exercises to develop critical thinking

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Become a better critical thinker with these 7 critical thinking exercises

Critical thinking is a skill you can use in any situation. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, or business executive, critical thinking can help you make better decisions and solve problems.

But learning critical thinking skills isn't always an easy task. Many tools, techniques, and strategies are available, and choosing the right one can be challenging. Vague suggestions on the internet like "read more" aren't very helpful, and elaborate business examples don’t apply to many of us.

As average problem-solvers, we need actionable thinking exercises to improve our critical thinking skills and enhance our thinking processes. Regularly performing exercises that specifically stretch our decision-making and reasoning skills is the most effective method of improving our thinking abilities.

This article will explore several exercises that will help you develop critical thinking skills. Whether you are preparing for an exam, making an influential decision for your business, or going about your daily life, these fun activities can build your reasoning skills and creative problem-solving abilities.

Boost your logical thinking skills and start practicing a critical mindset with these 10 critical thinking exercises.

A Quick Look at Critical Thinking

As a thoughtful learner, you likely already understand the basics of critical thinking, but here's a quick refresher.

Critical thinking involves analyzing problems or issues objectively and rationally. Critical thinkers are able to understand their own biases and assumptions, as well as those of others. They’re also able to see the world from a different point of view and understand how their experiences impact their thinking.

Developing critical thinking skills is essential because it allows us to see things from multiple perspectives, identify biases and errors in reasoning, and be open to possible solutions. Making informed decisions is easier when we have a better understanding of the world around us.

Why We Need to Practice Critical Thinking

We aren't born with critical thinking skills, and they don’t naturally develop beyond survival-level thinking. To master critical thinking, we must practice it and develop it over time.

However, learning to think critically isn't as easy as learning to ride a bicycle. There aren't any step-by-step procedures to follow or supportive guides to fall back on, and it is not taught in public schools consistently or reliably. To ensure students' success, teachers must know higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and how to teach them, research says.

Unfortunately, although teachers understand the importance of HOTS and attempt to teach it, studies show that their capacity to measure students' HOTS is low. Educator and author Dr. Kulvarn Atwal says, "It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests."

As critical thinking skills become more important in higher grades, some students find it challenging to understand the concept of critical thinking. To develop necessary thinking skills, we must set aside our assumptions and beliefs. This allows us to explore and question topics from a "blank page" point of view and distinguish fact from opinion.

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7 Critical Thinking Exercises To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

The good news is that by assessing, analyzing, and evaluating our thought processes, we can improve our skills. Critical thinking exercises are key to this improvement. Our critical thinking builds and improves with regular practice, just like a muscle that gets stronger with use.

If you want to become a better critical thinker , here are some critical thinking exercises to try:

Exercise #1: The Ladder of Inference

You can exercise your critical thinking skills by using the Ladder of Inference model . This thinking model was developed by renowned organizational psychologist Chris Argyris. Each rung on the ladder of inference represents a step you take to arrive at your conclusions.

The decision-making process starts when we are faced with a problem or situation. As soon as we observe something problematic or important, we presume what is causing it, and then we use that assumption to draw conclusions. Based on those conclusions, we take action.

For example, say you're at a party and see a friend across the room. You catch their eye and wave, but they turn and walk away. Using the ladder, you might climb the rungs as follows:

• Observe that your friend walked away.
• Select a few details of the situation, including your wave and your assumption that they saw you.
• Meaning is attached based on the environment, making you think your friend must have other people to talk to at the party.
• Assumptions are made based on that meaning, assuming that means your friend doesn’t like you as much as them.
• Conclusions are drawn from the assumption, and you determine that your friend must be mad at you or doesn't want you to be at the party.
• Beliefs are formed, making you think you're not welcome.
• Action is taken, and you leave the party.

In this example, you started with a situation (someone walking away at a crowded party) and made a series of inferences to arrive at a conclusion (that the person is mad at you and doesn't want you there).

The Ladder of Inference can be a helpful tool to frame your thinking because it encourages you to examine each step of your thought process and avoid jumping to conclusions. It's easy to make assumptions without realizing it, as in this scene. Perhaps your friend never even saw you wave from across the crowded room.

Exercise #2: The Five Whys

The "Five Whys" technique is an analytical skill that can help you uncover the source of a problem. The activity was created by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, and consists of repeatedly asking “why?” when a problem is encountered to determine its root cause.

This exercise can be difficult because knowing if you've discovered the source of your problem is challenging. The "five" in "Five Whys" is just a guideline — you may need to ask more. When you can't ask anything else, and your response is related to the original issue, you've probably arrived at the end.

Even if you need several rounds of questioning, just keep going. The important part that helps you practice critical thinking is the process of asking "why?" and uncovering the deeper issues affecting the situation.

For instance, say you're trying to figure out why your computer keeps crashing.

• You ask " why ," and the answer is that there's a software problem.
• Why? Because the computer keeps running out of memory.
• Why? Because too many programs are running at the same time.
• Why? Because too many browser tabs are open .
• Why? Because multitasking is fragmenting your focus, you're doing too many things at once.

In this example, working through the "why's" revealed the underlying cause. As a result, you can find the best solution, which is concentrating on just one thing at a time.

Exercise #3: Inversion

Inversion is another critical thinking exercise that you can use in any situation. Inversion is sort of like taking on the role of the devil's advocate. In this exercise, adopt the opposite view of whatever issue you're exploring and consider the potential arguments for that side. This will help broaden your critical thinking skills and enable you to see other perspectives on a situation or topic more clearly.

For example, let's say you're thinking about starting your own business. Using inversion, you would explore all of the potential arguments for why starting your own business is bad. This might include concerns like:

• You could end up in debt.
• The business might fail.
• It's a lot of work.
• You might not have time for anything else.

By exploring these potentially adverse outcomes, you can identify the potential risks involved in starting your own business and make a more sound decision. You might realize that now is not the right time for you to become an entrepreneur. And if you do start the company, you'll be better prepared to deal with the issues you identified when they occur.

Exercise #4: Argument Mapping

Argument mapping can be a beneficial exercise for enhancing critical thinking skills. Like mind mapping, argument mapping is a method of visually representing an argument's structure. It helps analyze and evaluate ideas as well as develop new ones.

In critical thinking textbooks, argument diagramming is often presented to introduce students to argument constructions. It can be an effective way to build mental templates or schema for argument structures, which researchers think may make critical evaluation easier .

Argument maps typically include the following:

• Conclusion: What is being argued for or against
• Premises: The reasons given to support the conclusion
• Inferences: The connections made between the premises and conclusion

The argument map should be as clear and concise as possible, with a single word or phrase representing each element. This will help you make connections more easily. After the map is completed, you can use it to identify any weak points in the argument. If any areas aren't well-supported, additional premises can be added.

Argument mapping can be applied to any situation that requires critical thinking skills. The more time you take to map out an argument, the better you'll understand how the pieces fit together. Ultimately, this will help you think more creatively and critically, and make more informed decisions.

Exercise #5: Opinion vs. Fact

Critical thinking activities that focus on opinions and facts are particularly valuable and relevant new learning opportunities. Our constantly-connected world makes it easy to confuse opinions and facts , especially with sensationalist news articles and click-bait headlines.

How can you tell a fact from an opinion? Facts are generally objective and established, whereas opinions are subjective and unproven. For example, "the cloud is in the air" is a fact. "That dress looks good on you" is an opinion.

Practice your critical thinking skills by reading or listening to the news. See if you can identify when someone is stating an opinion rather than a fact. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is saying what? What reasons might be behind their statements?
• Does the claim make sense? Who would disagree with it and why?
• How can you tell if the data is reliable? Can it be fact-checked? Has it been shared by other credible publishers?
• How do you know whether or not the presenter is biased? What kind of language is being used?

This powerful exercise can train your mind to start asking questions whenever presented with a new claim. This will help you think critically about the information you're taking in and question what you're hearing before accepting it as truth.

Exercise #6: Autonomy of an Object

In her book " The Critical Thinking Tool Kit ," Dr. Marlene Caroselli describes a critical thinking exercise called "Living Problems, Lively Solutions." This exercise uses the autonomy of an object as a problem-solving tool to find a possible solution.

To do this, you'll personify your problem and place it in another context — a different time or place. This allows you to uncover unique solutions to the problem that might be tied to your mental associations with that setting.

For example, if your problem is poor time management , you might personify the issue as a thief of your time. The idea of a thief could make you think of jail, which might prompt thoughts of locking up specific distractions in your life. The idea of jail could also make you think of guards and lead you to the possible solution of checking in with an accountability buddy who can make sure you're sticking to your schedule.

The autonomy-of-object technique works because it stimulates thoughts you wouldn’t have considered without the particular context in which you place the problem.

Exercise #7: The Six Thinking Hats

Designed by Edward de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats is a critical thinking exercise that was created as a tool for groups to use when exploring different perspectives on an issue. When people use other thinking processes, meetings can become challenging rather than beneficial.

To help teams work more productively and mindfully, de Bono suggests dividing up different styles of thinking into six categories, represented as hats:

• The white hat is objective and focuses on facts and logic
• The red hat is intuitive, focusing on emotion and instinct
• The black hat is cautious and predicts negative outcomes
• The yellow hat is optimistic and encourages positive outcomes
• The green hat is creative, with numerous ideas and little criticism
• The blue hat is the control hat used for management and organization

With each team member wearing a different hat, a group can examine an issue or problem from many different angles, preventing one viewpoint (or individual) from dominating the meeting or discussion. This means that decisions and solutions reached using the Six Thinking Hats approach will likely be more robust and effective, and everyone’s creative thinking skills will benefit.

Train Your Brain With Critical Thinking Exercises

Using critical thinking regularly in various situations can improve our ability to evaluate and analyze information. These seven critical thinking exercises train your brain for better critical thinking skills . With daily practice, they can become habits that will help you think more critically each day.

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9 Critical Thinking Exercises That Actually Improve Your Mind

Anthony metivier.

• August 25, 2023
• Critical Thinking

After all, the Internet is loaded with generic exercises like “read books written by leaders.”

Sorry, but that’s not a specific exercise. That’s a generic activity.

On this page, we’ll dive into specific exercise for critical thinking targeted at specific outcomes. Each exercise is designed to help you boost precise aspects of thinking so you can feel improvement as you go.

First, however, it’s good to understand what makes an exercise worthwhile. And understand why critical thinking has gotten more and more important as time moves on.

Since that is kind of counterintuitive in the age of AI, let’s dive in with a critical thinking exercise of our own.

Why Critical Thinking Skills Are More Important Now Than Ever

As the author of this blog on memory and thinking for over a decade, people ask me often if any of these skills matter anymore.

I’ve gotten the question even more frequently since AI tools like chat-GPT and Midjourney have appeared.

“Do we really need memory techniques anymore, now that I can search the Internet for anything at any time?”

“Why should I improve my thinking skills when I can read a simple summary of any book just by asking an AI?”

First, it’s still the case that a vast percentage of information has never appeared online. It’s imperative that people understand this and do hands-on, practical research with a variety of sources offline.

That said, there are certain use cases where using an AI seems to make sense. I recently published a case study demonstrating the positive use of chat-GPT for language learning , for example. But there are a few reasons we don’t want to relegate our thinking and learning to machines.

The big one is that we don’t own the platform and we certainly don’t own the data. Nor do we have general access to the people who do.

That’s troublesome because I’ve noticed bias that makes the text generators much different than the kinds of bias produced by a standard search engine. For example, instead of just getting the results, you might get a mini-discussion that essentially assumes it knows the intent behind your question.

