critical thinking for middle schoolers

Our Mission

Helping Students Hone Their Critical Thinking Skills

Used consistently, these strategies can help middle and high school teachers guide students to improve much-needed skills.

Middle school students involved in a classroom discussion

Critical thinking skills are important in every discipline, at and beyond school. From managing money to choosing which candidates to vote for in elections to making difficult career choices, students need to be prepared to take in, synthesize, and act on new information in a world that is constantly changing.

While critical thinking might seem like an abstract idea that is tough to directly instruct, there are many engaging ways to help students strengthen these skills through active learning.

Make Time for Metacognitive Reflection

Create space for students to both reflect on their ideas and discuss the power of doing so. Show students how they can push back on their own thinking to analyze and question their assumptions. Students might ask themselves, “Why is this the best answer? What information supports my answer? What might someone with a counterargument say?”

Through this reflection, students and teachers (who can model reflecting on their own thinking) gain deeper understandings of their ideas and do a better job articulating their beliefs. In a world that is go-go-go, it is important to help students understand that it is OK to take a breath and think about their ideas before putting them out into the world. And taking time for reflection helps us more thoughtfully consider others’ ideas, too.

Teach Reasoning Skills

Reasoning skills are another key component of critical thinking, involving the abilities to think logically, evaluate evidence, identify assumptions, and analyze arguments. Students who learn how to use reasoning skills will be better equipped to make informed decisions, form and defend opinions, and solve problems.

One way to teach reasoning is to use problem-solving activities that require students to apply their skills to practical contexts. For example, give students a real problem to solve, and ask them to use reasoning skills to develop a solution. They can then present their solution and defend their reasoning to the class and engage in discussion about whether and how their thinking changed when listening to peers’ perspectives.

A great example I have seen involved students identifying an underutilized part of their school and creating a presentation about one way to redesign it. This project allowed students to feel a sense of connection to the problem and come up with creative solutions that could help others at school. For more examples, you might visit PBS’s Design Squad , a resource that brings to life real-world problem-solving.

Ask Open-Ended Questions

Moving beyond the repetition of facts, critical thinking requires students to take positions and explain their beliefs through research, evidence, and explanations of credibility.

When we pose open-ended questions, we create space for classroom discourse inclusive of diverse, perhaps opposing, ideas—grounds for rich exchanges that support deep thinking and analysis.

For example, “How would you approach the problem?” and “Where might you look to find resources to address this issue?” are two open-ended questions that position students to think less about the “right” answer and more about the variety of solutions that might already exist.

Journaling, whether digitally or physically in a notebook, is another great way to have students answer these open-ended prompts—giving them time to think and organize their thoughts before contributing to a conversation, which can ensure that more voices are heard.

Once students process in their journal, small group or whole class conversations help bring their ideas to life. Discovering similarities between answers helps reveal to students that they are not alone, which can encourage future participation in constructive civil discourse.

Teach Information Literacy

Education has moved far past the idea of “Be careful of what is on Wikipedia, because it might not be true.” With AI innovations making their way into classrooms, teachers know that informed readers must question everything.

Understanding what is and is not a reliable source and knowing how to vet information are important skills for students to build and utilize when making informed decisions. You might start by introducing the idea of bias: Articles, ads, memes, videos, and every other form of media can push an agenda that students may not see on the surface. Discuss credibility, subjectivity, and objectivity, and look at examples and nonexamples of trusted information to prepare students to be well-informed members of a democracy.

One of my favorite lessons is about the Pacific Northwest tree octopus . This project asks students to explore what appears to be a very real website that provides information on this supposedly endangered animal. It is a wonderful, albeit over-the-top, example of how something might look official even when untrue, revealing that we need critical thinking to break down “facts” and determine the validity of the information we consume.

A fun extension is to have students come up with their own website or newsletter about something going on in school that is untrue. Perhaps a change in dress code that requires everyone to wear their clothes inside out or a change to the lunch menu that will require students to eat brussels sprouts every day.

Giving students the ability to create their own falsified information can help them better identify it in other contexts. Understanding that information can be “too good to be true” can help them identify future falsehoods.

Provide Diverse Perspectives

Consider how to keep the classroom from becoming an echo chamber. If students come from the same community, they may have similar perspectives. And those who have differing perspectives may not feel comfortable sharing them in the face of an opposing majority.

To support varying viewpoints, bring diverse voices into the classroom as much as possible, especially when discussing current events. Use primary sources: videos from YouTube, essays and articles written by people who experienced current events firsthand, documentaries that dive deeply into topics that require some nuance, and any other resources that provide a varied look at topics.

I like to use the Smithsonian “OurStory” page , which shares a wide variety of stories from people in the United States. The page on Japanese American internment camps is very powerful because of its first-person perspectives.

Practice Makes Perfect

To make the above strategies and thinking routines a consistent part of your classroom, spread them out—and build upon them—over the course of the school year. You might challenge students with information and/or examples that require them to use their critical thinking skills; work these skills explicitly into lessons, projects, rubrics, and self-assessments; or have students practice identifying misinformation or unsupported arguments.

Critical thinking is not learned in isolation. It needs to be explored in English language arts, social studies, science, physical education, math. Every discipline requires students to take a careful look at something and find the best solution. Often, these skills are taken for granted, viewed as a by-product of a good education, but true critical thinking doesn’t just happen. It requires consistency and commitment.

In a moment when information and misinformation abound, and students must parse reams of information, it is imperative that we support and model critical thinking in the classroom to support the development of well-informed citizens.

10 Fun Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School Students

Last Updated on October 11, 2022 by Editorial Team

Wouldn’t it be exceptional to see your children learning from games? That’s what activities usually ensure by giving them hands-on experience. While we see academic lessons thriving through activities, can teaching an idiosyncratic concept like critical thinking through activities be possible?

Critical thinking can be boosted at any age. However, being a part of overall development in students, schooling systems today are paying auxiliary attention to it. But, how do you inculcate critical thinking in middle schoolers?

Just like grown-ups, middle schoolers would love some activities that hit at the right spot to help them think logically and rationally. In this post, we will dive into what critical thinking is, its benefits for middle schoolers, and finally, some cool activities to preach it better.

Critical Thinking- What it actually is?

Appropriate thinking is imperative if it comes to the pinch. Purposeful thinking, decision making, and appropriate problem solving make a person a critical thinker.

By Definition, Critical thinking is the “objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.” This definition stipulates you have some crucial attributes. We have talked about this essential trait in our previous posts , but what aspects of critical thinking should middle schoolers be aiming at?

Aspects of critical thinking

You need to comprehend crucial attributes that form a critical thinking mix for middle school students with the definition. These are:

Quick Thinking

Critical thinkers attribute quick thinking in the first place. It is vital for making quick judgments regarding problems. Recognizing and remembering things is the basis for quick thinking. Identifying a problem, and thinking promptly yet logically about the solution makes a student an avid thinker.

Creative Aspect

Being creative requires you to think broadly about the logic and reasons behind every problem. Additionally, it can bring out multiple perspectives, making solutions easier. Moreover, a person needs to visualize the given challenge and distinguish it to infer better to be creative.

Analytical Aspect

The final aspect is Analytical thinking . This includes taking proper inference, analyzing, and synthesizing the challenge. This not only is for a problem but even for data. This aspect of critical thinking typically succors students during examinations, where a student needs to analyze questions to draft an exemplary answer.

Critical thinking activities- A virtue for middle schoolers

Based on the above-discussed aspects, some activities inculcate the best critical thinking characteristics that help students in the most quintessential ways. Lending a hand to middle schoolers and indulging them in critical thinking activities would give the students a taste of a better future; other benefits of these activities include-

Critical thinking activities make students understand the challenges so that they can plan for a solution. Ultimately, fearing and running away from challenges is not healthy.
Activities improve the student’s problem-solving ability. Brainstorming and getting out of the situation ultimately boosts the diagnostic and investigative spheres, which helps the child think logically, rationally, and critically.
Decision-making skills make an individual ardent and capable of mighty things. Practices and tasks that enhance critical thinking ensure students become independent during and after school.
Activities help students perform better in school. This results in an improved academic performance as these activities also make them self-reliant learners.

Critical thinking activities for middle school students

1. mind squeeze .

In this activity, the teacher would choose a set of 5 words for every student. The whole process revolves around the teacher showing these words for a few seconds and then hiding them; later, the student would recite the words aloud by remembering them.

A lot like the memory game, Mind Squeeze tests the recalling ability of the students while giving them a chance to improve their memory. Thus, this is a good recognizing and recalling activity for middle schoolers.

2. Anonymous Passage

Practising passages would be a great routine to develop reading habits in students. It also helps them retain crucial details. To start with, the teacher makes a passage and a set of questions. The teacher reads the passage aloud so that all the students can hear it. Now, a few questions are asked on the basis of the passage.

The activity stipulates the students to remember the whole passage so that they can answer the questions being asked later. This game helps students improve their recalling memory, as the whole game is about remembering the passage. Moreover, the communication and understanding skills of the students are put to the test as their answers would wholly depend on it.

3. The Scene Setting

Creativity is a crucial aspect of critical thinking. To be creative, students need to be good at visualising scenes too. The teacher shows a prop in this game—any object like a pencil, bird, or ball. Students need to create a scene and story around it. This game gets interesting as the prop gets unique. For instance, asking students to write a story around a needle can explore the depth of their creativity.

At first, it might seem like a challenging and daunting task. But later, it becomes quite fun, and students gather ideas of how to present their prop in front of the whole class. This not only boosts their creativity but also appraises their communication skills.

