Teaching critical thinking is good, but students need training in HOW to employ critical thinking.  I see critical thinking as a PROCESS and not an ABILITY.  

So I think we should not start with questions that require the highest level of critical thinking.  Start with questions that allow the students to understand the process and use it effectively...with questions that are more and more challenging over time.

I need to think more and read more on critical thinking as a process.

Thanks Michael

High level questions are important. An important consequence of their use is that communication becomes more authentic.  Students answers grow in size and in sophistication. The Student/Teacher Talk Ratio changes in favor of the students. So no objection regarding higher order questions.

Yes elementary school students should also be exposed to critical thinking skills.Yet, even if ıcannot remember very specifically, I have seen literature that places more value to low order skills. So I assume it should not be as frequent as it is with middle or high school students.

Urging students to acquire language inductively is a very significant aim, but it needs skilled teachers who are able to measure students' responses to the employed method/technique, and to determine whether or not it fits their levels and works. It is said that learners at some point are not able to acquire a particular skill/knowledge until they are intellectually ready, so it is better to use questions that are one step beyond their level, and that are built on their previous knowledge, otherwise they won't be able to analyze and understand them.

Respect,

 I teach critical thinking all the time to my adult students. I think that it is imperative to start with children so that they become acutely aware of the world around them, a consciousness if you will. One way to start critical thinking in your teaching could be to slowly introduce fallacies. Nizkor fallacies would be a good place to start but of course hitting them with all 42 of them would be somewhat insane. However, one could start with questions such as what do you think about these things... and come up with issues that are discussed in society but also commonly rejected such as homosexuality or gay marriage, indigenous rights, human rights, refugees. Children love to be asked what they think and when they tell you what they think, the next step is to ask them why they think that, where did they learn their ideas from and if they can look at their ideas and think about them more deeply. Scenarios and role plays are great for teaching critical thinking to both adults and children. My deepest frustration is that school children are not taught about fallacies, how to recognise them in the media or from the words of politicians. I would support any teachers to bring critical thinking to their classroom. Start early and build. Show them films such as 'The Story of Stuff'. Short and sweet and to the point about environmental and human issues. Documentaries raise awareness at all ages. Not all docos are appropriate for all ages but that's not hard to work out. Just some thoughts.

Humour is a great way to teach critical thinking.

"A plane crashes on the border of Canada and the US. Where do we bury the survivors?"

That joke got me once! but it also got me to pay attention to the words and not to assume that everything I read or hear is correct.

I agree with Nadine. It's never too early or too late to teach philosophy, and logical fallacies are an excellent start. . I teach my second year undergraduates about necessary and sufficient, and some theory acceptance. This is all I can cover with the time I have with them, but I just have to hope it opens their minds to think about philosophy and critical thinking in science.

Yes, children can understand high order thinking from a very young age. Although recent research has highlighted the fact that memory contraints can limit the amount of linguistic information young children can process, cognitive psychology has proved Piaget's theory wrong. Young children are capable of abstract, logical reasoning and should be taught to think critically. I just upload a paper of mine that illustrates how critical thinking can be explored in literature education - The Development of Thinking in Literature Education.

thanks luisa

I will certainly read your articles

Well, I didn't have a critical thinking until I learned some basic stuff about politics, religions, maths, biology, spiritual topics, etc. I think you should teach them in a holistic way.  I tried to integrate it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekARM4DZLxA (Spanish)  ( This is maths but I will continue and biology will be integrated as well as language) 

You as teacher needs to read a lot in order to have an open-minded person in order to see clearly everything then you will be able to understand their perspective. 

If you want to teach them critical thinking I would suggest to start by learning more about their own lifes. Make them to write everyday something about their feelings, how they arrive at school, their hobbies. From that, think one situation in which they would use critical thinking. 

Interesting question.

My response is more about "what is a high level question?" I am also seeking answers to this, so thanks for raising it!

I have been studying various taxonomies of questions. I suggest two articles that you might like. The first looks at the complexity of questions asked about fiction works of literature with reference to the complexity of literal or inferential reading comprehension required. The second to search for is Costa and Kallick's 'three story intellect'. I used the former to code the complexity of questions that EFL learners asked about graded readers. The latter was used in training elementary school children to ask more complex questions in literature circles.  I think if learners are reflecting on stories or content, then it is good to ask literal level questions first and not take for granted that they understand everything and work upwards in complexity of questions to see where learners have difficulty answering. Costa & Kallick's taxonomy is actually a simplification of Bloom's taxonomy. Search for "The Three story intellect"

Best regards, Paul Sevigny

Hillocks, G., & Ludlow, L. (1984). A taxonomy of skills in reading and interpreting fiction. American Educational Research Journal, 21(1), 7-24.

Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2000). Activating & engaging habits of mind. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Teacher is like a burning lamp. He not only teach but also dig the mind and soul of students. so as i consider he can ask such types question. nice question

Dear Ms Tavakoli,

this is a very interesting question, asking higher order questions is  walking  a cognitive and affective tightrope and  the teacher must be on her guard against the potential pitfalls students'  frustration, disillusionment, and alienation. This highly sensitive strategy must be adopted with ultimate care taking into account current level of learners' schema, script and emotional status. Questions must not be excessively beyond their power of comprehension, perception, retention, retrieval and recall. Psychological parameters like Zone of proximal development and manageable input play a pivotal role. Posing complex or cognitively demanding questions is a very innovative way of  fostering students' mental competency , making them use their gray matters more effectively  and promotes their critical thinking and creativity  provided they are not simply too convoluted to unduly challenge their mental potential. This leads to an increase in their in task involvement and  behavioral engagement. Striking  a happy medium between easy and difficult questions could be a logical  decision.

It should be pointed out , however, that the questions must be slightly or logically beyond their power of analysis and interpretation .

good luck with your research

a.