This happened to me while working on my “Memory Detective” series. I thought it would be fun to get some feedback and ideas from chat-GPT, but it was anything but amusing.

In fact, the software effectively accused me of being biased about the bad guy I was exploring – which of course I was, just not in the way the software assumed. It’s a bad guy I was developing, after all. And moreover, I was working on fiction and made this evident in my request, even though the AI seems to have ignored this crucial point.

Here’s the kicker and the reason I’m dwelling on this point: Discovering that chat-GPT is itself biased let me to the point of feeling, however briefly, offended by the people who designed such preachy features into the program.

It’s only because I’ve done some of the critical thinking exercises below that I’m aware of my own memory biases , and was able to continue using the software objectively. We are all going to need to be increasingly objective as “the powers that be” inject their agendas into the tools we use.

In sum, even if each and everyone one of us ultimately winds up owning and designing our own personal Artificial Intelligences, we’re still going to need to think critically about both inputs, outputs and our interpretations of them. And in order to keep our critical thinking skills mobile, we’re going to need ongoing mental training .

9 Critical Thinking Exercises That Create Laser Sharp Intelligence

Authentic critical thinking exercises must always involve:

• New learning by working with information you have not encountered before
• Variety so that you experience growth in multiple areas and don’t “burn out” on just one area
• Varying levels of complexity so you experience different challenges
• Consistent practice over time

Follow those guidelines and you will succeed.

Critical Thinking Exercises For Students

Students have many needs. Above all, they need to be able to understand how people make arguments and substantiate their claims with evidence. 

One: The News Exercise

One great source for practice is the news. 

For this exercise, head over to any news website. Look for an article that includes graphs, numbers, or any representation involving numerical data.

Here’s the kind of news representation I’m talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F7gm_BG0iQ

As you examine the news, ask the following questions:

• How is the news trying to help you understand the data? 
• Does the representation of the data make sense? 
• How can you determine whether or not the graph is reliable?
• How can you determine whether or not the presenter is reliable and free from bias?
• Who gets any kind of special benefit if the interpretation of the data falls in their favor?

Asking questions like these provides a powerful exercise that will sharpen your mind whenever you are presented with scientific data. 

Two: The Abilities Exercise

Do you know anyone living with a disability?

I do and you can learn more about my mentor Jon Morrow in his article 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face .

After reading his post, imagine what it would be like if you could only move one part of your body. Write an essay that describes how exactly your life would change from the way it is.

Another version of this exercise is to think of ways you can use your mind to box with one hand tied behind your back.

For example, you can practice debating with a timer on and give yourself increasingly smaller amounts of time to make your case. There are many lists of debate topics online to choose from, and you can sharpen your skills anytime by going through the Rhetorica ad Herennium .

Three: The Research Response Exercise

Take the following argument:

Pesticides harm the environment more than they’re worth. 

As you think through this statement, answer the following questions:

• What kind of research do you need to conduct in order to answer both for or against this statement?
• How would you outline your responses? Use a structure like this: “if A then B, and if B then C, and if C then D, and in conclusion, if A then D.”

Critical Thinking Exercises For Business

People in business need to successfully navigate sales meetings and negotiate multiple levels of management in their careers. Here are some critical thinking exercises that will help you develop skills in these areas.

Four: The Prison Exercise

Pretend that you’ve been hired to sell a neighborhood council on building a new maximum security prison. This particular neighborhood is upper-class and filled with mansions. 

What benefits can you bring together to explain why it would be a great thing for this neighborhood to house prisoners in this area?

What incentives can you include in the full package? As you consider both the benefits and the incentives, reign yourself in.

You want to think logically in order to make this a critical thinking exercise. If you indulge in flights of fancy, then it will be creative thinking exercise instead. 

Anytime you get off track, these critical thinking examples will help you get back on this path.

Five: The Facial Expression Exercise

One way to improve business success is to develop your empathy. 

For this exercise, gather a number of photographs from the newspaper or some magazines. 

As you look through the photographs, practice identifying the emotions. If you feel like you’re lacking in vocabulary for the task, consider reading The Dictionary of Emotions . You can also use an online dictionary or thesaurus to come up with words. 

Next, do some role playing. Pick one person from the photographs and imagine meeting them in real life. 

List all the questions you would ask them in order to connect with them better based on the emotion you listed when you first saw the photograph. 

Six: The Competitor Exercise

Think about your competitors in business. 

As you go through each, list their purpose for being in business. What is it that they are trying to accomplish?

Be non judgemental, realistic and focus on the most significant aspects of their purpose. 

Then, think about how you can contribute to the growth of their success without damaging your own. 

Obviously, this is a very tricky critical thinking exercise, but I’m confident you’ll find it beneficial. If you’re into sports or any other realm where competition plays a role, this exercise is also helpful. 

And if you really want to learn about critical thinking so you’re a master, check out these critical thinking books .

Critical Thinking Exercises For Adults

As mentioned, exercises that stimulate our thinking abilities are best if they are targeted at a particular outcome. 

However, there is some room for general exercises that are good for everyone. Let’s have a look at some of my favorites.

Seven: The Stakes Exercise

Many times when you’re listening to an argument, it’s easy to get hung up on the details.

A great exercise is to simply ask: What’s at stake? 

This means, what’s the real core issue? And who benefits the most if they get to be right on the issue? 

As you complete this exercise, but sure to go through both the objective and subjective reasoning of both sides. 

Also, you’ll benefit if you continually focus on how many possible answers might exist. It’s not always the case that there’s one and only one correct answer, even if situations require us to pick just one.

You’ll want to also spend time interpreting the information on both sides of the argument, and possibly doing follow-up research. In fact, if you don’t, it’s unlikely that you’ll improve your reasoning skills as much as you’d like.

Eight: Make An “Argument Map”

I’ve talked a lot about mind mapping on this blog. But there’s another powerful process called argument mapping .

This technique goes back to Plato. If you’ve read the Meno , you might remember how Socrates draws a set of figures in the dirt to display the concepts that come up during the discussion.

These days, we can use pen and paper or software to create an argument map. Here’s one from Evan Rodriguez .

To create one yourself, pick an argument where multiple reasons are involved and break things down. 

In this example, Rodriquez has separated the “because” reasons and then used the graph to help him sort through the truth by visualizing a set of if/then parameters.

Creating such argument maps provide tremendous exercise. They’re also relatively quick to produce.

You might also enjoy learning more about the history of what is sometimes called “graphicacy.” Look up people and processes like:

• Ars combinatoria
• Giordano Bruno
• Petrus Ramus
• John Venn (who introduced Venn diagrams)
• Peirce’s Existential Graphs

Nine: Memorize the Fallacies

One of the best critical thinking exercises is to learn the fallacies so well you know them when you see them or hear them in a conversation . 

There are at least two kinds of fallacies: Formal and informal. This list of fallacies is very thorough.

To commit as many of these as possible to memory, you’ll want to learn a technique called the Memory Palace . I’m happy to help you learn it here:

Let’s say you want to memorize argumentum ad lapidem or the “ appeal to the stone ” fallacy. 

You can memorize the Latin and English along with the meaning by thinking about a chair in your home and imagining yourself having an argument with a stone. In this image, you’re calling the stone’s arguments absurd without providing any evidence for why you believe this to be the case.

It’s a powerful technique and will help you spot fallacies in everyday life. Commit as many to memory as you can. 

The Ultimate Critical Thinking Exercise to Reach Peak Critical Thinking

For thousands of years, people have asked “Who am I?” 

You might not think about this as an exercise that relates to critical thinking strategies at large, but if you really submit to the question as a practice, it helps your thinking across the board.

When you take away your name, your title, the roles you play in your profession and all the games of life, who are you really? Is there a “true self” in the mix that you can always trust to be the same? 

To practice this exercise with more structure, get 15-20 index cards and write down personal qualities on each. They can be qualities like:

• Versatility

Sit down, take a deep breath and mix the cards.

Then, pick one of the cards and reflect on how that quality is perceived by others in your life:

Family, friends, co-workers. You might want to learn about how to think about yourself through the perspective of authors through my autobiographical memory post first. Or just dive in. 

Next, imagine what it would be like if that quality was completely gone from your life. Who would you be without it? Can you glimpse your true self without this label? 

Then pick up another card and repeat the process, linking each with a deep breath. Then follow-up by journaling on your experiences. Making sure to write after completing each of the exercises on this page is key to benefiting from the reflective thinking skills you’ll also want to grow.

Thank you for reading this article, and if you enjoyed these exercises, please consider going through these powerful brain exercises next.

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Critical Thinking Exercises

• Writing Research Papers
• Writing Essays
• English Grammar
• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Critical thinking is a skill that students develop gradually as they progress in school. While the skill becomes more important in higher grades, some students find it difficult to understand the concept of critical thinking .

The reason critical thinking can be difficult to grasp is because it requires students to set aside assumptions and beliefs to learn to think without bias or judgment.

Critical thinking involves suspending your beliefs to explore and question topics from a "blank page" point of view. It also involves the ability to distinguish fact from opinion when exploring a topic.

These exercises are designed to help develop critical thinking skills.

Critical Thinking Exercise 1: Tour Guide for an Alien

This exercise provides an opportunity to think outside your normal way of thinking.

Pretend that you have been assigned the task of conducting a tour for aliens who are visiting the earth and observing human life. You're riding along in a blimp, viewing the landscape below, and you float over a professional baseball stadium. One of the aliens looks down and is very confused by what he sees. You explain that there is a game going on and he asks several important questions.

• What is a game? 
• Why are there no female players?
• Why do people get so excited about watching other people play games?
• What is a team?
• Why can't the people in the seats go down on the field and join in?

If you try to answer these questions fully, it will quickly become apparent that we carry around certain assumptions and values. We support a certain team, for instance, because it makes us feel like we're a part of a community. This sense of community is a value that matters to some people more than others.

Furthermore, when trying to explain team sports to an alien, you have to explain the value we place on winning and losing.

When you think like an alien tour guide, you are forced to take a deeper look at the things we do and things we value. Sometimes they don't sound logical from the outside looking in.

Critical Thinking Exercise 2: Fact or Opinion

Do you think you know the difference between fact and opinion? It's not always easy to discern. When you visit websites, do you believe everything you read? The abundance of available information makes it more important than ever for students to develop critical thinking skills. Additionally, it's an important reminder that you must use trustworthy sources in your school work.

If you don't learn the difference between fact and opinion, you may end up reading and watching things that continue to reinforce beliefs and assumptions you already own.

For this exercise, read each statement and try to determine whether it sounds like a fact or an opinion. This can be completed alone or with a study partner .

• My mom is the best mom on earth.
• My dad is taller than your dad.
• My telephone number is difficult to memorize.
• The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet deep.
• Dogs make better pets than turtles.
• Smoking is bad for your health.
• Eighty-five percent of all cases of lung cancer in the U.S. are caused by smoking.
• If you flatten and stretch out a Slinky toy it will be 87 feet long.
• Slinky toys are fun.
• One out of every one hundred American citizens is color blind.
• Two out of ten American citizens are boring.

You will probably find some of the statements easy to judge but other statements difficult. If you can effectively debate the truthfulness of a statement with your partner, then it's most likely an opinion.

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How to develop critical thinking skills

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What are critical thinking skills?

How to develop critical thinking skills: 12 tips, how to practice critical thinking skills at work, become your own best critic.

A client requests a tight deadline on an intense project. Your childcare provider calls in sick on a day full of meetings. Payment from a contract gig is a month behind. 