4. Touch On The Error

The students can know about their abilities to distinguish by this activity. The teacher gives children a chance to play with letters here. For instance, the teacher provides children with a sentence where some letters are replaced with ‘Z.’ Now, children may be asked to distinguish the errors and find out the right answers for the same.

The activity’s primary purpose is to form a pattern which the students can notice and later identify the actual word or sentence. For example, The teacher might give words like- BZG, CZT, ZND, ZPPLE. The common letter here is ‘z’; now, the students need to figure out what this Z stands for.

Teachers may also mark off all vowels or cross 3rd word of each sentence. By increasing the difficulty level of these words, the teachers can help students brainstorm, which would ultimately add to their critical thinking skills.

5. Settle the Confusion

Critical thinkers seldom get bewildered. In fact, they make the right inferences from gathered information. Students are offered a confusing question to ensure the same. This way, they can infer and conclude better. In this activity, the teacher can read out a story or play a video for the students. Later, confusing and challenging questions can be asked for the kids. This helps them think harder and answer rationally based on their understanding.

The questions might look baffling at first, but when a child pushes the right buttons, the complexity would not look like a stumbling block.

6. Award the Winner

Here a student is called upon and asked to judge traits of peers. To prop up this, they asked to choose one peer whom they wanted to award. It doesn’t end here; they need to offer reasons behind their choice. To make it more exciting, teachers can take the call of pairing two extremely unlike students together and give them some time to know some crucial things about each other. Later, they can award each other based on their impression given during the few minutes.

This shows and improves their judgment skills and, ultimately, critical thinking.

7. One in Million Sentence

Great for helping students get a new idea about the day-to-day objects, this activity would start with each student asked to write a small phrase on a piece of paper and put them in a box. Once everyone is done with it, the teacher shuffles them up and hands one slip to each student; Later, the whole class is divided into small groups of 5-6 members. Now, each group is asked to arrange their slips to make a meaningful sentence.

The way students unjumble the sentences to make them look the most meaningful would showcase a lot about their capabilities. Such activities also put their cognition capacity to the test.

8. Make Out Utilities

Creative thinker analyses an object or challenge in multiple dimensions. Making out Utilities can help students to do the same. In this activity, students are provided with an item—say vegetables. They have to mention five ways to use them. Thinking about the five uses of vegetables can bewilder students and encourage them to think hard. This activity teaches students how to take multiple inferences from day-to-day properties.

Teachers must give unique words to students. Words that have easily thinkable 5 uses should be avoided. This will make them deliberate through, which will ultimately impact their creative and critical thinking,

9. One day President

The ultimate agenda of a critical thinker is to put things together for a solution. The activity, One day president, makes every student take the position of a president. Now, each of them should state what changes they can make in the country in three aspects: financial, educational, and people. Other than brainstorming, a lot of the child’s general awareness too can be judged by this activity.

This game would be riveting if the children are aware of their surroundings and know what’s happening around the globe. As a president in the activity, they will also experience being a leader, which is crucial for free thinking.

10. Adventure time

As the name implies, Adventure time activity lets students explore. In this, the entire class is divided into groups of 2-3 students. Each group is given a topic on which they have to make a board game. The best board game is the winner.

This activity makes students think about every aspect of the given topic. For instance, if the topic is forest, students will explore what can be the challenges they would face in a forest— wild animals, weather, and many more.

Being a critical thinker can be far-reaching and make the students more decisive, insightful, and coherent. They can be a cut above when mastered at a tender age. 21st-century kids need essential critical thinking skills to apply knowledge and solve unconventional problems. These distinct skills are not limited to an inborn attribute but can be grasped through relevant practices. Personal practices accompanied by activities can give astounding outcomes; thus, the same should be ingrained in students. Ponder the activities above to see if they make a remarkable change.

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,

ChatGPT for Teachers

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Critical Thinking Resources for Middle School Teachers

Middle school teachers of all subjects are interested in fostering critical thinking in their classroom, but it’s not always an easy task to incorporate in the never-ending quest to match lesson plans to state learning standards. Here are seven resources that will easily add critical thinking to your lesson plans.

The Critical Thinking Community

The Critical Thinking Community is a resource site designed to encourage critical thinking in students. There are teaching strategies, a glossary of important terms, as well as articles by thought leaders in critical thinking, such as one by Bertrand Russell on the importance of developing critical thinking skills. Visit the site.

Here are some recommended pages for critical thinking strategies for the middle school classroom.

Teaching tactics : Strategies teachers can use to encourage critical thinking in class. For example, asking students to read the instructions of an assignment and then repeat them in their own words. Visit the page.
Remodeled lessons: How to take a routine lesson plan and remodel it to foster critical thinking. The page has five standard lesson plans, a critique of why they should be changed, and suggestions for improving the lesson plan. Visit the page.
35 dimensions of critical thought: Strategies are organized into three groups: Affective, Cognitive Macro-Abilities, and Cognitive Micro-Skills. Each strategy details its importance for student development. Visit the page.

Success story: tips for teaching critical thinking

KIPP King Collegiate High School has developed 10 ideas for teaching critical thinking. These methods are applicable for middle school aged students, giving them exposure to thinking critically before arriving to high school. One notable technique from KIPP is to teach students to constantly ask questions. Visit the page.

Critical thinking in the 21 st century

Microsoft Education offers material for teaching critical thinking for the 21 st -century student. What’s special about this guide is its focus on thinking critically on the Internet. Lesson plans focus on fine-tuning search skills, how to evaluate discoveries and then incorporate findings in student work. Visit the site.

Creative and critical thinking activities

On teachers.net Gazette, a teacher named Emmy recommends five specific activities that are easy to use, take little preparation, and stimulate creative thinking. The most popular feature of this site is its teacher collaboration. Visit the page.

Back to basics

This site details the basics about critical thinking: what it is, the characteristics, and why it should be taught. It also provides several differing perspectives about critical thinking for readers to consider. Different teaching strategies are also discussed, plus links to helpful resources. Visit the site.

Riddle me that

BrainDen.com has a large number of critical-thinking riddles and brain teasers that can be used in the classroom. The answers are provided for the teacher as well as tips for stimulating further discussion on the topic. Teachers can use the exercises as warmup activities at the beginning of class, or at the end of class on days when work is unexpectedly completed early. Visit the site.

Brain boosters

Discovery Education has a “Brain Boosters” section listing specific logical thinking challenges and brain teasers that students love. The activities can be done with groups or individually. The answers are provided for the teacher. Visit the site.

Critical Thinking Lesson Plans PDF for Middle School / High School vs ChatGPT

CRITICAL THINKING LESSON PDF – March 11, 2024: ChatGPT makes it so easy not to think.

Sure, we can ban ChatGPT from schools. But how will we learn how to think critically about artificial intelligence if we’re not exposed to it?

Critical Thinking involves helping students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information objectively so they can form an informed perspective.

Help your students out with these 24 fun lessons on critical thinking.

They’ll learn how to spot fake news and wrong information, so they can make smart choices and solve problems in the real world.

Here are 24 critical thinking lessons to engage your Middle School and High School Students!

Where does bias come from?
What is fake news?
How reliable are citizenship journalism posts on social media?
Can we trust Mainstream Media (MSM Traditional News)?
Should we trust state-funded news organizations to tell the truth?
When is social media better than the news?
Are alternative news sources trustworthy?
Can students take the time to see things from different perspectives?
BONUS: Should ChatGPT be allowed in schools? Or, is this cheating?

FREE, NO-PREP Chat GPT debate lesson

ChatGPT has completely changed the game.

Did you know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) sometimes “hallucinates” and says things that are completely made up?

The problem is that the AI chatbot doesn’t realize it’s hallucinating until you point out the error (if you’re able to spot the fake news!)

This just means we have to double check the things ChatGPT and AI tells us.

Even lawyers don’t realize that ChatGPT can invent information (i.e. AI hallucinations).

What about our students? Will our students realize that AI can completely make up answers?

Here’s a FREE NO PREP Chat GPT debate lesson on YouTube so you can have an informed debate with your students.

Yes, ChatGPT can be exciting and scary. Should we panic? No.

Watch the video lesson on YouTube .

Should Chat GPT be allowed in schools? Or is this cheating?

ChatGPT Critical Thinking Debate
Writing Reflection Assignment

As easy as 1, 2, 3:

Print the worksheets : You can get the worksheets here .
Watch the video lesson on YouTube. There are two versions: 1) a SHORTER version and 2) a FULL LESSON with handout instructions.
Moderate Class Discussion

Hi, I’m Mike! Your Virtual Support Teacher

The Virtual Support Teacher video lesson provides all the information your students need to have an informed debate.

No independent research is required.
Play the video in class and then moderate the discussion.

CHAT GPT and Google Magi (artificial intelligence) has completely changed the way students can learn and cheat.

But a lesson on ChatGPT is really about developing 21st-century learning skills and social-emotional learning skills to survive and thrive in a changing world.

It’s not enough to say don’t cheat. We need to help students understand how to use this tool.

After all, you’re at a competitive disadvantage if you can’t keep up with major technological revolutions.

Critical Thinking Topics explored by the FREE YouTube video lesson

What is Chat GPT?
Explain like I’m five years old: How well can Chat GPT summarize and find the main idea from complex texts?
Include this list of personal information into your answer: Can Chat GPT really produce creative writing with personal examples?
The Google Search Algorithm has learned to be sexist (and what you can do about it.)
Should I panic about Chat GPT and Artificial Intelligence?
Should I trust my robot friend?

Students fill out worksheets to document their learning at multiple points in the lesson: (beginning, middle, and end)

Evidence from the text
Explain their own thinking

The ChatGPT debate lesson gives students an opportunity to collaborate and participate in small group and whole class conversations to develop a deeper understanding of the issue.

