Recommendations for critical thinking resources for children aged 8 to 12

[gertinthebackofthevan]

Wondered if anyone could recommend some good books or resources to encourage strong critical thinking skills in children age 8-12

Ive tried looking on amazon and purchased a few books but alarmingly they have been self published ai slop so looking for something reputable

I think its such an important skill in this new ai context and I want to give my children the right tools

Thank you for any ideas

Why not give them some simple newspaper articles from a quality paper, read them together and ask them some questions?

You could try looking on the sites of bookshops like Blackwells or Waterstones. They should have better sourced books. Or something for you that you can use to inform discussions with your kid. Frankly we all need to upgrade our critical thinking skills in the new AI context!

Thank you for the ideas. I cant tell you how depressing it was to recieve a book written by ai on critical thinking skills. Won't be making that amazon order mistake again.

Im sure there must be a book out there on the topic which presents it in an appealing way for kids.

Im the meantime ill take on board some of your suggestions.

There’s an article and some ideas and resources on Twinkl. If you know any teachers they may have a log in but some things are free.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/helping-your-child-with-critical-thinking

Subscribe to Aquila magazine.

I thought this one was good. It's not appropriate for younger children, because it references adult issues such as pornography. But it certainly explains a lot of the rhetorical tricks we often see used online.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/an-illustrated-book-of-bad-arguments/ali-almossawi/9781922247810

Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart is essential reading for this topic.

There is a way, but unfathomable for most and unimplementable in the society we live in. Live minimally, buy the minimum, involve your kids in every element of decision making, cook with them every meal, repair with them their bikes, build furniture with recycled items. Eventually they will become problem solvers, or hate you and want to leave you. But how to deal with how their friends will view them, that they have no mobile phones, that they do not have video games, I have no clue.

The usual talk around critical thinking where you watch a movie and ask interesting questions or do a "think tank thing" sounds good on paper but does not work as the kid will see through this.

We ran a home schooling group some years back and the "think tank thing" failed. We noticed that parents who spent time with their kids doing the most basic of life things, their kids were the thinkers.

Personally, I would forget traditional books, and focus on games and choice-based activities.

Not just any video game or board game, but ones that specifically encourage choices with consequences.

if you want to go screen free, then I would encourage two types of boardgames.

1, role-playing/storytelling games. These could also be choose-your-adventure type books. Games that put your children in a position where they have a problem, and they have to come up with a clever solution, or make the right choice, and then deal with the consequences after.. but in a fun game/fantasy/sci-fi/magic type setting etc.

2, Logic/strategy games. There are tons of board games that force you to make hard decisions based on logical outcomes. Weighing up options of where to invest resources, where to spend money, who to help, what to prioritize etc. on a more logical and less creative front. These are really good for developing the logical side of critical thinking.

If you are ok with screens, both can also be done through video/computer games. Just make sure you are helping them find games that again encorage difficult decision making, strategy, planning, choices etc. Not just your usual mindless fun (nothing wrong with this, but it won't help your goal)

For me I think both of these can be far more effective than posing random hypothetical questions to them or trying to get them involved in real life politics at a young age. It doesn't matter that it isn't real life, that can come later.. the job now is to get them to engage the type of logical/critical reasoning that they need as a fundamental skill, and that happens to be one of the things that some genres of games are absolutely amazing at doing for young people.

A US Youtuber called David Pakman, who does political commentary has a couple.

Think like a detective

Think like a scientist.

They get good reviews.

Try https://www.criticalthinking.com/the-basics-of-critical-thinking-book.html
And also the Mindbenders series from the same publisher.
American, though, so different spelling and high shipping costs.

Could you recommend a good role play/story telling game please @lxn889121?

You can just learn how to use questioning and debate style discussions to support deeper thinking.

stories and the arts are particularly useful - why do you think the character is going x y and z? What are they thinking? What helps us know this? What else could they be thinking? Looking at and talking about art is useful. Making art supports problem solving.

history is also important- foster a love of it first (horrible histories) but as they get older support them to think about events from other view points.

the key is learning how to see something from multiple angles and understand the difference between sources. And which are more reliable than others. (This is in the history curriculum.)

fostering a love of science from an early age - looking at nature, visiting museums etc. understanding science helps to support understanding of sources, evidence etc.

Much older children can understand bias. My son became very interested in history thanks to HH and then his learning about propaganda at school and also watching things like Lucy worsely helped me to relate to other things we’ve chatted about in real life

wrt ai, I read a good article in tbe times this week that suggested discussing ai with children. Would Ai help in this situation? Why not? If so why?

Story cubes are good

Depends on the age of the child but I think you need to do this from multiple angles, I think we can all be critical thinkers in some areas of our life and lazy thinkers in other area. Sometimes that's OK (and is probably necessary for good brain health) and sometimes it can be dangerous.

So some simple things.

Like the PP said do physical things with your children like baking and gardening and sewing and crafting and building.

Read lots and lots of different types of books and magazines and newspapers (including ones you disagree with).

Make sure your kids eat well, do lots of exercise and get enough sleep. Talk to each other at the dinner table and argue about things.

Make sure they socialise with other kids, do clubs etc so they get your family biases tested. Accept that them telling you they think you are an idiot who knows nothing is an important part of brain development and admit when you are wrong.

A basic knowledge of politics and history is essential. For politics, discussing current news from multiple sources helps. For history, I find kids are naturally curious and they will be drawn to certain events/ periods and ask questions and want to talk about them. Films, horrible histories, blackadder, museums etc are great if they want to explore.

Help them to look for reliable sources and to spot poor maths and deliberate misuse of statistics on the news. There is so much of it. Discuss news about scientific studies - "they did this research with x number of people, testing abc, and they found xyz, which is important because of..."

They also need to develop empathy and be able to master the subtleties of language. For this, reading fiction is best.

Encourage them to explore their thinking processes (how did they get to that conclusion? What role did emotion play?), to explore alternative points of view and to spot manipulation. Challenge them in a way that shows that you respect a well-considered opinion. Model listening and changing your mind on the face of solid evidence.

My son read this about 11 I think and enjoyed it
timharford.com/books/truthdetective/

Learn to play Poker and then play with your kid.

Also, learn to bet on Horse racing specifically.

Learn to play Dungeons and Dragons as a board game, not as a video game.

Keep all copies of HORRIBLE ___ , books. And there are many. Read them yourself at bedtime, the kid will pick this up.