Your day-to-day will always have challenges, big and small. And no matter the size and urgency, they all ask you to use critical thinking to analyze the situation and arrive at the right solution. 

Critical thinking includes a wide set of soft skills that encourage continuous learning, resilience , and self-reflection. The more you add to your professional toolbelt, the more equipped you’ll be to tackle whatever challenge presents itself. Here’s how to develop critical thinking, with examples explaining how to use it.

Critical thinking skills are the skills you use to analyze information, imagine scenarios holistically, and create rational solutions. It’s a type of emotional intelligence that stimulates effective problem-solving and decision-making . 

When you fine-tune your critical thinking skills, you seek beyond face-value observations and knee-jerk reactions. Instead, you harvest deeper insights and string together ideas and concepts in logical, sometimes out-of-the-box , ways. 

Imagine a team working on a marketing strategy for a new set of services. That team might use critical thinking to balance goals and key performance indicators , like new customer acquisition costs, average monthly sales, and net profit margins. They understand the connections between overlapping factors to build a strategy that stays within budget and attracts new sales. 

Looking for ways to improve critical thinking skills? Start by brushing up on the following soft skills that fall under this umbrella: 

• Analytical thinking: Approaching problems with an analytical eye includes breaking down complex issues into small chunks and examining their significance. An example could be organizing customer feedback to identify trends and improve your product offerings. 
• Open-mindedness: Push past cognitive biases and be receptive to different points of view and constructive feedback . Managers and team members who keep an open mind position themselves to hear new ideas that foster innovation . 
• Creative thinking: With creative thinking , you can develop several ideas to address a single problem, like brainstorming more efficient workflow best practices to boost productivity and employee morale . 
• Self-reflection: Self-reflection lets you examine your thinking and assumptions to stimulate healthier collaboration and thought processes. Maybe a bad first impression created a negative anchoring bias with a new coworker. Reflecting on your own behavior stirs up empathy and improves the relationship. 
• Evaluation: With evaluation skills, you tackle the pros and cons of a situation based on logic rather than emotion. When prioritizing tasks , you might be tempted to do the fun or easy ones first, but evaluating their urgency and importance can help you make better decisions. 

There’s no magic method to change your thinking processes. Improvement happens with small, intentional changes to your everyday habits until a more critical approach to thinking is automatic. 

Here are 12 tips for building stronger self-awareness and learning how to improve critical thinking: 

1. Be cautious

There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of skepticism. One of the core principles of critical thinking is asking questions and dissecting the available information. You might surprise yourself at what you find when you stop to think before taking action. 

Before making a decision, use evidence, logic, and deductive reasoning to support your own opinions or challenge ideas. It helps you and your team avoid falling prey to bad information or resistance to change .

2. Ask open-ended questions

“Yes” or “no” questions invite agreement rather than reflection. Instead, ask open-ended questions that force you to engage in analysis and rumination. Digging deeper can help you identify potential biases, uncover assumptions, and arrive at new hypotheses and possible solutions. 

3. Do your research

No matter your proficiency, you can always learn more. Turning to different points of view and information is a great way to develop a comprehensive understanding of a topic and make informed decisions. You’ll prioritize reliable information rather than fall into emotional or automatic decision-making. 

4. Consider several opinions

You might spend so much time on your work that it’s easy to get stuck in your own perspective, especially if you work independently on a remote team . Make an effort to reach out to colleagues to hear different ideas and thought patterns. Their input might surprise you.

If or when you disagree, remember that you and your team share a common goal. Divergent opinions are constructive, so shift the focus to finding solutions rather than defending disagreements. 

5. Learn to be quiet

Active listening is the intentional practice of concentrating on a conversation partner instead of your own thoughts. It’s about paying attention to detail and letting people know you value their opinions, which can open your mind to new perspectives and thought processes.

If you’re brainstorming with your team or having a 1:1 with a coworker , listen, ask clarifying questions, and work to understand other peoples’ viewpoints. Listening to your team will help you find fallacies in arguments to improve possible solutions.

6. Schedule reflection

Whether waking up at 5 am or using a procrastination hack, scheduling time to think puts you in a growth mindset . Your mind has natural cognitive biases to help you simplify decision-making, but squashing them is key to thinking critically and finding new solutions besides the ones you might gravitate toward. Creating time and calm space in your day gives you the chance to step back and visualize the biases that impact your decision-making. 

7. Cultivate curiosity

With so many demands and job responsibilities, it’s easy to seek solace in routine. But getting out of your comfort zone helps spark critical thinking and find more solutions than you usually might.

If curiosity doesn’t come naturally to you, cultivate a thirst for knowledge by reskilling and upskilling . Not only will you add a new skill to your resume , but expanding the limits of your professional knowledge might motivate you to ask more questions. 

You don’t have to develop critical thinking skills exclusively in the office. Whether on your break or finding a hobby to do after work, playing strategic games or filling out crosswords can prime your brain for problem-solving. 

9. Write it down

Recording your thoughts with pen and paper can lead to stronger brain activity than typing them out on a keyboard. If you’re stuck and want to think more critically about a problem, writing your ideas can help you process information more deeply.

The act of recording ideas on paper can also improve your memory . Ideas are more likely to linger in the background of your mind, leading to deeper thinking that informs your decision-making process. 

10. Speak up

Take opportunities to share your opinion, even if it intimidates you. Whether at a networking event with new people or a meeting with close colleagues, try to engage with people who challenge or help you develop your ideas. Having conversations that force you to support your position encourages you to refine your argument and think critically. 

11. Stay humble

Ideas and concepts aren’t the same as real-life actions. There may be such a thing as negative outcomes, but there’s no such thing as a bad idea. At the brainstorming stage , don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Sometimes the best solutions come from off-the-wall, unorthodox decisions. Sit in your creativity , let ideas flow, and don’t be afraid to share them with your colleagues. Putting yourself in a creative mindset helps you see situations from new perspectives and arrive at innovative conclusions. 

12. Embrace discomfort

Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable . It isn’t easy when others challenge your ideas, but sometimes, it’s the only way to see new perspectives and think critically.

By willingly stepping into unfamiliar territory, you foster the resilience and flexibility you need to become a better thinker. You’ll learn how to pick yourself up from failure and approach problems from fresh angles. 

Thinking critically is easier said than done. To help you understand its impact (and how to use it), here are two scenarios that require critical thinking skills and provide teachable moments. 

Scenario #1: Unexpected delays and budget

Imagine your team is working on producing an event. Unexpectedly, a vendor explains they’ll be a week behind on delivering materials. Then another vendor sends a quote that’s more than you can afford. Unless you develop a creative solution, the team will have to push back deadlines and go over budget, potentially costing the client’s trust. 

Here’s how you could approach the situation with creative thinking:

• Analyze the situation holistically: Determine how the delayed materials and over-budget quote will impact the rest of your timeline and financial resources . That way, you can identify whether you need to build an entirely new plan with new vendors, or if it’s worth it to readjust time and resources. 
• Identify your alternative options: With careful assessment, your team decides that another vendor can’t provide the same materials in a quicker time frame. You’ll need to rearrange assignment schedules to complete everything on time. 
• Collaborate and adapt: Your team has an emergency meeting to rearrange your project schedule. You write down each deliverable and determine which ones you can and can’t complete by the deadline. To compensate for lost time, you rearrange your task schedule to complete everything that doesn’t need the delayed materials first, then advance as far as you can on the tasks that do. 
• Check different resources: In the meantime, you scour through your contact sheet to find alternative vendors that fit your budget. Accounting helps by providing old invoices to determine which vendors have quoted less for previous jobs. After pulling all your sources, you find a vendor that fits your budget. 
• Maintain open communication: You create a special Slack channel to keep everyone up to date on changes, challenges, and additional delays. Keeping an open line encourages transparency on the team’s progress and boosts everyone’s confidence. 

Scenario #2: Differing opinions 

A conflict arises between two team members on the best approach for a new strategy for a gaming app. One believes that small tweaks to the current content are necessary to maintain user engagement and stay within budget. The other believes a bold revamp is needed to encourage new followers and stronger sales revenue. 

Here’s how critical thinking could help this conflict:

• Listen actively: Give both team members the opportunity to present their ideas free of interruption. Encourage the entire team to ask open-ended questions to more fully understand and develop each argument. 
• Flex your analytical skills: After learning more about both ideas, everyone should objectively assess the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. Analyze each idea's risk, merits, and feasibility based on available data and the app’s goals and objectives. 
• Identify common ground: The team discusses similarities between each approach and brainstorms ways to integrate both idea s, like making small but eye-catching modifications to existing content or using the same visual design in new media formats. 
• Test new strategy: To test out the potential of a bolder strategy, the team decides to A/B test both approaches. You create a set of criteria to evenly distribute users by different demographics to analyze engagement, revenue, and customer turnover. 
• Monitor and adapt: After implementing the A/B test, the team closely monitors the results of each strategy. You regroup and optimize the changes that provide stronger results after the testing. That way, all team members understand why you’re making the changes you decide to make.

You can’t think your problems away. But you can equip yourself with skills that help you move through your biggest challenges and find innovative solutions. Learning how to develop critical thinking is the start of honing an adaptable growth mindset. 

Now that you have resources to increase critical thinking skills in your professional development, you can identify whether you embrace change or routine, are open or resistant to feedback, or turn to research or emotion will build self-awareness. From there, tweak and incorporate techniques to be a critical thinker when life presents you with a problem.

Cultivate your creativity

Foster creativity and continuous learning with guidance from our certified Coaches.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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A Deep Dive into 10 Thought-Provoking Critical Thinking Exercises

Today, information bombards us from all directions, and the ability to think critically has become a paramount skill. Beyond the rote memorization of facts, critical thinking exercises involve the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information to make informed decisions. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore ten engaging and effective critical thinking exercises designed to enhance cognitive abilities, foster intellectual agility, and contribute to overall cognitive excellence.

List of Critical Thinking Exercises: 

1. socratic questioning: unlocking wisdom through dialogue.

The Socratic method, with its roots in ancient philosophy, serves as a foundational exercise for critical thinking. It involves posing open-ended questions stimulating thoughtful dialogue and exploring complex topics. The exercise encourages individuals to engage in structured discussions, challenging assumptions, and dissecting various perspectives on a chosen subject matter.

Exercise: Organize or participate in Socratic discussion groups where participants tackle topics ranging from ethical dilemmas to societal issues. The goal is to foster an environment where thoughtful questioning leads to a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

2. Brain Teasers and Puzzles: Nurturing Analytical Thinking

Solving puzzles, riddles, and brain teasers is a classic exercise for enhancing problem-solving skills and developing cognitive flexibility. Engaging in these activities challenges the mind, fostering creativity and adaptability.

Exercise: Dedicate regular time to solving Sudoku, crosswords, or logic puzzles. These exercises provide mental stimulation and improve memory, concentration, and logical reasoning.

3. Debate Club Participation: Sharpening Persuasive and Analytical Skills

Joining a debate club provides a platform to practice constructing persuasive arguments, critically evaluating opposing viewpoints, and refining communication skills. The exercise encourages individuals to think on their feet, respond to counterarguments, and strengthen their ability to convey ideas convincingly.

Exercise: Actively participate in structured debates on topics ranging from current affairs to philosophical dilemmas. This fosters the development of not only critical thinking but also effective communication.

4. Case Study Analysis: Applying Critical Thinking to Real-World Scenarios

Analyzing real or hypothetical case studies allows individuals to apply critical thinking exercises to assess situations and propose effective solutions. This exercise mimics the problem-solving demands of various professions and prepares individuals to think critically in real-world contexts.

