language. Language development is, of course, closely linked to explicit learning, as well as to implicit stimulation.

But reasoning requires more than just language skills. The prefrontal cortex carries out what are known as executive functions. It controls concentration, planning, decision-making, and many other functions. These allow us to break down complex tasks into a series of simpler tasks. Reasoning requires a strategy that breaks things down. The prefrontal lobe is a cerebral zone that only matures neurologically after the age of 20. 

Logic is neither natural nor easy. Its development requires a comfortable handling of language and the capacity for problem-solving in the prefrontal cortex. Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How can we get there?

Metacognition​

2. everyday reasoning, although their logical reasoning skills are undeveloped, young children can argue and express opinions. parents should encourage them. even though a child’s argument will tend to be based on emotion, the practice can help build a critical perspective and confidence..

Despite the fact that young children may not be able to grasp logical concepts, they still employ everyday forms of reasoning in both their use of language and in problem-solving and decision-making. It is from out of these capacities that critical thinking can begin to develop at this age.

As is readily apparent, communication via language is not logical. Natural language does not conform to a formal logical structure. It is contextual, whether we are talking about comprehension or expression. If someone says: “If I had a knife, I would cut my steak,” most people would understand that having a knife makes it possible to cut the steak. However, in formal logic, the sentence means that if I had a knife, I would be obliged to cut the steak. Logical language is systematic and obligatory. But a child learns to speak and to understand in a pragmatic and contextual, not logical, fashion.

Certain communication problems result from an overly rigid logical rigor, as in the case of people with Asperger’s syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. Paradoxically, human communication only works because it is not a purely logical linguistic system. This is one of the reasons why automated translation between languages has been a thorn in the side of artificial intelligence experts since the 1970s.

Logical Proof and Factual Proof

Most real-life problems that we have been grappling with since infancy cannot be formally resolved by logical deduction .

Decision-making is based on a complex mix of different elements:

the cognitive processing of a situation and/or argument

intervention, conscious or unconscious, from our memory of similar past experiences, our preferences, and our personality in the broad sense

our emotions

This is how a child can choose between two toys or how an adult chooses between buying and renting an apartment. People with ultra-logical cognitive tendencies won’t have enough factors for their reasoning to work with, and may be incapable of making a decision—and therefore, incapable of taking action. Neurological studies, since those undertaken by Antonio Damasio in the 1990s, have shown us that decision-making processes and emotional processes are intimately linked , from both neurophysiological and behavioral perspectives.

Pure logic, besides often producing unfortunate results in the real world, can be a hindrance in a highly complicated universe where decisions require managing multiple factors. This is the main reason why artificial intelligence is only now starting to see results, despite the fact that information technology has been in use since the 1940s.

Computer engineers have needed to overcome their grounding in logical, mathematical, and hypothetical deduction, and to incorporate developments in cognitive science and neurology. Algorithms now operate more like children. That is to say, they make random decisions, analyze and memorize the outcomes in order to progress, and then correct themselves by discerning both the invariables and the contextual variables. This is called deep learning. 

Children cannot rely too heavily on logic, but they are still able to express opinions based on their experiences, intuitions, and emotions.

This is also how children between five and nine years old operate. They solve many problems and make many choices, without being able to demonstrate (in the purest sense of the word) why their conclusions and choices were correct.

Between the ages of five and nine, therefore, children cannot rely too heavily on logic. However, they are still able to to express opinions based on their experiences, intuitions, and emotions. To do this, they need to practice, have good self-esteem, and feel esteemed by others in order to believe they have the right, the desire, and the energy to put their critical thinking to use. In other words, they need to exist as a thinking and acting subject whose capacities are recognized by others.

At this age, children are able to argue based on things they have experienced and knowledge they have acquired at school or at home, from books, television, or the internet, or by talking with their friends. They are also able to argue with their “heart.” They assume that their emotions are arguments themselves. 

For example, a child might consider that we shouldn’t eat meat because innocent animals shouldn’t have to die. The child’s empathy is the crux of their argument and the strength of their insistence will often be proportional to that of their emotions.

Case in Point

We show children from this age group a drawing of a rectangular flask tipped at an angle, and we ask them: “If I fill this flask roughly halfway, could you draw the water line on the flask?” 

What would be the result? Most children will draw a line perpendicular to the flask’s longitudinal axis. Yet, since this axis does not run vertically but is at an angle, the line the child draws is not horizontal relative to the ground, as it should be. 

Children err here because their minds are referentially anchored to the flask, just as astronomers for many millennia fixated on the idea of the earth, and later the sun, as a reference point—before realizing that the universe does not have an absolute reference point.

Even if we explain the error to children—and they say they understand—many will, shortly afterwards, make the same mistake again. Their cognitive system is not mature enough to incorporate the logic behind reference and relativity. The example shows how logical thinking is not natural. It requires a learned ability to step back and remove oneself from immediate engagement with a particular situation. 

3. Preparing Kids to Think Critically

Parents or guardians can foster critical thinking skills in children from an early age. First, it’s important to understand the basics of how children learn to think and how a child’s mind differs from that of an adult. Critical thinking in their early years prepares children for life’s challenges and allows them to live a productive life.

How to teach critical thinking to your child

Here are four ways you can support your child’s early cognitive development and put them on the path to becoming critical thinkers. Teaching critical thinking may seem daunting, but having a primer on the particular needs of a child can help you better approach this important task.

1. Encourage children not to see everything as centered only on them by involving them in discussions on an array of topics, including current affairs.

Contrary to popular belief, from the age of five—and sometimes even earlier—children like to be involved in discussions, provided they are not drowned in technical vocabulary or formal logic . They also need to feel that adults are interested in what they are saying and that they are being listened to. Adults need to learn to step away from the role of educator and engage children at their level.

It is highly important for the development of critical faculties that children see their thoughts on the world are accepted. By taking those thoughts seriously, we are taking our children seriously and accepting them.

For example, ask five-year-old children whether Santa Claus exists and how they know. Listen to their arguments: they saw Santa at the mall; they know their Christmas presents must come from somewhere. Contradicting them or breaking down their worldview would be a grave mistake. It would fly in the face of our knowledge about cognitive development, and it would disregard their emotional need for this belief. Paradoxically, we need to let children formulate their own ideas and worldviews, namely through dreaming and imagination. In this way, they will grow happy and confident enough, in time and at their own pace, to move on to more mature ideas.

2. Value the content of what children say.

With encouragement, children will want to express their thoughts increasingly often, quite simply because they find it pleasurable. A certain structure in our brains, the amygdala, memorizes emotions linked to situations we experience. We are predisposed to pursue experiences and situations which induce pleasure, be it sensory or psychological. If a child puts energy into reflection in order to convince us that aliens exist, and we then dismantle their arguments and dreams, we will be inhibiting their desire to participate in this type of discussion again.

For children aged five to nine, the pleasure of thinking something through, of expressing and discussing their thoughts, of feeling language to be a source of joy, are all of far greater importance than argumentative rigor or logical reasoning .

Children debate and give their opinions. This stimulates their brain, which creates a whole host of connections, which, in turn, improve their abilities and their cognitive and emotional performance. The pleasure of discussion, of having someone listen to your ideas, releases a “flood” of neurotransmitters that promote cerebral development. An atmosphere of kindness and benevolence in which the child feels heard produces neural connections and develops various kinds of intelligence. As the child learns through debate, putting effort into reflective thought and into verbal and bodily expression, the brain evolves and invests in the future. This results from cognitive stimulation paired with  joie de vivre  that comes from being heard by others and receiving their undivided attention.

Parents should not hold back from bringing children into discussions and debates.

3. gradually, the ability to argue with pertinence, on both familiar topics of reflection or debate and new ones, will increase..

Numerous recent studies show that doing well in school results more so from pleasure and the development of self-esteem than heavy exposure to graded exercises, which can create anxiety and belittle children. Children are vulnerable and quickly internalize the labels others place on them.

In short, parents should not hold back from bringing children into discussions and debates, keeping to the principles outlined above. Also, be sure to respond to their desire to start discussions within their frame of reference and be sure to take them seriously.

4. Gradually, with time, pleasure, learning, and cognitive and emotional development, it will be possible to encourage children to argue without pressuring them through open-ended questions.

From the age of eight, children can start learning about  metacognition and the adoption of alternative points of view. They should also be trained at this time to understand the difference between an opinion, an argument, and a piece of evidence.

An opinion is the expression of an idea that is not, in and of itself, true or false. Children are empowered to express their opinions early on by all the preliminary work on building up self-esteem. “I think they should close down all the schools, so we can be on holiday all the time” is an opinion. A child of five can easily express such an opinion.

An argument is an attempt to convince others by offering information and reasoning. A child of eight might argue: “If we close down all the schools, we can get up later. Then we’ll have more energy to learn things better at home.”

Evidence are the facts we use to try to prove a point in an argument. Evidence can be highly powerful but it rarely amounts to conclusive proof. When an unambiguous proof is presented, alternative opinions evaporate, provided that one can cognitively and emotionally assimilate the perspective of the person presenting the proof. Something can be proven in two ways. On the one hand, it can be proven through formal reasoning—attainable from the age of nine upwards in real-life situations and, later on, in l more abstract situations. On the other hand, it can be established through factual demonstration. If a child claims that “you can scare away a mean dog by running after it,” proof can be given through demonstration. This leaves no need for argument.

From ages eight to nine, children can come to differentiate and prioritize opinion, argument, and evidence in what they say and hear, provided that their own flawed arguments at age five to six were met with respect and tolerance. This is vital for developing children’s self-esteem and respect for others. It enables them to take pleasure in argument and increases their desire to express themselves more persuasively.

