Critical Thinking and K-12 Education

Critical Thinking

William Gormley has written a book on critical thinking and K-12 education “The Critical Advantage: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in School“, published by the Harvard Education Press (2017).

Critical thinking has received growing attention in recent years but is often misunderstood.  Business leaders agree that hiring people with strong critical thinking skills is a high priority

Although many teachers emphasize critical thinking skills in their classrooms, much more remains to be done.  Ideally, K-12 educators will provide scaffolding that promotes college readiness, career readiness and civic readiness through critical thinking.

Cases for Teachers

Students of different ages need help in distinguishing between fact and fiction in news accounts. Teachers can play a vital role in nurturing the critical thinking skills that enable students to make these distinctions — skills that will ultimately make them better citizens. Here are some illustrative cases that can be used in the classroom to help students to spot both blatant and subtle falsehoods in news accounts.