Exercise: Review business case studies, legal scenarios, or medical cases, identifying key issues and recommending strategic approaches. This hands-on approach enhances decision-making skills.

5. Concept Mapping: Visualizing Complex Ideas for Better Understanding

Creating visual representations of ideas, relationships, and hierarchies through concept mapping enhances understanding and promotes analytical thinking. This exercise encourages individuals to see the interconnectedness of concepts and improves visual-spatial thinking.

Exercise: Utilize mind maps or concept maps to illustrate complex concepts or plan projects. This visual approach aids in organizing thoughts, identifying relationships between ideas, and enhancing overall comprehension.

6. Decision-Making Simulations: Learning Through Virtual Scenarios

Participation in decision-making simulations replicates real-world scenarios, encouraging thoughtful analysis and strategic thinking. This exercise allows individuals to make decisions within a controlled environment, experiencing the consequences of their choices.

Exercise: Explore online simulations or business strategy games that require strategic decision-making. These simulations provide a risk-free environment for learning and testing different decision-making approaches.

7. Read Diverse Perspectives: Broadening Horizons through Literature

Exposure to a variety of perspectives, cultures, and ideologies through literature and diverse media broadens understanding and encourages critical thinking. This exercise prompts individuals to consider alternative viewpoints and challenges preconceived notions.

Exercise: Read books, and articles, or watch documentaries from authors with differing viewpoints. This exposure to diverse perspectives fosters empathy, cultural awareness, and a more nuanced understanding of the world.

8. Critical Writing Exercises: Articulating Coherent Arguments

Developing analytical writing skills involves articulating coherent arguments and supporting them with evidence, fostering clarity and logical reasoning. This exercise enhances the ability to express complex thoughts in a structured and persuasive manner.

Exercise: Engage in writing essays or analyses on thought-provoking topics. Focus on constructing compelling arguments with evidence-based reasoning. This exercise not only hones critical thinking exercises but also improves written communication.

9. Ethical Dilemma Deliberation: Exploring Morality and Decision-Making

Delving into ethical dilemmas requires individuals to examine the moral implications of decisions, considering multiple ethical frameworks. This exercise encourages individuals to think critically about the consequences of their actions on both a personal and societal level.

Exercise: Engage in discussions and analyze ethical scenarios, exploring the ethical dimensions of various decisions. This exercise prompts individuals to consider the broader implications of their choices.

10. Data Analysis Challenges: Making Informed Decisions Based on Data

Enhancing quantitative critical thinking involves interpreting and drawing conclusions from data, promoting data literacy. This exercise empowers individuals to make informed decisions based on quantitative information.

Exercise: Work with datasets, analyze trends, and draw meaningful insights. Developing proficiency in data analysis enhances the ability to make evidence-based decisions in various contexts.

Conclusion:

Cultivating cognitive excellence through critical thinking exercises is a journey that requires active engagement in diverse exercises. The ten exercises presented in this guide offer a comprehensive range of activities to foster cognitive agility. From engaging in Socratic questioning to tackling ethical dilemmas and analyzing data, these exercises empower individuals to approach challenges with a discerning and analytical mindset. Embrace the journey of continuous intellectual development through these practical and stimulating critical thinking exercises, and witness the transformative power of a sharpened mind.

Also Read: 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking

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3 Activities to Enhance Your Judgment for Critical Thinking

This set of exercise may help improve reflective judgment..

Posted January 5, 2022 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

In January 2021, I posted a piece on this blog asking if any readers wanted to develop their critical thinking as a kind of New Year’s resolution. In light of some very positive feedback, the “one-off” set of activities turned into a series of exercises. Here we are, one year later, capping off our final set in this series of exercises, which will focus on reflective judgment .

If this happens to be the first set of critical thinking exercises that you’ve come across, be sure to start with the first set of exercises that were posted and follow sequentially with the second , third , and fourth before jumping into this final set below. Remember, when we are given opportunities to think about our thinking , we are engaging our metacognitive processes, and that’s a foundational part of critical thinking!

An ill-structured problem is one that has no definitively correct solution. There may be multiple correct solutions. There may also be multiple incorrect solutions. Please consider an ill-structured problem that you have encountered in the recent past.

• Think about your solution to this problem, and identify two or three reasons why you went with it.
• Were these reasons sufficient enough to warrant the implementation of your solution?
• Did your solution work?
• If not, think about why that might have been the case.

Take a couple of days to think about your responses to Activity 1. Then come back to it and think about three alternative solutions that could have been implemented.

• Would any of these have worked?
• If so, would any of them have worked better than the solution you actually implemented?
• If so, why? Also, be sure to ask yourself why you didn’t implement any of these alternative solutions.

Make sure to consider and exemplify each of your solutions in terms of the consequences each solution might evoke. Evaluate your reasoning and the manner in which you assessed the situation—the problem, sub-problems, and potential solutions.

• Were you biased in any way with respect to your problem-solving?

In our very first set of activities, you were asked to think about a list of ideas that you believed to be true and a list that you believed to be false without actual, research-based evidence. Then you were prompted to ask yourself if you had anything to gain from continuing to believe or disbelieve any of the ideas you had previously identified.

You are asked, again, to consider these beliefs and reflect on them.

• Have you changed your mind about any of them?
• If so, what made you change your mind?
• Did you decide to look for concrete evidence?
• If not, what held you back from looking for evidence?
• Did bias play a role in this decision?

Make sure to engage in intellectual honesty with yourself in this reflection.

I hope you enjoyed not only this set of activities but also the entire series of exercises provided to help enhance your critical thinking. Being able to engage reflective judgment with intellectual honesty and humility from an epistemological standpoint (i.e., understanding the nature, certainty, and limits of knowledge) is of utmost importance for critical thinking (Dwyer, 2017; King & Kitchener, 1994). Critical thinkers are more likely to get better grades and are often more employable as well (Holmes and Clizbe, 1997; National Academy of Sciences, 2005).

Indeed, critical thinking is among employers’ most desired abilities for students transitioning into the workplace. With that, critical thinking isn’t only important in academic and work domains but also in social and interpersonal contexts where adequate decision-making and problem-solving are necessary on a daily basis (Ku, 2009). Hopefully, this series of exercises has brought you closer to achieving your potential for critical thought.

Dwyer, C.P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Holmes, J., & Clizbe, E. (1997). Facing the 21st century. Business Education Forum, 52, 1, 33-35.

King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Ku, K.Y.L. (2009). Assessing students’ critical thinking performance: Urging for measurements using multi-response format. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 4, 1, 70- 76.

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, (2005). Rising above the gathering storm: Energising and employing America for a brighter economic future. Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy for the 21st Century, Washington, DC.

Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland.

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Developing Critical Thinking Skills: Techniques and Exercises for Sharper Analysis

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced world, the ability to think critically has become increasingly important. Critical thinking skills help us make better decisions, solve problems more effectively, and navigate the complexities of modern life. In this blog post, we will explore techniques and exercises you can use to sharpen your critical thinking abilities and improve your overall cognitive performance.

Defining Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an informed conclusion or decision. It involves questioning assumptions, considering alternative perspectives, and evaluating evidence to make well-informed judgments.

Techniques for Developing Critical Thinking Skills

1. socratic questioning.

Socratic questioning is a technique that involves asking open-ended, probing questions to challenge assumptions, reveal underlying beliefs, and promote deeper understanding. Practice asking questions such as:

• What is the main issue or problem?
• What evidence supports or contradicts this belief?
• What are the implications of this idea?
• What alternative explanations or viewpoints could be considered?

2. Six Thinking Hats

Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method encourages looking at a problem or decision from multiple perspectives. Each “hat” represents a different way of thinking:

• White Hat: Focus on facts and data.
• Red Hat: Explore emotions, feelings, and intuition.
• Black Hat: Consider potential risks, challenges, and obstacles.
• Yellow Hat: Identify benefits, opportunities, and positive aspects.
• Green Hat: Generate creative solutions and innovative ideas.
• Blue Hat: Organize and manage the thinking process.

Practice switching between these hats to analyze situations more comprehensively.

Exercises for Sharper Analysis

1. debate or role-play.

Engage in debates or role-play scenarios to practice examining multiple viewpoints and presenting well-reasoned arguments. This exercise helps you develop empathy, communication skills, and the ability to think critically under pressure.

2. Keep a Reflection Journal

Regularly write down your thoughts, beliefs, and experiences in a reflection journal. Review your entries to identify patterns, biases, and assumptions that may be affecting your decision-making. Use this self-awareness to refine your critical thinking skills.

3. Analyze News Articles and Opinions

Read news articles and opinion pieces from diverse sources. Practice identifying the main arguments, assessing the quality of evidence, and evaluating the logic and reasoning behind the author’s conclusions. This exercise helps you develop the ability to think critically about the information you consume.

Developing critical thinking skills is an ongoing process that requires dedication, self-awareness, and practice. By using techniques such as Socratic questioning and the Six Thinking Hats, and engaging in exercises like debate, journaling, and news analysis, you can sharpen your analytical abilities and become a more effective thinker. Embrace the challenge of critical thinking and enjoy the benefits it brings to your personal and professional life.

Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Identifying and Overcoming Common Thinking Traps

Developing cognitive flexibility: adapting to change and uncertainty, critical thinking vs. common sense: the differences, why critical thinking is essential in today's workplace, 5 powerful strategies to boost critical thinking, uncovering the benefits of critical thinking.

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How to build your critical thinking skills in 7 steps (with examples)

Critical thinking is, well, critical. By building these skills, you improve your ability to analyze information and come to the best decision possible. In this article, we cover the basics of critical thinking, as well as the seven steps you can use to implement the full critical thinking process.

Critical thinking comes from asking the right questions to come to the best conclusion possible. Strong critical thinkers analyze information from a variety of viewpoints in order to identify the best course of action.

Don’t worry if you don’t think you have strong critical thinking abilities. In this article, we’ll help you build a foundation for critical thinking so you can absorb, analyze, and make informed decisions. 

What is critical thinking? 

Critical thinking is the ability to collect and analyze information to come to a conclusion. Being able to think critically is important in virtually every industry and applicable across a wide range of positions. That’s because critical thinking isn’t subject-specific—rather, it’s your ability to parse through information, data, statistics, and other details in order to identify a satisfactory solution. 

Definitions of critical thinking

Various scholars have provided definitions of critical thinking, each emphasizing different aspects of this complex cognitive process:

Michael Scriven , an American philosopher, defines critical thinking as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide to belief and action."

Robert Ennis , professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, describes critical thinking as "reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do."

Diane Halpern , a cognitive psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, defines it as "the use of cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome."

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Top 8 critical thinking skills

Critical thinking is essential for success in everyday life, higher education, and professional settings. The handbook "Foundation for Critical Thinking" defines it as a process of conceptualization, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of information.

In no particular order, here are eight key critical thinking abilities that can help you excel in any situation:

1. Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking involves evaluating data from multiple sources in order to come to the best conclusions. Analytical thinking allows people to reject cognitive biases and strive to gather and analyze intricate subject matter while solving complex problems. Analytical thinkers who thrive at critical thinking can:

Identify patterns and trends in the data

Break down complex issues into manageable components

Recognize cause-and-effect relationships

Evaluate the strength of arguments and evidence

Example: A data analyst breaks down complex sales figures to identify trends and patterns that inform the company's marketing strategy.

2. Open-mindedness

Open-mindedness is the willingness to consider new ideas, arguments, and information without prejudice. This critical thinking skill helps you analyze and process information to come to an unbiased conclusion. Part of the critical thinking process is letting your personal biases go, taking information at face value and coming to a conclusion based on multiple points of view .