These conversations can provide multiple opportunities to listen to students to see what they understand. (Anecdotal observation / assessment.)

Students brainstorm criteria to decide if Chat GPT should be allowed in schools or is this cheating. (Worksheet 5)

What’s the point of school?
What does cheating mean?

The long version of the video walks students through a FOUR CORNERS debate .

Finally, students fill out a written response: Should Chat GPT be allowed in schools? An optional rubric is included.

Explain how the evidence from the text proves their point using criteria.

The video lesson is FREE on YouTube

The optional worksheet handouts are on sale for $1.00 for a limited time. (The price will increase on Monday May 8, 2023)

Download the ChatGPT lesson handouts.

PS. Save time and money. The ChatGPT handouts have been added as a bonus in this 6Cs Critical Thinking unit .

It’s not April Fools anymore, but it’s still a good Critical Thinking Lesson

Now is the perfect time to do this April Fools’ Critical Thinking Lesson… Why? Because if you did this lesson on April 1, 2023, your students would be too suspicious.

Now, you can see if they notice the clues in the media text to determine if this is fake or not.

Can your students figure out if this is a real Google™ product?

60 minutes of engaging content divided into two parts:

Part 1: Fake News vs Tulips + Exit Ticket (30 min)
Part 2: Taking up the Answers + Student Reflection (30 min)

CRITICAL THINKING LESSON

Slideshow lesson teaches critical thinking concepts.

Use the Five Ws (who, what, when, where, why/how) to analyze the video.
Ask “Why” or “How” questions for deeper understanding.

EXIT TICKET

Assessment for students to demonstrate their understanding.
Marking Guide includes sample “look-fors.”
Generic rubric categories for easy adaptation to different grades.

Check out the April Fools’ Joke and critical thinking lesson here .

We live in a time of fake news, misinformation, and school-yard gossip!

This means, students need to think critically pretty much all the time.

They did what?!
Is this true? Did it really happen like that?
Does that even make sense? Am I in an echo chamber where my friends just agree with me?

What do our students do when they

See viral posts on social media,
Read a “fact” in a textbook or website,
Hear rumors about classmates!

How can we use logic and reason to form opinions? What can we do to make decisions and solve problems in a controversial world?

Critical Thinking and making informed decisions is part of Social Emotional Learning.

This SEL resource includes Critical Thinking Lesson Plans (PDF), a detailed script, discussion questions, and sample student answers… you get it all!

Fake News Versus… A new series of Critical Thinking Lesson Plans (Middle School / High School)

I’ve just launched the first lesson in a series I call “Fake News versus”

The first one is called “Fake News vs The Five Ws.”

I published it on March 28, 2022 and it will be free for a limited time.
It’s been downloaded over 739 times!
You can get it here .

Fight Fake News using the Five Ws!

Use the Five Ws (who, what, when, where, why/how) to think critically about the story behind the message.

60 minutes of content:

Part 1: Fake News vs The Five Ws & Exit Ticket (30 min)
Part 2: Taking up the Answers & Student Reflection (30 min)

Exit ticket assessment gives students a chance to demonstrate their understanding of the lesson.

Marking Guide includes sample “look-fors.”

Incorrect answer
Simple / straightforward answer
Answers demonstrating increasing complexity
A list of “Next Steps” is included on the exit ticket. You can choose one for the student, or they can self-select what they think they need to work on.

Generic rubric categories are used instead of numbers or marks:

Epic, Great, Good, Okay, Needs Improvement, Major Misunderstanding.
This way, you can use this activity with different grades – just shift the benchmark where you attach your grades.

The “Taking up the Answers” slideshow

shows students how to take a simple answer and create a more complex idea using “idea volleyball.”

Social-Emotional Learning is built directly into the lesson and assessment:

The exit ticket is designed to help students develop self-awareness skills .

After students see the correct answer, the “Taking up the Answers” slideshow walks students through the goal-setting process to improve:

What did you do well?
What ideas did you miss this time?
What is your goal for next time?
What might help you to improve?

The “Taking up the Answers” slideshow gives students examples of actions they can take to improve:

Use a different Strategy
Apply more Effort .
Optimize results (by looking at previous work to see if there are patterns.)
Tinkering with new ideas

Transferrable learning skills can help students make informed decisions to solve problems

(even when angry or when things aren’t fair).

We live in crazy times. People have very strong opinions on both sides of controversial issues:

Systemic racism
Religious freedom
Freedom of speech
Gun control
Woke politics
Parental rights in Education vs Gender Identity
ChatGPT in Education

Before, we lived in a world where people might not have all of the facts. Or, the facts were inaccurate. (We call this mis information.)

Now, we live in a world where people are actively putting out propaganda and intentionally incorrect information. (We call this dis information.)

And then we have Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT) that can hallucinate and completely make up facts… and tell you with confidence that these facts are true… until you point out to the AI why it’s incorrect.

And this is the world right now.

Our students will be facing a completely different world when they grow up.

We’re already seeing hints of what that world will look like with ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence powered Search Engines

And this chat based model with artificial intelligence is the way the world is heading.

Microsoft Bing is powered by ChatGPT integration with current search results.
Google has Gemini

The way we use the internet is changing and we need to think even more critically about the information we get from the internet gatekeepers – search engines.

Of course, Google has been exploring AI. But they haven’t implemented AI fully in their search engine. Why? Because AI results were generated false and biased statements.

In recent years, Google has used large language models to improve the quality of its search results, but held off on fully adopting A.I. because it has been prone to generating false and biased statements. Source: New York Times – Google Devising Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals

Can Google and ChatGPT be sexist or discriminate?

Machine Learning algorithms have been shown to give false information and sexist.

Make sure to sign up for the Educircles Club newsletter.
I have an incredible Chat GPT critical thinking video and lesson coming out.
And you like freebies , don’t you?

Now, more than ever, we all need to understand how to think critically about the information we get.

Students need to have some basic tools to help them decide what’s right and wrong (for them.)

This Critical Thinking unit has everything to do with ChatGPT, Covid controversies, conspiracy theories, illegal occupations, war propaganda, and woke politics… without having anything to do with them.

The critical thinking worksheets and lessons focus on transferrable skills without using examples from current controversies.
There’s no mention of ChatGPT, Ottawa Protests, George Floyd, January 6, the war in Ukraine, or woke politics.
That makes this resource timeless.

New and Improved UPDATE to my 6Cs Critical Thinking Curriculum Unit

Based on teacher feedback, I’ve made it a lot easier to find the files you need.

Make sure to look at the product preview for each resource. You can see full screenshots of exactly what you get in each critical thinking lesson package.

A. Lost at Sea (FREE!)

Download the FREE resource

Help students develop critical thinking skills by prioritizing a list of 15 items to help them survive if lost at sea.

5 pages of handouts,
23-page detailed critical thinking lesson plan (PDF).

Lost at Sea is a classic activity that can be found all across the Internet.

The original activity comes from PACE , which published the “Lost at Sea” activity in the public domain.

Instead of relying solely on emotional, intuitive responses, I’ve adapted this activity to highlight the importance of criteria-based thinking (critical thinking).

Ultimately, the goal is to begin a conversation about critical thinking and how to use criteria to make informed decisions.

B. Thinking about Thinking

Download the resource

Help students improve Self-Awareness and Social Awareness. Guide them through this series of Social Emotional Learning activities!

By becoming aware of who we are,
we can begin to think more critically to understand the perspectives of others –
especially those from different backgrounds or points of view.

Students explore three activities to understand better how our emotions, thoughts, and values can influence our point of view.

Section B has 108 slides, 14 pages of handouts, and 30 pages of Critical Thinking Lesson Plans (PDF format)

C. Search Engine Bias Experiment

Help students improve Social Awareness and Responsible Decision-Making by understanding how search engines influence our bias and behaviour!

Students analyze an informational text (Google™ search engine results) and develop critical thinking internet skills!

Should online dictionaries give the same definition for a given word?
Should Google and other search engines give the same results for a given search phrase?

Search engines provide personalized results that can reinforce our point of view and bias. We know Netflix gives us personalized suggestions of what to watch next.

But did you know Google personalizes our results as well?

We live in an invisible “search bubble” that filters the results we find on the internet.

Search engine algorithms filter what shows up at the top of the list.
Becoming aware of this search bubble is a way for students to think more critically.

Informational texts are things based on facts.

In ELA, we often look at biographies, historical accounts, or textbook articles.
But, a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is also an informational text.
Students explore the text form to analyze and identify potential bias.

In this 9 lesson package, students conduct experiments to see what happens if different people search for the same thing on the internet.

Section C has 117 slides, 14 pages of handouts, and 36 pages of detailed script and Critical Thinking Lesson Plan PDFs

D. Fake News

Help students improve Social Awareness and Responsible Decision Making by exploring fake news from multiple points of view!

Students compare the reliability of information from Social Media and Traditional News Media.

Three critical thinking strategies help students make more informed decisions.

Students also reflect on how their attitudes change as they learn more information.

In this lesson package, students try to

be OPEN-MINDED as they explore different points of view and examples.
become FULL-MINDED and explore how money is made online through ads before learning about Fake News websites during the Trump election.
USE CRITERIA to determine if local news anchors reciting the same script about the dangers of social media is an example of Fake News.

Media skills and understandings are embedded throughout the Common Core State Standards rather than treated in a separate section.

In this lesson, students will

Cite the evidence that supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly and implicitly.
Determine and analyze different points of view.
Analyze a case where multiple sources provide conflicting information on the same topic (Sinclair incident.)