Critical thinking exercises for kids

Hunting—for or against? For a debate like this one, with considerable social implications, focus on these concepts:

1. Teach children to distinguish between:

An opinion : I am against hunting…

An argument : … because it entails animal suffering and human deaths.

 Hunting significantly increases the production of stress hormones (such as hydrocortisone) in hunted animals.

There are around thousands of hunting accidents each year.

2. Teach children to adopt a counter-argument for practice:

An opinion : I am in favor of hunting…

An argument : … because it allows us to control the size of animal populations.

Evidence : Wild boar populations are high and cause a great deal of damage to farmland.

New Perspectives and Overcoming Biases

4. the importance of self-esteem, children need self-esteem to think themselves worthy of expressing their opinions. parents can strengthen their children’s self-esteem by encouraging them to try new things, stimulating their curiosity, and showing pride in their accomplishments., understanding the importance of self-esteem, the foundation of critical thinking.

Before children can learn to analyze and criticize complicated material or controversial opinions, they need to have a strong sense of themselves. Their capacity to question external sources of information depends on feelings of self-worth and security.

The terms “self-confidence” and “self-esteem” are often used interchangeably. There is, however, a difference between the two, even if they are related. Before we can have high self-esteem, we must first have self-confidence. The feeling of confidence is a result of a belief in our ability to succeed. 

Self-esteem rests on our conscious self-worth, despite our foibles and failures. It’s knowing how to recognize our strengths and our limitations and, therefore, having a realistic outlook on ourselves.

Self-esteem requires an ability to recognize our strengths and weaknesses, and to accept them as they are.

For example, children can have high self-esteem even if they know that they struggle with math. Self-esteem can also vary depending on context. Children in school can have high social self-esteem, but a lower academic self-esteem.

Self-esteem requires an ability to recognize our strengths and weaknesses, and to accept them as they are. Children must learn to understand that they have value, even if they can’t do everything perfectly.

Self-esteem starts developing in childhood. Very young children adopt a style of behavior that reflects their self-image. From the age of five, healthy self-esteem is particularly important when it comes to dealing with the numerous challenges they face. Children must, among other things, gradually become more independent, and learn how to read, write, and do mental arithmetic. This period is key, and children need self-confidence as well. More than anywhere else, it is in the family home that children develop the foundations for self-esteem.

Children with high self-esteem:

have an accurate conception of who they are and neither over- nor underestimate their abilities;

make choices;

express their needs, feelings, ideas, and preferences;

are optimistic about the future;

dare to take risks and accept mistakes;

keep up their motivation to learn and to progress;

maintain healthy relationships with others;

trust their own thoughts and trust others.

As parents, developing our own self-esteem enhances the development of our children’s self-esteem, as their identity is closely entwined with our own. Our children learn a great deal by imitating us. Modeling self-esteem can therefore be a great help to them. Here are some examples of what we can do:

Be openly proud of our accomplishments, even those which seem minor to us.

Engage in activities just for fun (and not for competitive reasons).

Don’t pay too much heed to other people’s opinions about us.

Don’t belittle ourselves: if we’ve made an error or if we aren’t so good at a certain task, explain to children that we are going to start again and learn to do it better.

At mealtimes, prompt everyone around the table to say something they did well that day.

On a big sheet of paper, write down the names of family members; then, write down next to everyone’s name some of their strengths.

5. Promoting Self-Esteem

To promote healthy self-esteem in children, parents must strike a balance between discipline and encouragement., the most important thing of all in the development of young children’s self-esteem is our unconditional love for them..

Children must feel and understand that our love will never be dependent on their actions, their successes, or their failures. It is this state of mind that allows them to embrace the unknown and to continue to progress despite the inevitable failures that come along with learning new skills.

Developing Self-Esteem

But be careful not to let unconditional love prevent the imposition of authority or limits. Instead of developing their self-esteem, the absence of limits promotes the feeling in children that they can do no wrong and renders them incapable of dealing with frustration. It is necessary to establish limits and to be firm (without being judgmental). The desired result is only reached if effort and respect are taken seriously.

Self-esteem means loving ourselves for who we are, for our strengths and our weaknesses, and it is based on having been loved this way since birth.

Advice: How to promote the development of a child’s self-esteem

As parents, we have a big influence on our children, particularly when they are young. Here are some ways to help build up children’s self-esteem:

Praise children’s efforts and successes. Note that effort is always more important than results. 

Don’t hesitate to reiterate to children that error and failure are not the same thing. Show them that you’re proud of them, even when they make mistakes. Reflect with them on how to do better next time.

Let children complete household chores; give them a few responsibilities they can handle. They will feel useful and proud.

Show children that we love them for who they are, unconditionally, and not for what they do or how they look.

Let children express their emotions and inner thoughts.

Assist children in finding out who they are. Help them to recognize what they like and where their strengths lie.

Encourage them to make decisions. For example, let them choose their own outfits.

Invite them to address common challenges (according to their abilities and age).

Pitfalls to avoid

Avoid being overprotective. Not only does this prevent children from learning, it also sends them a negative message: that they are incapable and unworthy of trust.

Don’t criticize them incessantly. If we’re always making negative comments about our children, and if we show ourselves to be unsatisfied with their work or behavior even when they’re doing their best, they will get disheartened. 

If children don’t act appropriately, stress that it is their behavior, rather than their personality, that must change. For example, it is better to explain that an action they may have done is mean, rather than that they are themselves mean.

Always be respectful towards children. Never belittle them. What we say to our children has a great impact on their self-image. 

Show them we’re interested in what they’re doing. Don’t ignore them. We are still at the center of their universe. 

Don’t compare them to their siblings or to other children their age. (“Your four-year-old sister can do it!”) Highlight how they are progressing without comparing them to anyone else.

Risk-Taking

6. the role of emotions, emotions are an important part of children’s cognitive development, but if emotions become overwhelming they can be counterproductive. parents should help their children learn how to express their feelings calmly and prevent emotions from becoming a distraction., understanding the role of emotions  in the development of critical thinking.

Young children may develop skills in language and argument, and benefit from a level of self-esteem allowing them to stand their ground and explore the unknown. Nonetheless, the development of their critical faculties will still be limited if they haven’t learned how to manage their emotions.

Emotions appear in a part of the brain called the limbic system , which is very old in terms of human evolution. This system develops automatically at a very early stage. But very quickly, children experience the need to rein in the spontaneous and unrestricted expression of their emotions. These emotions are, of course, closely connected to basic relations to others (and initially most often to one’s parents) and to cultural norms. 

The prefrontal lobe contains the greatest number of neural networks that simultaneously regulate the scope of conscious emotions and their expression in verbal and non-verbal language, as well as in behavior. From the age of five or six, children start their first year of primary school, where they are forced to sit for hours on end each day. They must also listen to a curriculum designed more around societal needs and expectations, rather than around the desires and emotions of children. Frontal lobe development enables the inhibition of urges and the management of emotions , two prerequisites for intellectual learning and for feelings of belonging in family and society.

The ability to manage emotions has a two-fold constructive impact on the development of children’s critical faculties. First, it enables children to override their emotions, so they may focus their attention and concentrate. This is essential for both cognitive development in general and their argumentative, logical, and critical skills.

Management of emotions also allows us to feel settled and to convince and influence others when we speak. Paradoxically, children learn that, by managing their emotions (which is initially experienced as repression), they can have an impact on their peers, make themselves understood, and even be emulated. The pleasure they derive from this reinforces the balance between spontaneity and control, and both pleasure in self-expression and respect for others will increase. Self-esteem will therefore progress, also allowing the child to assert his or her will. 

Development of the critical faculties will benefit from a heightened level of self-esteem. But it’s important to remember that this is a balancing act.

If family or social pressures excessively inhibit emotional expression, feelings of uniqueness and self-worth are compromised. In this case, even with otherwise normal (and even excellent) cognitive development, children’s critical faculties can be impeded. A child won’t truly become an individual and the development of his or her critical faculties will therefore be stunted. Such a child is like a mere cell, rather than a whole organ. This lack of individuality is found in the social conventions and education systems established by totalitarian regimes. Highly intelligent, cultured, logical people can, under such regimes, remain devoid of critical thinking skills.

Emotion is the psychological motor of cognition. But in high and uncontrolled doses, emotion can override cognition.

Conversely, if children’s emotions and expressions of emotion are badly managed or not curtailed at all, they will come to see themselves as almost omnipotent. The consequent behavior will be mistaken for high self-esteem . In reality, cognitive and intellectual development will be dampened due to a lower attention span caused by poor emotional management. Logical and argumentative skills will be less developed and what may appear to be “critical” thinking will, in fact, be nothing more than a systematic, unthinking opposition to everything. 

Critical thinking without cognitive and intellectual development does not truly exist. Real, constructive critical thinking requires listening, attention, concentration, and the organization of one’s thoughts. The development of these faculties itself requires good emotional management, which must intensify from around the age of five or six, in order to strengthen learning skills and social life. Above all, parents should not try to snuff out a child’s emotions. Emotions are what give children vital energy, the desire to learn, and the strength to exercise self-control. Emotion is the psychological motor of cognition. But in high and uncontrolled doses, emotion can override cognition.

7. Managing Emotions

Parents should not ignore or simply silence their children when they act out or are overcome with emotion. they should work with them on strategies for coping and discuss how they can more calmly and productively express their emotions., how to help our children to control their emotions.

Our emotions are a part of who we are: we have to learn to manage and accept them. In order to help children manage their emotions, we must set limits (for example, by forbidding them to waste food or lie). However, setting limits on their behavior does not mean setting limits on their feelings.