Open-minded critical thinkers demonstrate:

Willingness to consider alternative viewpoints

Ability to suspend judgment until sufficient evidence is gathered

Receptiveness to constructive criticism and feedback

Flexibility in updating beliefs based on new information

Example: During a product development meeting, a team leader actively considers unconventional ideas from junior members, leading to an innovative solution.

3. Problem-solving

Effective problem solving is a cornerstone of critical thinking. It requires the ability to identify issues, generate possible solutions, evaluate alternatives, and implement the best course of action. This critical thinking skill is particularly valuable in fields like project management and entrepreneurship.

Key aspects of problem-solving include:

Clearly defining the problem

Gathering relevant information

Brainstorming potential solutions

Evaluating the pros and cons of each option

Implementing and monitoring the chosen solution

Reflecting on the outcome and adjusting as necessary

Example: A high school principal uses problem-solving skills to address declining student engagement by surveying learners, consulting with higher education experts, and implementing a new curriculum that balances academic rigor with practical, real-world applications.

4. Reasoned judgment

Reasoned judgment is a key component of higher order thinking that involves making thoughtful decisions based on logical analysis of evidence and thorough consideration of alternatives. This critical thinking skill is important in both academic and professional settings. Key aspects reasoned judgment include:

Objectively gathering and analyzing information

Evaluating the credibility and relevance of evidence

Considering multiple perspectives before drawing conclusions

Making decisions based on logical inference and sound reasoning

Example: A high school science teacher uses reasoned judgment to design an experiment, carefully observing and analyzing results before drawing conclusions about the hypothesis.

5. Reflective thinking

Reflective thinking is the process of analyzing one's own thought processes, actions, and outcomes to gain deeper understanding and improve future performance. Good critical thinking requires analyzing and synthesizing information to form a coherent understanding of a problem. It's an essential critical thinking skill for continuous learning and improvement.

Key aspects of reflective thinking include:

Critically examining one's own assumptions and cognitive biases

Considering diverse viewpoints and perspectives

Synthesizing information from various experiences and sources

Applying insights to improve future decision-making and actions

Continuously evaluating and adjusting one's thinking processes

Example: A community organizer reflects on the outcomes of a recent public event, considering what worked well and what could be improved for future initiatives.

6. Communication

Strong communication skills help critical thinkers articulate ideas clearly and persuasively. Communication in the workplace is crucial for effective teamwork, leadership, and knowledge dissemination. Key aspects of communication in critical thinking include:

Clearly expressing complex ideas

Active listening and comprehension

Adapting communication styles to different audiences

Constructing and delivering persuasive arguments

Example: A manager effectively explains a new company policy to her team, addressing their concerns and ensuring everyone understands its implications.

7. Research

Critical thinkers with strong research skills gather, evaluate, and synthesize information from various sources of information. This is particularly important in academic settings and in professional fields that require continuous learning. Effective research involves:

Identifying reliable and relevant sources of information

Evaluating the credibility and bias of sources

Synthesizing information from multiple sources

Recognizing gaps in existing knowledge

Example: A journalist verifies information from multiple credible sources before publishing an article on a controversial topic.

8. Decision-making

Effective decision making is the culmination of various critical thinking skills that allow an individual to draw logical conclusions and generalizations. It involves weighing options, considering consequences, and choosing the best course of action. Key aspects of decision-making include:

Defining clear criteria for evaluation

Gathering and analyzing relevant information

Considering short-term and long-term consequences

Managing uncertainty and risk

Balancing logic and intuition

Example: A homeowner weighs the costs, benefits, and long-term implications before deciding to invest in solar panels for their house.

7 steps to improve critical thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that you can build by following these seven steps. The seven steps to critical thinking help you ensure you’re approaching a problem from the right angle, considering every alternative, and coming to an unbiased conclusion.

First things first: When to use the 7 step critical thinking process

There’s a lot that goes into the full critical thinking process, and not every decision needs to be this thought out. Sometimes, it’s enough to put aside bias and approach a process logically. In other, more complex cases, the best way to identify the ideal outcome is to go through the entire critical thinking process. 

The seven-step critical thinking process is useful for complex decisions in areas you are less familiar with. Alternatively, the seven critical thinking steps can help you look at a problem you’re familiar with from a different angle, without any bias. 

If you need to make a less complex decision, consider another problem solving strategy instead. Decision matrices are a great way to identify the best option between different choices. Check out our article on 7 steps to creating a decision matrix .

1. Identify the problem or question

Before you put those critical thinking skills to work, you first need to identify the problem you’re solving. This step includes taking a look at the problem from a few different perspectives and asking questions like: 

What’s happening? 

Why is this happening? 

What assumptions am I making? 

At first glance, how do I think we can solve this problem? 

A big part of developing your critical thinking skills is learning how to come to unbiased conclusions. In order to do that, you first need to acknowledge the biases that you currently have. Does someone on your team think they know the answer? Are you making assumptions that aren’t necessarily true? Identifying these details helps you later on in the process. 

2. Gather relevant information

At this point, you likely have a general idea of the problem—but in order to come up with the best solution, you need to dig deeper. 

During the research process, collect information relating to the problem, including data, statistics, historical project information, team input, and more. Make sure you gather information from a variety of sources, especially if those sources go against your personal ideas about what the problem is or how to solve it.

Gathering varied information is essential for your ability to apply the critical thinking process. If you don’t get enough information, your ability to make a final decision will be skewed. Remember that critical thinking is about helping you identify the objective best conclusion. You aren’t going with your gut—you’re doing research to find the best option

3. Analyze and evaluate data

Just as it’s important to gather a variety of information, it is also important to determine how relevant the different information sources are. After all, just because there is data doesn’t mean it’s relevant. 

Once you’ve gathered all of the information, sift through the noise and identify what information is relevant and what information isn’t. Synthesizing all of this information and establishing significance helps you weigh different data sources and come to the best conclusion later on in the critical thinking process. 

To determine data relevance, ask yourself:

How reliable is this information? 

How significant is this information? 

Is this information outdated? Is it specialized in a specific field? 

4. Consider alternative points of view

One of the most useful parts of the critical thinking process is coming to a decision without bias. In order to do so, you need to take a step back from the process and challenge the assumptions you’re making. 

We all have bias—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unconscious biases (also known as cognitive biases) often serve as mental shortcuts to simplify problem solving and aid decision making. But even when biases aren’t inherently bad, you must be aware of your biases in order to put them aside when necessary. 

Before coming to a solution, ask yourself:

Am I making any assumptions about this information? 

Are there additional variables I haven’t considered? 

Have I evaluated the information from every perspective? 

Are there any viewpoints I missed?

5. Draw logical conclusions

Finally, you’re ready to come to a conclusion. To identify the best solution, draw connections between causes and effects. Use the facts you’ve gathered to evaluate the most objective conclusion. 

Keep in mind that there may be more than one solution. Often, the problems you’re facing are complex and intricate. The critical thinking process doesn’t necessarily lead to a cut-and-dry solution—instead, the process helps you understand the different variables at play so you can make an informed decision. 

6. Develop and communication solutions

Communication is a key skill for critical thinkers. It isn’t enough to think for yourself—you also need to share your conclusion with other project stakeholders. If there are multiple solutions, present them all. There may be a case where you implement one solution, then test to see if it works before implementing another solution. 

This process of communicating and sharing ideas is key in promoting critical thinking within a team or organization. By encouraging open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, you create an environment that fosters the development of critical thinking skills in others.

7. Reflect and learn from the process

The seven-step critical thinking process yields a result—and you then need to put that solution into place. After you’ve implemented your decision, evaluate whether or not it was effective. Did it solve the initial problem? What lessons—whether positive or negative—can you learn from this experience to improve your critical thinking for next time? 

By engaging in this metacognitive reflective thinking process, you're essentially teaching critical thinking to yourself, refining your methodology with each iteration. This reflective practice is fundamental in developing a more robust and adaptable approach to problem-solving.

Depending on how your team shares information, consider documenting lessons learned in a central source of truth. That way, team members that are making similar or related decisions in the future can understand why you made the decision you made and what the outcome was.

Example of critical thinking in the workplace

Imagine you work in user experience design (UX). Your team is focused on pricing and packaging and ensuring customers have a clear understanding of the different services your company offers. Here’s how to apply the critical thinking process in the workplace in seven steps: 

Step 1: Start by identifying the problem

Your current pricing page isn’t performing as well as you want. You’ve heard from customers that your services aren’t clear, and that the page doesn’t answer the questions they have. This page is really important for your company, since it’s where your customers sign up for your service. You and your team have a few theories about why your current page isn’t performing well, but you decide to apply the critical thinking process to ensure you come to the best decision for the page. 

Gather information about how the problem started

Part of identifying the problem includes understanding how the problem started. The pricing and packaging page is important—so when your team initially designed the page, they certainly put a lot of thought into it. Before you begin researching how to improve the page, ask yourself: 

Why did you design the pricing page the way you did? 

Which stakeholders need to be involved in the decision making process? 

Where are users getting stuck on the page?

Are any features currently working?

Step 2: Then gather information and research

In addition to understanding the history of the pricing and packaging page, it’s important to understand what works well. Part of this research means taking a look at what your competitor’s pricing pages look like. 

Ask yourself: 

How have our competitors set up their pricing pages?

Are there any pricing page best practices? 

How does color, positioning, and animation impact navigation? 

Are there any standard page layouts customers expect to see? 

Step 3: Organize and analyze information

You’ve gathered all of the information you need—now you need to organize and analyze it. What trends, if any, are you noticing? Is there any particularly relevant or important information that you have to consider? 

Step 4: Consider alternative viewpoints to reduce bias

In the case of critical thinking, it’s important to address and set bias aside as much as possible. Ask yourself: 

Is there anything I’m missing? 

Have I connected with the right stakeholders? 

Are there any other viewpoints I should consider? 

Step 5: Determine the most logical solution for your team

You now have all of the information you need to design the best pricing page. Depending on the complexity of the design, you may want to design a few options to present to a small group of customers or A/B test on the live website.

Step 6: Communicate your solution to stakeholders

Critical thinking can help you in every element of your life, but in the workplace, you must also involve key project stakeholders . Stakeholders help you determine next steps, like whether you’ll A/B test the page first. Depending on the complexity of the issue, consider hosting a meeting or sharing a status report to get everyone on the same page. 

Step 7: Reflect on the results

No process is complete without evaluating the results. Once the new page has been live for some time, evaluate whether it did better than the previous page. What worked? What didn’t? This also helps you make better critical decisions later on.

Tools and techniques to improve critical thinking skills

As the importance of critical thinking continues to grow in academic and professional settings, numerous tools and resources have been developed to help individuals enhance their critical thinking skills. Here are some notable contributions from experts and institutions in the field:

Mind mapping for better analysis

Mind mapping is a visual technique that helps organize and structure information. It's particularly useful for synthesizing complex ideas and identifying connections between different concepts. The benefits of mind mapping include:

Enhancing creativity by encouraging non-linear thinking

Improving memory and retention of information

Facilitating brainstorming and idea generation

Providing a clear overview of complex topics

To create a mind map:

Start with a central idea or concept.

Branch out with related sub topics or ideas.

Use colors, symbols, and images to enhance visual appeal and memorability.

Draw connections between related ideas across different branches.

Mind mapping can be particularly effective in project planning , content creation, and studying complex subjects.