In this 6 lesson package, students explore how their perspective of social media and traditional news media might change as we learn more information about the Sinclair Script incident. (Essentially, a bunch of local news anchors read the exact same script word-for-word about the dangers of social media and fake news.)

Section D is hands down one of my favourite lessons because it walks students through different sides of a “fake news” issue.

There are 186 slides in the slideshow lesson. You also get 15 pages of handouts. Finally the Critical Thinking Lesson Plan PDFs walk you through 59 pages of detailed scripts and discussion points.

E. Videos F. Consolidation / Review

Help students improve Self-Awareness and Responsible Decision Making skills by using critical thinking to think about critical thinking!

Students analyze four videos to explore critical thinking: 12 cognitive biases, online filter bubbles, and unconscious bias.

After each video, students brainstorm strategies to 1) trick people and 2) help us think critically.

The slideshow lesson reviews three strategies to analyze the videos.

Be OPEN-MINDED. Consider alternate points of view.
Be FULL-MINDED. Seek out high-quality information.
USE CRITERIA to make an informed opinion.

Students also watch a fourth video about critical thinking to explore other critical thinking strategies.

They then compare strategies to develop a deeper understanding of how to trick people and think more critically.

In the Consolidation/Review section, students use a vocabulary-building graphic organizer (Frayer model) to explore critical thinking.

Students brainstorm examples, non-examples, features, and must-have criteria.

Section E/F is the consolidation chapter of this Critical Thinking Unit. It has 50 slides, 12 pages of handouts. You also get 50 pages of Critical Thinking lesson plans PDF FORMAT.

Teach students HOW to think critically to solve problems

We live in a world filled with news media and social media focus on sensational topics.

This is especially true today with new information constantly coming to us about Coronavirus (Covid-19)

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. We’re constantly overloaded with information.

Also, it’s easy to get caught up and respond emotionally.

We all need to be able to think critically when we’re drawing conclusions.

How many of your students get caught up in these situations:

something goes viral on social media.
someone spreads a rumour on the school yard.
something scary happens in the world.
something unfair happened to them.

A lot of people might say that critical thinking skills and strategies are really just common sense.

But, as we all know from teaching in the classroom, there’s nothing common about common sense.

Explicitly teaching strategies help provide a foundation for critical analysis of everything we see, hear and learn.

Social-Emotional Learning includes critical thinking – whether we’re talking about

helping students with responsible decision making
figuring out how to resolve conflict and develop relationship skills
having self-management skills to set (and work towards) personal goals
being open-minded and embracing social awareness to ensure we have lots of high-quality information instead of relying on stereotypes
having self-awareness and examining who we are, and how that might introduce prejudices, biases, and filter the way we see the world.

Sometimes, the News, Social Media, or Artificial Intelligence / ChatGPT can give us a skewed view of the world.

Critical Thinking skills help students work to use logic and reason instead of emotion and fear when making decisions or drawing conclusions. This is a lesson students need but don’t often realize they need.

Critical thinking lesson plans can help teachers empower students to make informed decisions in everyday life independently.

We can do this by giving students specific strategies on how to think critically in multiple situations. Whether you are:

dealing with fake news
trying to make an opinion or drawing conclusions
trying to be fair

Teach students to have opinions based on high-quality information and to seek out opposing points of view to make an informed decision.

Use criteria
Be Full minded.
Be Open minded

(Psst, want a free taste of these 3 critical thinking strategies? Check out this free slideshow lesson and worksheet package .)

Students are often told to find different points of view on an issue or in a story. But, students don’t always recognize that simply identifying the missing point of view is not the same as figuring out what that missing point of view would say.

This lesson package helps students to recognize different aspects of their identity, points of view that might be different from theirs, and the need to figure out those viewpoints to help us make an informed decision.

Sometimes, we don’t even realize we need to think critically!

Here’s an example:

Students often know we need to use the critical thinking process to make informed decisions about the information we receive.

But, did you know we also need to think critically about the information we are fed in the first place?

Notice how that sentence says “the information we are fed” and not “the information we find”?

That’s because computer algorithms are “curating” the content we receive:

Search engines personalize your results.
Social media personalizes your feed.
Streaming media like Netflix personalizes suggestions for other shows you might like to see.

This means, we get information we want to see and not necessarily other points of view.

(Here’s a lesson to help teach students about this search bubble .)

Teaching critical thinking strategies to students is especially important right now to help students solve problems.

This can be in your language arts class, your homeroom, or beyond!

Critical Thinking High School – English

This lesson package would work well in a 9th Grade or 10th Grade English class.

I used to teach 8th Grade in a grade 7-12 High School. Here’s what I often heard from my secondary colleagues:

Students coming up from elementary school often don’t know the basics.
Their paragraph structure might be weak.
Independent grammar and spelling skills have gone by the wayside in an era of spellcheck and Grammarly.
Students often can’t infer deeper meaning and hidden points of view in a text.

The Common Core State Standards recognizes the importance of informational texts across subjects as students progress from elementary to middle to high school.

Good critical thinking skills are key in academic success as well as to help out when we are drawing conclusions in everyday life. Critical thinking strategies are transferable.

Teach students HOW to think critically about search engines, news media or social media by putting the focus on the critical thinking strategies we use. Explicitly focus on different strategies…
Then, when we teach subject-based content or explore informational texts in our English language arts classes, we can refer to these critical thinking strategies and draw back on our prior experiences when we analyzed search engines or debunked fake news.

Critical Thinking Middle School – English Language Arts / Homeroom / Advisory

These critical thinking activities for middle school work well if you teach in a 7th or 8th grade English Language Arts class. (Also, 6th grade if you teach at a grade 6-8 middle school or junior high school.)

Middle school is a great age! Students are old enough to delve into more complex issues, but still young enough to care. (They’re like giant marshmallows! Tough on the outside, but still sweet on the inside!)

Making the critical thinking process meaningful to students is one way to drive student engagement and participation in class.

The search bubble lesson is interesting because students are collecting real-time data and comparing results. This isn’t a simple web quest where the answers are in the teaching manual. This is a real-world analysis of search results.
The fake news lesson is a great way to teach point of view. The lesson walks middle school students through different perspectives of the Sinclair Script incident where 193 local news anchors said the exact same script about fake news.
The invisible lens / thinking about thinking lesson is fun because students get to explore who they are and how that filters the world they see. Plus, your middle school students will be completely shocked that they’ve missed the bear . (Unless they’ve seen it before.)

Critical Thinking for Elementary Students

There’s a lot that older elementary students can get excited about.

One of my favourite parts in the critical thinking lesson plan (PDF) is when students analyze the differences between social media and traditional news media.

We often think that because citizen journalism in social media can be heavily biased because, well, anyone can post on social media.

Then the slideshow lesson asks students to analyze this video :

Crazy, right?

The critical thinking lesson plan PDF file provides a detailed script to help your students make an informed decision about social media vs traditional media.

Usually, we use the critical thinking process to help students realize not to trust everything they see on social media.

But, to be fair, we need to use that same critical thinking process regardless of where we get our information!

Critical Thinking Strategies When Reading

This critical thinking lesson unit ties in nicely with critical thinking reading strategies .

Sometimes students have difficulty using critical thinking strategies when reading.

But we evaluate stuff all the time in real life!

So, if we start our reading strategy lessons first by showing how we think critically all the time in real life, then we just tell our students that we use the same strategies when reading!

Here’s a free YouTube video lesson on the evaluating Comprehension Reading strategy. It goes nicely with this critical thinking unit:

5 weeks of Critical Thinking Lessons (ELA)

We spent over 120 hours of research and lesson development on this product so you wouldn’t have to.

IMPORTANT: You will have to spend a little bit of time going through the slides and handouts to tweak them to fit your specific needs.

The teaching slideshow has been split into 6 smaller slideshows for each mini-unit.

This would be ideal for teaching critical thinking in English Language Arts as you get more options to divide the content throughout the year.

Note, the critical thinking lesson plans (pdf) include screenshots of each slide as well as slide numbers to help you get oriented. It’s a big file.

Slides 1 – 539: ALL

Slides 1– 80: Lost at Sea
Slides 81 – 189: Thinking about Thinking (Teaching Point of View in English Language Arts)
Slides 190 – 306: Search Bubbles
slides 307 – 492: Fake News
slides 493 – 520: Videos
slides 521 – 539: Understanding

IMPORTANT DIGITAL LEARNING NOTE:

Digital learning – designed for google classroom (english language arts).

The lessons on hidden search engine bias (Slides 190 – 306: Search Bubbles) have been broken apart into smaller files that can be easily uploaded to separate Google Classroom assignments.

In the Critical Thinking Search Engine Bias Informational Text section, you would set up 9 assignments. Each assignment would have

a lesson ( Google Slides file with the appropriate slides) – you share this VIEW ONLY
a work handout (Google Doc) – you set the Google Classroom assignment to make every student their own copy of the work handout.

YOU GET 5 WEEKS (24 days) of Language Arts lessons to do with your class to help them think more critically by using strategies: USE CRITERIA, BE OPEN MINDED, BE FULL MINDED.

IN THE ZIPPED FILE, you get…

543 slides in GOOGLE SLIDE format
24 Critical Thinking Lesson Plans (PDF) – approx 45 min per lesson
LOST at SEA activity ( CRITERIA BASED thinking )
THINKING about THINKING activity (The invisible gorilla, The invisible lens, Aspects of Identity)
Should SEARCH ENGINES and ONLINE DICTIONARIES give us the same results? (Two online experiments exploring filter bubbles)
BREAKING NEWS examples on social media
The MONEY behind FAKE NEWS (How websites make money online and what this had to do with FAKE NEWS in the US election.)
LOCAL NEWS media and the Sinclair script from 6 different POINTS of VIEW. (Oh, not sure what the Sinclair script is? Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair made local news anchors recite the same script, word for word . Check out this video that went viral .)
Vocabulary Building Graphic Organizer HANDOUT
Critical Thinking Learning Skills SELF-EVALUATION handout
Critical Thinking Review Assessment – What did you learn? (12 short answer questions and answer key)

If you want to teach CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, we just saved you an incredible amount of prep work!

