How Do You Enhance Reflective & Critical Thinking Skills?
More and more, parents and educators are beginning to understand the importance of reflective and critical thinking skills. Reflective thinking skills give children the ability to not only learn content better, but to examine their own behavior and learn from their mistakes. Critical thinking skills are essential for gaining a deep understanding of content, and for making well thought-out decisions later in life, such as deciding who might be the best candidate to vote for, or which business might be the best to go into. Educators can develop both reflective and critical thinking skills by using a variety of strategies. Require writing in all content areas. In a study conducted at Central Washington University, researchers experimented with substituting writing activities for multiple choice quizzes in science labs. The results “indicated that the writing group significantly improved critical thinking skills whereas the nonwriting group did not.” Writing can be applied across the conte
