Activities to stimulate critical thinking in the classroom – Gladys Garcia

In order to stimulate critical thinking among our students we need to foster creativity, participation and allow them to ask questions about topics that are of their interest. Questioning and inquiry should be part of their routine, as well as problem solving and collaborative activities. When the environment is collaborative the students learn faster and more effectively. They understand the world better, improve their communication, interpersonal and critical thinking skills. It also gives students more autonomy and transforms the lesson into a more learner centered.
As for the activities themselves, here are a few of many that can be used and adapted to different levels and age groups.

1. Vocab guessing game

The first thing to do is ask a student to seat in a chair in the front of the classroom, facing the rest of the group. Hold a word above a student’s head, so he/she can not see it. The other students in the room, divided into small groups, should then work together and come up with some clues to help the student guess the word. When they are done, each group should give the student a clue.

2. Evidence

Project a picture to the whole class. Ask the students to get pieces of paper and write down what is happening in the picture. This answer is supposed to be very simple. Then give them some time to write all the steps they took to reach their conclusion about what is happening in the picture. In other words, the students should write the evidence that supports their opinion.
This activity works on prior knowledge and supporting evidence.

3. Inner and Outer circle

This activity aims at listening to others’ points of view and it can be used as a pre writing or debate strategy.
There should be 3 groups of students. Group 1 sits in a circle, with the chairs facing out. Group 2 sits around them, facing the students in group 1. Group 3 sits around these two circles and only pay attention to what they say and take notes of their arguments. Choose a topic for them to debate and give them 10 minutes to do so. Groups 1 and 2 will discuss the topic while group 3 takes notes. You can vary the position of the groups so everyone has a chance to speak and take notes.

4. Debate

It is a very good activity to develop cognitive and linguistic features. Nisbett (2003) states: “Debate is an important educational tool for learning analytic thinking skills and for forcing self-conscious reflection on the validity of one’s ideas”. You can either use a more formal debate structure or an informal one, that depends on how much time you have. It can be done at the end of some classes, more informally, just to stimulate critical thinking and practice some speaking skills, such as reasoning, argumentation. It is also a task that allows students to use some language chunks such as I believe/ I reckon/ In my opinion/ on the other hand… among others.
 
References:
Nisbett, Richard E. (2003) The geography of thought. The Free Press