Critical Thinking Lesson Plans (PDF) Curriculum – Table of Contents

24 DAYS of Critical Thinking Lessons in 5 WEEKS.

You can use this Critical Thinking Curriculum as part of your English Language Arts class, homeroom / advisory / guidance class, or if you teach a Critical Thinking class.

PART 1. EXPERIENCE

DAY/LESSON 1 – Introduction / Lost at Sea (slides 1-35) – 45 MIN
DAY/LESSON 2 – Lost at Sea continued (slides 36-80) – 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 3 – Thinking about Thinking (slides 81-102) 45 MIN
DAY/LESSON 4 – Thinking about Thinking cont (slides 103-145) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 5 – Thinking about Thinking cont (slides 146-170) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 6 – Thinking about Thinking cont (slides 171-189) 45 MINUTES
DAY/LESSON 7 – Sources of Information (slides 190-225) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 8 – Online dictionary experiment (slides 226-233) 45 MINUTES
DAY/LESSON 9 – Online dictionary experiment cont (slides 234-236) 40 MIN
DAY/LESSON 10 – Search engine experiment (slides 237-276) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 11 – Search engine experiment cont (slides 277-302) 45 MIN
DAY/LESSON 12 – Search engine experiment cont (slides 303) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 13 – Search engine experiment cont (slides 304-306) 40 MIN
DAY/LESSON 14 – Fake News (slides 307-334) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 15 – Fake News continued (slides 335-363) 45 MIN
DAY/LESSON 16 – Fake News continued (slides 364-398) 55 MIN
DAY/LESSON 17 – Fake News continued (slides 399-430) 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 18 – Fake News continued (slides 431-455) – 45 MIN
DAY/LESSON 19 – Fake News continued (slides 456-492) – 50 MIN

PART 2. WATCH

DAY/LESSON 20 – Part 2 Videos (slides 493-500) – 55 MIN
DAY/LESSON 21 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 501-509) – 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 22 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 510-520) – 50 MIN

Part 3 UNDERSTAND

DAY/LESSON 23 – Vocabulary Builder (slides 521-537) – 50 MIN
DAY/LESSON 24 – Self Evaluation / Review – (slides 538-539) – 50 MIN

This is the good stuff. No, seriously. Check out the preview PDF to see everything that you’re getting.

HEADS UP WARNING! YOU MAY WANT TO MODIFY SLIDES FOR YOUR SCHOOL

(This warning is also in the critical thinking lesson plans PDF)

Everyone has a different school reality:

Some of the examples we use in this resource may not be appropriate for all grades, school climates, and classroom realities.
Sometimes, as much as we’d love to, we simply don’t have time to have our lessons derailed into teachable moments.

We tried to come up with different examples from various perspectives, but of course, we are human and have an unconscious bias as well.

PLEASE ASK US YOUR QUESTIONS. THIS IS A FANTASTIC HIGH-INTEREST MEGA LESSON ON CRITICAL THINKING in ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS.

Here are a few of the slides that we wanted to give you a heads up about. There may be other slides that you may want to modify. We suggest going through the material to make sure everything fits your needs.

NOTE: All of our slideshow files and handouts can be modified.

Slide 170 looks at various protected grounds in Canada as a way to help students brainstorm different groups of people. The slide discusses race, ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, marital status, family status, disability, genetic characteristics and convictions for which a pardon has been granted or a record suspended.
Slide 180 looks at possible answers for different aspects of identity. The slide lists: socio-economic status, nationality, language, colour, age, religion, orientation, gender, race, ability, and culture.
Slide 320-323: Wikileaks release of alleged CIA documents showing CIA covert hacking program to listen through SMART TVs and other devices
Slide 324-331: Death of Osama bin Laden which was reported on Twitter first.
Slide 459: The title of article is “We’re journalists at a Sinclair news station. We’re pissed.”
Slide 481: The title of article is “How I made a dumb video making fun of Sinclair Broadcasting and somehow started a media war”.

NOTE: YOU CAN MODIFY, DELETE, and EDIT ALL of the lessons, handouts, and presentations.

You get GOOGLE SLIDE and GOOGLE DOCS formats SO YOU CAN CHANGE THINGS FOR YOUR CLASS.
The critical thinking lesson plans pdf is comprehensive and includes suggested talking points for each slide.

Critical Thinking Lessons about Hidden Bias in Search Engines

Informational text unit designed for google classroom.

A search engine is an informational text that we should think critically about.

But, not everybody knows how to analyze the Search Engine Results Pages effectively to identify hidden bias. (Heck, most people don’t realize the search results we get in everyday life are very personalized and influenced by our search habits.)

We need to think more critically before we draw conclusions- not only about the information we read online but also about the information choices we receive from our digital gatekeepers (search engines, media streaming platforms, any other online service that provides a personalized experience based on algorithms.)

Informational texts are things that are based on facts.

They can include things like biographies, speeches, opinion pieces, and historical or technical accounts.
Informational texts can also include information that appears in graphs, charts, and maps.
All of these examples are different from fiction and literature which includes things like novels, short stories, drama, and poetry,

Here are 9 critical thinking lessons to help you explore search engine results.

This is the literacy lesson we should be teaching our students, but it’s a text form and topic that not everyone is familiar with. Search Engine results pages are informational texts that we can (and should) analyze.

Use these high-interest slideshows to help you teach and break down the following concepts.

critical thinking strategies and the concept of bias
different search engines used around the world
how search engines work
how to read a Search Engine Results Page
understanding form, conventions and techniques when it comes to this informational text

The Google Slideshow critical thinking lessons will teach and walk students through two activities:

an dictionary experiment to explore whether different dictionaries give the same results
An search engine experiment to explore whether different search engines and search conditions (i.e. browser, geographic location, date) give the same results

The big guiding question for students to explore in everyday life: Are Search Engines biased?

Should different search engines give us different results for the same search phrase? Why or why not?

This unit can be taught in the classroom or for digital learning using Google Classroom.

The Google Slides presentation has been cut into lessons so you can easily attach the mini lesson to your Google Classroom assignments

Get the Search Engine Bias critical thinking lessons

Note: this unit is included in our critical thinking chapter ..

Informational Text Unit for Google Classroom: Search engine bias - 9 high-interest Critical Thinking Lessons for Language Arts (slideshow). 9 independent work handouts. 2 online experiment activities for your students.

What critical thinking lesson plans do you use in your classroom?

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4 Easy and Exciting Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School

As your middle school student continues along their educational journey, critical thinking becomes an increasingly important skill for them to master. One of the best ways to sharpen critical thinking skills — for people of any age — is to practice specific exercises that are centered around the Montessori style of education.

Here are four critical thinking activities you can try with your middle schooler today:

1. Crafting Arguments

Argumentative exercise helps students sharpen their critical thinking skills, but it also helps boost confidence; by the end, students will be much more comfortable speaking in front of others. Ask your child to choose a controversial issue they’re passionate about, then ask them to prepare a one-minute presentation arguing their stance on the issue.

That might sound easy enough, but there’s a catch: In the second part of the exercise, your child must prepare another one-minute presentation in which they argue for the opposite side of the issue. By challenging students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, these activities help them think critically while also cultivating empathy.

2. The Memory Test

Here’s a critical thinking exercise that only takes a couple of minutes and is a fun way to test your child’s short-term memory skills.

Here’s how to do it:

Find a worksheet with words and pictures on one side (or make your own)
Have your child look at the sheet for two minutes to try to commit them all to memory
Put the worksheet away and have them list as many as you can remember
If they didn’t get them all, repeat the exercise and see if their performance improves

Attention to detail (and the ability to recall the little details) is an essential part of thinking critically, and a memory activity can be a fun way to improve it!

3. Logic Puzzle Escape Room

If you want your child to get the most out of a Montessori middle school experience, the best way to do so is to reinforce the Montessori method at home. In a Montessori classroom, kids learn to work in groups and solve real-life problems; an exciting escape room activity helps them do both!

You’ll need a team-building escape room template (and a group of middle schoolers), but other than that, things work much like a traditional escape room — with the addition of built-in logic puzzles. Each time the group successfully completes a puzzle, they get a “key” that takes them one step closer to escaping.

If you have an eye for design or enjoy creative projects, you can have a lot of fun crafting an intricate and believable escape room for your child and their friends.

4. The Building Game

Building things isn’t just something meant for younger kids; when you put a group of middle schoolers together, give them an assortment of odds and ends, ask them to build something (like a small house or a bridge), and give them a limited timeframe, they’ll have fun while improving their critical thinking skills!

Such an exercise also promotes creative thinking and team-building, and the weirder and more off-the-wall the materials, the more fun the challenge becomes!

Is a Montessori Middle School Right for You?

At the Montessori School of Flagstaff , we take pride in shaping the next generation of leaders and creative thinkers. Our Cedar Campus is dedicated exclusively to nurturing middle schoolers and helping them reach their full potential.

Even if your child has been enrolled in standard schooling until now, it’s not too late to reap the benefits of a Montessori education. These middle school programs focus on more than just academic learning; they also help middle school students boost their self-esteem ! If you’re thinking about enrolling or just want to learn more about Montessori and how it works, get in touch with us today!