We cannot stop children from getting angry even if they are forbidden from acting on that anger rather we can coach children in controlling their reactions. Sending them to their rooms to calm down will not prevent them from being upset and frustrated. On the contrary, by conveying to them the idea that they must face their emotions alone, we encourage them to repress their feelings. When children repress their emotions, they can no longer manage them consciously, which means they are liable to resurface at any moment.

An angry child is not a bad person, but a hurt person. When children lose control over their emotions, it is because they are overwhelmed.

These outbursts, when our children seem to have totally lost control of themselves, can frighten us as parents. Indeed, if children habitually repress their emotions, they become unable to express them verbally and rage takes over.

Failing to acknowledge children’s emotions can prevent them from learning to exercise self-control.

Advice: How do children learn to manage their emotions?

Children learn from us. When we yell, they learn to yell. When we speak respectfully, they learn to speak respectfully. Likewise, every time we manage to control our emotions in front of our children, they learn how to regulate their own emotions.

To help children manage their emotions, we should explicitly explain how to do so and discuss it with them.

Even older children need to feel a connection with their parents to manage their emotions. When we notice our children having difficulties controlling their emotions, it is important to reconnect with them. When children feel cared for and important, they become more cooperative and their feelings of joy cancel out bad behavioral traits.

The best way to help children become autonomous is to trust them and to entrust them with tasks and little challenges.

An angry child is not a bad person, but a hurt person. When children lose control over their emotions, it is because they are overwhelmed. Controlling their emotions is beyond their capacities at that particular moment in time and emotional control is something that they’ll build gradually as they mature.

If we continue treating them with compassion, our children will feel safe enough to express their emotions. If we help them to cry and let out their emotions, these feelings of being overwhelmed will go away, along with their anger and aggression.

Is it important to teach children specific language for expressing emotions?

Of course it is! But don’t try to force children to voice their emotions. Instead, focus on accepting their emotions. This will teach them that:

There is nothing wrong with emotions—they enrich human life.

Even if we can’t control everything in life, we can still choose how we react and respond. 

When we are comfortable with our emotions, we feel them deeply, and then they pass. This gives us the sensation of letting go and of releasing tension.

If we actively teach these lessons—and continue to work on resolving our own emotions—we will be happy to find that our children will learn to manage their feelings. It will eventually become second nature to them.

Emotional Management

8. critical thinking and social life, critical thinking is a positive social norm, but it requires the support of background knowledge and genuine reasoning skills. without them, critical thinking can become an illusion..

Parents should balance their encouragement of children’s argumentative skills and self-expression with an emphasis on intellectual rigor.

Taking account of social norms and peer groups

No child grows up in a vacuum. As they develop, children internalize many of the norms and ways of thinking that are dominant in their families, social lives, schools, and society more broadly. Parents should be aware of the positive and negative influences these different spheres can have on their children. They should know what they can do to expose their children to norms that will foster healthy and independent thinking.

It seems that the right, even the responsibility, to think for oneself and to exercise one’s critical faculties has become increasingly tied to notions of dignity and individuality. More and more we see factors that have historically determined who has the “right” to be critical—age, origin, gender, level of general knowledge, or other implicit hierarchies—fade in importance. 

Thus, it is becoming more and more common for students (with disconcerting self-assurance) to correct their teachers on aspects of history or other issues that are matters of fact. This raises some important questions, notably regarding the role of the educator, the goals of education, and the relationships between generations. 

Our society encourages critical thinking from a very early age. We have insisted on the fact that, for young children, although intellectual rigor is difficult to attain, it is crucial to develop self-esteem and self-affirmation. But we have also seen that from around the age of eight, it is necessary to move towards teaching them basic reasoning skills.

The risk of making the “right to critical thinking” a social norm from a young age is that we lower intellectual standards. If the encouragement of children to think critically is not paired with intellectual progress in other areas, critical thinking is rendered a mere simulation of free thought and expression. This is as true for children as it is for teenagers or adults.

The entire population may feel truly free and have high self-esteem. However, if the intellectual rigor that comes with arguing, debating, and reasoning, is missing from children’s intellectual and social education, the people will be easily manipulated. Giving our children the freedom to exercise their critical faculties must be paired with the demand for intellectual rigor and linguistic mastery, without which “critical thinking” would offer the mere illusion of liberty.

Striking a balance:

For parents today, it is a matter of striking a balance between fostering critical thought from an early age, in spite of gaps in knowledge and logic, and developing our children’s cognitive faculties and knowledge base. Without these faculties of listening, attention, comprehension, expression, argument, and deduction, critical thinking is an illusion, a pseudo-democratic farce. This  can lead to a society plagued by ignorance and vulnerable to barbarism.

On the other hand, we cannot simply slip back into old social conventions whereby children were told to simply keep quiet and learn their lessons passively. The only thing this approach ensures is that the child won’t become a troublemaker.

What is needed is an approach that harmonize advances in philosophy and psychology, which consider children as fully fledged individuals, on the one hand, with an understanding of the intellectual immaturity of this child, on the other.

Disagreeing in a civilized manner, in the end, allows us to agree on what matters most.

With the help of an affectionate, attentive, but also sometimes restrictive and guiding parent—who is at once intellectually stimulating, indulgent, and patient with the child’s needs—early development of self-affirmation and critical thinking becomes compatible with growing intellectual aptitude.

This intellectual aptitude is crucial to a healthy social life as well. People lacking this intellectual maturity cannot even disagree with each other productively; they lack the ability to discuss subjects worthy of critical interest, as well as the social and cognitive skills of listening, argument, and logical deduction. Disagreeing in a civilized manner, in the end, allows us to agree on what matters most.

Consider this discussion between two eight year olds.

 – “I saw a show on TV yesterday that proved that aliens really exist. Tons of people have seen them, and they’ve found marks left by flying saucers in the desert!”

– “But there’s no real evidence. Those clues and eyewitness accounts weren’t very specific. Different witnesses described the aliens in very different ways—some said they were little green men, while others said they were big with glowing eyes. And the marks from UFOs could have been formed by strong winds.”

– “Oh, so you think you’re smarter than the scientists on TV, is that it?”

One child declares that a TV show they saw proves the existence of aliens. He or she takes it for granted that what we see on TV is true. The second is educated into a norm that calls claims into question and demands evidence. The first child doesn’t understand the second, because, to him or her, seeing it on TV is proof enough. From this point onward, the discussion can only go in circles. In this case, different social or family norms are incompatible.

Independent Thinking

Case study 1, metacognition.

Already at a young age children can begin to gain perspective on how they reason.  One good way to help them foster this metacognition is by pointing out the variety of different methods available for solving a particular problem. By, for example, seeing the multiple different methods available for solving a math problem, children can begin to think about their own thought processes and evaluate various cognitive strategies. This will gradually open up the world of reasoning to them. They will begin to pay more attention to how they solve problems or complete tasks involving reasoning, instead of focusing only on answering correctly or completing the task. 

How do children calculate 6 x 3, for example? 

There are several ways:

They could add 6 + 6 + 6;

They could recall that 6 x 2 = 12, then add six more to get 18;

They could simply memorize and recall the answer: 18;

They could draw a grid of 6 by 3 units and then count how many boxes are in the grid.

Or they could use one of various other techniques…

Our culture values accurate and precise results but tends to pay little attention to the route taken to arrive at those results. Yet, if children are aware of their train of thought, they will be in a better position to master the technique—to perfect it to the point where they may even decide to switch to another technique if they need to increase their speed, for example. That is why it is important to help children understand the method they are using to the point that they can explain it themselves.

In helping their children with schoolwork or other projects involving reasoning, parents should ask them to explain themselves, make explicit the steps they’re taking to solve a particular problem, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of their method and alternative methods. The result will be a much deeper understanding not only of the particular task at hand, but also of the practice of reasoning itself.

Case Study 2

Logical proof and factual proof​​.

At this stage, we can begin to introduce rudimentary logical concepts and distinctions. In everyday conversation, children have already begun using what we might call “natural logic.” They may, for example, get in arguments, like the one below, in which they draw conclusions based on premises. When children present these types of arguments, parents can intervene to teach basic logical concepts and ask children how a given conclusion might be proven or disproven. 

One distinction appropriate to teach at this age is that between logical proof (proof that draws logical conclusions from certain premises) and factual proof (proof that uses actual facts to prove or disprove a given statement). The following anecdote provides the opportunity for such a lesson.

William and Eve, two children walking their dog in the park, are having a conversation about Labradors:

— “There are two kinds of Labradors—black and golden,” declares William.

— “That’s not true; there are also chocolate Labradors,” replies Eve. “My friend Adam has one.”

— “Well, his dog must not be a Labrador then,” William says.

How might we interpret this conversation?

In terms of logical proof, if Labradors are either black or golden, Adam’s chocolate “Labrador” cannot be a Labrador. That is a logically formulated proof. The reasoning is valid. It is the basic premise, William’s initial declaration that there are only two kinds of Labradors, that is false. It is, therefore, possible for William to draw a false conclusion even though his logic is technically correct.

In terms of factual proof, if we can prove that the chocolate-colored dog has two Labrador parents, we can factually prove that William’s premise is wrong: there are at least three types of Labrador.

There are many opportunities like this one to begin to make explicit the logical steps involved in everyday conversations with your children and to show them that they are already using logic, even if they may not know it. This serves to get them thinking about their own thinking, and it makes the topics of logic and reasoning less intimidating.

Case Study 3

What is bias.

A bias is a simply a preconceived and unreasoned opinion. Often biases are formed due to upbringing, larger societal biases, or particular subjective experiences. They exist in many forms and can persist into adulthood unless a child builds a firm foundation in critical thinking and reasoning.

