Developing Thinking Skills

by Jim R. Davis

The development of thinking skills in children is a vital concern among educators today. The key to teaching children to think lies in how the teaching process is conducted. Children are unlikely to develop thinking abilities if a high percentage of their learning activities is simply geared to completing pencil-and-paper activities, especially if these activities are fill-in-the-blank workbook pages. Some believe that explaining and guiding children in the learning process is simply spoon-feeding them to get the correct answer; but proper teacher interaction in reality raises the level of thinking to analysis and appreciation. Since children do not think this way naturally, interaction is necessary. And high-quality interaction will contribute significantly to your child's progress in developing good decision-making and problem-solving skills, as well as in encouraging reflective analysis and creativity.

Interaction is a process that is more than merely explaining drilling, and determining correct answers. Good interaction results from planning discussion which will make the child feel he has discovered a principle or an idea for himself. For instance, a child uses subjects and verbs in his speech at an early age, though he doesn't know what those labels mean. But rather than defining the term "noun," you can say, "I'm thinking of some names of places. Can you think of some?" The teacher can make a list of these, entitling the list "Places," and then do similarly with lists of things and people. She can then use some of these words in sentences, having the child's attention to placement of the words in the sentences and what kind of words precede and follow these words will help lead him to an understanding of what a noun is and how it's used in a sentence. At this point, he can understand what a noun or a verb is. And if these interactive sessions are more like dinner talk than an interrogative activity, the child will enjoy them more, and the effect will last longer.

Good interaction will weed out erroneous ideas a child has developed. Questions ("Why did you say that?" "How does that make you feel?" What other ideas do you have?" "Where did you hear that?") will cause the child to reflect beyond his initial reaction. He will soon begin investigating, analyzing, and considering more than surface information.

Brainstorming during a problem-solving process will also become part of the child's thinking process if good interaction occurs. If you want to help a child develop a pattern of exploring alternatives and getting input from other sources before making decisions, ask him key questions which require him to explain each step he is considering, or ask him for other alternatives and reasons for deciding on a given idea.

Teaching interactively takes time and planning. In order to save the teacher time, use teacher's editions that carefully utilize this process by providing key questions and discovery activities which fit into this type of teaching style. Some homeschoolers advocate not using a teacher's edition, and if the teacher's edition is no more than a schedule, a brief description of directions, or a list of answers to student work, they are probably right. However, a teacher's edition that provides questions, teaching dialogue, procedures, and sequencing of skills is a friend to a teacher who wants to implement the interactive teaching-and-learning style.

About Jim Davis

Jim Davis has been a Christian school teacher and administrator and was formerly head of Product Development for BJU Press.