It is the expectation of every parent to cultivate a mature and sound child.
Imagine that if a person can't even sort out his own thoughts when talking and doing things and form a meaningful conclusion, then his work and life will inevitably encounter endless troubles.
Therefore, thinking skills training is a very important part of American primary education. Then, some people will ask, "What exactly does thinking ability mean?"
Generally speaking, thinking ability includes three kinds of abilities.
1, creative thinking ability (creative thinking)
2, logical thinking ability (Logic Thinking)
3. Critical thinking ability, commonly known as "critical thinking"
What are the specific manifestations of these abilities? How to train children to master these skills? Examples will be given in detail below.
Creative thinking ability
Dr Paul torrance, the "father of creativity theory" in American education, believes that a person's creativity is mainly composed of four aspects, namely, the powerful four of creative thinking.
1, fluency: the ability to come up with many ideas and ideas quickly;
2. Flexibility: the ability to look at problems from multiple angles;
3. Originality: the ability to generate new and unique ideas;
4. Extension: the ability to supplement and expand various details of an idea and make complex plans.
On weekdays, if you encounter any problems, you can encourage your children to come up with five solutions-
"There is too much homework, so come up with five ways to leave more rest time for yourself."
"In order to name the new puppy at home, come up with five creative alternatives."
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The next step is about flexibility training: training children's ability to see and solve problems from multiple angles. For example, how to divide this cake into four equal parts, so that each piece has the same number of cream flowers.
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▲ Here is an idea. Do you have any other methods?
In training children's thinking flexibility, there is a famous "give three possible reasons", which does not limit the correct answer, but encourages children to use their brains and think about the possibility of things as much as possible-
"Tom likes cake best. Now there is a piece in front of him, but he didn't eat it. Please name three possible reasons. "
"The convenience store in front of the community opens on time every day, but it is closed today. Please give three possible reasons. "
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Letting children do this little thinking training called "brain teaser" every day can naturally cultivate children's ability to try different ways and solve problems flexibly.
Finally, the fourth direction of creativity, elaboration, is relatively easy to practice. We know that it is not easy to create inventions from scratch, but it is not difficult to make some supplements and improvements under the existing framework.
This supplement is also the premise and process of bringing more new discoveries and inventions. For example, letting children give examples under an argument is a creative thinking development exercise.
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In addition to these four categories, there are many ways to practice creative thinking, such as divergent thinking and psychological images. I'll tell you more when I have a chance. In short, a person's creativity can be "practiced" from an early age.
Logical thinking ability
China's children have always been strong in mathematical logic, but we lack logical habits in our work and life. In American education, the cultivation of children's logical ability is not limited to mathematics and physics, mainly reflected in these five aspects:
1, patterning (looking for rules)
2. analogue
3. Summary (summary)
4. Compare and sum
Contrast (looking for similarities and differences)
5. Deduction and reasoning
Patterning, our children practice a lot in this respect, such as guessing what the pattern of the last hat will look like according to the existing pattern rules.
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Analogies compares two different objects, and according to their similarity in a series of attributes, when one of them has certain characteristics, it is inferred that the other has similar characteristics, such as the earth and the sun, the CPU of the human brain and the computer.
Comparison and contrast, comparing the similarities and differences between two things, is an analytical method used everywhere in all sciences and humanities.
Venn diagram, which is often found in English and American textbooks for primary and secondary schools, is a typical comparison and contrast. For example, what are the differences and similarities between cats and dogs?
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Generalization is a kind of logical thinking ability, which seems easy, but in fact it is not easy to understand. For example, summarize this picture in one sentence to reflect its main content, or write a summary of opinions for a paragraph or an article.
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Deductive reasoning is the ability of logical analysis and an important part of western education. It guides children to start from common sense and ask themselves and others: Does it make sense?
For example, syllogism consists of two statements and a conclusion, which every child must master. There is also teaching children to solve some complex logical reasoning problems with logical matrices.
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In short, teaching children mature and appropriate logic is far more important than teaching them a formula. And these, in addition to math classes, children can also consciously practice in other subjects and life.
Critical thinking ability
When we say that a person has thinking ability, to a great extent, we mean that he can proceed from common sense and logic, carefully examine information, look at problems from multiple angles, make rational analysis and make independent judgments.
Critical thinking ability can also be grounded. For children, these aspects are common:
1, sorting, sorting (sorting)
2, analysis (analysis)
3. Assessment (evaluation)
4. observation
Sorting, teaching children the concept of sorting from an early age; Many times, it is the embodiment of critical thinking to think of priority first and understand the reasons.
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Usually closely related analysis and evaluation are now put together. It is directly manifested as a person's ability to analyze and measure various factors, make evaluations and make decisions.
For example, what factors do children need to measure to participate in a ball game and what preparations do they need to make?
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Observation is also a part of critical thinking. If you love reading detective stories and are familiar with Sherlock Holmes and the great detective Poirot, you will immediately understand the relationship between observation and thinking.
The world in the eyes of detectives is different, because their observation is meticulous and their thinking is more comprehensive and profound. The same is true for solving problems at ordinary times.
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In our minds, we always feel that training "thinking ability" is a very tall thing, full of complex reasoning, sharp brain teasers, and even going to the Olympic Mathematics class to develop "thinking".
Open the thinking training books in the United States from kindergarten to primary school, and you will find that the cultivation of their thinking ability is to let children develop the habit of analyzing problems and become familiar with the framework of solving problems in simple daily exercises.
Therefore, to cultivate children's thinking ability, we can also start from a small place: on the one hand, we should help children establish a thinking framework, on the other hand, we should cultivate the habit of thinking whenever they encounter problems. I hope your child will become a positive thinker in the future!
Source | American Primary School Daily
Editor | Thinking Wisdom
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