How to overcome bias

The following anecdotes demonstrate how parents can use everyday events to help their children better understand and relate to perspectives outside their own. In order to think critically, children must be able to imaginatively and empathetically put themselves outside their own experiences and perspectives. Children thereby begin to come to terms with the limitations their own upbringings and backgrounds necessarily impose on them. 

This is a vital part of metacognition since it allows children to see themselves, their attitudes, and their views as if from the outside. They become better at overcoming biases, prejudices, and errors in thinking. This process also enables them to entertain the perspectives of others and thereby engage in argument and debate in the future with more charity and nuance. Finally, it encourages them to seek out new experiences and perspectives and to develop intellectual curiosity.

In this first anecdote, a child learns to broaden her horizons through an interaction with another child whose experience is different from her own. In the second, a child learns that his attitude toward particular objects can depend strongly on the context in which they are experienced. 

Overcoming Bias Example 1: Fear of Dogs

Jane is eight years old and lives in a small village. Her parents own several animals, including two Labradors. 

Jane’s cousin Max is nine and a half and lives in central Paris.

Max is always happy to visit Jane, and they play together outside, dreaming up adventures and climbing trees. But he is terribly afraid of Jane’s big dogs; whenever they come near him, he screams at the top of his lungs and runs indoors to hide. Jane finds this funny, calling her cousin a “fraidy cat” and devising ploys to lure Max close to the dogs.

Jane does not realize that, unlike her, Max is not used to having animals in his daily environment. She interprets his attitude exclusively from the viewpoint of her own experience.

What would you do if you were Jane’s parents?

At the dinner table, Jane’s mom asks her to stop teasing Max and explains that he is not used to animals because he lives in different circumstances than she does.

She asks Max to tell them what it is like living in the city. Max talks about his daily life and, notably, how he takes the metro by himself to school in the mornings, two stations from home.

The blood drains from Jane’s face: “You take the metro all by yourself? I could never do that, I’d be much too scared of getting lost.”

Her mom says to her: “You see, Jane, you fell into a trap—thinking that your cousin was just like you. We are all different. You need to remind yourself of that in the future because it’s easy for you to forget!”

This focused discussion has given Jane the opportunity to overcome her own egocentrism by realizing that she and Max inhabit different worlds. She, therefore, realizes that even though Max is scared of dogs (whereas she is not), he is capable of things that intimidate her, like taking the metro alone. This allows her to re-examine her way of reasoning through a “meta” example of her own ideas about the world, eventually leading her to change her attitude toward her cousin.

As parents, we should look for and take advantage of opportunities to open up our children to new perspectives, especially with respect to unexamined biases they may have against peers or outsiders. They will gradually learn to identify and guard against the tendency we all have to generalize recklessly from our own limited experience. Moreover, they will develop the capacity to see things from other perspectives and interests outside their own narrow sphere.

Overcoming Bias Example 2: Fear of Nettles

Josh has recently been on a field trip with his class. Before a hike, the teacher warns the students to steer clear of the nettle plants in the area  These “stinging nettles” can cause a nasty itching and burning rash. 

A few days later, at dinner, Josh finds that his parents have prepared a nettle soup . Boiling water makes the nettles safe to touch and eat.  But he refuses to eat it, since his experience tells them to keep nettles as far away from his body as possible— especially his mouth.

Josh vehemently refuses to try the soup at first and insists on having a frozen pizza instead. But his parents are firm with him and show him that the soup poses no danger by eating it themselves. Finally, Josh relents and tries the soup. He finds that it causes him no harm, and, much to his surprise, he actually enjoys it.

Children who do not know that nettles are safe to eat formulate their prejudice against the soup based solely on their experience, which is limited to the nettle’s irritant qualities. These kinds of learning experiences can be good moments for parents to point out to their children how they may falsely generalize their own limited experiences and how those experiences can produce unwarranted biases. These prejudices may stop them from trying out new things that may very well enrich their lives. 

Case Study 4

Developing self esteem.

Climbing Esther and Ali, both five years old, are at a playground, looking at a climbing wall designed for five to 10 year olds.

Esther goes over to the wall, looks at it, and touches the climbing holds. She starts climbing, pulling herself up with her arms and putting her feet on the lower holds to relieve her arms.

When she is about six feet up the wall, Esther stops.

“Go on, Esther — you’re almost there! Come on, just one more push. You can do it!” calls out her father from the bench he is sitting on.

Esther looks at the top of the wall. She wants to make it all the way up, but her hands hurt from clutching the climbing holds. She lets go and lands on the soft covering of the playground.

“Oh—you almost made it,” her father calls out.

Ali’s father goes over to his son: “Do you want to try? Grab onto these with your hands, and then put your feet on the ones at the bottom. Then you move your hands up more, and then your feet—hands and feet… Go slowly; it’ll be tricky to start with. Check where the holds are before you start climbing.”

Ali goes to the foot of the wall and grabs the holds to see what they feel like. He starts climbing, following his father’s advice.

Ali climbs slowly. He is about halfway up the wall, far below where Esther reached. He asks to get down, and his father takes him in his arms and puts him on the ground.

 “Great job, son! That was really good for a first try! I’m proud of you. That wall isn’t easy—it’s for children up to 10.”

In these two examples of the same situation, what is the impact of each parent’s behavior on the child’s self-esteem? What will each child remember from their first try at climbing?

Esther will probably be left with a sense of failure, thinking that she disappointed her father because she didn’t reach the top of the wall on her first try. She may not be willing to try again in the future, and she may hesitate to take on other new challenges. Even though he didn’t reach as high as Esther, Ali’s first climbing experience will likely be gratifying to him. His efforts have been recognized and encouraged by his father. He may be motivated now to make new efforts in the future, both in climbing and in other challenging new activities.

Case Study 5

Risk taking.

An important part of supporting the development of critical thinking skills at this age is encouraging children to take risks. Parents should beware of being hypercritical when their children make mistakes. They should also be proactive in exposing their children to new and potentially challenging situations. Finally, they should encourage their children to put themselves at risk in these situations, especially when it comes to putting forward arguments or answering questions. When they are (inevitably) wrong, children should be encouraged and supported rather than criticized. Being wrong should not become a source of shame for the child, but an opportunity to learn and grow. Consider the following anecdote.

Eight-year-old classmates Laura and Adam sit next to each other in a theater. Some 60 children, including Laura and Adam’s class, are on a field trip to see a historical reenactment. 

Before the curtain rises, the activity leader presenting the show asks the children: ″Who can tell me the name of the Roman emperor who conquered Gaul?”

Adam, who happens to be an avid reader of a cartoon about history, knows the answer immediately (Julius Caesar) and wants desperately to say it—but is afraid of making a mistake in front of everyone and, as a result, remains silent.

Laura hesitates. Several names spring to mind as she thinks back to what she learned in history class: Nero, Caligula, etc. Finally, a few seconds later, no longer able to restrain herself, she blurts out, “Julius Caesar!”

The activity leader congratulates her and then gets the show started.

In this situation, we see two different attitudes toward the risk of being wrong:

Adam would rather keep quiet than risk giving a wrong answer. We can deduce from this that Adam associates mistakes with something negative that could earn him disapproval or lead to him being mocked—even punished. He has thus pressured himself into thinking that only perfection is acceptable and has therefore reduced his ability to try things out.

Laura, on the other hand, would rather risk being wrong than remain silent. We can deduce from this that she does not feel shame about making mistakes; in any case, her desire to try and the excitement of taking risks outweigh the drawbacks of being wrong.

We learn through trial and erro r , which is necessary for the development of the ability to reason. Risk-taking and trial and error are vital.

Children’s environments, and notably their parents’ attitudes regarding mistakes, are determining factors in how they approach risk-taking and in whether they allow themselves to make mistakes.

Case Study 6

In addition to acquiring perspective on their own experiences and their own reasoning, children should, at this age,  begin to acquire perspective on their own emotions and to learn strategies for managing their emotions.  Without these management skills, children will be continually overwhelmed by their emotions and allow them to compromise their reasoning. The anecdote below can be used as a model to help parents guide their children in learning to express and manage their emotions, and to think clearly in spite of strong emotional reactions.

Seven-year-old Eddie is on vacation by the sea with his parents, who suggest that they all go out and take a boat to a nearby island for a few hours. They can visit the lighthouse there.

Eddie, who is busy playing with his figurines, refuses to get ready for the trip as his parents have asked.

“I haven’t finished playing! I want to stay here,” he exclaims.

“You can play with your figurines at home whenever you want, Eddy, but this boat trip is special. It’s something we can only do on vacation,” argues his mother. “Come on now, hurry up and put your shoes on, and then go and get your bag. Take a jacket as well, please—it can be cold out at sea.”

Eddie’s parents are all ready, and he still has not budged. He carries on playing with his back to them.

“That’s enough now, Eddy. Get up and get ready so we can leave,” orders his father, raising his voice slightly.

Without looking at them, Eddy bursts into tears.

“I don’t want to go on a boat! I’m scared of falling in the ocean! And what if the boat sinks? There are sharks out there! Plus I get scared of swimming if I can’t touch the bottom—if the water is too deep for me,” he says with a quavering voice.

“Oh, Eddy, why didn’t you say so before? I didn’t realize you were worried about the boat. I didn’t even think of that. But you know what? It’s normal to be scared the first time. And the ocean is daunting, that’s for sure. Listen, I’ll tell you what: let’s look at the shipping forecast together. I checked it earlier and it’s going to be a really nice day, with a very calm sea. As for swimming offshore, that’s out of the question! We’ll go swimming at our usual beach when we get back later this afternoon. And we’ll all be wearing life jackets on the boat, so there’s no way you can drown! Are you less worried now?”

