Critical thinking exercises are used in schools to teach students how to solve problems in different ways and to consider all of the facts before making a decision. These types of exercises, on the other hand, are beneficial to people of all ages because they help to keep the brain sharp and improve overall thinking skills. There are many different types of critical thinking exercises, but they all involve encouraging someone to change their perspective, take a step back, and consider alternative approaches to solving a problem or figuring something out. One common activity is to present a variety of stories and then have students determine which ones are true or false, or fact or fiction, and then explain how they arrived at their conclusions.
True or false critical thinking exercises are an excellent way to get students to think. In the end, it doesn’t matter if they came to the correct conclusion; what matters is that they can describe their thought process and explain how they came to their conclusions. This will allow the teacher to see if the students are simply selecting the most obvious response or if they are considering all of the facts and all possible outcomes.
Other critical thinking exercises require students to describe something as if it were the first time they have seen it. For example, the student might be asked to describe how to navigate his or her town in a way that would be useful to a newcomer. This shifts students’ thinking patterns and provides them with a fresh perspective, which is an important aspect of problem solving.
Many teachers will also create critical thinking exercises to help students figure out what they still need to learn and how to do so. For example, students may be taught to list the facts and figures they have as well as what they need to know in order to solve a math problem. Students will be asked to develop questions for a research paper or other similar task while also attempting to determine which sources will allow them to determine their research question. Critical thinking exercises, rather than simple instruction and memorization, provide students with the skills and tools they need to solve any problem.