The Socratic Method for deeper understanding

The Socratic Method, named after the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, involves asking probing questions to stimulate critical thinking and illuminate ideas. This technique is widely used in higher education to teach critical thinking. Key aspects of the Socratic Method include:

Asking open-ended questions that encourage deeper reflection

Challenging assumptions and preconceived notions

Exploring the implications and consequences of ideas

Fostering intellectual curiosity and continuous inquiry

The Socratic Method can be applied in various settings:

In education, to encourage students to think deeply about subject matter

In business, it is important to challenge team members to consider multiple points of view.

In personal development, to examine one's own beliefs and decisions

Example: A high school teacher might use the Socratic Method to guide students through a complex ethical dilemma, asking questions like "What principles are at stake here?" and "How might this decision affect different stakeholders?"

SWOT analysis for comprehensive evaluation

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be applied to critical thinking. It helps in evaluating situations from multiple angles, promoting a more thorough understanding of complex issues. The components of SWOT analysis are:

Strengths: internal positive attributes or assets

Weaknesses: internal negative attributes or limitations

Opportunities: External factors that could be beneficial

Threats: External factors that could be harmful

To conduct a SWOT analysis:

Clearly define the subject of analysis (e.g., a project, organization, or decision).

Brainstorm and list items for each category.

Analyze the interactions between different factors.

Use the analysis to inform strategy or decision-making.

Example: A startup might use SWOT analysis to evaluate its position before seeking investment, identifying its innovative technology as a strength, limited capital as a weakness, growing market demand as an opportunity, and established competitors as a threat.

Critical thinking resources

The Foundation for Critical Thinking : Based in California, this organization offers a wide range of resources, including books, articles, and workshops on critical thinking.

The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking : This council provides guidelines and standards for critical thinking instruction and assessment.

University of Louisville : Their Critical Thinking Initiative offers various resources and tools for developing critical thinking skills.

The New York Times Learning Network provides lesson plans and activities to help develop critical thinking skills through current events and news analysis.

Critical thinking frameworks and tools

Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework : Developed by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder, this framework provides a comprehensive approach to developing critical thinking skills.

Bloom's Taxonomy : While not exclusively for critical thinking, this classification system is widely used in education to promote higher-order thinking skills.

The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) : This assessment tool measures the disposition to engage in problems and make decisions using critical thinking.

The Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test : Developed by Robert Ennis, this test assesses a person's ability to appraise an argument and to formulate a written argument.

By incorporating these tools and techniques into regular practice, individuals can significantly enhance their critical thinking capabilities, leading to more effective problem-solving, decision-making, and overall cognitive performance.

Critically successful 

Critical thinking takes time to build, but with effort and patience you can apply an unbiased, analytical mind to any situation. Critical thinking makes up one of many soft skills that makes you an effective team member, manager, and worker. If you’re looking to hone your skills further, read our article on the 25 project management skills you need to succeed .

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6 ways to develop adaptability in the workplace and embrace change

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7 Mental Exercises to Make You a Better Critical Thinker

Implementing these exercises for enhanced critical thinking will improve your chances of success in business and life..

Critical thinking is an effective tool for any profession or task. It forces you to analyze things objectively, filtering out your biases, and allowing you to see things from different perspectives, which can improve your creativity . Whether you're trying to brainstorm a new idea, creatively solve an existing problem, or just analyze how and why something went wrong, critical thinking can lead you to better resolutions.

However, it's hard to learn how to think critically the same way you learn how to drive a car or fly a kite. There isn't a step-by-step guide you can follow to reach peak critical thinking. Instead, you need to exercise your critical thinking , the same way you would a muscle, until it gets stronger over time.

Critical Thinking Exercises

These exercises and practices can turn anyone into a better critical thinker:

1. Express yourself in multiple mediums. Different people have different styles of thinking and different styles of learning . You may have a strong preference toward visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning, which is fine, but if you want to think in new directions, it's important for you to try thinking (or at least expressing yourself) in different mediums. For example, if you've been talking about a problem out loud, try to diagram it. If you've been staring at charts all day, try to write down your interpretations of them. The new perspective can be quite enlightening.

2. Talk to a 6-year-old. Einstein is sometimes credited with saying , "if you can't explain it to a 6-year-old, you don't understand it yourself," though the exact attribution is in question. The point of the quote, regardless of who said it, is relevant; being able to explain an abstract concept in simple terms is both an indication that you have a full understanding of a problem and a way to see it in a new light. Try talking to a 6-year-old about the issue (real or imaginary). You'll quickly discover elements of the subject you don't fully understand, and may start thinking about the problem in a new way.

3. Understand and challenge your biases. Each of us is affected by numerous cognitive biases , some of which affect how we value things and some of which affect how we think. Identifying and challenging these cognitive biases can allow us to work around them. For example, if you know you're affected by confirmation biases, you can specifically look for evidence that contradicts your main assumption.

4. Work backward. Working on a problem backward can help you see things you might otherwise ignore. As a simple example, proofreading a document sentence by sentence backward can help you more easily identify spelling and grammatical mistakes. Reconstructing a failure from end to beginning, rather than beginning to end, can help you address the true impact of each phase in the sequence.

5. Ask other people to explain their thought processes. Talk to other people about whatever problem you're trying to solve. It's helpful to get other opinions on solutions to use, but the bigger purpose is to understand their thought processes. Different people have different approaches to the same problem, and understanding those processes can help you refine and expand yours.

6. Expose yourself to new content and new creators. Similarly, it's good to break out of your comfort zone and expose yourself to new types of content and new creators. Every new author, speaker, or thinker you encounter can teach you something new about the way you think--and introduce you to new facts and ideas you can integrate into your own critical thinking.

7. Experiment with brain teasers and ethical dilemmas. Real ethical dilemmas will always be a problem for professionals, but you can use hypothetical ethical dilemmas (and some brain teasers) to employ and strengthen your critical thinking skills. For example, the classic trolley problem requires you to think about the value of lives and the impact of action in decision making and in culpability. Many brain teasers require you to think "outside of the box" to solve them adequately. They pose a good challenge.

Surrounding Yourself With Critical Thinkers

One of the best things you can do to improve your critical thinking isn't really an exercise; it's an environmental change. If you're surrounded with critical thinkers who freely express their thoughts and share their opinions, you'll be exposed to more sources of knowledge and perspective, and will have access to much better ideas--whether they're yours or someone else's. If you're in a position to hire or build a team, look for people who show strong signs of critical thinking. If not, try to seek critical thinkers elsewhere, in a peer group or in a class outside of work.

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11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class

Ignite your child’s curiosity with our exclusive “Learning Adventures Activity Workbook for Kids” a perfect blend of education and adventure!

Critical thinking activities encourage individuals to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to develop informed opinions and make reasoned decisions. Engaging in such exercises cultivates intellectual agility, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and honing problem-solving skills for navigating an increasingly intricate world. Through critical thinking, individuals empower themselves to challenge assumptions, uncover biases, and constructively contribute to discourse, thereby enriching both personal growth and societal progress.

Critical thinking serves as the cornerstone of effective problem-solving, enabling individuals to dissect challenges, explore diverse perspectives, and devise innovative solutions grounded in logic and evidence. For engaging problem solving activities, read our article problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest.

52 Critical Thinking Flashcards for Problem Solving

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a 21st-century skill that enables a person to think rationally and logically in order to reach a plausible conclusion. A critical thinker assesses facts and figures and data objectively and determines what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking skills empower a person to decipher complex problems and make impartial and better decisions based on effective information.

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Importance of Acquiring Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills cultivate habits of mind such as strategic thinking, skepticism, discerning fallacy from the facts, asking good questions and probing deep into the issues to find the truth. Acquiring critical thinking skills was never as valuable as it is today because of the prevalence of the modern knowledge economy. Today, information and technology are the driving forces behind the global economy. To keep pace with ever-changing technology and new inventions, one has to be flexible enough to embrace changes swiftly.

Today critical thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills by the companies. In fact, critical thinking skills are paramount not only for active learning and academic achievement but also for the professional career of the students. The lack of critical thinking skills catalyzes memorization of the topics without a deeper insight, egocentrism, closed-mindedness, reduced student interest in the classroom and not being able to make timely and better decisions.

Benefits of Critical Thinking Skills in Education

Certain strategies are more eloquent than others in teaching students how to think critically. Encouraging critical thinking in the class is indispensable for the learning and growth of the students. In this way, we can raise a generation of innovators and thinkers rather than followers. Some of the benefits offered by thinking critically in the classroom are given below:

• It allows a student to decipher problems and think through the situations in a disciplined and systematic manner
• Through a critical thinking ability, a student can comprehend the logical correlation between distinct ideas
• The student is able to rethink and re-justify his beliefs and ideas based on facts and figures
• Critical thinking skills make the students curious about things around them
• A student who is a critical thinker is creative and always strives to come up with out of the box solutions to intricate problems

Read our article: How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples

• Critical thinking skills assist in the enhanced student learning experience in the classroom and prepares the students for lifelong learning and success
• The critical thinking process is the foundation of new discoveries and inventions in the world of science and technology
• The ability to think critically allows the students to think intellectually and enhances their presentation skills, hence they can convey their ideas and thoughts in a logical and convincing manner
• Critical thinking skills make students a terrific communicator because they have logical reasons behind their ideas

Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities

11 Activities that Promote Critical Thinking in the Class

We have compiled a list of 11 activities that will facilitate you to promote critical thinking abilities in the students. We have also covered problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest in our another article. Click here to read it.

1. Worst Case Scenario

Divide students into teams and introduce each team with a hypothetical challenging scenario. Allocate minimum resources and time to each team and ask them to reach a viable conclusion using those resources. The scenarios can include situations like stranded on an island or stuck in a forest. Students will come up with creative solutions to come out from the imaginary problematic situation they are encountering. Besides encouraging students to think critically, this activity will enhance teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills of the students.

Read our article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

2. If You Build It

It is a very flexible game that allows students to think creatively. To start this activity, divide students into groups. Give each group a limited amount of resources such as pipe cleaners, blocks, and marshmallows etc. Every group is supposed to use these resources and construct a certain item such as building, tower or a bridge in a limited time. You can use a variety of materials in the classroom to challenge the students. This activity is helpful in promoting teamwork and creative skills among the students.

It is also one of the classics which can be used in the classroom to encourage critical thinking. Print pictures of objects, animals or concepts and start by telling a unique story about the printed picture. The next student is supposed to continue the story and pass the picture to the other student and so on.

4. Keeping it Real

In this activity, you can ask students to identify a real-world problem in their schools, community or city. After the problem is recognized, students should work in teams to come up with the best possible outcome of that problem.

5. Save the Egg

Make groups of three or four in the class. Ask them to drop an egg from a certain height and think of creative ideas to save the egg from breaking. Students can come up with diverse ideas to conserve the egg like a soft-landing material or any other device. Remember that this activity can get chaotic, so select the area in the school that can be cleaned easily afterward and where there are no chances of damaging the school property.

6. Start a Debate

In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and ideas on the topic. Conclude the debate with a viable solution or fresh ideas generated during the activity through brainstorming.

7. Create and Invent

This project-based learning activity is best for teaching in the engineering class. Divide students into groups. Present a problem to the students and ask them to build a model or simulate a product using computer animations or graphics that will solve the problem. After students are done with building models, each group is supposed to explain their proposed product to the rest of the class. The primary objective of this activity is to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills among the students.

8. Select from Alternatives

This activity can be used in computer science, engineering or any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. Introduce a variety of alternatives such as different formulas for solving the same problem, different computer codes, product designs or distinct explanations of the same topic.