“Yes… But I don’t want you to think I’m a wimp…”

“Being scared is nothing to be ashamed of! It’s a normal feeling which helps to protect us from danger. You should always say if you’re scared. I can’t always guess how you’re feeling—you’ve got to tell me!”

In this scenario, after a bit of hesitation, Eddie was able to express his fears. His parents accepted this emotion and drew on it to reassure him with clear, objective facts, helping him to understand the unfamiliar circumstances. This way he could feel completely safe on the boat.

If Eddie had not expressed his fears—because he was afraid of his parents being judgmental, angry, or perhaps even making fun of him—the situation could have taken one of the following turns:

Eddie could have categorically refused to go on the trip, and his parents would either have had to force him to come, or drop the plan entirely.

Eddie could have obeyed them without saying anything, but the trip would have been ruined by his anxiety.

Although dealing with and expressing emotions may seem far afield from critical thinking, it is a vital precondition of critical and independent thinking that children have the confidence to recognize and acknowledge their emotions. Otherwise, children will be unable to set their emotions aside in order to  consider complicated questions or scenarios in a clear and unbiased way.

Case Study 7

What is independent thinking.

What does independent thinking mean? Independent thinking is when an individual forms their own thoughts rather than just going along with what others are thinking. They apply their personal experiences, knowledge, and observations to form a personal viewpoint.

Independent thinking vs critical thinking

We can think independently without thinking critically, but we can’t think critically without thinking independently. That is, independent thinking is a precondition of critical thinking. In order to begin assessing information and making judgments objectively, we must first prevent ourselves from being unduly influenced by our peers’ views.

Example of independent thinking

In certain scenarios, children’s developing perspectives on their own beliefs, reasoning, and emotions can combine in the analysis of a challenging source of information.  The wealth of media to which children are exposed today can be overwhelming, but these media can also provide opportunities for learning and practicing the skills of critical analysis. Parents can help guide their children in these situations by prompting them with questions and asking children to make their beliefs and reasoning explicit. At this young age, preparation for independent and critical thinking need not interfere with the fantasy life of the child, as the example below shows. 

Six-year-old Tom has just written a letter to Santa Claus. Now he is watching television, flipping between channels until a show about Christmas catches his attention.

The TV presenter explains that nowadays children do not believe in Santa Claus the way they used to. Christmas has been totally commercialized. What’s more, red only became the color of Christmas due to the branding of the Coca-Cola company. 

First part of the program: “What do those concerned say?” A journalist standing outside a school asks several children their opinion. The children interviewed say that their parents have told them about Santa Claus, but that he does not really exist, at least no more than witches and ghosts do. They say that they know exactly what they are going to get for Christmas and how much it will cost. Their little brothers or sisters may still believe in Santa, but they themselves are not babies anymore. Regardless of whether they’re “naughty or nice,” they know there will always be gifts for them under the tree.

Second part of the program: “Santa Claus: salesman.” Images in the background show check-out lines in toy stores, parents with shopping carts full to the brim, others taking photos of the shelves on their phones. We see Santa Clauses of all shapes and sizes in shopping malls, day care centers, in the street, and even sitting in donkey-drawn carriages. A narrator provides statistics on the average amount spent by families on gifts, as well as the percentage of gifts purchased in-store versus online.

Finally, the presenter comes back on the screen and concludes with, “Christmas has lost its magic!” before going to a commercial break.

Tom’s father came into the room while the show was on air and has seen part of it. He can tell that his son is both confused and unsettled.

“Why do you believe in Santa Claus, Tom? What are your reasons?”

“Because he’s come every year since I was little. And because he comes at nighttime. Who else could come in the middle of the night? Because he always drinks the hot chocolate we leave him under the tree, and he eats the cookies. Because I’ve seen him more than once, near the Christmas tree at school and in stores. Because no one else could make toys for every kid and deliver them all.”

“Yes, those are very good reasons to believe in him, Tom. And what about at school? Do you talk about Santa with the other kids?”

“The big kids say the same thing as the people on the TV: that he doesn’t exist and that their parents made him up. When I told them there was no way presents could just appear under the tree overnight, they said I was a baby. I don’t talk about Santa anymore because of that.”

“I think you’re right to assert yourself and say what you really think. There’s what they say on TV, what your friends say, and then there’s your own opinion. And it’s important for you to say what you think and defend your point of view. It’s important to listen to other people too, of course, because no one is right all the time. But having your own ideas and expressing them is really important all through your life.”

What would you have done if you were Tom’s father?

Would it have been better to admit the truth about Santa Claus to Tom and contradict his beliefs and imagination? If Tom’s dad had done that, what value would his son have placed on his own reasoning? Would he have dared to defend his opinion in the future? 

During this conversation, the father chose to give weight to Tom’s arguments by giving credit to them and praising the way he expressed his personal thoughts. He did not state his own opinion on the matter, but instead focused the discussion on dealing with clashing points of view and on arguing. He hopes that Tom will now see the value in his own arguments, even if they go against what was said on the television show. Now, the next time he finds himself in a similar situation, Tom will probably be confident enough to express his own opinion on the information he receives.

The repetition of situations such as this should allow Tom’s critical thinking skills to develop. They will reinforce and strengthen his self-esteem and build his confidence in his ability to develop his own thoughts.

This situation may seem counter-intuitive. We usually associate the development of critical thinking with questioning certain beliefs, in this case the belief in the existence of Santa Claus. 

This viewpoint, though, projects our own adult understanding onto Tom. Children of his age should instead be encouraged to express themselves, to be creative in their arguments, and to believe in the value of their own points of view—rather than in the truths that are thrust on them by adults, media, or their friends.

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Developing critical thinking skills in kids.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Learning to think critically may be one of the most important skills that today's children will need for the future. In today’s rapidly changing world, children need to be able to do much more than repeat a list of facts; they need to be critical thinkers who can make sense of information, analyze, compare, contrast, make inferences, and generate higher order thinking skills. 

Building Your Child's Critical Thinking Skills

Building critical thinking skills happens through day-to-day interactions as you talk with your child, ask open-ended questions, and allow your child to experiment and solve problems.  Here are some tips and ideas to help children build a foundation for critical thinking: 

• Provide opportunities for play .   Building with blocks, acting out roles with friends, or playing board games all build children’s critical thinking. 
• Pause and wait.  Offering your child ample time to think, attempt a task, or generate a response is critical. This gives your child a chance to reflect on her response and perhaps refine, rather than responding with their very first gut reaction.
• Don't intervene immediately.   Kids need challenges to grow. Wait and watch before you jump in to solve a problem.
• Ask open-ended questions.  Rather than automatically giving answers to the questions your child raises, help them think critically by asking questions in return: "What ideas do you have? What do you think is happening here?" Respect their responses whether you view them as correct or not. You could say, "That is interesting. Tell me why you think that."
• Help children develop hypotheses.  Taking a moment to form hypotheses during play  is a critical thinking exercise that helps develop skills. Try asking your child, "If we do this, what do you think will happen?" or "Let's predict what we think will happen next."
• Encourage thinking in new and different ways.  By allowing children to think differently, you're helping them hone their creative  problem solving skills. Ask questions like, "What other ideas could we try?" or encourage your child to generate options by saying, "Let’s think of all the possible solutions."

Of course, there are situations where you as a parent need to step in. At these times, it is helpful to model your own critical thinking. As you work through a decision making process, verbalize what is happening inside your mind. Children learn from observing how you think. Taking time to allow your child to navigate problems is integral to developing your child's critical thinking skills in the long run. 

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Creative and Critical Thinking in Early Childhood

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Early childhood (from prenatal to eight years of life) is the most important period of growth in human development, with peak synaptic activity in all brain regions occurring in the first ten years of life. This time-sensitive course of brain development results in different functions emerging at different times. It is during the preschool years that sensitive periods for cognitive development are formed, in particular, creative and critical thinking skills. Sociocultural perspectives ascertain that a child’s cognition is co-constructed through the social environment. This chapter draws from Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory and creative imagination theory to explain the processes involved as young children generate new knowledge. Examples from children’s interactions in social learning environments are presented, demonstrating how children think creatively and critically as they solve problems and seek meaning through play and imagination.

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Collaborative problem-solving.

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Creativity is intelligence having fun. Albert Einstein

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Leggett, N. (2022). Creative and Critical Thinking in Early Childhood. In: Rezaei, N. (eds) Integrated Education and Learning. Integrated Science, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15963-3_7

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Effective, nurturing, and responsive teaching practices and interactions are key for all learning in early childhood settings. They foster trust and emotional security; are communication and language rich; and promote critical thinking and problem-solving. They also support social, emotional, behavioral, and language development; provide supportive feedback for learning; and motivate continued effort. Teaching practices and interactions are responsive to and build on each child’s pattern of development and learning. They can be measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS ® ) and other adult-child interaction tools. These observations may then be used to support professional development. Teaching practices also include how schedules and routines are carried out, how settings are managed, and how children’s challenging behaviors are addressed.

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Nurturing critical thinking in young children

– By Catherine O’Reilly

In this week’s Scéalta, Catherine O’Reilly, PhD research student at Trinity College Dublin, discusses how critical thinking relates to early childhood and how we can use storytelling to give children in Early Years settings the same opportunities as older children to learn how to communicate, collaborate, be creative and engage in problem-solving.

In my PhD research, I investigated the question of how to encourage young children’s critical thinking skills. The outcome was a programme titled the Storythinking Programme which aims to nurture critical thinking in children. The study is near completion and will be submitted in August 2023.

What is critical thinking?