Grades 6-12
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100+ Critical Thinking Questions for Students To Ask About Anything

Critical thinkers question everything.

In an age of “fake news” claims and constant argument about pretty much any issue, critical thinking skills are key. Teach your students that it’s vital to ask questions about everything, but that it’s also important to ask the right sorts of questions. Students can use these critical thinking questions with fiction or nonfiction texts. They’re also useful when discussing important issues or trying to understand others’ motivations in general.

“Who” Critical Thinking Questions

Questions like these help students ponder who’s involved in a story and how the actions affect them. They’ll also consider who’s telling the tale and how reliable that narrator might be.

Is the protagonist?
Is the antagonist?
Caused harm?
Is harmed as a result?
Was the most important character?

Is responsible?
Is most directly affected?
Should have won?
Will benefit?
Would be affected by this?

Makes the decisions?

“What” Critical Thinking Questions

Ask questions that explore issues more deeply, including those that might not be directly answered in the text.

Background information do I know or need to know?
Is the main message?
Are the defining characteristics?

Questions or concerns do I have?
Don’t I understand?
Evidence supports the author’s conclusion?
Would it be like if … ?
Could happen if … ?
Other outcomes might have happened?
Questions would you have asked?
Would you ask the author about … ?
Was the point of … ?
Should have happened instead?
Is that character’s motive?
Else could have changed the whole story?

Can you conclude?
Would your position have been in that situation?
Would happen if … ?
Makes your position stronger?
Was the turning point?
Is the point of the question?
Did it mean when … ?
Is the other side of this argument?
Was the purpose of … ?
Does ______ mean?
Is the problem you are trying to solve?
Does the evidence say?
Assumptions are you making?
Is a better alternative?
Are the strengths of the argument?

Are the weaknesses of the argument?
Is the difference between _______ and _______?

“Where” Critical Thinking Questions

Think about where the story is set and how it affects the actions. Plus, consider where and how you can learn more.

Would this issue be a major problem?
Are areas for improvement?
Did the story change?
Would you most often find this problem?

Are there similar situations?
Would you go to get answers to this problem?
Can this be improved?
Can you get more information?
Will this idea take us?

“When” Critical Thinking Questions

Think about timing and the effect it has on the characters or people involved.

Is this acceptable?
Is this unacceptable?

Does this become a problem?
Is the best time to take action?
Will we be able to tell if it worked?
Is it time to reassess?
Should we ask for help?
Is the best time to start?
Is it time to stop?
Would this benefit society?

Has this happened before?

“Why” Critical Thinking Questions

Asking “why” might be one of the most important parts of critical thinking. Exploring and understanding motivation helps develop empathy and make sense of difficult situations.

Is _________ happening?
Have we allowed this to happen?
Should people care about this issue?

Is this a problem?
Did the character say … ?
Did the character do … ?
Is this relevant?
Did the author write this?
Did the author decide to … ?
Is this important?

Did that happen?
Is it necessary?
Do you think I (he, she, they) asked that question?
Is that answer the best one?
Do we need this today?

“How” Critical Thinking Questions

Use these questions to consider how things happen and whether change is possible.

Do we know this is true?
Does the language used affect the story?
Would you solve … ?
Is this different from other situations?

Is this similar to … ?
Would you use … ?
Does the location affect the story?
Could the story have ended differently?
Does this work?
Could this be harmful?
Does this connect with what I already know?
Else could this have been handled?
Should they have responded?

Would you feel about … ?
Does this change the outcome?
Did you make that decision?
Does this benefit you/others?
Does this hurt you/others?
Could this problem be avoided?

What are your favorite critical thinking questions? Come exchange ideas on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, check out 10 tips for teaching kids to be awesome critical thinkers ., you might also like.

Examples of critical thinking skills like correlation tick-tac-Toe, which teaches analysis skills and debates which teach evaluation skills.

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11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class

52 Critical Thinking Flashcards for Problem Solving

Critical thinking activities encourage individuals to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to develop informed opinions and make reasoned decisions. Engaging in such exercises cultivates intellectual agility, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and honing problem-solving skills for navigating an increasingly intricate world. Through critical thinking, individuals empower themselves to challenge assumptions, uncover biases, and constructively contribute to discourse, thereby enriching both personal growth and societal progress.

Critical thinking serves as the cornerstone of effective problem-solving, enabling individuals to dissect challenges, explore diverse perspectives, and devise innovative solutions grounded in logic and evidence. For engaging problem solving activities, read our article problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest.

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a 21st-century skill that enables a person to think rationally and logically in order to reach a plausible conclusion. A critical thinker assesses facts and figures and data objectively and determines what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking skills empower a person to decipher complex problems and make impartial and better decisions based on effective information.

Importance of Acquiring Critical Thinking Skills

Acquiring critical thinking skills was never as valuable as it is today because of the prevalence of the modern knowledge economy. Today, information and technology are the driving forces behind the global economy. To keep pace with ever-changing technology and new inventions, one has to be flexible enough to embrace changes swiftly.

Read our article: How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples

Today critical thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills by the companies. In fact, critical thinking skills are paramount not only for active learning and academic achievement but also for the professional career of the students. The lack of critical thinking skills catalyzes memorization of the topics without a deeper insight, egocentrism, closed-mindedness, reduced student interest in the classroom and not being able to make timely and better decisions.

Benefits of Critical Thinking Skills in Education

Certain strategies are more eloquent than others in teaching students how to think critically. Encouraging critical thinking in the class is indispensable for the learning and growth of the students. In this way, we can raise a generation of innovators and thinkers rather than followers. Some of the benefits offered by thinking critically in the classroom are given below:

It allows a student to decipher problems and think through the situations in a disciplined and systematic manner
Through a critical thinking ability, a student can comprehend the logical correlation between distinct ideas
The student is able to rethink and re-justify his beliefs and ideas based on facts and figures
Critical thinking skills make the students curious about things around them
A student who is a critical thinker is creative and always strives to come up with out of the box solutions to intricate problems
Critical thinking skills assist in the enhanced student learning experience in the classroom and prepares the students for lifelong learning and success
The critical thinking process is the foundation of new discoveries and inventions in the world of science and technology
The ability to think critically allows the students to think intellectually and enhances their presentation skills, hence they can convey their ideas and thoughts in a logical and convincing manner
Critical thinking skills make students a terrific communicator because they have logical reasons behind their ideas

Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities

11 Activities that Promote Critical Thinking in the Class

We have compiled a list of 11 activities that will facilitate you to promote critical thinking abilities in the students. We have also covered problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest in our another article. Click here to read it.

1. Worst Case Scenario

Divide students into teams and introduce each team with a hypothetical challenging scenario. Allocate minimum resources and time to each team and ask them to reach a viable conclusion using those resources. The scenarios can include situations like stranded on an island or stuck in a forest. Students will come up with creative solutions to come out from the imaginary problematic situation they are encountering. Besides encouraging students to think critically, this activity will enhance teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills of the students.

Read our article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

2. If You Build It

It is a very flexible game that allows students to think creatively. To start this activity, divide students into groups. Give each group a limited amount of resources such as pipe cleaners, blocks, and marshmallows etc. Every group is supposed to use these resources and construct a certain item such as building, tower or a bridge in a limited time. You can use a variety of materials in the classroom to challenge the students. This activity is helpful in promoting teamwork and creative skills among the students.

It is also one of the classics which can be used in the classroom to encourage critical thinking. Print pictures of objects, animals or concepts and start by telling a unique story about the printed picture. The next student is supposed to continue the story and pass the picture to the other student and so on.

4. Keeping it Real

In this activity, you can ask students to identify a real-world problem in their schools, community or city. After the problem is recognized, students should work in teams to come up with the best possible outcome of that problem.

5. Save the Egg

Make groups of three or four in the class. Ask them to drop an egg from a certain height and think of creative ideas to save the egg from breaking. Students can come up with diverse ideas to conserve the egg like a soft-landing material or any other device. Remember that this activity can get chaotic, so select the area in the school that can be cleaned easily afterward and where there are no chances of damaging the school property.

6. Start a Debate

In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and ideas on the topic. Conclude the debate with a viable solution or fresh ideas generated during the activity through brainstorming.

7. Create and Invent

This project-based learning activity is best for teaching in the engineering class. Divide students into groups. Present a problem to the students and ask them to build a model or simulate a product using computer animations or graphics that will solve the problem. After students are done with building models, each group is supposed to explain their proposed product to the rest of the class. The primary objective of this activity is to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills among the students.

8. Select from Alternatives

This activity can be used in computer science, engineering or any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. Introduce a variety of alternatives such as different formulas for solving the same problem, different computer codes, product designs or distinct explanations of the same topic.

Form groups in the class and ask them to select the best alternative. Each group will then explain its chosen alternative to the rest of the class with reasonable justification of its preference. During the process, the rest of the class can participate by asking questions from the group. This activity is very helpful in nurturing logical thinking and analytical skills among the students.

9. Reading and Critiquing

Present an article from a journal related to any topic that you are teaching. Ask the students to read the article critically and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the article. Students can write about what they think about the article, any misleading statement or biases of the author and critique it by using their own judgments.

In this way, students can challenge the fallacies and rationality of judgments in the article. Hence, they can use their own thinking to come up with novel ideas pertaining to the topic.

10. Think Pair Share

In this activity, students will come up with their own questions. Make pairs or groups in the class and ask the students to discuss the questions together. The activity will be useful if the teacher gives students a topic on which the question should be based.

For example, if the teacher is teaching biology, the questions of the students can be based on reverse osmosis, human heart, respiratory system and so on. This activity drives student engagement and supports higher-order thinking skills among students.

