What Was He Thinking!

With a New Year just beginning, it is a good time to think about resolutions to improve yourself--the typical vow to lose weight, clean out the cupboards, or some other sincere commitments that too often are short lived.  Instead of worrying about resolution for ourselves, this is a suggestion for young people.

How many times have you seen something in the news, or maybe some foolishness in your own community, that made you think to yourself, 'What was he or she thinking?'

Today, logic is not taught as a separate study in most schools.  Should it be?  In our increasingly complex world, perhaps teaching critical thinking is more important than ever.  Protecting children from access to inappropriate information is challenging.  Perhaps the better solution is teaching them Logic and Critical thinking to enable them to distinguish between fact and opinion, to recognize and evaluate the credibility of information.

Whether it is something they see online or television, or it is something they hear from friends, kids are bound to encounter misinformation.  By teaching them logical thinking skills, they can learn to evaluate and assess the validity of information and arguments.  They can learn to identify biases and distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources.  

When are children old enough to be exposed to Logic?  There are differences of opinion, some believing it is best to wait until middle school, but others believe younger kids can benefit earlier, although care must be taken to avoid-- as they would have said back in my childhood-- 'avoiding letting younger kids get too big for their britches.'

With younger kids, training should be done with brain teasers, puzzles, experiments, and other problem-solving activities to activate their thinking, without directly relating it to activities that would make them disobedient.

For older students, the need for teaching logic is growingly important.  Today's students need to be able more than ever to evaluate the validity and reliability of sources of information.  Logic and critical thinking can enable them to distinguish between fact and opinion, to recognize illogical fallacies, and make informed judgments.

Whether young people are exposed to things on the internet or are influenced by other kids, it is important that they have the skills to evaluate the reliability and credibility of information, to identify flawed arguments and misleading claims, and to analyze arguments and assess their validity. 

Whether schools teach students how to think or not, they will learn--for good or for bad.  If your child's school does not have a qualified instructor for teaching Logic, it might be worth inquiring whether such instruction could be added to the curriculum.  

If that is not possible, there are ways you can encourage your children and upper grade students how to think Logically. 

 1.  Ask your children "why" frequently.  The importance in doing this is not to make them feel criticized but rather to encourage them to think things through.  I don't have children, but I suspect that asking them "why" regularly is going to result in your being asked "why" often too, but your willingness to respond with a reasonable reply will show them that having reasons for what you do is important. both for children and parents.

2.  Playing board games with your children can encourage strategy and logical thinking.  I recall a youngster visiting us who had a way of opening his first move in the game in the very same way every time.  The result was that he always lost, but when asked whether he might consider a different approach, he refused.  He was our guest, so we did not push him, but perhaps we could have helped him is some way.  Family board games may not be as popular as they once were, but it does seem like a great way to teach logic, and a nice way to bring the family together.  Try Chess and get out some of your favorite board games from childhood--Monopoly, Scrabble, or others

3.  Check online or in bookstores to see if there might be a method for teaching kids logical reasoning.

4.  Provide your kids with puzzles and brain teasers that they can enjoy on their own. 

Perhaps there are some good suggestions in this blog to consider as your family's New Year's resolution.  If you haven't played board games with your kids lately, maybe encouraging playing board games together isn't a bad New Year's resolution to make!  I know that kids today are busily scheduled with school activities and various other commitments, but I remember many different board games our family played, including playing with aunts and uncles when they visited.  As I researched this post, I realized that although I do not recall taking a class in Logic, I did play all kinds of board games with family and friends.  I remembered the fun, but looking back, maybe I learned more Logic than I knew from those board games!