There are many ways to define critical thinking. The definition I draw from comes from the Paul and Elder Critical Thinking Framework, which asserts that fundamentally, critical thinking is about making good decisions that improve the quality of people’s learning and life (Paul and Elder, 2019). According to Paul and Elder (2014), we all live a life determined by the decisions we make.  No one fully masters getting these decisions that determine the quality of life. All of us can improve our decision-making by reflecting on our decisions, using strategies to enhance our decision making and by comparing our ideas to other points of view. From this perspective, critical thinking is not just about getting the problem correct. Instead, it is about being open to improving how you think about a problem, situation or issue.

Why is critical thinking important?

Research suggests that students with critical thinking skills have better employment opportunities.  This is because critical thinkers effectively communicate and collaborate, are creative and can solve real-world problems effectively (ŽivkoviĿ, 2016). Critical thinkers do not accept information at face value; instead, they will consider the information, issue or experience from different points of view before making an informed judgement (Paul and Elder, 2029). For example, students may decide they need more information before making a decision or conclude the information is good, bad, inaccurate or biased. However, the research investigating critical thinking skills relates primarily to older students, with very little exploration of how critical thinking relates to early childhood (O’Reilly et al., 2022). Thus, my question to you is, how can we give children in early childhood the same opportunities as older children to learn how to communicate, collaborate, be creative and engage in problem-solving?

A Storythinking programme: oral storytelling and dialogic inquiry

The Storythinking programme focuses on the educator telling an oral story to the group of interested children in combination with dialogic inquiry. In this study, dialogic inquiry is used in a way that will stimulate developing critical thinking skills. Oral storytelling refers to telling a fairytale using voice, gesture and body language; no text or props are used. In storytelling, connections are built between the storytelling and the story listeners. The Storythinking Programme is a shared experience where children are encouraged to think critically about the story characters and the decisions the characters make as the story evolves. In this model, the educator tells a story from memory and engages the children in discussing the story. First of all, select a Fairy tale you can tell without any text.  Encourage the children to get comfortable so everyone has enough space and can see and hear.

Now using the following six steps:

• Begin the Story: Once upon a time…
• Pause and invite the children to guess what the story might be about
• Continue the story and introduce the story dilemma
• Pause and ask the children what they think might happen
• Bring the story to its traditional ending
• Next, engage the children in story dialogue to nurture critical thinking skills

Following any fairytale, for this example, we will use The Three Little Pigs ; we can stimulate critical thinking by encouraging children to (1) analyse, (2) consider different points of view, and (3) problem-solve.

• What did you think of the big bad wolf? Are you sure he was bad? Could the wolf have knocked on the door because he wanted someone to play with? What did the big bad wolf say to make you think he was bad?
• How did the pigs feel when they had to leave home? How do you think the wolf felt when the little pigs would not let him in?
• Could the big bad wolf have acted differently? What do you think you would have done if you were the wolf?

While this is a brief snapshot of my research, I hope you found it helpful and I encourage you to try out some of this approach with the children in your setting to support their critical thinking skills.

Reference List

Elder, L., & Paul, R. (2014).  Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your learning and your life . United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.

O’Reilly, C., Devitt, A., & Hayes, N. (2022). Critical thinking in the preschool classroom-a systematic literature review.  Thinking skills and creativity , 101110.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2019).  The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts and tools . United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.

ŽivkoviĿ, S. (2016). A model of critical thinking as an important attribute for success in the 21st century.  Procedia-social and behavioral sciences ,  232 , 102-108.

Catherine O’Reilly is a PhD research student at Trinity College Dublin. As a former preschool educator, her current interest is researching ways to enhance children’s early learning experiences. In 2017 she completed her BA(Hons) in Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC), where she conducted an Action Research project to explore storytelling to foster social and emotional well-being. In 2018, she completed a master’s in leadership at ECEC; this time, her research focused on understanding how preschool educators could support cultural diversity awareness through picture books. Catherine’s current research introduces a model for critical thinking with young children in the preschool classroom.

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Brainstorming a Path to Critical Thinking

• Lisa Sutherland
• September 11, 2019

I was recently working in an early childhood classroom where the teacher was discussing nocturnal animals. After explaining what nocturnal meant, she asked the children to come up with reasons why some animals would rather stay up at night and sleep during the day.

She then wrote all of the children’s responses down on a chart paper. She told the children that the list would be up for them to think about over the next few weeks and that they could add items to the list if they had additional ideas.

The Long List

When I went back to that classroom a week later, I noticed that the list had grown significantly. When I asked the teacher about the growing list, she told me that the children were really intrigued by the question and kept coming up with new ideas. She also told me that the children had been acting out their ideas in the dramatic play area, having conversations at snack time, and talking to their parents and siblings about their ideas at home. 

When I sat down to have snack with the students and the teacher, one little boy started talking about how he saw glowing eyes in the forest when his family was driving home in the evening from his grandparents’ house. He proceeded to tell his friends that he thought that nocturnal animals must have special eyes that see things better at night. This child had engaged in critical thinking. He saw glowing eyes in the forest, determined the eyes must belong to a nocturnal animal since it was after dark, and then reasoned that nocturnal animals had special eyes.

The Making of a Critical Thinking Mind

Critical thinking is one of the most important skills that today’s young children will need for the future. Ellen Galinsky, author of “Mind in the Making,” includes critical thinking on her list of the seven essential life skills needed by every child.

As we consider a world where educators are preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet, fostering children’s ability to think critically is an essential. Any time children use their existing knowledge to contemplate why things happen or to evaluate ideas and form opinions, they are engaging in critical thinking.

While there are many ways for a teacher to support children in developing or exercising critical thinking skills, brainstorming activities are a great way to get started if you are just starting to think about how you can support critical thinking.

Beautiful Brainstorming

When you engage children in brainstorming activities that begin with “why do you think…,” you are asking them to think critically. When you ask children to brainstorm solutions to problems and encourage them to keep coming up with additional ideas before settling on a solution, you are teaching them to think outside the box and consider a variety of solutions before deciding on the action they want to take. This is a really important critical thinking skill.

 When you encourage children to continue thinking about the brainstorming activity over time and provide engaging props (like nocturnal animal puppets) and visual reminders (a list on the wall), you will find the children deepen their thinking over time.

You can also use ideas from a brainstorming list created by your students to identify future activities, stories and materials that they find interesting. Think of all the ways you can brainstorm with your students by engaging in some of your own brainstorming.

Lisa Sutherland is the Director of Early Learning for Cognia, a school improvement and accrediting organization. Her favorite thing to do in the world after scuba diving is supporting early childhood programs in exploring what elements of continuous improvement will be most meaningful for their organization and how to implement them.

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Breaking Down STEAM for Young Children

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This is the first article in a four-part series. Here, we introduce three examples of STEAM instruction in early childhood settings. (STEAM refers to science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.) In the rest of the series—which will be published in future issues of TYC —we take a deeper look at each of these examples, focusing on extending children’s STEAM learning through conversations, open-ended questions, and informal assessments.

STEAM for young children falls under the umbrella of inquiry instruction . Inquiry instruction encourages active (often hands-on) experiences that support building understanding and vocabulary, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and reflection. You can facilitate inquiry experiences by creating opportunities for children to learn about the world through STEAM lenses and by asking high-quality, open-ended questions. Inquiry practices provide young children with opportunities to approach problems in new and authentic ways.

In early childhood, we encourage STEAM teaching to integrate these subject areas within a meaningful context. STEAM integration helps teachers focus on content ( what to learn) and processes ( how to learn). For example, you could engage children in recording the weather each day on a chart and creating weekly summaries (three sunny days, two cloudy days) to support their learning of science and math content and also data gathering and analysis processes.

For a long-term, well-integrated STEAM project, you could support children as they learn about what conditions are best for a class pet and then explore locations (a dark corner or a sunny window?), observe conditions (too cold or too hot?), measure spaces (is the table big enough for a cage, an observation space, and a caretaker schedule?), and draw plans to create the pet’s new classroom home.

As you dive into integrated activities, you’ll see that the STEAM fields provide complementary perspectives on the world. They also promote similar processes for learning, such as asking questions, making connections with prior knowledge, gathering and analyzing data (including observations), and communicating findings and ideas.

Example 1: STEAMing with projects

Once they finalized their planning, they planted seeds and cared for them in the classroom until the plants were mature enough to be planted outdoors. Then, Ms. White and two parent volunteers created a raised flower bed on the playground so the children could regularly observe and care for the plants.

Over the course of the summer and into the fall, the children cared for their plants; measured and recorded the plants’ growth; and shared their crops of herbs, vegetables, and flowers with others in the school. The children’s experiences in this project integrated visual arts; science content; and the STEAM processes of problem exploration, design, planning, measuring, and recording observations.

Example 2: STEAMing with problems

An example of this problem-based approach took place in Mr. Barron’s preschool classroom. The children were struggling with the problem that outdoor playtime wasn’t fair because some children did not have opportunities to use the swings. Mr. Barron encouraged the children to explore various solutions to this problem, such as timed turns, weekly schedules, or even developing a point system to determine how long and how often each child could use the swings.

For each of these solutions, the children discussed the positives and negatives and then decided as a group on the strategy that would work best for the whole class. This was a STEAM experience because children had to use reasoning to decide on solutions and reflect on those solutions to settle on an overall strategy for the use of the swings. They also had to represent their solutions through drawings or charts and collect data every day on their opinions for each solution (taking turns, a weekly schedule, or a point system).

Example 3: STEAMing with play

After the creation of the chart, Luca asked Mrs. Schmidt if he could create his own discovery bottles. He was interested in making a sink bottle and a float bottle. He noticed that other discovery bottles in the classroom had different colors of water and some had oil that separated from the water. With Mrs. Schmidt’s assistance, Luca explored the effects of adding oil to the sink or float experiment by using seashells and rocks he had specifically chosen to test.