11. Big Paper – Silent Conversation

Silence is a great way to slow down thinking and promote deep reflection on any subject. Present a driving question to the students and divide them into groups. The students will discuss the question with their teammates and brainstorm their ideas on a big paper. After reflection and discussion, students can write their findings in silence. This is a great learning activity for students who are introverts and love to ruminate silently rather than thinking aloud.

Finally, for students with critical thinking, you can go to GS-JJ.co m to customize exclusive rewards, which not only enlivens the classroom, but also promotes the development and training of students for critical thinking.

Read our next article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

20 Problem-Solving Activities for Middle School Students

Middle School Education

Introduction:

As students progress through middle school, it becomes increasingly important to develop their problem-solving skills. By engaging in problem-solving activities, students can enhance their critical thinking abilities, foster creativity, and become better prepared for the challenges they may face both in and out of the classroom. Here are 20 problem-solving activities that are perfect for middle school students.

1. Brainstorming Sessions: Encourage students to share their ideas on a particular topic or issue, fostering a collaborative environment that promotes creative problem solving.

2. Riddles: Challenge students with riddles that require critical thinking and lateral thinking skills to determine the answers.

3. Sudoku: Introduce sudoku puzzles as a fun and challenging math-based activity.

4. Chess Club: Encourage students to participate in chess clubs or tournaments to practice strategic thinking.

5. Escape Rooms: Plan an age-appropriate escape room activity to develop teamwork and problem-solving skills among the students.

6. Role-Playing Exercises: Use role-playing scenarios to allow students to think critically about real-life situations and practice problem-solving strategies.

7. Science Experiments: Design science experiments that require students to troubleshoot problems and test possible solutions.

8. Word Problems: Incorporate word problems in math lessons, encouraging students to use logic and math skills to solve them.

9. Puzzle Stations: Set up different puzzle stations around the classroom where students can work on spatial reasoning, logic puzzles, and other brain teasers during free time.

10. Debates: Organize debates on controversial topics, allowing students to present and argue their views while developing their critical thinking and persuasion skills.

11. Engineering Challenges: Provide engineering-based challenges such as bridge building or packaging design activities that require teamwork and creative problem solving.

12. Storytelling Workshops: Host a storytelling workshop where students collaborate to create stories from a given prompt and gradually face more complex narrative challenges.

13. Coding Clubs: Support students in learning coding basics and encourage them to develop problem-solving skills through coding projects.

14. Treasure Hunts: Create treasure hunts with clues that require problem solving, reasoning, and collaboration among the students.

15. Cooperative Games: Facilitate games that promote cooperation and communication, such as “human knot” or “cross the lava.”

16. Geocaching: Introduce geocaching as a fun activity where students use GPS devices to locate hidden objects and work as a team to solve puzzle-like tasks.

17. Exploratory Research Projects: Assign open-ended research projects that require students to investigate topics of interest and solve problems or answer questions through their research efforts.

18. Mock Trials: Set up mock trials in which students participate as lawyers, witnesses, or jury members, allowing them to analyze cases and think through legal problem-solving strategies.

19. Creative Writing Prompts: Share creative writing prompts requiring students to think critically about characters’ actions and decisions within fictional scenarios.

20. Invention Convention: Host an invention convention where students present their unique solutions to everyday problems, fostering creativity and innovative thinking.

Conclusion:

Problem-solving activities are essential for middle school students as they help in cultivating valuable life skills necessary to tackle real-world challenges. These 20 activities provide diverse and engaging opportunities for students to develop key problem-solving skills while fostering creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration. Teachers and educators can easily adapt these activities to suit the individual needs of their middle school classrooms.

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85 Fun Critical Thinking Questions for Kids & Teens

students laughing as they answer critical thinking questions

Have you ever thought about using fun questions to practice critical thinking?

Students may need a little guidance to think their way through questions that lack straightforward answers.

But it is that process that is important!

How the Right Questions Encourage Critical Thinking

Every parent knows how natural it is for children to ask questions.

It should be encouraged. After all, asking questions helps with critical thinking.

As they grow older, however, training them to answer questions can be equally beneficial.

Posing questions that encourage kids to analyze, compare, and evaluate information can help them develop their ability to think critically about tough topics in the future.

Of course, critical thinking questions for kids need to be age-appropriate—even better if you can mix a little fun into it!

That’s what I hope to help you with today. I’ve organized the questions below into three different ages groups:

Upper elementary
Middle school
High school

20 Questions: Exercises in Critical Thinking

Get a Question-Based Critical Thinking Exercise—Free!

Introduce critical thinking gently & easily with thought-provoking exercises.

Upper Elementary

Students in upper elementary grades can be reluctant to put themselves out there, especially with answers that seem weird.

In some cases, such hesitancy is actually fear of differing from their peers (and a barrier to critical thinking ).

But that’s exactly why it’s important to practice answering ambiguous questions.

We want our children to stand firm for their beliefs—not cave to peer pressure.

Additionally, students may feel uneasy about answering serious questions, uncertain of tackling “big” problems.

However, with careful use of creative questions for kids, it’s possible to engage even the most reluctant children in this age group.

The idea is to simply get them interested in the conversation and questions asked.

If you have an especially reserved student, try starting with the funny critical thinking questions.

Humor is a natural icebreaker that can make critical thinking questions more lighthearted and enjoyable.

Of course, most younger kids just like to be silly, so playing upon that can keep them active and engaged.

With that said, here are some great questions to get you started:

1. Someone gives you a penguin. You can’t sell it or give it away. What do you do with it?

2. What would it be like if people could fly?

3. If animals could talk, what question would you ask?

4. If you were ice cream, what kind would you be and why?

5. Do you want to travel back in time? If yes, how far back would you go? If no, why not?

6. What could you invent that would help your family?

7. If you could stay up all night, what would you do?

8. What does the man on the moon do during the day?

9. What makes something weird or normal?

10. Can you describe the tastes “salty” and “sweet” without using those words?

11. What does it feel like to ride a rollercoaster?

12. What makes a joke funny?

13. What two items would you take if you knew you would be stranded on an island and why?

14. Do you have a favorite way of laughing?

15. What noise makes you cringe and cover your ears? Why?

16. If you could be the parent for the day, what would you do?

17. If you could jump into your favorite movie and change the outcome, which one would you pick and why?

18. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

19. What makes a day “perfect”?

20. If you owned a store, what kind of products would you sell?

21. If your parents were your age, would you be friends with them?

22. Would you still like your favorite food if it tasted the same as always, but now had an awful smell?

23. What would you do if you forgot to put your shoes on before leaving home?

24. Who would you be if you were a cartoon character?

25. How many hot dogs do you think you could eat in one sitting?

26. If you could breathe under water, what would you explore?

27. At what age do you think you stop being a kid?

28. If you had springs in your legs, what would you be able to do?

29. Can you describe the color blue to someone if they’re blind?

Middle School

At this point, students start to acquire more complex skills and are able to form their own conclusions based on the information they’re given.

However, we can’t expect deep philosophical debates with 12 and 13 year olds.

That said, as parent-teachers, we can certainly begin using more challenging questions to help them examine and rationalize their thought processes.

Browse the fun critical thinking questions below for students in this age range.

You might be surprised to see how receptive middle school kids can be to such thought-provoking (yet still fun) questions .

30. What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

31. What does it mean to be lucky?

32. If you woke up in the middle of a dream, where would you be?

33. Is it ever okay to lie? Why or why not?

34. If you were solely responsible for creating laws, what one law would you make?

35. What makes a person a good friend?

36. What do you think is the most important skill you can take into adulthood?

37. If you had to give up lunch or dinner, which would you choose? Why?

38. How much money would you need to be considered rich?

39. If you knew you wouldn’t get caught, would you cheat on a test?

40. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?

41. What is your greatest strength? How is that an asset?

42. If you had an opportunity to visit the International Space Station, would you do it?

43. Is it better to keep the peace or speak your mind?

44. Imagine yourself as your favorite animal. How would you spend your day?

45. Would you be friends with someone who didn’t have the same values as you?

46. How much screen time do you think is too much?

47. Can you describe your favorite color without naming it?

48. If you suddenly became blind, would you see things differently?

49. Would you ever go skydiving?

50. Describe the time you were the happiest in your life. Why did this make you happy?

51. If you had a million dollars, what would you do?

52. If you had to move to a new city, would you change how you present yourself to others?

53. What do you need to do in order to be famous?

54. If you could rewrite the ending of your favorite book or movie, what changes would you make?

55. How would you tackle a huge goal?

56. How would you sell ice to an eskimo in Alaska successfully?

57. What makes you unique?

High School

Critical thinking takes on an entirely different role once students reach high school.

At this age, they have a greater sense of right and wrong (and what makes things so) as well as a better understanding of the world’s challenges.

Guiding teens to delve deeper and contemplate such things is an important part of developing their reasoning and critical thinking skills.

Whether it’s fun questions about hypothetical superpowers or tough critical thinking questions about life, older teens typically have what it takes to think their way to a logical conclusion .

Of course, use your discernment as you choose discussion topics, but here are some questions to help get you started:

58. How can you avoid [common problem] in the future?

59. Do you think it’s okay to take a life in order to save 5, 10, 20 or more people?

60. If you could go back and give your younger self advice, what would it be?

61. Is it better to give or receive a gift?

62. How important is it to be financially secure? Why?

63. If it was up to you, what one rule would you change in your family?

64. What would you do if a group of friends wanted to do something that you thought was a bad idea?

65. How do you know that something is a fact rather than an opinion?

66. What would it take to get you to change your mind?

67. What’s the most important thing in your life?

68. If money were of no concern, what job would you choose and why?

69. How do you know if you’re happy?

70. Do you think euthanasia is moral?

71. What is something you can do today that you weren’t able to do a year ago?

72. Is social media a good thing or not?

73. Is it right to keep animals in a zoo?

74. How does your attitude affect your abilities?

75. What would you do if you found out a friend was doing something dangerous?

76. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?

