“This is the only right way, just copy it” 

“ Listen and do as you are told.”

“ You don’t have to think much, the teacher is always right.”

Above few statements were very commonly heard in classrooms when the chalk and talk method was the only way, but that was the case until a few years ago. Classrooms are no more the same; they’re continuously evolving- from learners to subject expectations to teachers. Why? Because that’s the need of the hour if we want the new generation to not only survive but also thrive. Here comes the need of Critical Thinking. It’s just not a concept or a notion but a demanding reality. 

The Gen-Zs in today’s classrooms cannot be given the army training but have to be guided to become Critical thinkers. This requires them to have no preconceived notions and rush to judgements on any topic in any subject areas. Decisions are arrived upon based on the many aspects of critical thinking. It is the underlying principle of the Cambridge Curriculum. A cambridge learner is a critical thinker, reader, writer, listener and speaker.

One of the mission statements of Fravashi International Academy is : “Sharpen those perceptions that contribute to global cohesion, a scientific temperament and an independent mind and spirit”. An independent mind and spirit along with a scientific temperament is the result of incorporating Critical Thinking process in all the segments of the education that FIA offers to its students.The integration of Critical thinking into the curriculum is not only theoretical but a very strong tool in its application in every subject area , right from Early years to A levels. It has resulted in cognitive development abilities in students across all age groups  from an early age.

Decalogue of Critical thinking: 

Analyse –  Breaking down each task into smaller segments to understand the task better.

Evaluate – Comparing and contrasting to weigh which approach or argument has higher quality. It is also the highest skill on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Interpret – The students are motivated to read between the lines of a text and explain the meaning of a particular information.

Synthesise – Students collect all pieces of information and collate them to form one single piece of a cohesive response.

Learn more about this here: How Cambridge Lower Secondary Prepares Students for Global Opportunities

Infer – Drawing inferences based on evidence is an important skill that requires practice and an open mind.

Question- Students are motivated to ask open ended questions to reach a particular conclusion.

Reflect – After learning a particular topic or completing a project, the students are asked to reflect on the strategies that worked best for them. This helps them to replan and take course of their learning process.

Judge- Making informed decisions render students to make judgements and is an important part of the Critical Thinking process. 

FIA’s role in promoting Critical Thinking:

• Teacher’s evolving role- A teacher is no more the old-school teacher where the teacher’s word is the gospel truth but instead he/she assumes multiple roles and the most important of them , is being a facilitator. A facilitator encourages the young minds to collaborate, question, discuss and reflect without interruptions.The students have the freedom to take charge of their own learning , while the facilitator provides them the platform to do so and supervises the outcome.

• Classroom language – Words are a powerful tool to either construct or deconstruct the thinking process. The teachers encourage students to just not accept the solution but ask questions like how , why, where and when. When the students ask such questions, they are engaged in all the processes of Critical Thinking. Confucius rightly said “Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

• Growth mindset – There is a lot of emphasis on inculcating a growth mindset in students. Now, one might ask how is Growth mindset connected to Critical Thinking? Well, Growth mindset compliments Critical thinking process. Having such an approach means the students are encouraged to accept failures, not hesitate to ask for support at any stage of their learning and be consistent instead of giving up. They need to reflect on their learning strategies and work on improving their scores in their subjects, thus empowering thinking critically.

• Global village- FIA believes that every student from every corner of the world comes with different cultural backgrounds. Each student brings his or her own experiences that allows them to exchange ,collaborate and connect with each other in a classroom- an important foundation of Critical Thinking. Each classroom becomes a small global village where everyone is exposed to different perspectives, which promotes interchange of ideas , resulting in quality discussions.

• Context vs content- Here the context of any subject topic takes importance over content. Without the setting of context, the development of content becomes irrelevant. Context like a real world situation takes precedent for understanding the content and allowing the students to relate to the discussions in the classrooms.

Superpowers that FIA’s Critical Thinkers possess:

References: Teach Thought : 8 Essential Critical Thinking Skills