In this example, Mrs. Schmidt supported STEAM learning through the materials she placed in the science center to inspire playful learning. This type of experience will often take off in new directions as children build their understandings and extend the experience, as Luca did.

Luca’s experience in this playful exploration of materials integrated science and mathematics content and the STEAM processes of problem exploration, recording observations, and experimentation.

STEAM activities can take many forms, all of which are beneficial for young children. Think about which of these approaches might work best in your own classroom setting. You can even do more than one of them at a time!

Regardless of which strategy you use for implementing STEAM, remember that it takes time for children to become problem solvers. In part two of this series, we will take a deeper look at the communication in Ms. White’s, Mr. Barron’s, and Mrs. Schmidt’s classrooms during these STEAM examples to show how you can support children’s learning through conversation. In the meantime, keep providing opportunities for children to explore, and you will begin to see how fun STEAM can be! Read part 2 of Breaking Down STEAM .

Photographs: © Lakshini Wijeweera (top); © Getty Images (girl on swing); courtesy of the authors (wildflowers, bottom)

Sandra M. Linder, PhD, is an associate professor of early childhood mathematics education at Clemson University. Her research focuses on supporting home mathematics and STEAM environments. 

Angela Eckhoff, PhD, is an associate professor of teaching and learning–early childhood at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Virginia. 

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Build Confidence and a Love of Learning

Early Childhood Curriculum

November 4, 2005, by The Critical Thinking Co. Staff

Early childhood is a time of wonder, openness, insatiable curiosity, and immense parental influence. The best way to help ensure your child's success later in life (from elementary school through adolescence and on) is to lay the groundwork for the education that will help them achieve their goals--whenever they figure out what those goals are. Early childhood curriculum should not be too demanding, of course, but it should present learning challenges.

The Critical Thinking Co. has developed a number of products parents can use to teach thinking skills and to build a child's confidence and exuberance for learning. During this period in a child's life, his or her cognitive abilities will expand faster and more profoundly that at any other time. By exposing your child to basic language skills and the rudiments of math, reading, writing, reasoning, art, and science, he or she can start school ahead of the curve.

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Family Child Care Professionals: Understanding a Critical Workforce

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

INTRODUCTION

The early childhood education (ECEC) practitioner landscape is complex and encompasses many roles including center-based and school-based teaching staff, administrative staff, and support staff as well as home-based unregulated child care providers and home-based regulated (e.g., registered or licensed) family child care (FCC) providers who simultaneously operate as small business owners and early childhood educators. FCC providers are sometimes referred to as home-based educators, small business owners, or entrepreneurs. For this research study, the term FCC professional is used to refer to a home-based educator who owns and operates a licensed FCC business.

FCC professionals represent an “essential component of the child care landscape,” yet the number of FCC programs has seen an alarming decline for the past two decades (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2021, p. 6). Moreover, while other professions often have well-defined steps or universal requirements for entry-level positions and identified milestones and clear pathways for advancement, those who open FCC programs tend to represent a more varied and flexible professional pathway. This makes it difficult to gain a systemic understanding of the experiences and characteristics that make up the workforce. Research is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of this distinct yet crucial sector of the ECECC workforce including motivations, role perceptions, and job satisfaction. This Research Brief aims to bridge this gap in the literature by offering a detailed professional report of FCC professionals.

The sample included 52 FCC professionals who owned and operated a licensed FCC program in Illinois between 2020 and 2024. Data were collected as a part of a registration process for the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership’s Taking the Lead Family Child Care Leadership Academy prior to the start of the academy. The sample predominantly identified as female (94%), 2% male, 2% non-binary, and 2% of the sample chose not to answer this question. The sample also represented a wide range of ages and diverse races (see Figures 1 and 2 below).

The majority (70%) of the sample reported having a college degree. Figure 3 breaks down the degree by type while Figure 4 breaks down the degree by relevant major. Of those without a degree, 81% had previously completed some college coursework. Over half of the sample (60%) reported they had taken business or professional practices training in the past 12 months. Twenty-three percent had a state-issued family child care credential and 20% had a CDA. Fifty-four percent of the sample were members of a formal FCC network or association and 17% were members of a staffed FCC network. Experience in the field of ECEC ranged from 0 to 35 years with an average of 13 ( SD = 9.56) years of experience. Experience as a FCC professional ranged from 0 to 27 years with an average of 11 years ( SD = 6.90) years of experience.

Together the 52 FFC programs served a total of 595 children. Individual program enrollment ranged from 1 to 36 children with higher numbers of enrollment reflecting programs that offered a combination of care options and/or served children who attended the program less than five days a week. Average enrollment was 11.44 children with a mode (most common enrollment number) of seven. As described in Figure 5, the majority of the programs served children across all age groups. All of the programs had children enrolled full-day, 58% had children who were enrolled part-day, 33% of programs had children enrolled in extended, evening, or overnight care, and 37% had children enrolled part-time (attending less than five days a week). These program demographics are aligned with other research findings and highlight the critical span of services offered through FCC, especially those that meet the needs of families with infants and toddlers and those working non-traditional hours (Bromer et al., 2021; Kelton & Tenis, 2024; National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, 2020).

Forty-eight percent of the FCC programs were located in suburban settings, 42% were located in urban settings, and 10% were located in rural areas. While only 6% of the programs were accredited by the National Association for Family Child Care, 17% reported being in the self-study phase of becoming accredited. Twelve percent of the programs received Head Start or Early Head Start funding and 2% received state pre-K funding. More than half (62%) of the family child care professionals in the sample were also employers. Sixty percent employed at least one assistant and 21% employed at least one substitute (note that many programs employed both substitutes and assistants).

The Administrator Role Perception Survey—Home Based (ARPS-HB) was used to collect data. The ARPS-HB is a 70-question online survey exploring FCC professionals’ perceptions of their work (Bella & Kelton, 2021). The ARPS-HB examines the alignment between current and ideal work experience as well as past perspectives, current role perceptions, levels of self-efficacy, and perceptions of mastery of key family child care educator and entrepreneurial competencies. The ARPS-HB also collects practitioner and program demographic data. The APRS-HB was modeled after the Bella et al., (2017), Administrator Role Perception Survey (ARPS), but refined to reflect the unique needs and characteristics of FCC programs (2017).

Career Beginnings

Respondents were asked about their motivations for becoming FCC professionals, work experience, and thoughts and feelings when they first opened their businesses. As noted in Figure 4, the leading motivation for becoming a FCC professional was the opportunity to run their own business (23%) and to stay home with their children (23%). Both of these motivations represent a level of career autonomy that is often seen as a unique advantage of being a FCC professional and may represent an attractive feature of the role. Because of the highly variable career pathway associated with FCC professionals, prior work experience in the field was also of interest. While 52% of the sample had no previous ECEC work experience, 46% of the professionals had held at least one previous teaching position. Only 15% had any prior administrative experience (see Table 1 for all previous experience).

Previous ECEC Experience

When the family child care professionals first opened their FCC business, the majority of the sample felt confident in themselves, secure that the families they served would like them, and that their own expectations for themselves had been realistic. However, the majority of the sample also indicated that they were not well prepared for their role, with 64% reporting they were not prepared specifically for the challenges they encountered in their work with children and families. Moreover, the majority (67%) were not prepared for the business-related issues they faced.

Feelings and Beliefs at Career Beginning

Current Role Perception, Job Satisfaction, and Confidence

A large body of research supports the theory that role perception, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy are important predictors of role commitment, job performance, and burnout (e.g., Khani  & Mirzaee, 2015; Kotaro et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2021; Sandstrom et al., 2022; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010;  Spreitzer et al., 2005). The overarching findings from these studies suggest that when practitioners have favorable views of their professional role and a strong sense of competence in completing work-related tasks, they tend to be committed to their work and are better able to handle job-related challenges and stress.

Role Perception

Respondents were asked to select the three words or phrases that best described their role. Based on frequency, the top three choices for the full sample were educator (65%), family supporter (46%), and nurturer (37%). Role descriptors were further examined by years of FCC experience. Professionals with 0-5 years FCC experience were classified as novice professionals ( n = 24), those with 6 – 15 years were classified as established professionals ( n = 15), and 16 or more years were classified as seasoned professionals ( n = 13). As demonstrated in Figure 7, over the course of their careers FCC professionals consistently referred to their work as educators and family supporters ; however, across their years of experience, there appears to be an interesting evolution of the third descriptor representing increased identification as entrepreneurs and role models for established professional, and identification as advocates for seasoned professionals.

Role Descriptors by Years of Experience

Respondents were also asked to select the three words that best described their current job. For the full sample, the most frequent descriptor was rewarding (65%), followed by enjoyable (40%), and challenging (37%). Further analysis by experience found overlap with rewarding and enjoyable remaining stable across time, but that novice professionals most often selected challenging as their third descriptor, experienced professionals most often selected creative, and seasoned professionals most often selected exciting as their third descriptor (see Figure 8).

Role Congruence

Respondents were asked to rate on a Likert-scale how well elements of their work aligned with their ideals (0 = not at all like my ideal , to 5 = is my ideal ). Figure 3 below shows the means for each comparison by element. Average congruence of how closely current conditions resembled their ideal was 3.37 ( SD = 1.27) suggesting that overall, the role of the FCC professional is somewhat like the ideal . Figure 9 breaks down levels of congruence by specific elements of the role.