Form groups in the class and ask them to select the best alternative. Each group will then explain its chosen alternative to the rest of the class with reasonable justification of its preference. During the process, the rest of the class can participate by asking questions from the group. This activity is very helpful in nurturing logical thinking and analytical skills among the students.

9. Reading and Critiquing

Present an article from a journal related to any topic that you are teaching. Ask the students to read the article critically and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the article. Students can write about what they think about the article, any misleading statement or biases of the author and critique it by using their own judgments.

In this way, students can challenge the fallacies and rationality of judgments in the article. Hence, they can use their own thinking to come up with novel ideas pertaining to the topic.

10. Think Pair Share

In this activity, students will come up with their own questions. Make pairs or groups in the class and ask the students to discuss the questions together. The activity will be useful if the teacher gives students a topic on which the question should be based.

For example, if the teacher is teaching biology, the questions of the students can be based on reverse osmosis, human heart, respiratory system and so on. This activity drives student engagement and supports higher-order thinking skills among students.

11. Big Paper – Silent Conversation

Silence is a great way to slow down thinking and promote deep reflection on any subject. Present a driving question to the students and divide them into groups. The students will discuss the question with their teammates and brainstorm their ideas on a big paper. After reflection and discussion, students can write their findings in silence. This is a great learning activity for students who are introverts and love to ruminate silently rather than thinking aloud.

Finally, for students with critical thinking, you can go to GS-JJ.co m to customize exclusive rewards, which not only enlivens the classroom, but also promotes the development and training of students for critical thinking.

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4 thoughts on “ 11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class ”

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Thanks for the great article! Especially with the post-pandemic learning gap, these critical thinking skills are essential! It’s also important to teach them a growth mindset. If you are interested in that, please check out The Teachers’ Blog!

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7 Fun Critical Thinking Activities to Train Your Brain to Think More Clearly

• Post author: Sherrie Hurd, A.A.
• Post published: August 9, 2018
• Reading time: 8 mins read
• Post category: Brain Power / Personal Development / Self-Improvement

Critical thinking activities not only help us develop a sharper mind, but they also help us develop a consistent mindset and way of thinking.

While thinking is easy, critical thinking, on a consistent basis, takes some skill . Improving it helps us develop a healthy way of reasoning, analyzing and empathizing that helps us take the right actions and perform the right deeds.

Yes, we can think about helping someone make a decision, but can we truly help them make the best one for their given situation ?

How to Improve Your Critical Thinking with These Activities

And what about our own issues? Can we clearly and concisely make the best possible decision each and every day according to the experience we have? This is where critical thinking comes in.

There are actually ideas which can vastly improve our critical thinking skills and help us create a better long-term outcome .

Maybe we can try these fun critical thinking activities to train our brain to be the best it can be.

1. stay on topic.

How easy is it for you to lose your concentration during a discussion? For me, it seems pretty easy, but the truth is, sometimes when you communicate, it’s easy to take, what I call, “tangents”.

For example, if I’m planning a way to complete a task, but yet I start talking about something else that needs to get done, I am going off topic . Every time I go off topic, I take the focus off the present issue.

One of the best activities to improve your critical thinking is practicing the incredibly hard objective of staying on task . Try it and see just how difficult it can sometimes be. It will be challenging to stay focused , but it will also be fun learning how to train your brain on a thinking “tightrope”.

The good news is, it does help improve the quality of your thought patterns.

2. Understand true motives

This is just smart thinking if you ask me. There are times when, during a conversation, someone will present an idea that supports their cognitive bias . It’s not easy to catch sometimes, but if you are good at critical thinking, you will notice the indicators. Pay attention to the details of the argument and understand how these details apply to the ones who are talking.

Unfortunately, some people have selfish motives and you will want to become familiar with the telltale signs. As you practice filtering out the true motives, it will become easier overtime to do so. Here’s the interesting part: you will also notice biases in yourself as well. Practice seeing things from a neutral position instead.

3. Character improvements

Now, take a look at your good and bad traits. When arguments arise, how often do you admit you’re wrong? How often do you turn to introspection? It’s important to regularly do an inventory of your own character . It’s also important to gauge just how much you are willing to learn from others .

Maybe you are truly right most of the time, but is it wise to remain steadfast in your beliefs ? Could it be more important to bend toward someone else’s opinion of the situation at hand? These are good questions to ask yourself as you examine who you really are.

After a rather heated argument , rehash the debate and come from your partner’s standpoint instead. Try to understand things from their point of view and decide to agree the next time to see what transpires. Maybe change is good for you.

4. One thing at a time

It also benefits you to take one problem at a time when working through various life circumstances. A good way to do this is by taking steps. First, identify the problem. Then decide whether you have a solution or not. I found out long ago that some problems require a number of steps instead of one big solution.

Sometimes these steps turn into smaller problems which must be solved before tackling the larger problem. This has to be discovered by careful analyzation of each step.

Practicing this technique of solving problems will help you stay patient in the future instead of getting irritable and overwhelmed when things take a turn for the worst.

Here’s a fun twist. Take a simple problem, for practice, and break it down into increments. Make different decisions on smaller portions of the problem to see where those decisions lead you.

5. Review your day

Wasted time is one of the biggest obstacles to productive thinking, and another culprit is procrastination, as you already know. So, first off, you must try to perform better during the day. Then, you need to practice doing a recap of what you’ve accomplished.

At the end of your workday, instead of watching television, try going back over all the things you got done. Think of your conversations , your errands, and even your thinking. Was it time well spent, or did you procrastinate and worry most of the day? Maybe you thought too long on the past.

Each evening, take time to recap your day and take note of any wasted time. This will help you improve in that area .

6. Journal your actions and reactions

At the end of each day or week, write down certain notable happenings in your day to day life. Write about the event and how it made you feel. Talk honestly about how you reacted to the situation. Do you feel good about what you said or did?

Now, analyze your response in this way. If you feel as though you could have reacted differently, then how do you plan to do that? Keep these journal entries so you can learn how to better respond to situations and eliminate instances of making rash decisions.

7. Illustrations

When debating something, it can get hard to convey a moral or standard that’s important to you. Illustrations can provide a story that helps the other person see how your argument works.

For instance, if you’re trying to help someone and they refuse to accept or understand your gesture, then talk to them about how your offer is similar to saving someone from having a physical accident (like an illustration of you pulling them out of the way or a speeding automobile.)

Maybe your gesture of help will eliminate a bad consequence by sharing an unrelated illustration or story. So, in your mind, practice placing ideas in story form for better understanding. When real problems come, you will have easy to understand illustrations in case you’re struggling with a solution.

Final words

The reason why improving critical thinking is so important is that activities like the above ones help us train our brain to stretch to new limits. Our simple thinking can be transformed into a well-informed intellect, paired with the ability to feel and reason productively. Critical thinking can actually improve our quality of life and the life of the ones we love.

To take advantage of the best the world has to offer, you must activate your brain’s powers. Once you start to practice the above activities, you will be surprised by your own critical thinking skills. Let’s do this together and enjoy the process of learning.

References :

• https://www.lifehack.org
• https://www.thebalancecareers.com

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• Published on February 10, 2018
• February 10, 2018

How to Solve the Biggest Problems With Critical Thinking Exercises

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Have you ever wanted to evaluate situations like Sherlock Holmes, or present arguments like an undefeated lawyer? Sick of being the confused and out-of-place individual in any intellectual scrum?

Critical thinking is the art, skill, and practice of getting to the crux of any subject. It allows you to see the big picture and challenge what comes between you and the truth.

This doesn’t come easy; it requires a certain amount of practice before you can become the master of all that matters . It will require the use of critical thinking exercises and practice thereof.

Critical Thinking Exercise Types

Critical thinking starts with the three powerful skills of linking ideas, structuring arguments, and recognizing incongruences. Each area needs to be practiced and applied in order for you to become the best critical thinker you can be.

Below are the three major skills of critical thinking:

• Linking ideas
• Structuring argument s
• Recognizing incongruences

1. Linking ideas

This has to do with finding connections between the seemly unrelatable or irrelevant.

Exercise: Newspaper link up

Take today’s newspaper. Brush through all articles in each section (news, sports, business, etc.). Make a list of the articles as a basic concept.

Now find ways in which each article is linked to each other, in each section of the newspaper. Find the overall theme of each section and if you can, try to link the sections of the newspaper to each other.

Once you have done all of this, try to surmise the agenda or aim of this publication.

2. Structuring arguments

Structuring arguments are elements that are involved in creating a practical, relevant, and sound argument. Before doing this exercise you will have to know what a premise and conclusion of an argument are:

Premise:  A previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion. It is the base of an argument, theory, or undertaking.

Conclusion: The end of an argument, theory, or undertaking. A judgment or decision is reached by reasoning.

Exercise: Recognising the premise and conclusion

Look on YouTube or just on Google for some of the best theories, arguments, or speeches ever given or done.  Take the piece that you have chosen and determine what the premise of the topic is, and what the conclusion is. There can be several premises but they have to support the conclusion.

3. Recognizing incongruences

Recognizing incongruences is the ability to find holes in a theory or argument in order to find the real truth.

Exercise: Challenging the premise

Take the same information from the Recognising premise and conclusion exercise you have done above, and see if you can figure out if any of the premises do not support or link to the conclusion.

If all premises link with the conclusions, then look into the premises themselves. See if there are any false assumptions ( or fallacies ) in the premises and research their validity.

Analyze the premises to see that there has not been a statement that is assumed true but is actually false.

Critical Thinking Exercises for Adults

Too often as adults, we are steadfast and strong in our already formed, accepted, and practiced beliefs.

We often do not challenge what is just accepted as truth or “the way it is.” We could learn a thing or two from the younger side of humanity, especially the way that they question everything, even that which is considered logical.

Exercise: Tell a space alien

You can apply this to any information or theory, but in the interest of practice, you can look for the 10 most interesting theories on the internet.

You will play both the inquisitive space alien and yourself trying to answer and explain the topic.

Start by explaining the topic as if it were to a space alien who has no prior knowledge of Earth and it’s ways, but somehow the alien can speak English. Then become the alien (dress up if you wish) and ask questions about the topic from a completely uninformed perspective.

For example, you would explain a game of tennis, as two people who use a tool called a racquet to hit a ball over a net and into a certain square. The one who does not return the ball loses that round and the other gets a point, until the one has enough points to win.

You as the alien when then ask things such as: Why are there only two people playing? Why does the crowd get so excited? Why does the crowd not jump on the court and get involved? Why do they use racquets and not something else? Etcetera…

Critical Thinking Exercises for College Students

Due to the amount of information absorbed in a term or semester of college, college students don’t get much of a chance to look back on what they have learned. The river of information keeps flowing and the students keep swimming on.

It often happens that a year or two down the line, you will be looking up something that you did in the first year of college. It is thus very important to take at least one day once you are done with the term, to revise and clarify what you have achieved? What could you have done better? And how you could improve on the strategies you applied?

Exercise: Revising the term or semester

At the end of a term or semester of college, take each area of knowledge you have gone through in that time. You can divide this by subject, yet if you feel that certain subjects can be merged into one area of knowledge then do so.

Answer these questions about the college term and the knowledge you gain in that time:

• In your own perception (not the reports’) what was your performance like this term?
• How effective were your strategies in getting through the work? (Time management, studying strategies etc.)
• What would you like to get out of the next term that you didn’t get in this term?
• How could you improve on these strategies?
• What are the major practical skills you acquired from this term and how could they be put to use in future?

Don’t limit the answers to the study work only, but expand into what you learned from the environment or something you inadvertently learned.