77. What will life on Earth look like in 50 years?

78. Which is more important, ending world hunger or global warming?

79. Is it a good idea to lower the voting age to 16? Why or why not?

80. If the electrical power went out today, how would you cook if using wood wasn’t an option?

81. If you could magically transport yourself to any other place, where would that be and why?

82. When should teenagers be able to stay out all night?

83. Does the number zero actually exist?

84. What defines a generous person?

85. Does an influential person influence everyone?

Feel free to print out these fun critical thinking questions and incorporate them into your homeschool week!

will your children recognize truth?

About the author.

Jordan Mitchell

Pastor rushes to shooting near Northwest DC school fearing for teens he mentors

by Carl Willis

A pastor rushed to the scene of a shooting in Northwest DC near a school where he teaches teens conflict resolution and critical thinking skills. (7News)

WASHINGTON (7News) — Police got the call to head a shooting scene between MacFarland Middle School and Roosevelt High School in Petworth Wednesday.

A teenage male was shot and at least two cars were hit by stray shots.

As basketball practice continued nearby, some parents and guardians received word of the shooting and rushed to the scene.

Among them was Pastor Tony Herndon, who works with teens at Roosevelt H.S., teaching them conflict resolution, and critical thinking skills.

He told 7News he feared either his nephew or the boys he counsels may have been in danger.

READ MORE | Juvenile injured in shooting near Northwest DC middle school

"It just made me leave and say, 'Look, we need to come over here,'" Herndon said.

While working to find out information at the scene, Herndon described the work he does with the teens at Roosevelt, his alma mater.

The programs strive to keep them as far away as possible from shooting scenes.

"I look at these young people and think about the trauma they have to go through, the trauma that they face every day that they’re dealing with in their minds in their hearts," said Herndon.

"We spend a lot of time spending and investing in infrastructure and buildings, but we haven’t done enough to invest in them," he said.

Herndon said the violence hitting so close to the school shows the urgency of the work being done to build up young people by giving them ways to avoid acting out in emotion, while also strengthening families.

READ MORE | Lawsuit claims staff tackled, put teenager in chokehold in DC juvenile detention center

"We actually sat down with the facilitators in the school from Roosevelt and we’ve been in contact with McFarland to bring together what we call "Fathers and Sons United," he said. "That would allow the sons to step with the fathers, and they can honor their dad and they can see the importance of having a male figure in your life who is there."

This is a similar approach being used by nonprofits and city programs.

Heading into summer, those working to mold D.C.'s youth hope that it will make an impact.

"Our parents have got to get more engaging with the kids, and stop letting them run just totally wild," said Pastor Herndon's uncle, Bennett Herndon who is a youth development professional.

"It's the only way that we’re going to bring this surge of violence down," said Pastor Herndon. "We have to go close and relational to them and help them through this. When they're going to go through trauma, they have to have a whole village around them to help them get through it."

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Critical Thinking Puzzles: Variety Pack 2 for Middle Schoolers
20 Critical Thinking Activities for Middle Schoolers
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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Middle and High School
Teach Reasoning Skills. Reasoning skills are another key component of critical thinking, involving the abilities to think logically, evaluate evidence, identify assumptions, and analyze arguments. Students who learn how to use reasoning skills will be better equipped to make informed decisions, form and defend opinions, and solve problems.
Critical Thinking Activities For Middle Schoolers: PBL, Outdoor Ideas
Critical thinking is the process of using higher-order thinking skills in which students observe, conceptualize, apply, evaluate, and synthesize information that they learn in order to solve problems and make decisions effectively. Critical thinking is crucial for middle school students to be equipped to respond to academic, social, and emotional challenges successfully.
10 Fun Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School Students
9. One day President. The ultimate agenda of a critical thinker is to put things together for a solution. The activity, One day president, makes every student take the position of a president. Now, each of them should state what changes they can make in the country in three aspects: financial, educational, and people.
Critical Thinking Resources for Middle School Teachers
The Critical Thinking Community is a resource site designed to encourage critical thinking in students. There are teaching strategies, a glossary of important terms, as well as articles by thought leaders in critical thinking, such as one by Bertrand Russell on the importance of developing critical thinking skills. Visit the site.
Critical Thinking Lesson Plans PDF: Middle School / High School
Critical Thinking Middle School - English Language Arts / Homeroom / Advisory. These critical thinking activities for middle school work well if you teach in a 7th or 8th grade English Language Arts class. (Also, 6th grade if you teach at a grade 6-8 middle school or junior high school.) Middle school is a great age!
Critical Thinking Lessons
TED-Ed lessons on the subject Critical Thinking. TED-Ed celebrates the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Discover hundreds of animated lessons, create customized lessons, and share your big ideas. ... Middle School/Lower Secondary High School/Upper Secondary College/University ...
20 Critical Thinking Activities for Middle Schoolers
Critical thinking is vital for middle school students, as it helps them develop problem-solving skills, make informed decisions, and understand different perspectives. Integrating critical thinking activities into classroom learning experiences can greatly enhance students' cognitive abilities. The following are 20 engaging critical thinking ...
10 Awesome Tips for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills
10. Hold a Q&A session. One way you can figure out how well kids are grasping critical-thinking skills is by holding question-and-answer sessions. Ask a variety of questions one-on-one or in small groups and take note of the levels of thought individual students use regularly and avoid over time.
Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School
Critical Thinking and the Middle School Student. Critical thinking is the ability to read something, analyze it, and make real world applications with the information. Its direct application will ...
Critical Thinking Skills for Kids (& How to Teach Them)
Debates. This is one of those classic critical thinking activities that really prepares kids for the real world. Assign a topic (or let them choose one). Then give kids time to do some research to find good sources that support their point of view. Finally, let the debate begin!
4 Easy and Exciting Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School
As your middle school student continues along their educational journey, critical thinking becomes an increasingly important skill for them to master. One of the best ways to sharpen critical thinking skills — for people of any age — is to practice specific exercises that are centered around the Montessori style of education.
Critical Thinking Questions: The Big List for Your Classroom
Strong critical thinking skills are key. Encourage careful reading and deeper connections with this list of critical thinking questions. ... Combined, the We Are Teachers editorial team has over 75 years of teaching experience across elementary, middle, and high school. We also work with a network of over 500 teacher writers and contributors to ...
PDF 81 Fresh & Fun Critical-Thinking Activities
This arrangement will help you and your students more clearly understand and identify the specific critical-thinking skills they are using. For each thinking skill in this book, there are two kinds of activities: (1) those that you, as the teacher, will lead, and (2) student reproducibles for indepen- dent work.
Developing Critical Thinking: 80 Contemplative Journal Prompts For
In a world focused on the daily hustle and bustle, your middle schoolers need opportunities to slow down and think critically about the deeper things in life. When learners engage in high-order thinking, their focus narrows as they analyze information from a variety of personal background experiences and sources. Not only do our journal prompts …
11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class
6. Start a Debate. In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science.
20 Problem-Solving Activities for Middle School Students
Sudoku: Introduce sudoku puzzles as a fun and challenging math-based activity. 4. Chess Club: Encourage students to participate in chess clubs or tournaments to practice strategic thinking. 5. Escape Rooms: Plan an age-appropriate escape room activity to develop teamwork and problem-solving skills among the students. 6.
15 Questions to Encourage Critical Thinking
Extracurriculars like debate class — mandatory for all Hun middle school students — is a powerful way to accomplish this goal, as students must thoughtfully anticipate their opposition's arguments in order to counter them. ... The Hun School of Princeton Teaches Critical Thinking. At the Hun School of Princeton, our teachers ask these ...
25 Logic Activities For Middle School: Riddles, Debate, Brain Teasers
Nothing will challenge your middle school students to use their logical reasoning more than a mock trial. In a mock trial, students use their critical thinking skills to defend their cases. Promote team building, critical thinking, and logic with this fun activity. Learn More: Law for Kids. 7. Logical Fallacies
Growth of critical thinking skills in middle school immersive science
Reading ability may also explain the differences between boys and girls in critical thinking development among middle school students for two reasons. First, language ability, including reading skills, is a key component in how we (a) respond in day-to-day activities ( Norris, 2018 ) and (b) interpret situations to find adequate solutions ...
Assessing Critical Thinking in Middle and High Schools
ABSTRACT. This practical, very effective resource helps middle and high school teachers and curriculum leaders develop the skills to design instructional tasks and assessments that engage students in higher-level critical thinking, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. Real examples of formative and summative assessments from a ...
85 Fun Critical Thinking Questions for Kids & Teens
Humor is a natural icebreaker that can make critical thinking questions more lighthearted and enjoyable. Of course, most younger kids just like to be silly, so playing upon that can keep them active and engaged. With that said, here are some great questions to get you started: 1. Someone gives you a penguin.
PDF Questions to provoke thinking and discussion
These resources provoke thinking and discussion in science lessons to consolidate and extend core curriculum knowledge and understanding. The topics link to the KS3 National Curriculum. Questions to provoke thinking and discussion These resources were created in a collaborative project between the University of Bristol, and science teachers and
Pastor rushes to shooting near Northwest DC school fearing for ...
A pastor rushed to the scene of a shooting in Northwest DC near a school where he teaches teens conflict resolution and critical thinking skills.