Focus on G1-12 Education
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Critical thinking skills are important to succeeding in almost every domain, from math to science to English literature. They’re essential for conducting research, as they allow students to evaluate and synthesize varied sources of information, and for writing essays, as they help students clearly organize and express their thoughts. This means that by sharpening these valuable skills, students can develop an advantage across the curriculum, and well into secondary school, post-secondary, and beyond.
If you’ve been looking for activities or programs for your child in grade 1-8, here’s how ASC A+’s summer enrichment program can help them boost their critical thinking skills, helping to prepare them for success in all their future studies.
Critical thinking requires the use of a broad array of skills that have to do with how we identify problems, frame questions, and evaluate or organize information. Examples include the ability to determine what information is relevant to a particular question or problem, and the ability to correctly identify a problem and determine the steps involved in solving it in a thoughtful and methodical way. Other critical thinking skills include the ability to identify your own (and others’) biases, how to assess and evaluate different sources of information, how to uncover hidden assumptions, and how to organize and communicate ideas clearly.
Despite their importance and broad applicability, some surveys have suggested that students today are seriously lacking in critical thinking skills and need more training in order to develop them. Fortunately, children can begin developing these good thinking habits early, and English summer enrichment programs can help.
One important aspect of critical thinking is the ability to methodically develop and organize one’s own thoughts. Only by clearly organizing and articulating their ideas can students share them with others, incorporate new information or perspectives, and think critically about them.
English summer enrichment programs can offer significant help in this regard as well, as students learn how to brainstorm, develop, organize, and structure ideas. This can improve a student’s ability to write clear and sophisticated essays while also teaching them about the structure of arguments, how to understand and explain the connections between ideas, and how to express their thoughts so that others can understand and engage with them – all skills which are essential to good critical thinking.
Essay writing can help students develop their critical thinking skills
Another way that English summer courses can help students build their critical thinking skills is by having them engage with advanced-level texts. To be able to think critically means not only expressing your own ideas clearly, but also understanding the ideas of others. The ability to read challenging texts and pull out the most relevant or important information, form arguments, and summarize content, are all key components of critical thinking, which can only be developed through practice.
By practicing their abilities with advanced-level texts, students can not only develop the skills they’ll need to succeed in future English and literature courses, but also key critical thinking skills which can be applied to word problems in math, as well as texts in science and humanities courses, and a host of other challenges.
The critical thinking skills that students learn in English summer courses are useful across subjects
Are you looking for a summer school in Boston that can help your child develop their critical thinking skills?
Contact ASC A+ today to learn about summer enrichment program beginning July 1st!