For example you learned, useful social and networking skills by being a part of many events and social groups, or you learned how to respond to people of authority effectively when dealing with a difficult lecturer.

Critical Thinking Exercises for Children

Critical thinking Exercises work well for kids as they develop the application of critical thinking. Children are mostly really good at critical thinking questioning; asking why? Why? Why….

Where children usually fall short is self-evaluation and seeing other perspectives.

It is also important to note that there will be different exercises for different age groups. Smaller children do not have the capacity to think in a certain way, just by the way the human brain naturally develops.

Exercise for younger children: Interactive questioning

When children are very young, they won’t have the patience or concentration to stay engaged in a certain activity for too long. The best thing to do for these children is actively use critical thinking exercises in their daily lives.

Ask questions that will actively engage the children in critical thinking such as:

• Open-ended questions – Instead of the regular yes and no answers, inspire your children to elaborate on their answers to create understanding and validation to what they say.
• Encourage Explanations – Ask your child to explain a topic or something they saw with a bit more detail than they would usually give. Make sure they feel as if the question does not have a right or wrong answer, so they have the freedom to express themselves.
• Multiple Answers – This works especially well in situations that are challenging to them. Ask your child what they should do in a certain situation and ask them to come up with at least three different answers or responses.
• Evaluate Decisions – Once something has happened to the child, ask the child what they thought about the situation and how they would handle it differently.

On top of all of this, inspire your kids to question everything. It is absolutely crucial. Here is an inspiring video to help you with this action:

Exercise for older children: Image description Exercises

Older children are a little less inquisitive than the younger children and often get caught up on the right or wrong answer. This makes them less inclined to come up with multiple solutions and usually only give one answer at a time until they get validation that they are correct.

With the image description exercise you take any image (make sure it’s age appropriate) and make them describe what they see and elaborate about the subjects in the picture and the situation of the picture. Push them to give multiple answers and scenarios.

Exercise Your Critical Thought

Critical thinking is an art and a skill and can thus be honed and improved by constant practice and application. The best way to do this is through critical thinking exercises .

Take ten to twenty minutes a day to sharpen your critical thinking and you will soon notice that the rest of your life will be full of inspiration and better understanding.

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10 Critical thinking exercises to keep your team sharp

Sometimes common sense doesn’t seem so common. In an increasingly digital age, it’s important that people can form their own opinions and problem solve using the facts at hand - otherwise known as critical thinking. 

When everyone on your team is able to think critically, you’re more likely to have improved collaboration and cooperation, problem solve quickly, and make better decisions. While common sense isn’t really something that can be learned - critical thinking definitely is. Business leaders and smart managers will find that investing in critical thinking improvement is always worth their time. Here are some of our favorite critical thinking exercises to help your work team enhance their cognitive skills. 

10 Critical thinking exercises for work teams

What is a critical thinking exercise, anyway? Simply put, they are activities designed to help people build and flex their brain muscle. Having better critical thinking capability is helpful in many areas, both personally, and professionally. When it comes to the workforce specifically, critical thinking helps with comprehending or analyzing data, problem solving, breaking down abstract ideas - and generally working smarter, not harder. 

If you feel like your team could use a boost in these areas, why not pull them together for some fun and engaging critical thinking exercise?

1. Explain the problem

You can’t solve a problem that you don’t understand fully. Many times, this is why proposed solutions don’t end up working - they’re not addressing the real issue at hand. To help with that, try this activity with your team. Come up with a problem for them to solve. It can be a generic “what if” scenario, or a specific case study for a real client. If there is a problem you all have been challenged with for a while, you might start there. Explain everything clearly, and then have the next person explain to the group as well. Did they capture the correct information? Do they have a clear understanding of what the issues are? Then have the person they explained to pass along the information. The goal isn’t for this to become a game of telephone, but to see if each person explaining truly comprehends the issue to such a degree that they can explain it to someone else. This exercise is great for not only critical thinking, but also communication skills and general problem solving. You never know, by the end of this session, you may have solved a problem that’s been plaguing you! 

2. Work backwards

Few things in the workplace are as frustrating as working on a problem for a long time without coming to a conclusion. In many instances, people hit a form of mental block if they’ve been working on a certain challenge for a while without much forward momentum. In these cases, use this exercise to get everyone to think of things in a different way. A new perspective might be just what everyone needs. Rather than having all of your previous work and information in your mind, start with the end result that you want to achieve. For example, if you have been trying to get your sales team to adopt a new CRM system, but they aren’t using it, you might pause and figure out what the end goal really is. Why is it that you need them to use this CRM system? What are you trying to achieve? You’ll likely find that what you want is a system populated with accurate and consistent customer data. Once you know that this result is the true goal you need to reach, you might start thinking about other ways to get there. Maybe the CRM adoption isn’t the problem at all; maybe there is another reason the sales team isn’t using it. The point is: stop working under the pretenses you already labored under. Go straight to what you hope will happen and start working backwards to see what new scenarios you can uncover. 

3. Develop a mind map

Visual aids can be a powerful tool when addressing new challenges or seeing things in a new way. One simple way to start is with a mind map that plots different outcomes based on different scenarios or arguments. It’s essentially one big “If this, then that” scenario, where you can get a visual understanding of what could potentially happen based on several different paths. As an example, let's say you’re trying to figure out if a troublesome client is worth keeping on. Map out a few different scenarios, such as “no, let them go”, “yes, keep them”, “keep them in a limited capacity”, etc. For each of these, address the potential outcomes and what those options might look like. It’s best to do this on a real or digital white board, or some people like to use several post-it notes that can be moved and placed where appropriate. This makes it easier to not only capture all of your options, but to consider some of the effects you may not have thought of before. Plus, it gives your team a great visual to return to for conversations. 

4. Read - and read some more

Though this seems overly simple and not like an “exercise” at all, it’s great advice for nearly all teams. Reading various materials exposes everyone to new ideas, new concepts, and new perspectives. Plus, it’s an important way of making sure your brain gets at least some exercise every day. All types of reading are beneficial, from a morning newspaper to an in-depth historical novel. Choose some reading material that you’ve found particularly helpful, along with some that pertain to your industry or subject matter, and set them out in a resource section in the office. You might also consider starting a monthly book club or even a group message board where people can leave reviews, ask questions, and generally discuss reading material. If you want to take things a step further, create a reading challenge where people can get points and earn prizes for time spent reading. 

5. Host a debate

Competitive debate is something many people are passionate about - but even for those who don’t particularly enjoy it, there are benefits. Organize your team into two groups and give them a topic to debate. We suggest avoiding topics that are overly sensitive like politics or hot-button cultural issues. Ideally, it’s a subject that’s new to both of them, so that no one has an unfair advantage. Give them time to complete some research and prepare their thoughts, and then debate with each other in good faith. This is great practice for creating more structured arguments and organizing a variety of information. We suggest avoiding topics that are overly sensitive like politics or hot-button cultural issues. 

6. Learn about logical fallacies

In formal logic circles, experts have identified several common fallacies that tend to occur over and over in arguments. If you can learn about these, and be able to pick them out of arguments, you have a much better chance of thinking critically through an issue. You can find them in conversations or even your own thoughts, which adds a lot of value to intense discussions. You might host a workshop or a lunch and learn where these are covered in detail, and then have a quiz or engaging activity where arguments are presented and people must pick out the fallacies present. 

Here are the most common logical fallacies: 

• Ad hominem: When a position is attacked based on an individual’s personal character or other attributes, rather than its own merit. 
• Non sequitur: When the conclusion of an argument doesn’t logically follow from the original premise. 
• Slippery slope: In this fallacy, someone asserts that a chain of extraneous events is bound to occur if they allow their opponent's argument.
• Motte and Bailey: This happens when a debater defends a controversial position by intentionally confusing it with a similar but less controversial assertion.
• Appeal to authority: This can often occur when an individual asserts the truth of their argument simply by citing an authoritative source.
• Begging the question: This is a common fallacy in which an individual assumes the conclusion of their argument on their premises.

7. Ladder of inference exercise

Each of us naturally makes inferences as part of our human decision-making process, and understanding how we do that can be really helpful. Start by discussing a common scenario, and then write down the assumptions that might be used to draw conclusions. For example, if you see a professional contact at a networking event, but they turn away when they see you, what could that mean? Our brains immediately start to infer things, such as “They are mad at my company”, or “They don’t like me.” Have your team list out the possible reasons this could have happened, and then talk about other reasons that they did not automatically conclude. This is a great practice for helping people to think critically through everyday situations, rather than letting their own minds run away with them. For more problem solving games or team-building brain teasers , make sure to follow our blog. 

8. The “Five Whys” technique

This is an analytical skill that can help people to  uncover the source of a problem. The core tenant of the concept is repeatedly asking “why?” when a problem is encountered to determine its root cause. You may need several rounds of questioning; just keep going. The most beneficial part that helps you practice critical thinking is the process of asking "why?" and uncovering the deeper issues affecting a situation. Here’s a simple example. Your computer keeps crashing. Why? Because the computer keeps running out of memory. Why? Because I have too many programs running at once. Why? Because I’m trying to multitask. Why? Etc. Come up with some scenarios and help your team to work through several scenarios as practice. 

9. Practice inversion

This is a form of critical thinking that can be used in almost any situation, and involves playing the role of devil’s advocate in a situation. To try it, adopt the opposite view of whatever the general consensus is on an issue. This helps you to explore and also consider other options than the ones that immediately come to mind. For example, if you are considering developing a new product line, start by listing all of the reasons why that might be a bad idea (limited resources, too expensive, etc). Only when you clearly understand these potential negatives can you fully work through the pros and cons of such a decision. 

10. Opinion vs. fact

Our current digital world makes it increasingly common to confuse opinions with facts. Sensationalist articles and click-bait headlines are huge contributors to this problem. It’s essential that your team can discern fact from opinion - in their personal and professional lives. Practice this skill by reading an article or listening to the news with your team, and having them go through each statement sharing what is opinion and what is fact. For example, “The DOW hit this number on Friday.” is a fact, while “This market is tremendous for stock-holders” is an opinion. You can even make copies of an article and have everyone use different colored highlighters to show what is fact vs. opinion. 

👉 For more team building activities for work , such as team-building puzzles or games for creativity and innovation, make sure to subscribe to our blog.

Make critical thinking a component of your team retreats

A great team-building retreat is a robust combination of fun, learning, and skill building. These critical thinking exercises, along with activities like team-building activities, leadership activities , and team ideation techniques can all go a long way toward building your best team. A series of fun and engaging activities that helps your staff to get to know each other and the company better is ideal.

If you aren’t sure how to put together an effective agenda, reach out to Surf Office . We help companies of all sizes to pull off memorable work retreats that teams look forward to each year.

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5 Critical Thinking Exercises for a Healthy and Alert Brain

Sometimes, it’s really frustrating when you get confused with simple things. For seniors, this is not surprising because the older you get, the duller your memory becomes. But if you’re still young and yet you can hardly solve simple problems, maybe it’s time to exercise your critical thinking today.

Learning is a continuous process. Every day, you are exposed to new things from which you can acquire new knowledge. However, you don’t have to feel overwhelmed or pressured in the process. In fact, there are fun and easy exercises to help you become a creative thinker.

1. Reading exercise . Reading is a great way to expose yourself to all sorts of knowledge available. It helps trigger thinking and educates people about a lot of things. And one of the most common reading materials you can use is the newspaper.

Use the Barometer Debate to structure an argument with your friends or colleagues. There has to be someone who will represent the affirmative side, while the other person will defend the opposing side. It’s important that everyone involved participates in the discussion and voices out opinions.

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Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

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