Critical Issues, Satisfactions and Frustrations

Next, respondents were asked to select the three most critical issues they face running a FCC business. The most commonly selected issues were the demands of the job (47%), lack of benefits (44%), and difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified staff (33%).

Respondents were also asked to describe the aspects of their work that brought them the greatest satisfaction and greatest frustration. Open-ended responses were then categorized into themes. As noted in Table 3, the top satisfaction themes revolved around relationships with children and families, positive impact on children’s lives, and personal and professional growth (e.g., overcoming challenges, worries, or fears).

Satisfaction and Frustration Themes

Confidence in Competencies

Respondents ranked their current level of confidence across 38 competencies related to owning and operating a FCC business. Each question was scored on a four-point Likert scale (1 = I am not confident in my ability , 2 = I am somewhat confident in my ability, 3 = I am confident in my ability , 4 = I am very confident in my ability ) . The average score across all 38 competencies was 2.87 ( SD = 0.66) and ranged from 1.24 to 4.00. Table 4 provides a breakdown of the five competencies in which FCC professionals expressed the highest level of confidence and the five competencies with the lowest level of confidence.

Highest and Lowest Areas of Confidence

Role Commitment

The sample appeared to be strongly committed to their work. Eighty-one percent of respondents reported feeling very committed to their business, 88% reported taking pride in their business and 77% reported that they put a lot of extra effort into their work. Moreover, knowing what they know today about the satisfaction of their job, 96% would still become a FCC professional. However, the intention to stay in the role appears more nuanced with only 65% reporting they intend to run their program for at least two more years. Additionally, 14% reported that they often think about closing, and 8% reported that they sometimes feel trapped in their job. This may reflect FCC professionals desire for a career pathway that allows them to grow and advance as ECEC professionals. This highlights a need for additional research on next steps for the FCC professionals after they close their programs.

Reports of professions serve as valuable resources for individuals considering a career in a particular field, as well as for educators, employers, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in workforce development, talent management, and industry trends. They can inform decision-making processes related to education, training, recruitment, and workforce planning. This Research Brief provides a profession report of the regulated (licensed) segment of the FCC workforce. Data from a small, but relatively diverse sample of 52 FCC professionals suggest that FCC professionals tend to enter the field feeling confident and self-assured. Despite their confidence; however, many felt unprepared for the challenges they faced, especially in business-related areas. While 52% of the sample had no previous experience in ECEC, 46% did have prior teaching experience, yet only 15% had administrative experience. This diversity in backgrounds underscores the multidisciplinary nature of the FCC profession, with individuals entering from a range of educational and professional backgrounds.

The findings regarding the motivations for individuals to become FCC professionals provide valuable insights into the unique appeal and potential career pathways within the ECEC field. As illustrated in Figure 6, two primary motivations emerged as leading factors: the desire to be one’s own boss or run a business (23%) and the aspiration to be able to stay home with their own children (23%). These motivations reflect a distinct aspect of the FCC profession, highlighting the appeal of flexibility and autonomy that comes with operating a FCC program. The fact that only 10% of the sample were motivated by the encouragement of others presents an interesting contrast to data on center-based administrators, who often cite encouragement from others as a primary reason for entering their role (McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, 2018). More research is needed to further understand career motivations, but this discrepancy may suggest that FCC professionals are more often self-driven and motivated by intrinsic factors such as independence and the desire to balance work with family responsibilities.

A prominent discovery across the ECEC literature concerning leadership underscores the significance of individuals’ professional identity and their perception of themselves as leaders. Work in this area has highlighted the crucial role of self-efficacy, reflective practices, empowerment, and leadership purpose. This underscores the importance of measuring and supporting role-related factors when considering workforce well-being and sustainability.

Our findings reveal a consistent role-perception of FCC professionals as educators and family supporters across the span of their careers. However, an intriguing evolution is observed in experienced and seasoned FCC professionals that seems to extend beyond direct interactions with children and families. Mid-career professionals (with 6 – 15 years of FCC experience) appear to broaden their role identity to emphasize their work as small business owners and role models and seasoned professionals (16 or more years of experience) extend to include their role as advocates.

Interestingly, we found a similar evolution in how FCC professionals described their work. While rewarding and enjoyable remained consistent descriptors across time, new professionals most often selected challenging as a third descriptor, experienced professionals most often selected creative , and seasoned professionals most often selected excitin g as their third descriptor. Additional research is needed, but the shift may reflect a sense of resiliency and empowerment as professionals advance in their careers.

This preliminary data begin to demonstrate how FCC professionals’ perceptions evolve across time. When new to the role, FCC professionals seem to emphasize their direct work with children and families, finding the work to be rewarding yet challenging. Mid-career FCC professionals’ role perceptions may expand to highlight their powerful role as small business owners embracing autonomy and creativity—the combination of being an entrepreneur and an educator is enticing for the mid-career FCC professional. Later in their career, the perception seems to extend past their influence within their individual programs to encompass the exciting role they play in advocating for and supporting the larger FCC and ECEC field.

The thematic analysis of the FCC professionals’ frustrations revealed several common themes including challenges in parent-provider relationships, time management and workload, financial concerns, and the need for staffing and support. Unsurprisingly, these areas overlap with the areas in which FCC professionals reported having the least confidence—the business and professional practices that foster a successful and sustainable business.

These findings also mirror previous research measuring FCC business and professional practices using the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS) which found income and benefits, fiscal management, and provider as employer to be among the lowest rated items in a national sample of 210 FCC programs as well as a clear parallel to other research highlighting factors hypothesized to lead to professional burnout and program closure (e.g., Bromer et al., 2021; Kelton & Tenis, 2024; National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, 2020; Vieria & Hill, 2019). Given the context of the sample’s educational background and work experience, these findings further elucidate the need for specialized training and coursework related to the business aspects of FCC. Addressing competencies in business and professional practice is crucial in improving the well-being and effectiveness of FCC professionals in delivering quality care to children and families.

This study provided nuanced results regarding the FCC professional’s commitment to the role. While the vast majority (85%) of the sample identified as very committed to their business, only 65% indicated that they plan to run their business for at least two more years.  These data taken in conjunction with the role perception data raise interesting questions regarding the possibility that as their career advances, FCC professionals may look to close their programs but not necessarily leave the field. While there is a great deal of critical conversation around the alarming rates of FCC program closure, there is limited information about what FCC professionals do after closing their FCC businesses. Future research on FCC professionals should investigate if they move to other roles within the ECEC field, particularly if they obtain positions that allow them to support and advocate for FCC at the community or state level (e.g., with resource and referral agencies, unions, or FCC networks or associations).

While limited in sample size, the findings from this Research Brief underscore the multifaceted nature of the FCC profession, highlighting both its rewards and challenges. Areas of strength, such as dedication to children and families, are contrasted by areas needing greater support, particularly in business management and sustainability. These data also offer insight into the potential of individualizing professional development and support based on the FCC professional’s career stage. Specifically, highlighting the need to extend beyond education and caregiving practices to also encompass business and professional practices mid-career and to foster community and professional advocacy and leadership in more seasoned professionals. Addressing these needs and challenges, as well as delivering targeted professional development is crucial for the well-being, effectiveness, and retention of FCC professionals.

Bella, J., Abel, M., Bloom, P.J., & Talan, T. (2017). Administrator Role Perception Survey . McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University.

Bella, J., & Kelton, R. (2018). Administrator Role Perception Survey—Home-Based. McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University.

Bipartisan Policy Center. (2021). Family child care policy framework. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/family-child-care-policy-framework/

Bloom, P. J. (2010). Measuring work attitudes in the early childhood setting: Technical manual for the Early Childhood Job Satisfaction Survey and the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey . McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University.

Bromer, J., Porter, T., Jones, C., Ragonese-Barnes, M., & Orland, J. (2021). Quality in home-based child care: A review of selected literature . OPRE Report # 2021-136, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/quality-home-based-child-care-review-selected-literature

Liu, D., Zhang, S., Wang, Y., & Yan, Y. (2021). The antecedents of thriving at work: A meta-analytic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-20.

Khani R. & Mirzaee A. (2015). How do self-efficacy, contextual variables and stressors affect teacher burnout in an EFL context? Journal of Educational Psychology , 35 (1), 93–109.

Kelton, R. & Tenis, I. (2024). Small business, big implications: A look at business practices in family child care programs. Research Notes. McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University. https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library/research-note-240131/

Kotaro, S., Cieslak, R., Smoktunowicz, E., Rogala, A., Benight, C., & Luszczynska, A. (2015): Associations between job burnout and self-efficacy: A meta-analysis. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping , 1-20.

McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership (2018). Director’s professional development needs differ by developmental stage. Research Notes. National Louis University. https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library/directors-professional-development-needs-differ-by-developmental-stage/

National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance. (2020). Addressing the decline in family child care. Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care. https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/addressing_decreasing_fcc_providers_revised_march2020_final.pdf

Sandstorm, H., Casas, M., Hernadez-Lepe, F., & Greenberg, E. (2022). Early educators’ work experiences and job satisfaction: Findings from the District of Columbia child care policy research partnership. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/Early%20Educators%E2%80%99%20Work%20Experiences%20and%20Job%20Satisfaction.pdf

Skaalvik, E. M., Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: A study of relations. Teaching and Teacher Education , 26 (4), 1059–1069.

Spreitzer, G., Sutcliffe, K., Dutton, J., Sonenshein, S., & Grant, A. M. (2005). A socially embedded model of thriving at work. Organization Science , 16 (5), 537-549. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0153

Vieira, N. & Hill. S. (2017). Creating the conditions for family child care to thrive . All Our Kin. https://allourkin.org/files/galleries/Family_Child_Care_to_Thrive.pdf

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