EDUCATING OUR STUDENTS TO BE CRITICAL THINKERS

Today’s students are bombarded with so much information on a daily basis - much of which can or has been manipulated, or driven by particular agendas.  So how do we teach our students to sift through all that social media and determine what is real and what is not?  Part of our role as adults and educators is to assist our children/students in developing the skills to become critical thinkers.

We know that solving problems is often linked to critical thinking but the ability to think critically is more about the quality of the process, rather than the difficulty of the problem.

The Australian Curriculum defines critical thinking as "at the core of most intellectual activity that involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems."

This definition includes behaviours such as explaining, evaluating, analysing and hypothesising. Critical thinking is also classified as a general capability. This means that it can be developed both across and within different subject domains.

When we think about the media content our children are exposed to, we know how important it is for our children to be able to understand what drives and underpins the content they are viewing. Developing student’s inquiry skills, so that they know how to ask critical questions about the content, and to develop a positive disposition towards thinking critically, especially when interacting with social media posts, is essential. 

To be well informed, safe and knowledgeable citizens, our young students need to learn to navigate news sources and media content and be able to use reasoning skills to decide the authenticity of what is being presented.

Jeannine Ucdereli
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching