stories about critical thinking

19 Short Stories and Questions For Critical Thinking

Apr 2, 2024

There have been rumblings in different online teacher groups recently about replacing novels with short stories and informational articles in middle and high school English classrooms. I have to admit I was shocked when I first read the comments because I am a book lover at heart, but since then, I’ve considered that there are several pros and cons to this approach.

Short stories and other smaller texts can provide a briefer timeline to complete tasks, and this process is helpful when there is already SO MUCH curriculum to cover. Short stories and related activities can also be more engaging for our students because of the exposure to diverse voices and themes! Using short stories and lessons provides students with amazing choices to meet their needs and preferences!

On the other hand, incorporating mainly short stories and other shorter passages means students’ already-pressed attention spans (as a result of social media influences and pervasive sources of technology) are reinforced. Plus, students miss out on the more complex stories within longer pieces of fiction that are, dare I say, life-altering! A novel can provide opportunities for sustained reading and layers for analysis that shorter pieces of literature like short stories and related texts cannot offer.

Ultimately, no matter where you find yourself on the issue, I think we can all agree that short stories and their counterparts can be vital, effective, and helpful in the modern classroom!

Continue reading for 19 Short Stories and Questions For Critical Thinking!!

Need help with Test Prep ?  Check out this  FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities  to help students achieve success on standardized tests!

Table of Contents

19 Short Stories and Questions – Suggestions for Teaching Them

You don’t need to remove all novels to be able to include short stories and smaller passages like vignettes, articles, and narratives; there’s a time and place for all genres! But if you’re thinking about ways to include more short stories and fun activities, check out this list of 19 varied short stories and critical thinking questions as well as suggestions for teaching them in middle school and high school.

1.  “The Most Dangerous Game” 

“The Most Dangerous Game” is one of my absolute favorite short stories and overall plots to teach! This suspenseful short story by Richard Connell follows the harrowing ordeal of Sanger Rainsford, a skilled hunter who becomes the prey of a deranged aristocrat named General Zaroff. Stranded on Zaroff’s secluded island, Rainsford must outwit the cunning general in a deadly game of survival, where the stakes are life and death. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING:

• You could focus on the setting (description of time and place) and examine how the setting changes throughout the story.
• Students could learn about the plot (major events in the story) and list the major events and evidence as they read.
• Define foreshadowing (hints for what will happen by the end of the story) and encourage students to hypothesize about what will happen after every page.
• Analyze the character development (how a character changes over time) of Rainsford and highlight his traits/actions as you read along.

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS:

• How does the setting contribute to the tension and suspense in the story?
• How does the author use foreshadowing? How does the author hint at the danger Rainford is facing?
• What inferences can you make about the main character and the changes he undergoes from the beginning to the end of the story?

If you want to teach plot elements and plot analysis , check out this lesson bundle for the story , which includes comprehension quizzes and a variety of activities!

2.  “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

Ambrose Bierce’s story is a gripping tale set during the American Civil War, where a Southern civilian named Peyton Farquhar faces execution by hanging after attempting to sabotage a Union railroad bridge. As Farquhar falls through the trapdoor, time seems to stretch, and he experiences a surreal moment, only to realize his grim reality. 

Integrating historical texts with other short stories and passages like “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” will make history come more alive and relevant for our students!

• Teach about irony (when the opposite occurs from what is expected) and how it plays a role throughout the story.
• Explain the term characterization (how a character is depicted) by looking at direct and indirect references while reading with your students.
• Discuss the major themes (messages) of the story and how they connect to our modern era within a Socratic Seminar.
• How does the author use characterization to convey Peyton Farquhar’s thoughts, emotions, and motivations?
• What is the purpose of irony in this story? How does its use affect the reader’s interpretation and understanding of events?
• What is the significance in our contemporary/real world of the themes of the story, including reality and fantasy, the passage of time, and the consequences of actions?

Ensure students’ understanding of the story with this set of reading questions that are perfect for state test prep, too !

3.  “The Masque of the Red Death”

This chilling tale from Edgar Allan Poe is set in a secluded abbey where Prince Prospero and his wealthy guests attempt to escape a deadly plague known as the Red Death. Despite their isolation efforts, the guests are confronted with their own mortality as a mysterious figure in a blood-red mask appears.

If you have not read any short stories and poems from Poe, this story is a perfect journey into the horror genre!

• The setting (description of time and place) plays a MAJOR role in the story, so following the Prince from room to room and highlighting the imagery (description that connects to the five senses) is very important when reading.
• If you have not introduced mood  (emotion intended for the reader to experience), this story is PERFECT for delineating its progression from start to finish.
• As students read, you might guide them through identifying various examples of  symbolism  (object, person, or place that represents something else); each room, objects within, and the “antagonist” is symbolic in some way!
• How does the author convey the tone of the story? How would you, as the reader, describe the story’s mood?
• What role does the plot structure (focus on the different rooms) play in shaping the reader’s understanding of the story?
• What is the purpose of the symbolism in the story such as the clock and the masked figure?

Check out this EASY-TO-TEACH bundle , you can practice with your students, so they will feel more confident analyzing higher-level language in “The Masque of the Red Death!”

4.  “The Cask of Amontillado”

Another chilling tale from Poe is the classic story “The Cask of Amontillado.” This one is set during Carnival in an unnamed Italian city. The plot centers on a man seeking revenge on a ‘friend’ he believes has insulted him. If your students are anything like mine, they will relish the ending particularly!

This is just one more of Poe’s short stories and tales that will capture the mind of every reader!

•  As you plan for this short story, be sure to encourage your students to analyze the changing setting (description of time and place); following Fortunato from scene to scene will help your students track what is really going on.
• This story is the perfect moment to teach about dialogue (conversation within someone=internal and/or between someone and someone/thing else=external); Montresor certainly means more than what he SEEMS to say!
• You might also offer a mini-lesson on the 3 types of irony and how each plays a role in the story: verbal (when a person says the opposite of what is really intended), situational (an action occurs that is the opposite from what the reader expects), and dramatic (a character expects a result, but the opposite occurs and the audience can tell what will happen)!
• Describe Montresor. What are his motives and personality?
• What inferences can you make about Montresor’s mindset based on his dialogue?
• What is the purpose of the family’s motto and the carnival atmosphere? 

Check out this Short Story Activity & Quiz Bundle for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” which contains questions and answers modeled after various reading standardized tests as well as pre-quiz reading comprehension questions, graphic organizers, and a writing activity to get students thinking critically about this classic short story involving REVENGE!

Want 7 more teaching ideas for one of Poe’s epic short stories and questions to go with it? Click below!

5.  “To Build a Fire”

This story by Jack London describes the treacherous journey of a man through the harsh Yukon wilderness during extreme cold. Despite warnings and the company of a loyal dog, the man’s arrogance and underestimation of nature’s power lead to a tragic end.

Short stories and ideas related to survival in nature are still relevant today! Who knows when you might get lost on a hike or crashland in no man’s land?

• This story is PERFECT for a bit of  literary analysis  (examining the impact of various ideas, elements, or themes within a piece of literature); you could hone in on literary devices, characterization, theme, etc.!
• Integrating clips from survival shows will help students see connections to the world and extend their thinking by comparing (recognizing similarities) and contrasting (recognizing differences) varied experiences!
• Write a short narrative about surviving 24 hours in a different setting (description of time and place).
• How does the author use irony? Provide an example and explain. 
• What real-world connections can be made between this story and our contemporary life? 
• What is the story’s message about preparedness and respecting nature?

Grab these engaging short stories and activities to make teaching this Jack London story stress-free!

6.  “The Cactus”

Told from the point of view of a young man at his former lover’s wedding, the narrator retells their story. Like most of O. Henry’s short stories and texts, this one has a twist that involves the titular cactus plant.

The ending will end in a bit of fun for your students!

• Introduce diction (word choice) and its impact within the story by hyperfocusing on specific words within the story . Students can look up definitions, locate synonyms, create their own sentences, replace the words, etc.
• Investigate twist endings (unexpected finish to a story); before reading the end of the story, ask students to guess why the girl “rejected” him. Some students may know the answer before reading it!
• Describe the main characters. What similarities and differences are evident? How does this affect the story’s action?
• What inferences can you make about Trysdale and his feelings about love and marriage?
• What are the real and symbolic meanings of the cactus?

This resource packed with questions and answers, graphic organizers, and writing activities is sure to get your students thinking about this love story driven by misconceptions.

7.  “After Twenty Years”

This tale of friendship and betrayal focuses on the reunion of two old friends after twenty years apart on a New York City street corner. As they reminisce, something is revealed that demonstrates the reality of their bond as well as the choices they’ve made in life.

If you have not read O. Henry’s short stories and incorporated character analysis yet, this is your chance! The story is not long and can be completed in one to two class periods!

• Sometimes, we ask students to visualize (create a picture) in their minds, but why not give them the opportunity to use their artistic skills to draw the two characters?
• As students read, annotate for a description of each character; then, students can do a character analysis (investigation of the characters’ similarities and differences).
• What type of irony is used in the story? How does its use affect your interpretation and understanding of the story?
• How does the urban setting contribute to the mood of the story?
• What is the story’s message about friendship and loyalty?

Examine the links between loyalty and duty with this set of resources designed specifically for this O. Henry story.

8.  “The Lottery”

“The Lottery” is the quintessential short story for middle school or high school English! Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” tells the story of an annual ritual that takes place in a seemingly idyllic town. When the townsfolk gather for the lottery drawing, a shocking turn of events demonstrates the dark side of human nature and their ties to (outdated) traditions.

• Introduce the terms suspense (uncertainty and/or excitement leading up to a major event) and tension (anxiety or uneasy feelings experienced by characters). While reading, identify evidence that relates to each of these concepts and chat/write about their impact on meaning and plot.
• Teach title (the name of the text) analysis. The title of “The Lottery” is perfect for teaching the impact of the title and audience expectations. Before reading, students may write what they believe the story will be about based on the title. After reading, students can complete a quick write responding to their previous expectations! You can do a text analysis for all short stories and poems!
• What role does the plot structure play in building suspense and tension? (Consider the revelation of the lottery’s ‘prize’ in particular.)
• What social commentary is being made through the story and its characters?
• Describe Mr. Summers, Tessie, and Old Man Warner. What does the story reveal about their role in the community and their feelings about the lottery?

Give yours elf a breath of fresh air with this NO PREP curriculum that integrates test prep within the teaching of literature by using Shirley Jackson’s quintessential story!

9.  “The Pedestrian”

This Ray Bradbury story follows a lone walker in a futuristic society in which everyone else is consumed by technology, particularly the television. One evening, the walker encounters a police car that questions his unusual behavior and the end is quite unexpected! (Most of Bradbury’s short stories and texts connect to the future and technology in some way!)

• This story exemplifies Dystopian Literature (texts that include a supposedly perfect future society marred in some way by governmental or societal oppression). Using this story to introduce this type of literature is always fun for students because they will easily make connections to other dystopic short stories and poems!
• Teach about mood (the emotional impact of a story’s description/action). The goal is to get students to deepen their critical thinking skills by recognizing how the mood changes and the purpose for that change!
• How does the author use foreshadowing and suspense to build the mood of the story?
• What is the central theme of the story? How might it connect with our current world?
• What similes and metaphors does Bradbury use to describe the community and its members? What is notable about these comparisons?

With this resource about Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian,” you can just print and teach the lesson and activities with EASE! 

10.  “The Gift of the Magi”

This 1905 story by O. Henry relays a tale about a couple struggling to make ends meet. Throughout the story, they both figure out gifts to buy one another for Christmas and realize what love truly means!

• Review character traits (how a character is depicted internally and externally). Log the traits of each character within the story and how they are important to the meaning of the story.
• Extend (move beyond the text) critical thinking skills by encouraging students to think and write about other people. If they had $1,000 to spend on someone else, how would they spend the money and why?

• How would you describe Della and Jim, and their relationship?
• What values do the characters have, when you consider their actions and decisions?
• Explain how dramatic irony is used in the story. Is it necessary? Is it effective? Why or why not?

This tale is a great addition to your short stories and questions unit around the winter holidays! Save yourself time at that time of the year with this lesson bundle . 

11.  “The Monkey’s Paw” 

“The Monkey’s Paw” is a classic horror story about the White family who come into possession of a mystical monkey’s paw that grants three wishes. Despite warnings, they use it and then face devastating consequences as a result.

• Teach about the elements of the horror/suspense genre (Ex. Scary movies are typically dark, stormy, surprising, morbid, etc.).
• Create a thematic statement (message relayed by the text in a complete sentence). There is no perfectly created theme (message) unless it is directly stated by the author; however, students can create a theme by supporting their ideas with evidence from the story!
• What is the main theme of the story? Or how does the author communicate the themes of greed or fate? Is one stronger than the other?
• Are Mr. and Mrs. White more alike or different from one another? How do you know?
• Should we be afraid of the unknown? What message does the story share? Do you agree or disagree?

Examine W.W. Jacobs’ classic story with this set of questions and answers along with rigorous reading and writing activities . While it is ideal for a spooky season, the story is valuable for its ability to hook readers any time of year!

12.  “Lamb to the Slaughter” 

This classic story with a killer plot twist is about a woman who kills her husband and gets away with murder thanks to cooking a leg of lamb!

• You could introduce the plot elements (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), encourage students to identify major events to fit each element and write down textual evidence to support their ideas.
• Complete a film analysis (examination of film techniques and their effects) to compare/contrast the short story with the classic Alfred Hitchcock television episode.
• What is Mary Maloney’s state of mind? Does it remain the same or does it change throughout the story? Explain.
• Is the resolution of the story satisfying? Why or why not? Why do you think the author ended it as he did?
• How does irony contribute to the theme of deception in the story? Explain.

Spice up your middle school English or high school English class with this short stories and activities bundle for Dahl’s famous story!

13.  “The Tell-Tale Heart” 

Poe’s classic psychological thriller is narrated by an unnamed protagonist who insists on their sanity while recounting how they murdered an old man. The narrator is haunted by the sound of the victim’s beating heart, which ultimately drives him to confess to the crime despite not originally being a suspect. 

• Teach symbolism (object, person, or place that represents something else) by focusing on the heart and eye . The author used these symbols in various ways!
• Investigate psychology (the study of the human mind) as a part of the story. Determine what is fact and what is fiction within the narrator’s mind.
• What does the story reveal about the human psyche?
• What is the deeper meaning of the two key symbols in the story – the beating heart and the eye of the old man?
• What role do the narrator’s inner thoughts play in the development of the plot?

This Short Story Comprehension Bundle offers quick (and effective!) ways to assess students’ learning and understanding of the story. It’s easy to use and will no doubt save you time too!

14.  “The Scarlet Ibis” 

Emotional short stories and their counterparts have a place as well in English classrooms! This short story by James Hurst about two brothers is a heartbreaking must-read. Through flashbacks, the unnamed narrator tells the life story of his younger sickly brother William Armstrong, who is nicknamed Doodle. And the end…well, you’ll see.

• Define and explain the purpose of a flashback (referring back to the past within a story). Think about the implications of never thinking back on the past or always thinking about the past.
• Complete a comparison chart between Doodle and the Ibis as you read along. Then, students can create a visual of each after they have ready by using their own evidence!
• What is the meaning of the story’s title and the presence of a scarlet ibis in the story?
• What is the central theme of the story? How do the events of the story support this chosen theme?
• How does the author use personification for the storm? What effect does this have on the story?

This flexible resource features critical thinking questions and answers as well as writing and reading activities for students to explore Hurst’s heartbreaking story.

15.  “The Veldt” 

This science fiction story by Ray Bradbury was first published as “The World the Children Made” and it is quite fitting as a title! The story focuses on a futuristic world in which a video screen can be controlled and it turns out to be more than simple virtual reality! By the story’s conclusion, the world the children made is the downfall of their parents. 

• Compare and contrast “The Veldt” with “The Pedestrian,” two short stories and dystopic texts by Ray Bradbury. Analyze the similarities and differences of both short stories and create a thematic statement that connects to both texts!
• Make connections to our current reality in the 21st century. Locate research about the implications of technology on young people and integrate this information as you discuss this short story.
• How does the author address the theme of technology versus humanity in the story? Do you agree with this commentary? Why or why not?
• How does the nursery reflect the personalities of Wendy and Peter in this story?
• Do you know the story of Peter Pan and his friend Wendy? What connections can you make between it and this story by Ray Bradbury?

Ray Bradbury’s classic short stories and similar passages are the BEST to teach in middle and high school English! With so much to dive into, they are sure to be a hit with your students. Grab this set of activities to extend your students’ engagement with rigorous reading and writing activities about “The Veldt.” 

16.  “The Necklace” 

A woman who longs for a life of luxury and elegance beyond her means faces consequences when she loses a borrowed necklace. Guy de Maupassant’s story ends with a twist that has the reader question the value of material possessions. 

• I love comparing this short story with O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” You might choose to focus on the theme, characterization, setting, etc.
• Summarize (writing about the main idea with details) each chunk of the story as you read with your students. Instead of asking students to write a paragraph, you could ask students to create each summary in only one sentence.
• The story explores vanity, deception, and the consequences of striving for social status. Which theme do you think is the most important? Explain with support from the story.
• Is Mathilde Loisel a likable character? Does this change during the story? Does it matter if the reader likes her? Why or why not?
• What clues does the author provide throughout the story that foreshadow the twist at the story’s end?

Focus on the standards with this Short Story Lesson Bundle for “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant!

Need help with implementing activities for “The Necklace?” See below!

17.  “A Vendetta” 

Guy de Maupassant’s late-19th-century story is all about REVENGE. A mother is obsessed with creating a plan to avenge her son’s murder and she then puts the plan into action with a morbid outcome.

• There are so many texts that involve REVENGE! Why not use this concept as a focus for a thematic unit (texts linked to a similar concept and/or message)? You could read “A Poison Tree,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” as well as “A Vendetta” with the intention of writing about all 4 for a comparison/contrast paper, presentation, or seminar.
• Analyze the development (how a character changes over time) of the mother and the dog throughout the story; you might annotate for similarities and differences as well as their motivations!
• What comment is the story making about the nature (or need) for justice? Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
• What similes and metaphors does the author use to communicate the main character’s feelings about the vendetta?
• How does the author use details to explain the main character’s thoughts, feelings, and motivation?

Add these activities for this lesser-known work to your short story plans. It’s sure to keep things fresh for your short stories and activities unit! 

18.  “Thank You, Ma’am” (also known as “Thank You, M’am”)

This heartfelt story by Langston Hughes tells the story of Luella, an older woman in the neighborhood, who is nearly robbed by a young man named Roger. In response to Roger, Luella brings him back to her home and treats him with an abundance of kindness, which has a profound effect on Roger.

This tale is at the top of the list for the BEST short stories and passages for upper middle and younger high school students!

• Introduce perspective and/or point of view (how a story is told: 1st, 2nd, 3rd omniscient, 3rd limited, 3rd objective). Students might rewrite the story from another perspective or extend the story using the perspective of one of the main characters.
• Review plot elements with a focus on the exposition (introduction to the characters, setting, and conflict), climax (highest point of interest/turning point of the story), and resolution (how the story is concluded and/or resolved in some way.) You could assign an activity surrounding each concept: visualization of the scene, a journal response to the event, or a short response focused on how the element is important to the overall theme!

• Do you believe in second chances? What does the story say about second chances? 
• How might the climax of the story also be seen as the turning point in Roger’s life?
• How would you describe Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones? Are her actions expected or unexpected in the story? Consider from Roger’s and the reader’s point of view.

Click to check out all of the details for this BUNDLE with differentiated options , which includes a Test Prep Quiz (with varied options), Venn Diagrams, Graphic Organizers, and Writing Responses!! 

19.  “Click Clack the Rattle Bag”

This short story by Neil Gaiman is creepy and fun in the best ways possible! The narrator is taking care of his girlfriend’s little brother and walking him to bed when the child asks for a story. Instead of the narrator sharing a story, the boy shares about the Click Clacks who drink their prey and leave behind rattling bodies. The end is too good to be missed!

Short stories and plots like those in “Click Clack the Rattle Bag” will most certainly engage even your most struggling learners!

• We all know that test prep can be tough as many reading passages are, well, boring! Why not accomplish some test prep with your students and incorporate 5 standardized test-related questions ? You could focus on theme, structure, order of events, characterization, etc.!
• Help students make inferences (acknowledging and hypothesizing about the impact of details that are not directly referenced or stated) as the scene moves along. Students can analyze the change in the setting, the little boy himself, the story the boy is telling, and specific phrases from the story.
• What details in the story contribute to its eerie atmosphere or mood? Or what figurative language devices does Neil Gaiman use to create a sense of suspense in the story? 
• How does the author use ambiguity in the story? Is it effective or not? Explain.
• What inferences can you make about the relationship between the narrator and the young boy?

This “Click Clack the Rattle Bag” Quiz Pack for middle and high school students uses the Common Core standards and contains questions and answers modeled after various state standardized tests! Make teaching this amazing short story by Neil Gaiman SIMPLE & EASY!

Why should we incorporate more short stories and activities in our teaching?

While I would never advocate replacing all novels with short stories and smaller texts, there is still something to be said about spending quality time with short stories and excerpts. 

Including short stories and standards-based activities is an ideal option to improve reading comprehension and develop skills, especially in middle and high school English classes!

SHORT STORIES AND ACTIVITIES RESOURCES: 

This  Short Stories and Test Prep Questions ULTIMATE BUNDLE with Lessons, Quizzes, and Activities uses the Common Core standards with reading comprehension QUESTIONS and ANSWERS for 18 short stories such as “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Monkey’s Paw,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “After Twenty Years,” “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Veldt,” “The Lottery,” “The Pedestrian,” etc. modeled after various state reading exams.

Make teaching short stories and activities SIMPLE & EASY!

Just PRINT & TEACH with engaging short stories and lessons!!

Need more fun ideas for teaching short stories and corresponding activities? Check out my store Kristin Menke-Integrated ELA Test Prep !

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10 Inspirational Stories to Develop Empathy, Critical Thinking, and Heightened Perspective

There’s a reason why we start hearing stories from the time we’re toddlers. The world’s obstacles and inevitable setbacks are portrayed in countless literary works, whether they are children’s books, short stories, memoirs, or biographies. Inspirational stories provide motivation and encouragement while offering a perspective that helps people contextualize their own adversities. 

In fact, research in neuroscience suggests that reading fictional works helps people develop critical thinking, empathy, and theory of mind. 

The best short stories, in fiction and nonfiction genres, inspire people to pursue their dreams and overcome obstacles. They can remind people that they are not alone in their struggles and that others have persevered through similar challenges. Motivational stories can also help foster a sense of community and connection, creating a ripple effect of positivity that encourages people to support one another in their personal growth and development.

Reading and sharing short inspirational stories can be a powerful motivating tool that helps create a more positive and supportive world. In this article, you’ll learn about some of the most impactful short stories and memoirs that are often used to teach lessons and drive motivation. 

Top 10 Must-Read Inspirational Stories 

1. the parable of “the elephant rope” .

“The elephant was conditioned to believe he could never break away. He believed the rope could still hold him, so he never tried to break free.”

Summary: “The Elephant Rope” is a short motivational story about a young man who observes elephants at a circus and is amazed at how they are held in place by a simple rope tied to a stake in the ground, despite their massive size and strength. It was clear that the elephants could break away from their bonds but chose not to because they were conditioned to believe it wasn’t possible. 

Theme: “The Elephant Rope” is a story about limiting beliefs. The young man learns that the elephants were conditioned from a young age to believe that they could not break free from the rope. As a result, the elephants never tried to gain freedom again, even when they were fully grown and capable of doing so. 

Moral of the story: Limiting beliefs can hold us back from reaching our full potential. We may have been conditioned by our past experiences or beliefs to believe that we cannot achieve something, but in reality, we may be more capable than we think. By breaking free from our limiting beliefs and challenging ourselves, we can achieve great things.

2. “ The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry

“And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.” 

Summary: “The Gift of the Magi” is a short story written in 1905 by O. Henry. It’s about a young couple, Jim and Della, who are struggling to make ends meet during the Christmas season. Despite their financial difficulties, they each want to buy a special gift for the other. They end up making sacrifices to do so, each giving up something they treasure to please the other. 

Theme: “The Gift of the Magi” displays the true meaning of gift-giving, which is about the thought and love behind the gift rather than its material value. The couple’s gifts to each other are ultimately meaningless in terms of their practical use, but their representation of love and sacrifice proves to be invaluable for both Jim and Della. 

Moral of the story: The story highlights the benevolent spirit of gift-giving and reminds readers that the value of a gift is not in how much money was spent on it but in the thought and love behind it.

3. “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Jean Giono 

“For a human character to reveal truly exceptional qualities, one must have the good fortune to be able to observe its performance over many years.”

Summary: “The Man Who Planted Trees” is a short story by Jean Giono, first published in 1953. The story is a fictional account of a man named Elzéard Bouffier, who lives in a remote valley in the French Alps and spends his life planting trees. Over the course of several decades, Bouffier single-handedly transforms the barren and desolate landscape into a lush and thriving forest, which has a profound impact on the surrounding environment and community.

Theme: “The Man Who Planted Trees” highlights the power of individual action and the importance of environmental stewardship. The story emphasizes the transformative power of nature and highlights the impact that even one person can have on the world.

Moral of the story: The story shows that small actions can have a big impact on the world. It serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving and protecting the natural world, and of the power of individual action. It also encourages readers to take responsibility for the environment and to work toward a more sustainable and harmonious relationship with the natural world.

4. “The Three Questions” by Leo Tolstoy

“Remember then: there is only one time that is important—Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.”

Summary: “The Three Questions” is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy that was published in 1903. The story follows a king seeking answers to three questions: What is the best time to do things? Who is the most important person? What is the right thing to do? He offers a reward for the answers to these questions and consults with various advisors and wise men, but none can give him satisfactory responses. Eventually, he learns the answers to his questions through his own experiences and actions.

Theme: “The Three Questions” portrays the importance of living in the present moment and taking personal action. The story emphasizes the futility of worrying about the past or the future and highlights the importance of engaging fully in all of life’s moments.

Moral of the story: The story teaches that the answers to life’s big questions can only be found through action and experience rather than through intellectual inquiry alone. Tolstoy shows that the best way to live is with compassion and kindness toward others. It also encourages readers to cultivate a sense of mindfulness, rather than being preoccupied with the past or the future.

5. “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant

“She was one of those pretty and charming women whose infatuation with luxury is their one form of heroism.” 

Summary: “The Necklace” is a short story by Guy de Maupassant, first published in 1884. It follows the life of a woman named Mathilde Loisel, who is unhappy with her modest lifestyle and longs for wealth and luxury. One day, her husband secures an invitation to a fancy ball, and Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from a wealthy friend to wear to the event. However, after the ball, she discovers that she has lost the necklace and spends years working to pay off the debt incurred by replacing it, only to learn that the original necklace was fake.

Theme: The theme of “The Necklace” is the danger of materialism and the pursuit of social status. Mathilde’s obsession with wealth and status blinds her to the comforts she has in her current life and leads her to make poor decisions that ultimately ruin her chances of happiness. 

Moral of the story: The story is a cautionary tale that teaches readers that material possessions and social status are not the keys to happiness. Mathilde’s relentless pursuit of luxury leads her to a life of poverty and misery, and her true happiness is found only when she accepts her circumstances and learns to appreciate the blessings in her life. 

6. “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

“The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all.”

Summary: “To Build a Fire” is a short story by Jack London, first published in 1908. The story follows an unnamed man traveling through the Yukon wilderness on foot with his dog. Despite warnings from an experienced old-timer, the man sets out alone in frigid temperatures and attempts to build a fire to keep warm. However, when he encounters several setbacks, he ultimately succumbs to the cold while his dog manages to survive.

Theme: “To Build a Fire” portrays the power and indifference of nature. It highlights the brutal conditions of the Yukon wilderness and the harsh reality that even the most prepared and experienced individuals can be no match for the forces of nature. While it’s not inspirational in the traditional sense, it offers an important lesson about human fragility and our role in the world. 

Moral of the story: London’s story highlights the importance of respecting and understanding the power of nature while limiting overconfidence. This is a cautionary tale against arrogance and hubris, and it emphasizes the importance of caution and humility when facing the unpredictable and unforgiving forces of nature.

7. “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” From the Bible 

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.”

Summary: “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” is a story told by Jesus in the Bible, found in Luke 10: 25–37. It tells the story of a traveler who is beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, who were both considered to be religious leaders, passed by the man without helping. Then a Samaritan, who was an outsider and often looked down upon, stopped to help the man, tending to his wounds and providing for his needs. The Samaritan put the traveler on his donkey and brought him to an innkeeper, who he paid to look after him. 

Theme: “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” is meant to teach people about the call to love and serve others, regardless of differences in background or status. It emphasizes the importance of acting with compassion, kindness, and generosity toward those in need.

Moral of the story: The parable shows readers that everyone is our neighbor, and we are called to love and serve others without discrimination or prejudice, even to those who are considered an enemy. 

8. The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner

“The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn’t good enough, would be stilled.”

Summary: The Pursuit of Happyness is a memoir by Chris Gardner that was published in 2006. It’s an inspiring story that details Gardner’s journey from homelessness to success as a stockbroker. The memoir describes the challenges he faced as a single father trying to provide for his son while struggling with poverty, homelessness, and no college degree.

Theme: Gardner’s rags-to-riches story portrays a life of resilience and perseverance. Despite facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, he refused to give up on his dreams and continued to work hard toward achieving them. He showed incredible resilience in the face of adversity and remained determined to create a better life for himself and his son.

Moral of the story: This story shows that with hard work, determination, and a positive attitude, anyone can achieve their dreams, no matter how difficult or impossible they may seem. It encourages readers to pursue their passions, never give up, and believe in themselves, even when others may doubt them.

9 . The Story of Colonel Sanders

“I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.”

Summary: The true-life account of Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), is an inspiring and motivational story of success despite many rejections. Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890 and worked a variety of odd jobs to support his siblings after his father’s death. At 40 years old, he began cooking and selling fried chicken out of a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, in the 1930s. He developed his own blend of 11 herbs and spices, and after that, his business grew steadily over the next few decades, leading to the creation of the KFC franchise.

Theme: The story of Colonel Sanders portrays perseverance and determination, even in the face of numerous setbacks and obstacles. Sanders refused to give up on his dream of creating a successful fried chicken business, and he continued to work tirelessly to achieve his goals.

Moral of the story: Sanders’ achievements teach us that success often comes from hard work, perseverance, and a refusal to give up in the face of adversity. Even when things seem bleak or impossible, it’s important to keep pushing forward and striving to achieve your goals. With dedication and determination, anyone can achieve their dreams, just as Colonel Sanders did with his fried chicken empire.

10. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight 

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.”

Summary: Shoe Dog is a memoir written by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, Inc. Published in 2016, this story is an inspirational depiction of Nike, from its humble beginnings as a small startup company to a global giant in the athletic shoe industry. Just out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched what would become one of the world’s most iconic and profitable brands. 

Theme: The motivational story of Phil Knight highlights themes of perseverance and determination. Knight and his team faced numerous challenges throughout the company’s journey, including financial difficulties, legal battles, and intense competition. However, they persevered and never gave up, ultimately achieving great success.

Moral of the story: Shoe Dog shows that success comes from a combination of passion, hard work, and perseverance. Knight’s story is an inspiring reminder that no matter how difficult the road may seem, if you believe in your vision and are willing to put in the effort, you can achieve great things.

What Makes for an Inspirational Story?

An inspirational story is one that motivates, encourages, and uplifts the reader. It’s used to teach a lesson and break barriers of false perception. 

Some key elements that can make a story inspirational include:

• Overcoming Adversity: An impactful story often features protagonists who face significant challenges or adversity. They may struggle, fail, and experience setbacks, but ultimately find a way to overcome their challenges and achieve their goals.
• Positive Messages: A motivational story often conveys a positive message of hope, perseverance, and resilience. The story should leave the reader feeling empowered and motivated to take action in their own lives, which is made possible when a relatable character or figure makes their own personal realization. 
• Realistic: While an inspirational story may be fictional, it should be grounded in reality. The characters, situations, and challenges should be believable and relatable so that readers can see themselves within the story. 
• Emotional Impact: An effective story should elicit an emotional response from readers. Whether it’s laughter, sadness, fear, or joy, the story should have a powerful emotional impact that allows its message to shine through. 
• Empathy: An inspirational story should create empathy between the reader and the characters. The reader should care about the characters and their struggles and feel invested in their journey.
• Universal Themes: When authors use universal themes that resonate with readers, such as love, courage, sacrifice, and self-discovery, they allow for inspirational real-life connections. 
• Transformation: An inspiring story often features a protagonist or central figure who undergoes a transformation. They may start out feeling defeated or hopeless, but through their journey, they discover inner strength and achieve personal growth.
• Memorable: Impactful stories should be memorable and leave a lasting impression on the reader. They should stick with the reader long after they finish reading it and inspire them to take action or make positive changes in their own lives.

Telling or reading empowering stories that are grounded in reality and convey positive messages is an impactful way to boost motivation, whether it’s at home, in the workplace, or for your own self-growth. 

To continue reading timeless literary works with powerful characters and themes, check out these top Ernest Hemingway books . 

Leaders Media has established sourcing guidelines and relies on relevant, and credible sources for the data, facts, and expert insights and analysis we reference. You can learn more about our mission, ethics, and how we cite sources in our editorial policy .

• Seifert, C. (2020, May 28).  The Case for Reading Fiction . Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/03/the-case-for-reading-fiction
• Khan, M. (n.d.).  The Elephant Rope (Belief) Story: don’t limit yourself to a belief that You Can’t! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/elephant-rope-belief-story-dont-limit-yourself-you-cant-mobarza-khan/
• A Summary and Analysis of O. Henry’s ‘The Gift of the Magi.’  (2023, March 18). Interesting Literature. https://interestingliterature.com/2021/12/o-henry-gift-of-the-magi-summary-analysis/
• Green, C., Green, C., & Green, C. (2020b, April 21).  The Man Who Planted Trees Before His Time . Chelsea Green Publishing. https://www.chelseagreen.com/2020/the-man-who-planted-trees-before-his-time/
• The Three Questions . (2023, February 11). Plough. https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/short-stories/the-three-questions
• The Necklace: Summary, Themes, and a Short Story Analysis | Blog StudyCorgi.com . (2023, March 17). StudyCorgi.com. https://studycorgi.com/blog/the-necklace-summary-themes-and-a-short-story-analysis/
• Summary Of To Build A Fire By Jack London – 1085 Words | Bartleby . (n.d.). https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Summary-Of-To-Build-A-Fire-By-PK6XJ6939A6
• The Parable of the Good Samaritan – Morality  – GCSE Religious Studies Revision – WJEC – BBC Bitesize . (n.d.). BBC Bitesize. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwxm97h/revision/6
• Cheng, A. (2020, November 13).  The Pursuit of Happyness Book Summary, by Chris Gardner – Allen Cheng . Allen Cheng. https://www.allencheng.com/the-pursuit-of-happyness-book-summary-chris-gardner/
• Culver, A. (2019, August 1).  The inspiring life story of KFC’s Colonel Sanders . Snagajob. https://www.snagajob.com/blog/post/the-inspiring-life-story-of-kfcs-colonel-sanders
• Shoe Dog Summary: 10 Best Lessons from Phil Knight . (n.d.). Growth.me. https://growth.me/books/shoe-dog/
• Baker, D. (2022, August 9).  How to Make Your Writing Inspirational – Supercharge Your Marketing . Super Copy Editors. https://supercopyeditors.com/blog/writing/make-writing-inspirational/

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FocusedThink

Short Stories for Critical Thinking

• March 24, 2024 April 5, 2024

We all love a good story. But have you ever stopped to dissect why a character made a certain choice, or questioned the author’s motives?

By delving deeper into the narrative, we can sharpen our ability to analyze evidence, identify bias, and uncover underlying themes. This article equips you with critical thinking tools to unlock the deeper meaning within each sentence.

Table of Contents

Building Your Critical Thinking Toolkit  

Pre-reading activities : Prepare your mind for critical thinking before delving into the story.

• Title and Cover Analysis : Examine the title and cover artwork to make predictions about themes, characters, and plot.
• Author Research : Explore the author’s background, literary influences, and relevant historical or cultural contexts to understand their perspective.
• Identify Biases : Challenge yourself to identify potential biases or assumptions in the story. Consider how they may affect your interpretation.
• Question Generation : Brainstorm questions or discussion prompts to explore while reading, focusing on themes, character motivations, and moral dilemmas.
• Debate or Discussion : Engage in a brief debate or discussion with peers to share different perspectives and interpretations of the story’s themes and messages.

By actively engaging in these pre-reading activities, you’ll stimulate your critical thinking skills and enhance your ability to analyze and interpret the text effectively.

Active Reading: Become a Story Detective  

Prepare to Engage : Immerse yourself in the text as you embark on a journey of discovery. Before you begin, take a moment to skim through the text, getting a sense of its main ideas and key points. Equip yourself with tools like highlighters, notebooks, and sticky notes to interact actively with the material. This will promote active engagement for critical analysis.

Focus on the Details : Start by paying attention to the details. Notice the language used, the interactions between characters, and the descriptions of the setting. Each word holds significance, guiding you deeper into the heart of the story. Enhances comprehension and critical interpretation.

Ask Questions Ask questions along the way. Why did the characters act the way they did? What might happen next? Asking questions before, during, and after reading helps you better understand and think critically about the text. Stimulates critical inquiry and understanding.

Predict Make predictions based on what you already know and what you’ve read so far. Picture scenes unfolding in your mind’s eye. Create mental images to help you better understand the story. Encourages anticipation and analysis of narrative elements.

Annotate for Understanding As you read, jot down your thoughts and reactions in the margins of the text. Underline passages that stand out to you, and write down any questions or ideas that come to mind. These notes will help you stay engaged with the material and remember important points. Helps contextual understanding and critical comparison.

Connect & Compare Look for connections between the text and your own experiences, as well as other texts you’ve read. How does this story relate to what you already know? Are there similarities or differences between this and other stories you’ve encountered?

Remember, reading is not just about reaching the end—it’s about the journey. Enjoy the process of discovery and embrace the challenges that come with understanding a new story. So, grab your book, get comfortable, and dive into the text. Who knows what secrets you’ll uncover along the way?

Post-Reading Debrief: Unmasking the Clues

Character Analysis: Delve into the motivations, actions, and contributions of characters to the story’s message. Engage in debates about character decisions and question their reliability as narrators. This activity promotes critical thinking by examining character development and the impact on the narrative. Example “How does the story portray a character’s growth or internal conflict? Did they overcome a limitation or learn something about themself?

Theme Detectives:   Identify the story’s central themes and analyze how different elements portray them. Discuss symbolism, analyze plot twists for thematic significance, and explore how characters and events contribute to the overall themes. This activity encourages critical analysis of underlying messages and the author’s thematic intentions. Example “Does the story highlight the potential for humans to overcome adversity? How do specific elements, like symbolism or plot twists, reinforce this message?”

Author’s Intent: Explore the author’s potential message and analyze their writing techniques. Examine the use of language, identify literary devices such as foreshadowing or imagery, and consider how these elements contribute to the story’s meaning. This activity encourages critical thinking by unpacking the author’s craft and intentions behind the narrative. Example “Does the author seem to be questioning the limitations of the human experience or celebrating its potential? What writing techniques support this interpretation?”

Alternative Perspectives : Consider different viewpoints within the story or imagine alternative endings. This activity prompts readers to think critically about narrative possibilities, character motivations, and the impact of different choices on the story’s outcome. It encourages creative thinking and cultivates a deeper understanding of the text’s complexities. Example: What would be the story like from the viewpoint of a different character, or how a change in setting or historical context might impact the story’s message

By engaging in these post-reading activities, readers continue to unravel the mysteries of the story, uncover hidden layers of meaning, and develop a more nuanced appreciation for the text. Whether exploring characters’ motivations, analyzing thematic elements, deciphering the author’s intent, or imagining alternative perspectives, these activities promote critical thinking , creativity , and deeper engagement with the text.

Put Your Skills to the Test: Analyze and Discuss  

The Critical Thinking Showcase: Analyzing Short Stories  

We’ve explored the tools for critical thinking analysis. Now, let’s put them into practice! Here are summaries of three captivating short stories representing diverse genres:

Story 1: The Necklace (Genre: Realism by Guy de Maupassant)

Summary: Mathilde Loisel, a young woman consumed by a desire for a more affluent life, feels trapped in her ordinary existence with her kind but working-class husband. An invitation to a prestigious social event fuels her yearning for luxury. Desperate to appear the part of a wealthy socialite, Mathilde convinces her friend, Madame Forestier, to loan her a magnificent diamond necklace. The evening allows Mathilde to temporarily escape her reality, basking in the admiration she receives because of the borrowed jewels.

However, disaster strikes when Mathilde loses the necklace during the event. Terrified of her friend’s reaction and determined to rectify their mistake, Mathilde and her husband plunge themselves into years of grueling labor and strict frugality to replace the expensive necklace. The experience takes a heavy toll on their lives, forcing them to sacrifice their dreams and endure significant hardship. Finally, after years of relentless work, they manage to buy a replacement necklace and return it to Madame Forestier, relieved to be free of the burden of their deception. The devastating truth is then revealed – the borrowed necklace was a cheap imitation, and their immense sacrifice was entirely in vain.

Story 2: The Machine Stops (Genre: Dystopian Fiction) by E. M. Forster

Summary: In the far future, people live in underground sterile chambers, depending completely on a massive machine for everything. This machine, treated like a god, provides food, entertainment, and even air to breathe. Communication happens only through the machine, eliminating face-to-face talks. Vashti, one of the residents, is disturbed when her son Kuno expresses a desire to see the forbidden surface world, challenging the machine’s authority. She questions the sterile existence enforced by the machine and yearns for a deeper connection. Vashti is initially dismissive.

However, Kuno’s persistence leads him to escape the underground confines, experiencing the freedom of nature. Meanwhile, the machine begins to malfunction, causing panic among the underground dwellers. As the machine ultimately fails, Vashti and Kuno find themselves facing the unknown on the surface. The story explores themes of technological dependence, isolation, and the loss of human connection, offering a cautionary tale about the consequences of overreliance on technology and the importance of genuine human interaction.

Story 3: The Gift of the Magi (Genre: Coming-of-Age by O. Henry)

Summary: Deeply in love but struggling with poverty, a young couple, Della and Jim yearn to give each other meaningful Christmas gifts. Determined to express their love despite their limited means, Della sells her most treasured possession – long, flowing hair – to buy a platinum chain for Jim’s cherished pocket watch. Meanwhile, Jim sacrifices his most prized possession, a gold watch passed down through generations, to buy jeweled combs for Della’s hair. The irony of their situation unfolds when they exchange gifts, realizing that their sacrifices made the gifts unusable. Though their possessions are gone, their love shines brighter than ever.

The story celebrates the true meaning of love and the sacrifices people make for their loved ones, showing that the greatest gifts are often not material but expressions of love and selflessness.

Critical Thinking Challenge: Sharpen Your Skills 

For each story summary, we’ll delve deeper with critical thinking questions (5-7 questions) that target different aspects of human development and the story’s message:

Story 1: The Necklace 

Character Analysis: How does Mathilde’s obsession with material wealth affect her life and relationships? Analyze her thoughts, actions, and motivations throughout the story

Theme Detectives: Does the story explore the limitations of social class or the dangers of envy? Analyze the symbolism of the necklace to support your answer. Consider how social pressures and desires for possessions influence the characters. 

Author’s Intent: What message might Guy de Maupassant be conveying about societal pressures and human desires? Explore how the story critiques social expectations and the potential dangers of coveting what others have. Consider the use of irony and the characters’ downfalls.

Alternative Perspectives: How might the story be different if told from the perspective of Mathilde’s friend who loaned the necklace?  Consider the friend’s motivations, potential feelings of betrayal, and the impact of the situation on their relationship. What message might the story convey from this viewpoint?

Story 2: The Machine Stops

Theme Detectives : How does the story portray the dangers of uncontrolled automation? Analyze how the machine’s role in society highlights the potential for technology to become oppressive.

Character Analysis : How does Vashti’s rebellion challenge the status quo? What does her yearning for connection reveal about the limitations of a technology-dependent life?

Author’s Intent: What message might E. M. Forster be conveying about the importance of human interaction and the dangers of sacrificing individuality for convenience?

Alternative Perspectives: Imagine the story from the viewpoint of someone who wholeheartedly believes in the machine’s superiority. How would they justify the system and view Vashti’s actions?

Story 3: The Gift of the Magi

Character Analysis:

• How do Della and Jim’s sacrifices for each other reveal their love and commitment? Analyze their actions, thoughts, and the challenges they face.

Theme Detectives:

• Does the story celebrate the true meaning of love or highlight the challenges of poverty? Analyze the symbolism of the gifts to support your answer. Consider the characters’ motivations and the emotional impact of the story.

Author’s Intent:

• What message might O. Henry be conveying about the importance of love and selflessness? Explore how the story portrays the characters’ love despite their limited means. Consider the use of irony and the story’s ending.

Alternative Perspectives:

• How might the story be different if set in a time of great wealth and abundance? Would the characters’ actions and the story’s message change? Consider the impact of economic circumstances on the themes of love and sacrifice.

Recognizing Bias in Stories

For critical thinking, it is important to recognize the biases in the short stories.

For example: in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, we can recognize the bias inherent in the novel’s portrayal of racial injustice in the American South during the 1930s. The story is told from the perspective of a young white girl, Scout Finch, whose father, Atticus Finch, defends a Black man accused of raping a white woman.

Critical Analysis: By critically analyzing the characters, themes, and narrative structure, we can gain insight into the biases and prejudices present in society at the time. We can also explore how the novel challenges and subverts these biases through characters like Atticus, who stands up for justice and equality despite societal pressures.

How to recognize bias? Look for different types of bias:

• Social Bias: Race, gender, class, sexual orientation – are characters judged based on these?
• Historical Bias: Does the story reflect the era’s views? Consider the author’s background.
• Narrative Bias: Who’s telling the story? Does their perspective influence what’s shown?

Unmask Bias with Detective Work:

• Loaded language: Do words favor one side?
• Missing voices: Whose stories are absent?
• Unequal representation: Who gets the spotlight?

By questioning bias, you gain a deeper understanding of the story’s message and its historical context. This detective work helps you challenge biases in stories and, ultimately, in the real world.

Final Thoughts

Delving into short stories for critical thinking has been a rewarding adventure.

Pre-reading activities, active reading techniques, and post-reading analysis become tools to sharpen our critical thinking skills, unlocking deeper layers of meaning within literary works. By examining diverse perspectives , dissecting themes, and identifying biases , we unravel the intricacies of a story. Additionally, we cultivate a more sharper mindset applicable to various aspects of life. This process encourages a continuous quest for understanding, enriching both our appreciation for literature and our broader understanding of the world.

Embracing the challenge of interpretation and the nuances of narratives leads us on a rewarding exploration. This journey enhances our analytical skills and deepens our engagement not only with literature but also with the world around us.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: A Brief Guide to Argument by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau

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Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Tools & Concepts

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The 17 Best Books on Critical Thinking (to Read in 2024)

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The aim of improving your skill of critical thinking isn’t just to be able to reason and give logical arguments about a subject skillfully; your goal is to get to the right answer, to make the right decisions and choices for yourself and others.

Critical thinking helps you:

First , improve the quality of your decisions and judgments, and reevaluate your beliefs objectively.

The human mind is rarely objective. However, mastering the skill of critical thinking keeps your mind objective, at least about those things based on facts.

Take for example the beliefs you have about yourself; Some are based on facts, some on subjective (negative) opinions of others.

Second , become an independent thinker (learn to think for yourself); take ownership of your values, beliefs, judgments, and decisions.

Mastering critical thinking is essential , especially in our modern times, because you must:

• Make a tone of decisions every day;
• Think and come to the right conclusion fast;
• Solve (mostly alone) your problems and issues;
• Weigh carefully facts and information you receive from the dozens of sources you have at your disposal;
• Reevaluate your strategies, beliefs, and habits periodically.

Critical thinking is a skill that you must learn; you’re not born with it. To make your journey a little easier, we’ve gathered the best critical thinking books so you can learn from the masters. Get inspired to become a critical thinker in no time!

The best books on critical thinking:

Table of Contents

1. Critical Thinking: A Beginner’s Guide to Critical Thinking, Better Decision Making, and Problem Solving – Jennifer Wilson

2. wait, what: and life’s other essential questions- james e. ryan, 3. think smarter: critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills – michael kallet, 4. brain power: learn to improve your thinking skills – karl albrecht, 5. the art of thinking clearly – rolf dobelli, 6. being logical: a guide to good thinking – d.q. mcinerny, 7. predictably irrational, revised and expanded edition: the hidden forces that shape our decisions – dr. dan ariely, 8. a more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas – warren berger, 9. a rulebook for arguments – anthony weston, 10. thinking, fast and slow – daniel kahneman, 11. the organized mind: thinking straight in the age of information overload – daniel j. levitin, 12. don’t believe everything you think: the 6 basic mistakes we make in thinking – thomas e. kida, 13. the decision book: 50 models for strategic thinking – mikael krogerus, roman tschäppeler, philip earnhart, jenny piening, 14. weaponized lies: how to think critically in the post-truth era – daniel j. levitin, 15. the demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark paperback – carl sagan, ann druyan, 16. how to think about weird things: critical thinking for a new age – theodore schick, lewis vaughn, 17. the 5 elements of effective thinking – edward b. burger, michael starbird.

As the title says, this book introduces you to the art of critical thinking. You’ll discover in it:

• What is critical thinking in practice,
• The different thought processes of critical thinking,
• How will your life be better mastering critical thinking,
• The things your brain needs to enjoy exercising critical thinking,
• Techniques you can use for solving problems,
• How to become a better decision maker, Strategies to use in your critical thinking processes,
• Ways to make good decisions when more people (not just you) are involved,
• Tips to frame your questions in order to maximize the efficiency of your critical thinking.

Wisdom comes from observation, learning, practice, and asking the right questions.

Using examples from history, politics, and his own personal life, James e Ryan shows you the importance of knowing how to:

• Ask questions and gain a better understanding,
• Get to be more curious,
• Push yourself to take action,
• Make your relationship stronger,
• And stay focused on the important things in life.

Related:  Critical Thinking Examples

The book starts with the five fundamental questions:

• Couldn’t we at least…?
• How can I help…?
• What truly matters….?

Knowing how to formulate, address, and deliver the right questions doesn’t leave room for misunderstandings, misinterpretations; asking the wrong questions will most probably give you a wrong answer.

This book (Wait, What?: And Life’s Other Essential Questions) will make you feel (more) courageous; after all, asking questions thanks courage. Asking yourself and others the right questions helps you make informed decisions and decisive action.

This book is a guide on how to train your brain to work even more for you. The author (Michael Kallet) is a critical thinking trainer and coach and gives you a practical set of tools and techniques for critical thinking in your day-to-day life and business.

If you want a clear, actionable step by step program to:

• Improve your critical thinking skills,
• A better understanding of complex problems and concepts,
• And how to put them in practice, then this book is for you.

Learn how to discover the real issues that need a solution, so you don’t waste your time in trying to solve imaginary problems. Increase your mental toughness, useful and productive thought.

In this book, Karl Albrecht shows you how to:

• Build your mental strength,
• Think more clearly logically and creative,
• Improve your memory,
• Solve problems,
• Make decisions more effectively.

Karl Albrecht talks in this book about the six functional abilities you need to have and become more adaptable and an innovative thinker.

The book is packed with practical exercises, fascinating illustrations, games, and puzzles to improve your mental capabilities.

The art of thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli is a window into human psychology and reasoning; how we:

• Make decisions;
• Evaluate choices and options;
• Develop cognitive biases.

This book helps you notice and recognize erroneous thinking and make better choices and decisions, change unwanted behaviors and habits.

It will change the way you think about yourself and life in general because you have in this book 99 short chapters with examples of the most common errors of judgment and how to rectify them.

If you wish to think more clearly, make better decisions and choices, reevaluate your biases, and feel better about yourself, this book is for you.

When you decide you want to study the field of logic more closely and improve your critical thinking, this book might be exactly what you need. It’s written clearly and concisely laying out for you the basic building blocks of logic and critical thinking.

The ancient civilizations understood better than us how important is to study logic and rhetoric. With the help of this book, you’ll bring back into your life these essential things that our modern society forgot and missed to teach you as a child.

Having increased logical thinking doesn’t mean to ignore your emotions. It means to start from your emotions and together, (emotions and logic) to take better decisions and see more clearly your choices to move forward in life.

“Predictably Irrational, The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions” is a book packed with examples of how:

• Irrational are our choices;
• We make decisions on impulse;
• We fool ourselves with optimism- “that must work for me.”

The author presents you, in this book, a large number of mental traps and flawed tendencies which can make your life harder.

After reading this book, you’ll be better informed about a variety of human flaws and how to avoid being trapped by irrational thinking. You’ll be better prepared to make decisions and choices based more on facts rather than subjective personal opinions.

Knowing how to ask the right questions is determining your success about many things in your life:

• Influencing others,
• Getting out of tricky situations,
• Reevaluating your beliefs,
• Offering yourself and others compassion,
• Overcoming mistakes and fears.

Warren Berger shows you in this book examples of people who are successful (partially) because they are experts in asking questions and don’t have preconceived ideas about what the answers should be.

This book helps you avoid wasting your innovative and brilliant ideas by presenting them in the same way over and over and getting nowhere over and over.

Asking yourself (and others) the right questions gives you the opportunity to display your ideas in a way that those around you feel compelled to listen.

This book is impressive because, Anthony Weston gives you a lot of excellent and practical advice, ordered in a logical and clear manner.

The examples in this book are realistic and useful, ranging from deductive to oral arguments, from argumentative essays to arguments by analogy.

Once you read this book you’ll want to have it on hand to sort out all sorts of situations you’ll encounter in your day-to-day life.

Daniel Kahneman, the author of this book, is a renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in economics.

In this book, you will discover where you can and cannot trust your intuition; how to use the two systems that drive the way you think.

The first system is fast, intuitive, and emotional; the second system is slower, based on facts, and more logical.

The author argues that knowing how to use these two systems can make a huge difference in how you:

• Design your strategies,
• Predict consequences,
• Avoid cognitive biases,
• (and even simple things like) choosing the colors for your home office.

If you want to improve your critical thinking, know when you should use logic (instead of using emotions), and become mentally stronger this book is definitely for you.

Critical thinking can’t be created in a cluttered mind. It’s like trying to prepare a gourmet meal for your loved ones in a cramped and dysfunctional kitchen.

As if is not enough all the information you store in your mind from what you personally experience every day, our modern times forcefully adds to that information a lot of junk.

The book “The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload” by Daniel J. Levitin will help you sort out and organized your thoughts with the help of the four components in the human attentional system:

• Mind wandering mode;
• Central executive mode;
• Attentional filter;
• Attentional switch.

The book is showing you how you can improve your critical thinking and make better decisions concerning many areas of your life.

This book can (really) change your life if you’re dealing with procrastination, multitasking, the inability to switch off and block the outside world.

All in all, you’ll be better prepared to think straight in the age of information overload.

Thomas E. Kida talks in this book very elegantly about the six basic mistakes your thinking can make.

• The first mistake is being mesmerized by stories and ignoring the facts or statistics.
• The second mistake is searching to confirm what we already know or believe.
• The third mistake is to discount the role that chance and coincidence play in our life.
• The fourth mistake is believing that what you see it’s always the reality.
• The fifth mistake is to oversimplify things.
• The sixth mistake is to believe (trust) faulty memories.

This book can be for you an eye-opener into critical thinking, accepting who you are as you are, and improving the way you choose and make decisions.

Did you know you have a strategy for everything you do? From brushing your teeth to making new friends? From choosing a career to dealing with difficult people?

Considering you have a strategy for everything you do, it’s only logical the try to improve every day the way you develop your strategies and don’t leave it to chance, habit, or convenience.

“The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking” can improve your critical thinking and help you make your life easier and more enjoyable.

This book is interactive and provokes you to think about some of the strategies that don’t bring you the results you want.

It contains 58 illustrations offering summaries for known strategies such as the Rubber Band Model, the Personal Performance Model, and the Black Swan Model.

This book is for you if you want to improve the flexibility of your thinking, accept challenges more comfortable, feel more in control of your decisions and choices.

From this book, by Daniel Levitin, you’ll learn how to think critically and avoid being manipulated by things like misleading statistics and graphics, extreme view, or fake news.

The book contains three main sections:

• Evaluating numbers – how to read statistics and data to find out what lurks underneath and make a more objective analysis
• Evaluating words – how to assess the information you receive from experts, understanding the difference between incidence and prevalence, risk perceptions, and probabilistic thinking
• Evaluating the world – how to interpret scientific methods for different types of reasoning (induction, deduction, abduction)

This book will help you improve your critical thinking providing you with a lot of food for thought.

You know how in a criminal trial they call two experts that have divergent opinions on the same facts? Depending on whose side they are? This book teaches you to see the truth.

Although written in the 1990s, this bestseller book is still relevant in today’s society.

With both intelligence and compassion, Carl Sagan lays out the importance of education, logic, and science. This book will show you a ton of practical skills for assessing arguments, recognizing logical fallacies, and applying the scientific method.

Sagan felt that reason and logic could make the world a better place.

This book contains invaluable instructions on logic and reason using critical thinking, without being dull or difficult to understand.

Schick and Vaughn effectively laid out the key elements on how to assess evidence, sort through reasons, and recognize when a claim is likely to be accurate, making this book an absolute must-read for all students.

If you want to be better at decision-making based on sound evidence and argument, then this book is for you.

If you ever found yourself stuck on a problem, or having trouble in forming new ideas, this book will guide you in finding creative solutions to life’s difficult challenges.

This book emphasizes the value of effective thinking, how it can be mastered, and how to integrate it into everyday life.

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Carmen Jacob

Storytelling and Critical Thinking

By charles temple.

Years ago while working in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as a trainer for the Open Society Institute I stumbled the value of storytelling as a tool for sparking discussions and helping people think critically. Our task was to work with teachers who, shortly after the cataclysmic political changes of 1989, wanted to know how to teach students to think in diverse ways and come up with their own answers to questions. I wanted to demonstrate ways of doing that; and soon found that the quickest way to engage listeners in a pithy subject for a discussion was to tell them a story, usually through a translator who would retell the words in the local language, sentence by sentence.  And then everybody would jump in and say what they thought about it.

Fifteen years and forty countries later it has become clear that storytelling is just a wonderful way to provoke discussions that get everybody thinking together—and you don’t have to go six thousand miles from home to do that. Here in the US, teachers in 45 states and the District of Columbia are now required by the Common Core Standards to teach the way those Eastern European teachers wanted to: so that students will learn to think deeply about issues they care about, stake out positions on those issues and support them with reasons, often in friendly debates with others. Storytelling is humanity’s oldest and most engaging way of putting issues out there for debate. To provoke rich discussions, all you need is to present them in a way that invites questions rather than asserts answers. That, and a few strategies for inviting and hosting discussions.

Some stories pose their own questions. They have questions built right into them. “The Cow Tail Switch,” from West Africa, and “The Theft of a Smell,” from Peru, are examples. You can have a good discussion of each by asking for predictions about the end, or you can use a fancier strategy such as “Corners” that gives people group support as they think of reasons to back their answers.

Some stories contain moral dilemmas that invite exploration. These stories may not come right out and ask a question, but the questions aren’t hard to find. “The Woman of the Sea,” from Scotland, and “The King and the Shirt,” from Russia, are stories that can invite listeners to voice their own questions. But there are strategies that can deepen the discussion and lead to debate. Some of those strategies are “Shared Inquiry,” “Discussion Web,” “Academic Controversy,” and “Value Line.”

And some stories seem straightforward, but can still yield up engaging issues with a little work. “Jack and the Beanstalk,” from England; “Hansel and Gretel,” from Germany; “The Boy Who Lived With the Bears,” from the Seneca Indians of Upstate New York; “The Orphan Boy and the Elk Dogs,” from the Blackfoot people of the Northern Plains; and “A Gift of Laurel Blooms,” from the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky, can all inspire interesting thoughts. But sometimes to get at the heart of these stories you need to to twist them around. And sometimes you need to climb inside the skin of the characters and see what they are going through.  Strategies like retelling them by casting people in different roles, or comparing them to other stories, or relating them to life, or dramatizing them can all lead to good discussions.

I look forward to seeing you in Richmond at the National Storytelling Conference this August.

About Charles

As a teacher, author of children’s books and textbooks, and leader of workshops for teachers and writers, my work has taken me to more than 30 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, the Caucasus, Central and Southeast Asia, and East and West Africa–with support from USAID, the World Bank, UNESCO, CIDA of Canada, the Dutch government, the Open Society Institute, and the International Reading Association. I was born in North Carolina, and lived in South Carolina, Virginia, and Texas before moving to Upstate New York, where I chair the education department at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and have happily taught for thirty years.

Contact Charles

10 of the Best Children’s Books That Promote Critical Thinking

Mikkaka Overstreet

Mikkaka Overstreet is from Louisville, Kentucky by way of Saginaw “Sagnasty”, Michigan. She has been an educator since 2006 and earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction in 2015. By day she is a mild-mannered literacy specialist. By night she sleeps. In between, she daydreams, writes fiction, and reads books. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband and cats.

View All posts by Mikkaka Overstreet

If you’re reading a post about children’s books that promote critical thinking, I assume you see the value in raising strong thinkers. Whether you’re a caregiver, educator, or potential employer, you want society’s children to develop complex reasoning and problem solving skills. These qualities benefit us all. 

Unfortunately, there are people and groups more interested in an industrious than a thoughtful population. The general public doesn’t agree on the purpose of public education . Neither, it seems, do education stakeholders. During recent remarks, North Carolina state Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt declared 2022 “the year of the workforce.”

Truitt explained, “We have got to redefine what the purpose of K–12 education is. Some would say it’s to produce critical thinkers, but my team and I believe that the purpose of a public K–12 education is to prepare students for the postsecondary plans of their choice so that they can be a functioning member of the workforce.”

While that statement makes my skin crawl, it’s more than unsettling: it’s contradictory. Employers regularly cite problem-solving and critical thinking skills as ideal qualities they seek in employees. According to a study from the Association of American Colleges and Universities , 95% of employers view critical thinking specifically as “very important” or “somewhat important.” Thus, preparing kids to think critically is preparing them for the workforce — and beyond.

Undoubtedly, our society needs more critical thinkers . We have lots of problems, both old and new, that will require innovative solutions. The following books will help encourage the next generation of big thinkers.

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10 Children’s Books That Promote Critical Thinking

The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López

The incomparable Jacqueline Woodson has done it again. In this newly released children’s book, readers journey into the vivid imaginations of the central characters. Woodson tells the story of children stuck inside because of bad weather. Rather than succumb to boredom, the children use their imaginations to escape the confines of their apartment. Surely, this will inspire children to dream big.

What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom

This inspiring picture book centers on a child with an idea. We get to follow the child as they nurture the idea and watch it grow. Undoubtedly, this simple story will resonate with anyone who has ever been afraid to share their big dreams with the world.

Shadow by Suzy Lee

This gorgeous wordless picture book is a guaranteed hit. The young protagonist uses her imagination and her shadow to create a fantasy world. Mirrored illustrations show both the true objects and the magical world the girl has built.

Going Places by Peter H. Reynolds and Paul A. Reynolds

I’m a big fan of Peter H. Reynolds’s work. He has a whimsical style and encourages creativity and self-love in his several excellent picture books. In this story, written with his twin brother, Reynolds introduces us to another uniquely wonderful protagonist. Maya enters a go-cart competition and must create a winning vehicle out of one of the identical kits given to all contestants. Of course, Maya doesn’t think inside the box she’s given. This is another fun story with a great lesson.

Mistakes Are How I Learn by Kiara Wilson

As we all know, mistakes are a part of the learning process. In this encouraging book, Wilson reminds kids to give themselves grace and space to make mistakes. Similar to The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes , this book is a good reminder for little perfectionists.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

This picture book takes the well-known duck or rabbit puzzle and tells a story. Obviously, readers will feel compelled to see both sides of this argument. This is a humorous introduction to considering varying viewpoints.

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

In this Caldecott Honor winner, seven blind mice try to determine the identity of an unfamiliar object. In Young’s take on the classic Indian tale, each mouse only gathers partial information. Of course, it takes the wisdom of the seventh mouse to put the pieces together and solve the puzzle.

What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban

You can probably guess what’s going to happen in this book, right? Clearly, there’s a metaphor here. Enjoy all the things a child can imagine with outside-of-the-box thinking in this rhythmic tale.

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

This book brilliantly executes a creative concept. Using strange and gorgeous illustrations, Wenzel depicts how differently individuals can perceive the same object. Consequently, readers are pushed to consider multiple viewpoints and how our perceptions color what we see.

Solutions for Cold Feet and Other Little Problems by Carey Sookocheff

Follow one little girl and her dog through the challenges of a normal day in this fun story. The girl asks lots of questions and persists when she encounters problems. This tale will inspire kiddos to see problem-solving as a positive and necessary part of life.

Hopefully, you’ve found something on this list that inspires you to think and dream. If you’d like more content like this, check out 7 Board Books for Woke Babies and 10 Science Books for Curious Kiddos . Read, think, and dream BIG!

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Want to raise a critical thinker? Try telling stories.

Engaging kids with storytelling skills has real brain benefits.

Like most elementary and middle school-age children, Jennifer Aycock’s four kids, ages six to 13, love a good story. And though reading is a cherished family activity, the Aycock family doesn’t always rely on books.

“When we’re telling stories out loud, you can see the kids engage differently,” says Aycock, a longtime teacher who incorporates storytelling in her classroom. “They listen more intently, and it seems to really spark their imagination.”

Scientific research on how kids’ brains respond to storytelling is relatively new, says Katie Knutson, board chair of the National Storytelling Network   and a professional storyteller. “[But] it’s clear that there are significant cognitive and academic benefits to both story listening and storytelling.”

Telling stories is nothing new and has been around since before the written language. The practice didn’t just communicate information—like that an area was dangerous because of predators—but also preserved history, honored religious traditions, and entertained.

They also create cultural cohesion. “Often stories are told in families to connect the next generation to those who have gone before, or to help kids develop the values that are most important in their culture,” Knutson says.

Weaving this creative tradition into your household can foster cognitive, social, and emotional development, which many parents are concerned has been disrupted by COVID-19-related school closures and isolation. Here’s why storytelling is good for kids—and how parents can make it part of their family life.

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Storytelling and the brain.

Although all kinds of story forms can provide great entertainment and convey valuable lessons, the ways kids process oral storytelling—whether they’re hearing a story or telling it themselves—elicits unique brain responses that are different from watching a television show, reading a book, or journaling.

“Using MRI imaging, neuroscience research has demonstrated that when a listener is engrossed in a teller’s story enough to forget about their surroundings—a   state called narrative transport —the functioning areas of the tellers' brains are [soon] mirrored in the listener's brain,” says   Cathy Miyata, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and master storyteller. This phenomenon is known as neural coupling, which is unique to verbal communication.

Oxytocin, a hormone involved in social bonding, may also play a role in narrative transport. “When children are told a meaningful or emotional story, their brain’s emotional response triggers a release of [the] neurochemical,” Miyata explains. Researchers suggest that this is because when listeners become emotionally engaged with the characters in a narrative, they are drawn deeper into that story world.

This social bonding experience—between the storyteller, listener, and story characters—can also help facilitate empathy building in kids. “Exposing listeners to emotional and meaningful stories influences their ability to empathize and actually motivates them to demonstrate acts of caring,” Miyata says.

The cognitive and social benefits of storytelling

“When children hear stories, they practice many of the skills they’ll need to be effective readers, writers, and critical thinkers,” Miyata says.

For example, research suggests that listening to and telling stories to an audience (even of one) can boost kids’ cognitive engagement, ability to identify patterns, and story-sequencing skills, or being able to identify the components of a story like the beginning, middle, and end.

Classroom studies in the United States and Canada also show a strong correlation between increased participation in storytelling—both as listener and teller—and children's problem-solving skills both at school and at home, adds Kendall Haven , a professional storyteller and author of Story Smart:   Using the Science of Story to Persuade, Influence, Inspire and Teach .  

Then there are social benefits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children have been isolated from friends and communities, and storytelling can help them feel more connected at home.

That’s because sharing stories can help build the relationship between the storyteller and listener. “Reading to a child is a wonderful thing to do that has many, many benefits,” Miyata says. But storytelling without a script can remove barriers and open up the imagination. “When you take away the book, there’s just the parent and child, focused on one another, interacting and sharing in a unique experience.”

How to make storytelling a part of your family life

Storytelling at home can help kids expand their imaginations and develop critical-thinking skills—but they might need some help to get started.

“When we ask kids, and even adults, to make up a story, the options are so unlimited that it’s often a struggle to come up with anything at all,” Knutson says. “When we give a limit to their freedom, often in the form of a loose prompt, it frees them up to get wildly creative.”

Model storytelling. With younger kids, a great way to get started is for parents to model storytelling. You can even make this a collaborative process. For example, Knutson recommends asking your child to think of a person, place, and thing, and then shaping a story around those details.

Help kids practice active listening . Instead of asking children to sit quietly throughout the story, parents can ask kids to predict what’s coming next. (“What do you think she saw behind that big red door?”) Invite them to move their bodies with the story. (“Let’s all tiptoe like Camilla sneaking by the snake!”) Or help them participate in the telling process with simple call-and-response prompts. (“When I say no, you say way!”)

Encourage kids to ask why. When kids are ready to start telling their own stories, Haven recommends encouraging kids to focus less on what happens and more on why it’s happening and what the motivations of the characters are. This is a kind of exercise in empathy. “Give details about why the character is doing what they’re doing, and ask listeners to make guesses as to the why’s in other parts of the story,” she says.

Talk about feelings. Prompts that focus on specific emotions can also help kids incorporate their own experiences and ideas into stories. Parents might ask kids to share about a time they felt surprised, sad, scared, or excited, or to create a story about a birthday, a friendship, or starting something new.

Ask good questions. While storytelling absolutely can be about dragons, fairies, or volcanoes, parents can help kids learn to tell good stories by helping them see stories in their everyday lives. Instead of asking “How was your day?” or “What did you learn at school?” parents can get creative. (“What did the food smell like in the cafeteria at lunch this afternoon?” or “Did anyone do anything unexpected in class today?”)

Get the whole family involved. Especially when kids range in age, story games can spark creativity and allow everyone to participate at their level. Popular storytelling games include retelling games that require family members to use puppets or toys to recreate a story; challenges that involve retelling well-known stories with a new twist (think Little Red Riding Hood, but all the characters are people you know); and round-robin games, in which one person starts a story and others take turns completing it.

Such round-robin games are familiar to Jennifer Aycock and her family. “It’s fun to see each person's personality come out in the part of the story they tell,” she says. “It’s a great way to connect as a family, learn more about what’s going on in each other’s lives, and have fun.”

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• STORYTELLING
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Home » Tips for Teachers » 21 Best Short Stories for High School Students: A Literary Journey of Inspiration and Insight

21 Best Short Stories for High School Students: A Literary Journey of Inspiration and Insight

In the world of education, few literary forms possess the same power as short stories. These compact narratives are like windows into different worlds, offering insights into the human experience, diverse cultures, and profound life lessons. For high school students, the significance of short stories cannot be overstated. They provide a unique opportunity to develop critical thinking, cultivate empathy, and ignite a passion for literature. In this article, we will embark on a journey to discover the best short stories for high school – a collection that spans from timeless classics to modern masterpieces, ensuring that every student can find a tale that resonates with them.

What makes a short story ideal for high school students? It’s a blend of storytelling craftsmanship, the ability to provoke thought and discussion, and a relevance that transcends generations. These are the qualities we seek in the best short stories for high school, narratives that bridge the gap between the past and the present, encouraging students to explore the depths of literature and discover the world within and around them. In the pages to follow, we will embark on a literary journey, exploring a collection of short stories that are sure to leave a lasting impression on high school students, enriching their understanding of the human experience and the power of storytelling.

In this article, we will delve into the world of short stories for high school students, uncovering the enduring relevance of these narratives in contemporary education.

The idea of using literature (either novels or short stories) is great for high school students. When they see fictional characters going through the same challenges they are, students can do deeper analysis on the story and on themselves. — Matt Woodworth, Ph.D. (@WoodworthPrep) October 2, 2023

What you’ll find on this page:

• The Significance of Short Stories in High School →
• 21 Best Short Stories for High School →
• Conclusion →

The Significance of Short Stories in High School

High school is a critical period in a student’s life, where they are exposed to a wide range of subjects and ideas. One essential aspect of education that often goes overlooked is the inclusion of short stories in the curriculum. These literary gems have a profound impact on students, shaping their character, and providing valuable life lessons. In this article, we will explore the significance of short stories in high school and how they contribute to a holistic education.

Developing Critical Thinking and Empathy

Short stories are windows into different worlds, cultures, and human experiences. When high school students engage with diverse characters and situations, they are challenged to think critically and empathize with the characters’ struggles and triumphs. Through this, they develop a deeper understanding of human nature and the complexities of the world around them.

Cultivating a Love for Literature

Exposing students to a variety of short stories can ignite a passion for literature. Reading stories that resonate with their age group and interests can turn them into lifelong readers. It’s not just about reading; it’s about fostering a love for the written word that extends beyond the classroom.

Enhancing Language Skills and Vocabulary

Short stories are rich in language and symbolism. Analyzing these narratives sharpens a student’s language skills, improves comprehension, and enriches their vocabulary. This enhancement in language proficiency not only aids academic success but also empowers them in communication and self-expression.

This video showcases effective strategies for enhancing reading skills in high school students.

Promoting Diversity and Cultural Awareness

In today’s interconnected world, cultural awareness is vital. Short stories often explore different cultural backgrounds, traditions, and worldviews. They introduce high school students to a myriad of perspectives, fostering tolerance and appreciation for diversity.

21 Best Short Stories for High School

These revised paragraphs provide a more structured and informative overview of each short story, making it easier for readers to understand the author, year, plot, lessons, and target audience for each story.

Useful Resources

• Reading Diversity in High School English Curriculum
• Teaching High School Students Active Reading Skills
• Reading problems in middle school and high school students

Short stories for high school students serve as invaluable tools for education. They foster critical thinking, nurture a love for literature, and provide students with essential life lessons. By exploring a variety of modern short stories, high school educators can engage their students in meaningful discussions, helping them develop into well-rounded individuals with a deeper appreciation for the world of literature.

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41+ Critical Thinking Examples (Definition + Practices)

Critical thinking is an essential skill in our information-overloaded world, where figuring out what is fact and fiction has become increasingly challenging.

But why is critical thinking essential? Put, critical thinking empowers us to make better decisions, challenge and validate our beliefs and assumptions, and understand and interact with the world more effectively and meaningfully.

Critical thinking is like using your brain's "superpowers" to make smart choices. Whether it's picking the right insurance, deciding what to do in a job, or discussing topics in school, thinking deeply helps a lot. In the next parts, we'll share real-life examples of when this superpower comes in handy and give you some fun exercises to practice it.

Critical Thinking Process Outline

Critical thinking means thinking clearly and fairly without letting personal feelings get in the way. It's like being a detective, trying to solve a mystery by using clues and thinking hard about them.

It isn't always easy to think critically, as it can take a pretty smart person to see some of the questions that aren't being answered in a certain situation. But, we can train our brains to think more like puzzle solvers, which can help develop our critical thinking skills.

Here's what it looks like step by step:

Spotting the Problem: It's like discovering a puzzle to solve. You see that there's something you need to figure out or decide.

Collecting Clues: Now, you need to gather information. Maybe you read about it, watch a video, talk to people, or do some research. It's like getting all the pieces to solve your puzzle.

Breaking It Down: This is where you look at all your clues and try to see how they fit together. You're asking questions like: Why did this happen? What could happen next?

Checking Your Clues: You want to make sure your information is good. This means seeing if what you found out is true and if you can trust where it came from.

Making a Guess: After looking at all your clues, you think about what they mean and come up with an answer. This answer is like your best guess based on what you know.

Explaining Your Thoughts: Now, you tell others how you solved the puzzle. You explain how you thought about it and how you answered. 

Checking Your Work: This is like looking back and seeing if you missed anything. Did you make any mistakes? Did you let any personal feelings get in the way? This step helps make sure your thinking is clear and fair.

And remember, you might sometimes need to go back and redo some steps if you discover something new. If you realize you missed an important clue, you might have to go back and collect more information.

Critical Thinking Methods

Just like doing push-ups or running helps our bodies get stronger, there are special exercises that help our brains think better. These brain workouts push us to think harder, look at things closely, and ask many questions.

It's not always about finding the "right" answer. Instead, it's about the journey of thinking and asking "why" or "how." Doing these exercises often helps us become better thinkers and makes us curious to know more about the world.

Now, let's look at some brain workouts to help us think better:

1. "What If" Scenarios

Imagine crazy things happening, like, "What if there was no internet for a month? What would we do?" These games help us think of new and different ideas.

Pick a hot topic. Argue one side of it and then try arguing the opposite. This makes us see different viewpoints and think deeply about a topic.

3. Analyze Visual Data

Check out charts or pictures with lots of numbers and info but no explanations. What story are they telling? This helps us get better at understanding information just by looking at it.

4. Mind Mapping

Write an idea in the center and then draw lines to related ideas. It's like making a map of your thoughts. This helps us see how everything is connected.

There's lots of mind-mapping software , but it's also nice to do this by hand.

5. Weekly Diary

Every week, write about what happened, the choices you made, and what you learned. Writing helps us think about our actions and how we can do better.

6. Evaluating Information Sources

Collect stories or articles about one topic from newspapers or blogs. Which ones are trustworthy? Which ones might be a little biased? This teaches us to be smart about where we get our info.

There are many resources to help you determine if information sources are factual or not.

7. Socratic Questioning

This way of thinking is called the Socrates Method, named after an old-time thinker from Greece. It's about asking lots of questions to understand a topic. You can do this by yourself or chat with a friend.

Start with a Big Question:

"What does 'success' mean?"

Dive Deeper with More Questions:

"Why do you think of success that way?" "Do TV shows, friends, or family make you think that?" "Does everyone think about success the same way?"

"Can someone be a winner even if they aren't rich or famous?" "Can someone feel like they didn't succeed, even if everyone else thinks they did?"

Look for Real-life Examples:

"Who is someone you think is successful? Why?" "Was there a time you felt like a winner? What happened?"

Think About Other People's Views:

"How might a person from another country think about success?" "Does the idea of success change as we grow up or as our life changes?"

Think About What It Means:

"How does your idea of success shape what you want in life?" "Are there problems with only wanting to be rich or famous?"

Look Back and Think:

"After talking about this, did your idea of success change? How?" "Did you learn something new about what success means?"

8. Six Thinking Hats 

Edward de Bono came up with a cool way to solve problems by thinking in six different ways, like wearing different colored hats. You can do this independently, but it might be more effective in a group so everyone can have a different hat color. Each color has its way of thinking:

White Hat (Facts): Just the facts! Ask, "What do we know? What do we need to find out?"

Red Hat (Feelings): Talk about feelings. Ask, "How do I feel about this?"

Black Hat (Careful Thinking): Be cautious. Ask, "What could go wrong?"

Yellow Hat (Positive Thinking): Look on the bright side. Ask, "What's good about this?"

Green Hat (Creative Thinking): Think of new ideas. Ask, "What's another way to look at this?"

Blue Hat (Planning): Organize the talk. Ask, "What should we do next?"

When using this method with a group:

• Explain all the hats.
• Decide which hat to wear first.
• Make sure everyone switches hats at the same time.
• Finish with the Blue Hat to plan the next steps.

9. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is like a game plan for businesses to know where they stand and where they should go. "SWOT" stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

There are a lot of SWOT templates out there for how to do this visually, but you can also think it through. It doesn't just apply to businesses but can be a good way to decide if a project you're working on is working.

Strengths: What's working well? Ask, "What are we good at?"

Weaknesses: Where can we do better? Ask, "Where can we improve?"

Opportunities: What good things might come our way? Ask, "What chances can we grab?"

Threats: What challenges might we face? Ask, "What might make things tough for us?"

Steps to do a SWOT Analysis:

• Goal: Decide what you want to find out.
• Research: Learn about your business and the world around it.
• Brainstorm: Get a group and think together. Talk about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Pick the Most Important Points: Some things might be more urgent or important than others.
• Make a Plan: Decide what to do based on your SWOT list.
• Check Again Later: Things change, so look at your SWOT again after a while to update it.

Now that you have a few tools for thinking critically, let’s get into some specific examples.

Everyday Examples

Life is a series of decisions. From the moment we wake up, we're faced with choices – some trivial, like choosing a breakfast cereal, and some more significant, like buying a home or confronting an ethical dilemma at work. While it might seem that these decisions are disparate, they all benefit from the application of critical thinking.

10. Deciding to buy something

Imagine you want a new phone. Don't just buy it because the ad looks cool. Think about what you need in a phone. Look up different phones and see what people say about them. Choose the one that's the best deal for what you want.

11. Deciding what is true

There's a lot of news everywhere. Don't believe everything right away. Think about why someone might be telling you this. Check if what you're reading or watching is true. Make up your mind after you've looked into it.

12. Deciding when you’re wrong

Sometimes, friends can have disagreements. Don't just get mad right away. Try to see where they're coming from. Talk about what's going on. Find a way to fix the problem that's fair for everyone.

13. Deciding what to eat

There's always a new diet or exercise that's popular. Don't just follow it because it's trendy. Find out if it's good for you. Ask someone who knows, like a doctor. Make choices that make you feel good and stay healthy.

14. Deciding what to do today

Everyone is busy with school, chores, and hobbies. Make a list of things you need to do. Decide which ones are most important. Plan your day so you can get things done and still have fun.

15. Making Tough Choices

Sometimes, it's hard to know what's right. Think about how each choice will affect you and others. Talk to people you trust about it. Choose what feels right in your heart and is fair to others.

16. Planning for the Future

Big decisions, like where to go to school, can be tricky. Think about what you want in the future. Look at the good and bad of each choice. Talk to people who know about it. Pick what feels best for your dreams and goals.

Job Examples

17. solving problems.

Workers brainstorm ways to fix a machine quickly without making things worse when a machine breaks at a factory.

18. Decision Making

A store manager decides which products to order more of based on what's selling best.

19. Setting Goals

A team leader helps their team decide what tasks are most important to finish this month and which can wait.

20. Evaluating Ideas

At a team meeting, everyone shares ideas for a new project. The group discusses each idea's pros and cons before picking one.

21. Handling Conflict

Two workers disagree on how to do a job. Instead of arguing, they talk calmly, listen to each other, and find a solution they both like.

22. Improving Processes

A cashier thinks of a faster way to ring up items so customers don't have to wait as long.

23. Asking Questions

Before starting a big task, an employee asks for clear instructions and checks if they have the necessary tools.

24. Checking Facts

Before presenting a report, someone double-checks all their information to make sure there are no mistakes.

25. Planning for the Future

A business owner thinks about what might happen in the next few years, like new competitors or changes in what customers want, and makes plans based on those thoughts.

26. Understanding Perspectives

A team is designing a new toy. They think about what kids and parents would both like instead of just what they think is fun.

School Examples

27. researching a topic.

For a history project, a student looks up different sources to understand an event from multiple viewpoints.

28. Debating an Issue

In a class discussion, students pick sides on a topic, like school uniforms, and share reasons to support their views.

29. Evaluating Sources

While writing an essay, a student checks if the information from a website is trustworthy or might be biased.

30. Problem Solving in Math

When stuck on a tricky math problem, a student tries different methods to find the answer instead of giving up.

31. Analyzing Literature

In English class, students discuss why a character in a book made certain choices and what those decisions reveal about them.

32. Testing a Hypothesis

For a science experiment, students guess what will happen and then conduct tests to see if they're right or wrong.

33. Giving Peer Feedback

After reading a classmate's essay, a student offers suggestions for improving it.

34. Questioning Assumptions

In a geography lesson, students consider why certain countries are called "developed" and what that label means.

35. Designing a Study

For a psychology project, students plan an experiment to understand how people's memories work and think of ways to ensure accurate results.

36. Interpreting Data

In a science class, students look at charts and graphs from a study, then discuss what the information tells them and if there are any patterns.

Critical Thinking Puzzles

Not all scenarios will have a single correct answer that can be figured out by thinking critically. Sometimes we have to think critically about ethical choices or moral behaviors. 

Here are some mind games and scenarios you can solve using critical thinking. You can see the solution(s) at the end of the post.

37. The Farmer, Fox, Chicken, and Grain Problem

A farmer is at a riverbank with a fox, a chicken, and a grain bag. He needs to get all three items across the river. However, his boat can only carry himself and one of the three items at a time. 

Here's the challenge:

• If the fox is left alone with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken.
• If the chicken is left alone with the grain, the chicken will eat the grain.

How can the farmer get all three items across the river without any item being eaten? 

38. The Rope, Jar, and Pebbles Problem

You are in a room with two long ropes hanging from the ceiling. Each rope is just out of arm's reach from the other, so you can't hold onto one rope and reach the other simultaneously. 

Your task is to tie the two rope ends together, but you can't move the position where they hang from the ceiling.

You are given a jar full of pebbles. How do you complete the task?

39. The Two Guards Problem

Imagine there are two doors. One door leads to certain doom, and the other leads to freedom. You don't know which is which.

In front of each door stands a guard. One guard always tells the truth. The other guard always lies. You don't know which guard is which.

You can ask only one question to one of the guards. What question should you ask to find the door that leads to freedom?

40. The Hourglass Problem

You have two hourglasses. One measures 7 minutes when turned over, and the other measures 4 minutes. Using just these hourglasses, how can you time exactly 9 minutes?

41. The Lifeboat Dilemma

Imagine you're on a ship that's sinking. You get on a lifeboat, but it's already too full and might flip over. 

Nearby in the water, five people are struggling: a scientist close to finding a cure for a sickness, an old couple who've been together for a long time, a mom with three kids waiting at home, and a tired teenager who helped save others but is now in danger. 

You can only save one person without making the boat flip. Who would you choose?

42. The Tech Dilemma

You work at a tech company and help make a computer program to help small businesses. You're almost ready to share it with everyone, but you find out there might be a small chance it has a problem that could show users' private info. 

If you decide to fix it, you must wait two more months before sharing it. But your bosses want you to share it now. What would you do?

43. The History Mystery

Dr. Amelia is a history expert. She's studying where a group of people traveled long ago. She reads old letters and documents to learn about it. But she finds some letters that tell a different story than what most people believe. 

If she says this new story is true, it could change what people learn in school and what they think about history. What should she do?

The Role of Bias in Critical Thinking

Have you ever decided you don’t like someone before you even know them? Or maybe someone shared an idea with you that you immediately loved without even knowing all the details. 

This experience is called bias, which occurs when you like or dislike something or someone without a good reason or knowing why. It can also take shape in certain reactions to situations, like a habit or instinct. 

Bias comes from our own experiences, what friends or family tell us, or even things we are born believing. Sometimes, bias can help us stay safe, but other times it stops us from seeing the truth.

Not all bias is bad. Bias can be a mechanism for assessing our potential safety in a new situation. If we are biased to think that anything long, thin, and curled up is a snake, we might assume the rope is something to be afraid of before we know it is just a rope.

While bias might serve us in some situations (like jumping out of the way of an actual snake before we have time to process that we need to be jumping out of the way), it often harms our ability to think critically.

How Bias Gets in the Way of Good Thinking

Selective Perception: We only notice things that match our ideas and ignore the rest. 

It's like only picking red candies from a mixed bowl because you think they taste the best, but they taste the same as every other candy in the bowl. It could also be when we see all the signs that our partner is cheating on us but choose to ignore them because we are happy the way we are (or at least, we think we are).

Agreeing with Yourself: This is called “ confirmation bias ” when we only listen to ideas that match our own and seek, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms what we already think we know or believe. 

An example is when someone wants to know if it is safe to vaccinate their children but already believes that vaccines are not safe, so they only look for information supporting the idea that vaccines are bad.

Thinking We Know It All: Similar to confirmation bias, this is called “overconfidence bias.” Sometimes we think our ideas are the best and don't listen to others. This can stop us from learning.

Have you ever met someone who you consider a “know it”? Probably, they have a lot of overconfidence bias because while they may know many things accurately, they can’t know everything. Still, if they act like they do, they show overconfidence bias.

There's a weird kind of bias similar to this called the Dunning Kruger Effect, and that is when someone is bad at what they do, but they believe and act like they are the best .

Following the Crowd: This is formally called “groupthink”. It's hard to speak up with a different idea if everyone agrees. But this can lead to mistakes.

An example of this we’ve all likely seen is the cool clique in primary school. There is usually one person that is the head of the group, the “coolest kid in school”, and everyone listens to them and does what they want, even if they don’t think it’s a good idea.

How to Overcome Biases

Here are a few ways to learn to think better, free from our biases (or at least aware of them!).

Know Your Biases: Realize that everyone has biases. If we know about them, we can think better.

Listen to Different People: Talking to different kinds of people can give us new ideas.

Ask Why: Always ask yourself why you believe something. Is it true, or is it just a bias?

Understand Others: Try to think about how others feel. It helps you see things in new ways.

Keep Learning: Always be curious and open to new information.

In today's world, everything changes fast, and there's so much information everywhere. This makes critical thinking super important. It helps us distinguish between what's real and what's made up. It also helps us make good choices. But thinking this way can be tough sometimes because of biases. These are like sneaky thoughts that can trick us. The good news is we can learn to see them and think better.

There are cool tools and ways we've talked about, like the "Socratic Questioning" method and the "Six Thinking Hats." These tools help us get better at thinking. These thinking skills can also help us in school, work, and everyday life.

We’ve also looked at specific scenarios where critical thinking would be helpful, such as deciding what diet to follow and checking facts.

Thinking isn't just a skill—it's a special talent we improve over time. Working on it lets us see things more clearly and understand the world better. So, keep practicing and asking questions! It'll make you a smarter thinker and help you see the world differently.

Critical Thinking Puzzles (Solutions)

The farmer, fox, chicken, and grain problem.

• The farmer first takes the chicken across the river and leaves it on the other side.
• He returns to the original side and takes the fox across the river.
• After leaving the fox on the other side, he returns the chicken to the starting side.
• He leaves the chicken on the starting side and takes the grain bag across the river.
• He leaves the grain with the fox on the other side and returns to get the chicken.
• The farmer takes the chicken across, and now all three items -- the fox, the chicken, and the grain -- are safely on the other side of the river.

The Rope, Jar, and Pebbles Problem

• Take one rope and tie the jar of pebbles to its end.
• Swing the rope with the jar in a pendulum motion.
• While the rope is swinging, grab the other rope and wait.
• As the swinging rope comes back within reach due to its pendulum motion, grab it.
• With both ropes within reach, untie the jar and tie the rope ends together.

The Two Guards Problem

The question is, "What would the other guard say is the door to doom?" Then choose the opposite door.

The Hourglass Problem

• Start both hourglasses. 
• When the 4-minute hourglass runs out, turn it over.
• When the 7-minute hourglass runs out, the 4-minute hourglass will have been running for 3 minutes. Turn the 7-minute hourglass over. 
• When the 4-minute hourglass runs out for the second time (a total of 8 minutes have passed), the 7-minute hourglass will run for 1 minute. Turn the 7-minute hourglass again for 1 minute to empty the hourglass (a total of 9 minutes passed).

The Boat and Weights Problem

Take the cat over first and leave it on the other side. Then, return and take the fish across next. When you get there, take the cat back with you. Leave the cat on the starting side and take the cat food across. Lastly, return to get the cat and bring it to the other side.

The Lifeboat Dilemma

There isn’t one correct answer to this problem. Here are some elements to consider:

• Moral Principles: What values guide your decision? Is it the potential greater good for humanity (the scientist)? What is the value of long-standing love and commitment (the elderly couple)? What is the future of young children who depend on their mothers? Or the selfless bravery of the teenager?
• Future Implications: Consider the future consequences of each choice. Saving the scientist might benefit millions in the future, but what moral message does it send about the value of individual lives?
• Emotional vs. Logical Thinking: While it's essential to engage empathy, it's also crucial not to let emotions cloud judgment entirely. For instance, while the teenager's bravery is commendable, does it make him more deserving of a spot on the boat than the others?
• Acknowledging Uncertainty: The scientist claims to be close to a significant breakthrough, but there's no certainty. How does this uncertainty factor into your decision?
• Personal Bias: Recognize and challenge any personal biases, such as biases towards age, profession, or familial status.

The Tech Dilemma

Again, there isn’t one correct answer to this problem. Here are some elements to consider:

• Evaluate the Risk: How severe is the potential vulnerability? Can it be easily exploited, or would it require significant expertise? Even if the circumstances are rare, what would be the consequences if the vulnerability were exploited?
• Stakeholder Considerations: Different stakeholders will have different priorities. Upper management might prioritize financial projections, the marketing team might be concerned about the product's reputation, and customers might prioritize the security of their data. How do you balance these competing interests?
• Short-Term vs. Long-Term Implications: While launching on time could meet immediate financial goals, consider the potential long-term damage to the company's reputation if the vulnerability is exploited. Would the short-term gains be worth the potential long-term costs?
• Ethical Implications : Beyond the financial and reputational aspects, there's an ethical dimension to consider. Is it right to release a product with a known vulnerability, even if the chances of it being exploited are low?
• Seek External Input: Consulting with cybersecurity experts outside your company might be beneficial. They could provide a more objective risk assessment and potential mitigation strategies.
• Communication: How will you communicate the decision, whatever it may be, both internally to your team and upper management and externally to your customers and potential users?

The History Mystery

Dr. Amelia should take the following steps:

• Verify the Letters: Before making any claims, she should check if the letters are actual and not fake. She can do this by seeing when and where they were written and if they match with other things from that time.
• Get a Second Opinion: It's always good to have someone else look at what you've found. Dr. Amelia could show the letters to other history experts and see their thoughts.
• Research More: Maybe there are more documents or letters out there that support this new story. Dr. Amelia should keep looking to see if she can find more evidence.
• Share the Findings: If Dr. Amelia believes the letters are true after all her checks, she should tell others. This can be through books, talks, or articles.
• Stay Open to Feedback: Some people might agree with Dr. Amelia, and others might not. She should listen to everyone and be ready to learn more or change her mind if new information arises.

Ultimately, Dr. Amelia's job is to find out the truth about history and share it. It's okay if this new truth differs from what people used to believe. History is about learning from the past, no matter the story.

Related posts:

• Experimenter Bias (Definition + Examples)
• Hasty Generalization Fallacy (31 Examples + Similar Names)
• Ad Hoc Fallacy (29 Examples + Other Names)
• Confirmation Bias (Examples + Definition)
• Equivocation Fallacy (26 Examples + Description)

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• Observation
• Identifying and evaluating evidence
• Comparing and contrasting shapes and objects
• Inference (evidence-based prediction)
• Cause and effect
• Identify and describing a sequence of events

These stories also develop pre-reading skills.  Pre-readers progress from “listening” to a story to “telling” a story, becoming more engaged in the reading process as they identify and shape the storyline.  Reading involves more than just decoding written text.  A large part of reading is gaining meaning from symbols—both letters and pictures.

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Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a widely accepted educational goal. Its definition is contested, but the competing definitions can be understood as differing conceptions of the same basic concept: careful thinking directed to a goal. Conceptions differ with respect to the scope of such thinking, the type of goal, the criteria and norms for thinking carefully, and the thinking components on which they focus. Its adoption as an educational goal has been recommended on the basis of respect for students’ autonomy and preparing students for success in life and for democratic citizenship. “Critical thinkers” have the dispositions and abilities that lead them to think critically when appropriate. The abilities can be identified directly; the dispositions indirectly, by considering what factors contribute to or impede exercise of the abilities. Standardized tests have been developed to assess the degree to which a person possesses such dispositions and abilities. Educational intervention has been shown experimentally to improve them, particularly when it includes dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring. Controversies have arisen over the generalizability of critical thinking across domains, over alleged bias in critical thinking theories and instruction, and over the relationship of critical thinking to other types of thinking.

2.1 Dewey’s Three Main Examples

2.2 dewey’s other examples, 2.3 further examples, 2.4 non-examples, 3. the definition of critical thinking, 4. its value, 5. the process of thinking critically, 6. components of the process, 7. contributory dispositions and abilities, 8.1 initiating dispositions, 8.2 internal dispositions, 9. critical thinking abilities, 10. required knowledge, 11. educational methods, 12.1 the generalizability of critical thinking, 12.2 bias in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, 12.3 relationship of critical thinking to other types of thinking, other internet resources, related entries.

Use of the term ‘critical thinking’ to describe an educational goal goes back to the American philosopher John Dewey (1910), who more commonly called it ‘reflective thinking’. He defined it as

active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends. (Dewey 1910: 6; 1933: 9)

and identified a habit of such consideration with a scientific attitude of mind. His lengthy quotations of Francis Bacon, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill indicate that he was not the first person to propose development of a scientific attitude of mind as an educational goal.

In the 1930s, many of the schools that participated in the Eight-Year Study of the Progressive Education Association (Aikin 1942) adopted critical thinking as an educational goal, for whose achievement the study’s Evaluation Staff developed tests (Smith, Tyler, & Evaluation Staff 1942). Glaser (1941) showed experimentally that it was possible to improve the critical thinking of high school students. Bloom’s influential taxonomy of cognitive educational objectives (Bloom et al. 1956) incorporated critical thinking abilities. Ennis (1962) proposed 12 aspects of critical thinking as a basis for research on the teaching and evaluation of critical thinking ability.

Since 1980, an annual international conference in California on critical thinking and educational reform has attracted tens of thousands of educators from all levels of education and from many parts of the world. Also since 1980, the state university system in California has required all undergraduate students to take a critical thinking course. Since 1983, the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking has sponsored sessions in conjunction with the divisional meetings of the American Philosophical Association (APA). In 1987, the APA’s Committee on Pre-College Philosophy commissioned a consensus statement on critical thinking for purposes of educational assessment and instruction (Facione 1990a). Researchers have developed standardized tests of critical thinking abilities and dispositions; for details, see the Supplement on Assessment . Educational jurisdictions around the world now include critical thinking in guidelines for curriculum and assessment.

For details on this history, see the Supplement on History .

2. Examples and Non-Examples

Before considering the definition of critical thinking, it will be helpful to have in mind some examples of critical thinking, as well as some examples of kinds of thinking that would apparently not count as critical thinking.

Dewey (1910: 68–71; 1933: 91–94) takes as paradigms of reflective thinking three class papers of students in which they describe their thinking. The examples range from the everyday to the scientific.

Transit : “The other day, when I was down town on 16th Street, a clock caught my eye. I saw that the hands pointed to 12:20. This suggested that I had an engagement at 124th Street, at one o’clock. I reasoned that as it had taken me an hour to come down on a surface car, I should probably be twenty minutes late if I returned the same way. I might save twenty minutes by a subway express. But was there a station near? If not, I might lose more than twenty minutes in looking for one. Then I thought of the elevated, and I saw there was such a line within two blocks. But where was the station? If it were several blocks above or below the street I was on, I should lose time instead of gaining it. My mind went back to the subway express as quicker than the elevated; furthermore, I remembered that it went nearer than the elevated to the part of 124th Street I wished to reach, so that time would be saved at the end of the journey. I concluded in favor of the subway, and reached my destination by one o’clock.” (Dewey 1910: 68–69; 1933: 91–92)

Ferryboat : “Projecting nearly horizontally from the upper deck of the ferryboat on which I daily cross the river is a long white pole, having a gilded ball at its tip. It suggested a flagpole when I first saw it; its color, shape, and gilded ball agreed with this idea, and these reasons seemed to justify me in this belief. But soon difficulties presented themselves. The pole was nearly horizontal, an unusual position for a flagpole; in the next place, there was no pulley, ring, or cord by which to attach a flag; finally, there were elsewhere on the boat two vertical staffs from which flags were occasionally flown. It seemed probable that the pole was not there for flag-flying.

“I then tried to imagine all possible purposes of the pole, and to consider for which of these it was best suited: (a) Possibly it was an ornament. But as all the ferryboats and even the tugboats carried poles, this hypothesis was rejected. (b) Possibly it was the terminal of a wireless telegraph. But the same considerations made this improbable. Besides, the more natural place for such a terminal would be the highest part of the boat, on top of the pilot house. (c) Its purpose might be to point out the direction in which the boat is moving.

“In support of this conclusion, I discovered that the pole was lower than the pilot house, so that the steersman could easily see it. Moreover, the tip was enough higher than the base, so that, from the pilot’s position, it must appear to project far out in front of the boat. Moreover, the pilot being near the front of the boat, he would need some such guide as to its direction. Tugboats would also need poles for such a purpose. This hypothesis was so much more probable than the others that I accepted it. I formed the conclusion that the pole was set up for the purpose of showing the pilot the direction in which the boat pointed, to enable him to steer correctly.” (Dewey 1910: 69–70; 1933: 92–93)

Bubbles : “In washing tumblers in hot soapsuds and placing them mouth downward on a plate, bubbles appeared on the outside of the mouth of the tumblers and then went inside. Why? The presence of bubbles suggests air, which I note must come from inside the tumbler. I see that the soapy water on the plate prevents escape of the air save as it may be caught in bubbles. But why should air leave the tumbler? There was no substance entering to force it out. It must have expanded. It expands by increase of heat, or by decrease of pressure, or both. Could the air have become heated after the tumbler was taken from the hot suds? Clearly not the air that was already entangled in the water. If heated air was the cause, cold air must have entered in transferring the tumblers from the suds to the plate. I test to see if this supposition is true by taking several more tumblers out. Some I shake so as to make sure of entrapping cold air in them. Some I take out holding mouth downward in order to prevent cold air from entering. Bubbles appear on the outside of every one of the former and on none of the latter. I must be right in my inference. Air from the outside must have been expanded by the heat of the tumbler, which explains the appearance of the bubbles on the outside. But why do they then go inside? Cold contracts. The tumbler cooled and also the air inside it. Tension was removed, and hence bubbles appeared inside. To be sure of this, I test by placing a cup of ice on the tumbler while the bubbles are still forming outside. They soon reverse” (Dewey 1910: 70–71; 1933: 93–94).

Dewey (1910, 1933) sprinkles his book with other examples of critical thinking. We will refer to the following.

Weather : A man on a walk notices that it has suddenly become cool, thinks that it is probably going to rain, looks up and sees a dark cloud obscuring the sun, and quickens his steps (1910: 6–10; 1933: 9–13).

Disorder : A man finds his rooms on his return to them in disorder with his belongings thrown about, thinks at first of burglary as an explanation, then thinks of mischievous children as being an alternative explanation, then looks to see whether valuables are missing, and discovers that they are (1910: 82–83; 1933: 166–168).

Typhoid : A physician diagnosing a patient whose conspicuous symptoms suggest typhoid avoids drawing a conclusion until more data are gathered by questioning the patient and by making tests (1910: 85–86; 1933: 170).

Blur : A moving blur catches our eye in the distance, we ask ourselves whether it is a cloud of whirling dust or a tree moving its branches or a man signaling to us, we think of other traits that should be found on each of those possibilities, and we look and see if those traits are found (1910: 102, 108; 1933: 121, 133).

Suction pump : In thinking about the suction pump, the scientist first notes that it will draw water only to a maximum height of 33 feet at sea level and to a lesser maximum height at higher elevations, selects for attention the differing atmospheric pressure at these elevations, sets up experiments in which the air is removed from a vessel containing water (when suction no longer works) and in which the weight of air at various levels is calculated, compares the results of reasoning about the height to which a given weight of air will allow a suction pump to raise water with the observed maximum height at different elevations, and finally assimilates the suction pump to such apparently different phenomena as the siphon and the rising of a balloon (1910: 150–153; 1933: 195–198).

Diamond : A passenger in a car driving in a diamond lane reserved for vehicles with at least one passenger notices that the diamond marks on the pavement are far apart in some places and close together in others. Why? The driver suggests that the reason may be that the diamond marks are not needed where there is a solid double line separating the diamond lane from the adjoining lane, but are needed when there is a dotted single line permitting crossing into the diamond lane. Further observation confirms that the diamonds are close together when a dotted line separates the diamond lane from its neighbour, but otherwise far apart.

Rash : A woman suddenly develops a very itchy red rash on her throat and upper chest. She recently noticed a mark on the back of her right hand, but was not sure whether the mark was a rash or a scrape. She lies down in bed and thinks about what might be causing the rash and what to do about it. About two weeks before, she began taking blood pressure medication that contained a sulfa drug, and the pharmacist had warned her, in view of a previous allergic reaction to a medication containing a sulfa drug, to be on the alert for an allergic reaction; however, she had been taking the medication for two weeks with no such effect. The day before, she began using a new cream on her neck and upper chest; against the new cream as the cause was mark on the back of her hand, which had not been exposed to the cream. She began taking probiotics about a month before. She also recently started new eye drops, but she supposed that manufacturers of eye drops would be careful not to include allergy-causing components in the medication. The rash might be a heat rash, since she recently was sweating profusely from her upper body. Since she is about to go away on a short vacation, where she would not have access to her usual physician, she decides to keep taking the probiotics and using the new eye drops but to discontinue the blood pressure medication and to switch back to the old cream for her neck and upper chest. She forms a plan to consult her regular physician on her return about the blood pressure medication.

Candidate : Although Dewey included no examples of thinking directed at appraising the arguments of others, such thinking has come to be considered a kind of critical thinking. We find an example of such thinking in the performance task on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+), which its sponsoring organization describes as

a performance-based assessment that provides a measure of an institution’s contribution to the development of critical-thinking and written communication skills of its students. (Council for Aid to Education 2017)

A sample task posted on its website requires the test-taker to write a report for public distribution evaluating a fictional candidate’s policy proposals and their supporting arguments, using supplied background documents, with a recommendation on whether to endorse the candidate.

Immediate acceptance of an idea that suggests itself as a solution to a problem (e.g., a possible explanation of an event or phenomenon, an action that seems likely to produce a desired result) is “uncritical thinking, the minimum of reflection” (Dewey 1910: 13). On-going suspension of judgment in the light of doubt about a possible solution is not critical thinking (Dewey 1910: 108). Critique driven by a dogmatically held political or religious ideology is not critical thinking; thus Paulo Freire (1968 [1970]) is using the term (e.g., at 1970: 71, 81, 100, 146) in a more politically freighted sense that includes not only reflection but also revolutionary action against oppression. Derivation of a conclusion from given data using an algorithm is not critical thinking.

What is critical thinking? There are many definitions. Ennis (2016) lists 14 philosophically oriented scholarly definitions and three dictionary definitions. Following Rawls (1971), who distinguished his conception of justice from a utilitarian conception but regarded them as rival conceptions of the same concept, Ennis maintains that the 17 definitions are different conceptions of the same concept. Rawls articulated the shared concept of justice as

a characteristic set of principles for assigning basic rights and duties and for determining… the proper distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation. (Rawls 1971: 5)

Bailin et al. (1999b) claim that, if one considers what sorts of thinking an educator would take not to be critical thinking and what sorts to be critical thinking, one can conclude that educators typically understand critical thinking to have at least three features.

• It is done for the purpose of making up one’s mind about what to believe or do.
• The person engaging in the thinking is trying to fulfill standards of adequacy and accuracy appropriate to the thinking.
• The thinking fulfills the relevant standards to some threshold level.

One could sum up the core concept that involves these three features by saying that critical thinking is careful goal-directed thinking. This core concept seems to apply to all the examples of critical thinking described in the previous section. As for the non-examples, their exclusion depends on construing careful thinking as excluding jumping immediately to conclusions, suspending judgment no matter how strong the evidence, reasoning from an unquestioned ideological or religious perspective, and routinely using an algorithm to answer a question.

If the core of critical thinking is careful goal-directed thinking, conceptions of it can vary according to its presumed scope, its presumed goal, one’s criteria and threshold for being careful, and the thinking component on which one focuses. As to its scope, some conceptions (e.g., Dewey 1910, 1933) restrict it to constructive thinking on the basis of one’s own observations and experiments, others (e.g., Ennis 1962; Fisher & Scriven 1997; Johnson 1992) to appraisal of the products of such thinking. Ennis (1991) and Bailin et al. (1999b) take it to cover both construction and appraisal. As to its goal, some conceptions restrict it to forming a judgment (Dewey 1910, 1933; Lipman 1987; Facione 1990a). Others allow for actions as well as beliefs as the end point of a process of critical thinking (Ennis 1991; Bailin et al. 1999b). As to the criteria and threshold for being careful, definitions vary in the term used to indicate that critical thinking satisfies certain norms: “intellectually disciplined” (Scriven & Paul 1987), “reasonable” (Ennis 1991), “skillful” (Lipman 1987), “skilled” (Fisher & Scriven 1997), “careful” (Bailin & Battersby 2009). Some definitions specify these norms, referring variously to “consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey 1910, 1933); “the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning” (Glaser 1941); “conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication” (Scriven & Paul 1987); the requirement that “it is sensitive to context, relies on criteria, and is self-correcting” (Lipman 1987); “evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations” (Facione 1990a); and “plus-minus considerations of the product in terms of appropriate standards (or criteria)” (Johnson 1992). Stanovich and Stanovich (2010) propose to ground the concept of critical thinking in the concept of rationality, which they understand as combining epistemic rationality (fitting one’s beliefs to the world) and instrumental rationality (optimizing goal fulfillment); a critical thinker, in their view, is someone with “a propensity to override suboptimal responses from the autonomous mind” (2010: 227). These variant specifications of norms for critical thinking are not necessarily incompatible with one another, and in any case presuppose the core notion of thinking carefully. As to the thinking component singled out, some definitions focus on suspension of judgment during the thinking (Dewey 1910; McPeck 1981), others on inquiry while judgment is suspended (Bailin & Battersby 2009, 2021), others on the resulting judgment (Facione 1990a), and still others on responsiveness to reasons (Siegel 1988). Kuhn (2019) takes critical thinking to be more a dialogic practice of advancing and responding to arguments than an individual ability.

In educational contexts, a definition of critical thinking is a “programmatic definition” (Scheffler 1960: 19). It expresses a practical program for achieving an educational goal. For this purpose, a one-sentence formulaic definition is much less useful than articulation of a critical thinking process, with criteria and standards for the kinds of thinking that the process may involve. The real educational goal is recognition, adoption and implementation by students of those criteria and standards. That adoption and implementation in turn consists in acquiring the knowledge, abilities and dispositions of a critical thinker.

Conceptions of critical thinking generally do not include moral integrity as part of the concept. Dewey, for example, took critical thinking to be the ultimate intellectual goal of education, but distinguished it from the development of social cooperation among school children, which he took to be the central moral goal. Ennis (1996, 2011) added to his previous list of critical thinking dispositions a group of dispositions to care about the dignity and worth of every person, which he described as a “correlative” (1996) disposition without which critical thinking would be less valuable and perhaps harmful. An educational program that aimed at developing critical thinking but not the correlative disposition to care about the dignity and worth of every person, he asserted, “would be deficient and perhaps dangerous” (Ennis 1996: 172).

Dewey thought that education for reflective thinking would be of value to both the individual and society; recognition in educational practice of the kinship to the scientific attitude of children’s native curiosity, fertile imagination and love of experimental inquiry “would make for individual happiness and the reduction of social waste” (Dewey 1910: iii). Schools participating in the Eight-Year Study took development of the habit of reflective thinking and skill in solving problems as a means to leading young people to understand, appreciate and live the democratic way of life characteristic of the United States (Aikin 1942: 17–18, 81). Harvey Siegel (1988: 55–61) has offered four considerations in support of adopting critical thinking as an educational ideal. (1) Respect for persons requires that schools and teachers honour students’ demands for reasons and explanations, deal with students honestly, and recognize the need to confront students’ independent judgment; these requirements concern the manner in which teachers treat students. (2) Education has the task of preparing children to be successful adults, a task that requires development of their self-sufficiency. (3) Education should initiate children into the rational traditions in such fields as history, science and mathematics. (4) Education should prepare children to become democratic citizens, which requires reasoned procedures and critical talents and attitudes. To supplement these considerations, Siegel (1988: 62–90) responds to two objections: the ideology objection that adoption of any educational ideal requires a prior ideological commitment and the indoctrination objection that cultivation of critical thinking cannot escape being a form of indoctrination.

Despite the diversity of our 11 examples, one can recognize a common pattern. Dewey analyzed it as consisting of five phases:

• suggestions , in which the mind leaps forward to a possible solution;
• an intellectualization of the difficulty or perplexity into a problem to be solved, a question for which the answer must be sought;
• the use of one suggestion after another as a leading idea, or hypothesis , to initiate and guide observation and other operations in collection of factual material;
• the mental elaboration of the idea or supposition as an idea or supposition ( reasoning , in the sense on which reasoning is a part, not the whole, of inference); and
• testing the hypothesis by overt or imaginative action. (Dewey 1933: 106–107; italics in original)

The process of reflective thinking consisting of these phases would be preceded by a perplexed, troubled or confused situation and followed by a cleared-up, unified, resolved situation (Dewey 1933: 106). The term ‘phases’ replaced the term ‘steps’ (Dewey 1910: 72), thus removing the earlier suggestion of an invariant sequence. Variants of the above analysis appeared in (Dewey 1916: 177) and (Dewey 1938: 101–119).

The variant formulations indicate the difficulty of giving a single logical analysis of such a varied process. The process of critical thinking may have a spiral pattern, with the problem being redefined in the light of obstacles to solving it as originally formulated. For example, the person in Transit might have concluded that getting to the appointment at the scheduled time was impossible and have reformulated the problem as that of rescheduling the appointment for a mutually convenient time. Further, defining a problem does not always follow after or lead immediately to an idea of a suggested solution. Nor should it do so, as Dewey himself recognized in describing the physician in Typhoid as avoiding any strong preference for this or that conclusion before getting further information (Dewey 1910: 85; 1933: 170). People with a hypothesis in mind, even one to which they have a very weak commitment, have a so-called “confirmation bias” (Nickerson 1998): they are likely to pay attention to evidence that confirms the hypothesis and to ignore evidence that counts against it or for some competing hypothesis. Detectives, intelligence agencies, and investigators of airplane accidents are well advised to gather relevant evidence systematically and to postpone even tentative adoption of an explanatory hypothesis until the collected evidence rules out with the appropriate degree of certainty all but one explanation. Dewey’s analysis of the critical thinking process can be faulted as well for requiring acceptance or rejection of a possible solution to a defined problem, with no allowance for deciding in the light of the available evidence to suspend judgment. Further, given the great variety of kinds of problems for which reflection is appropriate, there is likely to be variation in its component events. Perhaps the best way to conceptualize the critical thinking process is as a checklist whose component events can occur in a variety of orders, selectively, and more than once. These component events might include (1) noticing a difficulty, (2) defining the problem, (3) dividing the problem into manageable sub-problems, (4) formulating a variety of possible solutions to the problem or sub-problem, (5) determining what evidence is relevant to deciding among possible solutions to the problem or sub-problem, (6) devising a plan of systematic observation or experiment that will uncover the relevant evidence, (7) carrying out the plan of systematic observation or experimentation, (8) noting the results of the systematic observation or experiment, (9) gathering relevant testimony and information from others, (10) judging the credibility of testimony and information gathered from others, (11) drawing conclusions from gathered evidence and accepted testimony, and (12) accepting a solution that the evidence adequately supports (cf. Hitchcock 2017: 485).

Checklist conceptions of the process of critical thinking are open to the objection that they are too mechanical and procedural to fit the multi-dimensional and emotionally charged issues for which critical thinking is urgently needed (Paul 1984). For such issues, a more dialectical process is advocated, in which competing relevant world views are identified, their implications explored, and some sort of creative synthesis attempted.

If one considers the critical thinking process illustrated by the 11 examples, one can identify distinct kinds of mental acts and mental states that form part of it. To distinguish, label and briefly characterize these components is a useful preliminary to identifying abilities, skills, dispositions, attitudes, habits and the like that contribute causally to thinking critically. Identifying such abilities and habits is in turn a useful preliminary to setting educational goals. Setting the goals is in its turn a useful preliminary to designing strategies for helping learners to achieve the goals and to designing ways of measuring the extent to which learners have done so. Such measures provide both feedback to learners on their achievement and a basis for experimental research on the effectiveness of various strategies for educating people to think critically. Let us begin, then, by distinguishing the kinds of mental acts and mental events that can occur in a critical thinking process.

• Observing : One notices something in one’s immediate environment (sudden cooling of temperature in Weather , bubbles forming outside a glass and then going inside in Bubbles , a moving blur in the distance in Blur , a rash in Rash ). Or one notes the results of an experiment or systematic observation (valuables missing in Disorder , no suction without air pressure in Suction pump )
• Feeling : One feels puzzled or uncertain about something (how to get to an appointment on time in Transit , why the diamonds vary in spacing in Diamond ). One wants to resolve this perplexity. One feels satisfaction once one has worked out an answer (to take the subway express in Transit , diamonds closer when needed as a warning in Diamond ).
• Wondering : One formulates a question to be addressed (why bubbles form outside a tumbler taken from hot water in Bubbles , how suction pumps work in Suction pump , what caused the rash in Rash ).
• Imagining : One thinks of possible answers (bus or subway or elevated in Transit , flagpole or ornament or wireless communication aid or direction indicator in Ferryboat , allergic reaction or heat rash in Rash ).
• Inferring : One works out what would be the case if a possible answer were assumed (valuables missing if there has been a burglary in Disorder , earlier start to the rash if it is an allergic reaction to a sulfa drug in Rash ). Or one draws a conclusion once sufficient relevant evidence is gathered (take the subway in Transit , burglary in Disorder , discontinue blood pressure medication and new cream in Rash ).
• Knowledge : One uses stored knowledge of the subject-matter to generate possible answers or to infer what would be expected on the assumption of a particular answer (knowledge of a city’s public transit system in Transit , of the requirements for a flagpole in Ferryboat , of Boyle’s law in Bubbles , of allergic reactions in Rash ).
• Experimenting : One designs and carries out an experiment or a systematic observation to find out whether the results deduced from a possible answer will occur (looking at the location of the flagpole in relation to the pilot’s position in Ferryboat , putting an ice cube on top of a tumbler taken from hot water in Bubbles , measuring the height to which a suction pump will draw water at different elevations in Suction pump , noticing the spacing of diamonds when movement to or from a diamond lane is allowed in Diamond ).
• Consulting : One finds a source of information, gets the information from the source, and makes a judgment on whether to accept it. None of our 11 examples include searching for sources of information. In this respect they are unrepresentative, since most people nowadays have almost instant access to information relevant to answering any question, including many of those illustrated by the examples. However, Candidate includes the activities of extracting information from sources and evaluating its credibility.
• Identifying and analyzing arguments : One notices an argument and works out its structure and content as a preliminary to evaluating its strength. This activity is central to Candidate . It is an important part of a critical thinking process in which one surveys arguments for various positions on an issue.
• Judging : One makes a judgment on the basis of accumulated evidence and reasoning, such as the judgment in Ferryboat that the purpose of the pole is to provide direction to the pilot.
• Deciding : One makes a decision on what to do or on what policy to adopt, as in the decision in Transit to take the subway.

By definition, a person who does something voluntarily is both willing and able to do that thing at that time. Both the willingness and the ability contribute causally to the person’s action, in the sense that the voluntary action would not occur if either (or both) of these were lacking. For example, suppose that one is standing with one’s arms at one’s sides and one voluntarily lifts one’s right arm to an extended horizontal position. One would not do so if one were unable to lift one’s arm, if for example one’s right side was paralyzed as the result of a stroke. Nor would one do so if one were unwilling to lift one’s arm, if for example one were participating in a street demonstration at which a white supremacist was urging the crowd to lift their right arm in a Nazi salute and one were unwilling to express support in this way for the racist Nazi ideology. The same analysis applies to a voluntary mental process of thinking critically. It requires both willingness and ability to think critically, including willingness and ability to perform each of the mental acts that compose the process and to coordinate those acts in a sequence that is directed at resolving the initiating perplexity.

Consider willingness first. We can identify causal contributors to willingness to think critically by considering factors that would cause a person who was able to think critically about an issue nevertheless not to do so (Hamby 2014). For each factor, the opposite condition thus contributes causally to willingness to think critically on a particular occasion. For example, people who habitually jump to conclusions without considering alternatives will not think critically about issues that arise, even if they have the required abilities. The contrary condition of willingness to suspend judgment is thus a causal contributor to thinking critically.

Now consider ability. In contrast to the ability to move one’s arm, which can be completely absent because a stroke has left the arm paralyzed, the ability to think critically is a developed ability, whose absence is not a complete absence of ability to think but absence of ability to think well. We can identify the ability to think well directly, in terms of the norms and standards for good thinking. In general, to be able do well the thinking activities that can be components of a critical thinking process, one needs to know the concepts and principles that characterize their good performance, to recognize in particular cases that the concepts and principles apply, and to apply them. The knowledge, recognition and application may be procedural rather than declarative. It may be domain-specific rather than widely applicable, and in either case may need subject-matter knowledge, sometimes of a deep kind.

Reflections of the sort illustrated by the previous two paragraphs have led scholars to identify the knowledge, abilities and dispositions of a “critical thinker”, i.e., someone who thinks critically whenever it is appropriate to do so. We turn now to these three types of causal contributors to thinking critically. We start with dispositions, since arguably these are the most powerful contributors to being a critical thinker, can be fostered at an early stage of a child’s development, and are susceptible to general improvement (Glaser 1941: 175)

8. Critical Thinking Dispositions

Educational researchers use the term ‘dispositions’ broadly for the habits of mind and attitudes that contribute causally to being a critical thinker. Some writers (e.g., Paul & Elder 2006; Hamby 2014; Bailin & Battersby 2016a) propose to use the term ‘virtues’ for this dimension of a critical thinker. The virtues in question, although they are virtues of character, concern the person’s ways of thinking rather than the person’s ways of behaving towards others. They are not moral virtues but intellectual virtues, of the sort articulated by Zagzebski (1996) and discussed by Turri, Alfano, and Greco (2017).

On a realistic conception, thinking dispositions or intellectual virtues are real properties of thinkers. They are general tendencies, propensities, or inclinations to think in particular ways in particular circumstances, and can be genuinely explanatory (Siegel 1999). Sceptics argue that there is no evidence for a specific mental basis for the habits of mind that contribute to thinking critically, and that it is pedagogically misleading to posit such a basis (Bailin et al. 1999a). Whatever their status, critical thinking dispositions need motivation for their initial formation in a child—motivation that may be external or internal. As children develop, the force of habit will gradually become important in sustaining the disposition (Nieto & Valenzuela 2012). Mere force of habit, however, is unlikely to sustain critical thinking dispositions. Critical thinkers must value and enjoy using their knowledge and abilities to think things through for themselves. They must be committed to, and lovers of, inquiry.

A person may have a critical thinking disposition with respect to only some kinds of issues. For example, one could be open-minded about scientific issues but not about religious issues. Similarly, one could be confident in one’s ability to reason about the theological implications of the existence of evil in the world but not in one’s ability to reason about the best design for a guided ballistic missile.

Facione (1990a: 25) divides “affective dispositions” of critical thinking into approaches to life and living in general and approaches to specific issues, questions or problems. Adapting this distinction, one can usefully divide critical thinking dispositions into initiating dispositions (those that contribute causally to starting to think critically about an issue) and internal dispositions (those that contribute causally to doing a good job of thinking critically once one has started). The two categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, open-mindedness, in the sense of willingness to consider alternative points of view to one’s own, is both an initiating and an internal disposition.

Using the strategy of considering factors that would block people with the ability to think critically from doing so, we can identify as initiating dispositions for thinking critically attentiveness, a habit of inquiry, self-confidence, courage, open-mindedness, willingness to suspend judgment, trust in reason, wanting evidence for one’s beliefs, and seeking the truth. We consider briefly what each of these dispositions amounts to, in each case citing sources that acknowledge them.

• Attentiveness : One will not think critically if one fails to recognize an issue that needs to be thought through. For example, the pedestrian in Weather would not have looked up if he had not noticed that the air was suddenly cooler. To be a critical thinker, then, one needs to be habitually attentive to one’s surroundings, noticing not only what one senses but also sources of perplexity in messages received and in one’s own beliefs and attitudes (Facione 1990a: 25; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001).
• Habit of inquiry : Inquiry is effortful, and one needs an internal push to engage in it. For example, the student in Bubbles could easily have stopped at idle wondering about the cause of the bubbles rather than reasoning to a hypothesis, then designing and executing an experiment to test it. Thus willingness to think critically needs mental energy and initiative. What can supply that energy? Love of inquiry, or perhaps just a habit of inquiry. Hamby (2015) has argued that willingness to inquire is the central critical thinking virtue, one that encompasses all the others. It is recognized as a critical thinking disposition by Dewey (1910: 29; 1933: 35), Glaser (1941: 5), Ennis (1987: 12; 1991: 8), Facione (1990a: 25), Bailin et al. (1999b: 294), Halpern (1998: 452), and Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo (2001).
• Self-confidence : Lack of confidence in one’s abilities can block critical thinking. For example, if the woman in Rash lacked confidence in her ability to figure things out for herself, she might just have assumed that the rash on her chest was the allergic reaction to her medication against which the pharmacist had warned her. Thus willingness to think critically requires confidence in one’s ability to inquire (Facione 1990a: 25; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001).
• Courage : Fear of thinking for oneself can stop one from doing it. Thus willingness to think critically requires intellectual courage (Paul & Elder 2006: 16).
• Open-mindedness : A dogmatic attitude will impede thinking critically. For example, a person who adheres rigidly to a “pro-choice” position on the issue of the legal status of induced abortion is likely to be unwilling to consider seriously the issue of when in its development an unborn child acquires a moral right to life. Thus willingness to think critically requires open-mindedness, in the sense of a willingness to examine questions to which one already accepts an answer but which further evidence or reasoning might cause one to answer differently (Dewey 1933; Facione 1990a; Ennis 1991; Bailin et al. 1999b; Halpern 1998, Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001). Paul (1981) emphasizes open-mindedness about alternative world-views, and recommends a dialectical approach to integrating such views as central to what he calls “strong sense” critical thinking. In three studies, Haran, Ritov, & Mellers (2013) found that actively open-minded thinking, including “the tendency to weigh new evidence against a favored belief, to spend sufficient time on a problem before giving up, and to consider carefully the opinions of others in forming one’s own”, led study participants to acquire information and thus to make accurate estimations.
• Willingness to suspend judgment : Premature closure on an initial solution will block critical thinking. Thus willingness to think critically requires a willingness to suspend judgment while alternatives are explored (Facione 1990a; Ennis 1991; Halpern 1998).
• Trust in reason : Since distrust in the processes of reasoned inquiry will dissuade one from engaging in it, trust in them is an initiating critical thinking disposition (Facione 1990a, 25; Bailin et al. 1999b: 294; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001; Paul & Elder 2006). In reaction to an allegedly exclusive emphasis on reason in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, Thayer-Bacon (2000) argues that intuition, imagination, and emotion have important roles to play in an adequate conception of critical thinking that she calls “constructive thinking”. From her point of view, critical thinking requires trust not only in reason but also in intuition, imagination, and emotion.
• Seeking the truth : If one does not care about the truth but is content to stick with one’s initial bias on an issue, then one will not think critically about it. Seeking the truth is thus an initiating critical thinking disposition (Bailin et al. 1999b: 294; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001). A disposition to seek the truth is implicit in more specific critical thinking dispositions, such as trying to be well-informed, considering seriously points of view other than one’s own, looking for alternatives, suspending judgment when the evidence is insufficient, and adopting a position when the evidence supporting it is sufficient.

Some of the initiating dispositions, such as open-mindedness and willingness to suspend judgment, are also internal critical thinking dispositions, in the sense of mental habits or attitudes that contribute causally to doing a good job of critical thinking once one starts the process. But there are many other internal critical thinking dispositions. Some of them are parasitic on one’s conception of good thinking. For example, it is constitutive of good thinking about an issue to formulate the issue clearly and to maintain focus on it. For this purpose, one needs not only the corresponding ability but also the corresponding disposition. Ennis (1991: 8) describes it as the disposition “to determine and maintain focus on the conclusion or question”, Facione (1990a: 25) as “clarity in stating the question or concern”. Other internal dispositions are motivators to continue or adjust the critical thinking process, such as willingness to persist in a complex task and willingness to abandon nonproductive strategies in an attempt to self-correct (Halpern 1998: 452). For a list of identified internal critical thinking dispositions, see the Supplement on Internal Critical Thinking Dispositions .

Some theorists postulate skills, i.e., acquired abilities, as operative in critical thinking. It is not obvious, however, that a good mental act is the exercise of a generic acquired skill. Inferring an expected time of arrival, as in Transit , has some generic components but also uses non-generic subject-matter knowledge. Bailin et al. (1999a) argue against viewing critical thinking skills as generic and discrete, on the ground that skilled performance at a critical thinking task cannot be separated from knowledge of concepts and from domain-specific principles of good thinking. Talk of skills, they concede, is unproblematic if it means merely that a person with critical thinking skills is capable of intelligent performance.

Despite such scepticism, theorists of critical thinking have listed as general contributors to critical thinking what they variously call abilities (Glaser 1941; Ennis 1962, 1991), skills (Facione 1990a; Halpern 1998) or competencies (Fisher & Scriven 1997). Amalgamating these lists would produce a confusing and chaotic cornucopia of more than 50 possible educational objectives, with only partial overlap among them. It makes sense instead to try to understand the reasons for the multiplicity and diversity, and to make a selection according to one’s own reasons for singling out abilities to be developed in a critical thinking curriculum. Two reasons for diversity among lists of critical thinking abilities are the underlying conception of critical thinking and the envisaged educational level. Appraisal-only conceptions, for example, involve a different suite of abilities than constructive-only conceptions. Some lists, such as those in (Glaser 1941), are put forward as educational objectives for secondary school students, whereas others are proposed as objectives for college students (e.g., Facione 1990a).

The abilities described in the remaining paragraphs of this section emerge from reflection on the general abilities needed to do well the thinking activities identified in section 6 as components of the critical thinking process described in section 5 . The derivation of each collection of abilities is accompanied by citation of sources that list such abilities and of standardized tests that claim to test them.

Observational abilities : Careful and accurate observation sometimes requires specialist expertise and practice, as in the case of observing birds and observing accident scenes. However, there are general abilities of noticing what one’s senses are picking up from one’s environment and of being able to articulate clearly and accurately to oneself and others what one has observed. It helps in exercising them to be able to recognize and take into account factors that make one’s observation less trustworthy, such as prior framing of the situation, inadequate time, deficient senses, poor observation conditions, and the like. It helps as well to be skilled at taking steps to make one’s observation more trustworthy, such as moving closer to get a better look, measuring something three times and taking the average, and checking what one thinks one is observing with someone else who is in a good position to observe it. It also helps to be skilled at recognizing respects in which one’s report of one’s observation involves inference rather than direct observation, so that one can then consider whether the inference is justified. These abilities come into play as well when one thinks about whether and with what degree of confidence to accept an observation report, for example in the study of history or in a criminal investigation or in assessing news reports. Observational abilities show up in some lists of critical thinking abilities (Ennis 1962: 90; Facione 1990a: 16; Ennis 1991: 9). There are items testing a person’s ability to judge the credibility of observation reports in the Cornell Critical Thinking Tests, Levels X and Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005). Norris and King (1983, 1985, 1990a, 1990b) is a test of ability to appraise observation reports.

Emotional abilities : The emotions that drive a critical thinking process are perplexity or puzzlement, a wish to resolve it, and satisfaction at achieving the desired resolution. Children experience these emotions at an early age, without being trained to do so. Education that takes critical thinking as a goal needs only to channel these emotions and to make sure not to stifle them. Collaborative critical thinking benefits from ability to recognize one’s own and others’ emotional commitments and reactions.

Questioning abilities : A critical thinking process needs transformation of an inchoate sense of perplexity into a clear question. Formulating a question well requires not building in questionable assumptions, not prejudging the issue, and using language that in context is unambiguous and precise enough (Ennis 1962: 97; 1991: 9).

Imaginative abilities : Thinking directed at finding the correct causal explanation of a general phenomenon or particular event requires an ability to imagine possible explanations. Thinking about what policy or plan of action to adopt requires generation of options and consideration of possible consequences of each option. Domain knowledge is required for such creative activity, but a general ability to imagine alternatives is helpful and can be nurtured so as to become easier, quicker, more extensive, and deeper (Dewey 1910: 34–39; 1933: 40–47). Facione (1990a) and Halpern (1998) include the ability to imagine alternatives as a critical thinking ability.

Inferential abilities : The ability to draw conclusions from given information, and to recognize with what degree of certainty one’s own or others’ conclusions follow, is universally recognized as a general critical thinking ability. All 11 examples in section 2 of this article include inferences, some from hypotheses or options (as in Transit , Ferryboat and Disorder ), others from something observed (as in Weather and Rash ). None of these inferences is formally valid. Rather, they are licensed by general, sometimes qualified substantive rules of inference (Toulmin 1958) that rest on domain knowledge—that a bus trip takes about the same time in each direction, that the terminal of a wireless telegraph would be located on the highest possible place, that sudden cooling is often followed by rain, that an allergic reaction to a sulfa drug generally shows up soon after one starts taking it. It is a matter of controversy to what extent the specialized ability to deduce conclusions from premisses using formal rules of inference is needed for critical thinking. Dewey (1933) locates logical forms in setting out the products of reflection rather than in the process of reflection. Ennis (1981a), on the other hand, maintains that a liberally-educated person should have the following abilities: to translate natural-language statements into statements using the standard logical operators, to use appropriately the language of necessary and sufficient conditions, to deal with argument forms and arguments containing symbols, to determine whether in virtue of an argument’s form its conclusion follows necessarily from its premisses, to reason with logically complex propositions, and to apply the rules and procedures of deductive logic. Inferential abilities are recognized as critical thinking abilities by Glaser (1941: 6), Facione (1990a: 9), Ennis (1991: 9), Fisher & Scriven (1997: 99, 111), and Halpern (1998: 452). Items testing inferential abilities constitute two of the five subtests of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Watson & Glaser 1980a, 1980b, 1994), two of the four sections in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005), three of the seven sections in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005), 11 of the 34 items on Forms A and B of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (Facione 1990b, 1992), and a high but variable proportion of the 25 selected-response questions in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017).

Experimenting abilities : Knowing how to design and execute an experiment is important not just in scientific research but also in everyday life, as in Rash . Dewey devoted a whole chapter of his How We Think (1910: 145–156; 1933: 190–202) to the superiority of experimentation over observation in advancing knowledge. Experimenting abilities come into play at one remove in appraising reports of scientific studies. Skill in designing and executing experiments includes the acknowledged abilities to appraise evidence (Glaser 1941: 6), to carry out experiments and to apply appropriate statistical inference techniques (Facione 1990a: 9), to judge inductions to an explanatory hypothesis (Ennis 1991: 9), and to recognize the need for an adequately large sample size (Halpern 1998). The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005) includes four items (out of 52) on experimental design. The Collegiate Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017) makes room for appraisal of study design in both its performance task and its selected-response questions.

Consulting abilities : Skill at consulting sources of information comes into play when one seeks information to help resolve a problem, as in Candidate . Ability to find and appraise information includes ability to gather and marshal pertinent information (Glaser 1941: 6), to judge whether a statement made by an alleged authority is acceptable (Ennis 1962: 84), to plan a search for desired information (Facione 1990a: 9), and to judge the credibility of a source (Ennis 1991: 9). Ability to judge the credibility of statements is tested by 24 items (out of 76) in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005) and by four items (out of 52) in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005). The College Learning Assessment’s performance task requires evaluation of whether information in documents is credible or unreliable (Council for Aid to Education 2017).

Argument analysis abilities : The ability to identify and analyze arguments contributes to the process of surveying arguments on an issue in order to form one’s own reasoned judgment, as in Candidate . The ability to detect and analyze arguments is recognized as a critical thinking skill by Facione (1990a: 7–8), Ennis (1991: 9) and Halpern (1998). Five items (out of 34) on the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (Facione 1990b, 1992) test skill at argument analysis. The College Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017) incorporates argument analysis in its selected-response tests of critical reading and evaluation and of critiquing an argument.

Judging skills and deciding skills : Skill at judging and deciding is skill at recognizing what judgment or decision the available evidence and argument supports, and with what degree of confidence. It is thus a component of the inferential skills already discussed.

Lists and tests of critical thinking abilities often include two more abilities: identifying assumptions and constructing and evaluating definitions.

In addition to dispositions and abilities, critical thinking needs knowledge: of critical thinking concepts, of critical thinking principles, and of the subject-matter of the thinking.

We can derive a short list of concepts whose understanding contributes to critical thinking from the critical thinking abilities described in the preceding section. Observational abilities require an understanding of the difference between observation and inference. Questioning abilities require an understanding of the concepts of ambiguity and vagueness. Inferential abilities require an understanding of the difference between conclusive and defeasible inference (traditionally, between deduction and induction), as well as of the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions. Experimenting abilities require an understanding of the concepts of hypothesis, null hypothesis, assumption and prediction, as well as of the concept of statistical significance and of its difference from importance. They also require an understanding of the difference between an experiment and an observational study, and in particular of the difference between a randomized controlled trial, a prospective correlational study and a retrospective (case-control) study. Argument analysis abilities require an understanding of the concepts of argument, premiss, assumption, conclusion and counter-consideration. Additional critical thinking concepts are proposed by Bailin et al. (1999b: 293), Fisher & Scriven (1997: 105–106), Black (2012), and Blair (2021).

According to Glaser (1941: 25), ability to think critically requires knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning. If we review the list of abilities in the preceding section, however, we can see that some of them can be acquired and exercised merely through practice, possibly guided in an educational setting, followed by feedback. Searching intelligently for a causal explanation of some phenomenon or event requires that one consider a full range of possible causal contributors, but it seems more important that one implements this principle in one’s practice than that one is able to articulate it. What is important is “operational knowledge” of the standards and principles of good thinking (Bailin et al. 1999b: 291–293). But the development of such critical thinking abilities as designing an experiment or constructing an operational definition can benefit from learning their underlying theory. Further, explicit knowledge of quirks of human thinking seems useful as a cautionary guide. Human memory is not just fallible about details, as people learn from their own experiences of misremembering, but is so malleable that a detailed, clear and vivid recollection of an event can be a total fabrication (Loftus 2017). People seek or interpret evidence in ways that are partial to their existing beliefs and expectations, often unconscious of their “confirmation bias” (Nickerson 1998). Not only are people subject to this and other cognitive biases (Kahneman 2011), of which they are typically unaware, but it may be counter-productive for one to make oneself aware of them and try consciously to counteract them or to counteract social biases such as racial or sexual stereotypes (Kenyon & Beaulac 2014). It is helpful to be aware of these facts and of the superior effectiveness of blocking the operation of biases—for example, by making an immediate record of one’s observations, refraining from forming a preliminary explanatory hypothesis, blind refereeing, double-blind randomized trials, and blind grading of students’ work. It is also helpful to be aware of the prevalence of “noise” (unwanted unsystematic variability of judgments), of how to detect noise (through a noise audit), and of how to reduce noise: make accuracy the goal, think statistically, break a process of arriving at a judgment into independent tasks, resist premature intuitions, in a group get independent judgments first, favour comparative judgments and scales (Kahneman, Sibony, & Sunstein 2021). It is helpful as well to be aware of the concept of “bounded rationality” in decision-making and of the related distinction between “satisficing” and optimizing (Simon 1956; Gigerenzer 2001).

Critical thinking about an issue requires substantive knowledge of the domain to which the issue belongs. Critical thinking abilities are not a magic elixir that can be applied to any issue whatever by somebody who has no knowledge of the facts relevant to exploring that issue. For example, the student in Bubbles needed to know that gases do not penetrate solid objects like a glass, that air expands when heated, that the volume of an enclosed gas varies directly with its temperature and inversely with its pressure, and that hot objects will spontaneously cool down to the ambient temperature of their surroundings unless kept hot by insulation or a source of heat. Critical thinkers thus need a rich fund of subject-matter knowledge relevant to the variety of situations they encounter. This fact is recognized in the inclusion among critical thinking dispositions of a concern to become and remain generally well informed.

Experimental educational interventions, with control groups, have shown that education can improve critical thinking skills and dispositions, as measured by standardized tests. For information about these tests, see the Supplement on Assessment .

What educational methods are most effective at developing the dispositions, abilities and knowledge of a critical thinker? In a comprehensive meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies of strategies for teaching students to think critically, Abrami et al. (2015) found that dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring each increased the effectiveness of the educational intervention, and that they were most effective when combined. They also found that in these studies a combination of separate instruction in critical thinking with subject-matter instruction in which students are encouraged to think critically was more effective than either by itself. However, the difference was not statistically significant; that is, it might have arisen by chance.

Most of these studies lack the longitudinal follow-up required to determine whether the observed differential improvements in critical thinking abilities or dispositions continue over time, for example until high school or college graduation. For details on studies of methods of developing critical thinking skills and dispositions, see the Supplement on Educational Methods .

12. Controversies

Scholars have denied the generalizability of critical thinking abilities across subject domains, have alleged bias in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, and have investigated the relationship of critical thinking to other kinds of thinking.

McPeck (1981) attacked the thinking skills movement of the 1970s, including the critical thinking movement. He argued that there are no general thinking skills, since thinking is always thinking about some subject-matter. It is futile, he claimed, for schools and colleges to teach thinking as if it were a separate subject. Rather, teachers should lead their pupils to become autonomous thinkers by teaching school subjects in a way that brings out their cognitive structure and that encourages and rewards discussion and argument. As some of his critics (e.g., Paul 1985; Siegel 1985) pointed out, McPeck’s central argument needs elaboration, since it has obvious counter-examples in writing and speaking, for which (up to a certain level of complexity) there are teachable general abilities even though they are always about some subject-matter. To make his argument convincing, McPeck needs to explain how thinking differs from writing and speaking in a way that does not permit useful abstraction of its components from the subject-matters with which it deals. He has not done so. Nevertheless, his position that the dispositions and abilities of a critical thinker are best developed in the context of subject-matter instruction is shared by many theorists of critical thinking, including Dewey (1910, 1933), Glaser (1941), Passmore (1980), Weinstein (1990), Bailin et al. (1999b), and Willingham (2019).

McPeck’s challenge prompted reflection on the extent to which critical thinking is subject-specific. McPeck argued for a strong subject-specificity thesis, according to which it is a conceptual truth that all critical thinking abilities are specific to a subject. (He did not however extend his subject-specificity thesis to critical thinking dispositions. In particular, he took the disposition to suspend judgment in situations of cognitive dissonance to be a general disposition.) Conceptual subject-specificity is subject to obvious counter-examples, such as the general ability to recognize confusion of necessary and sufficient conditions. A more modest thesis, also endorsed by McPeck, is epistemological subject-specificity, according to which the norms of good thinking vary from one field to another. Epistemological subject-specificity clearly holds to a certain extent; for example, the principles in accordance with which one solves a differential equation are quite different from the principles in accordance with which one determines whether a painting is a genuine Picasso. But the thesis suffers, as Ennis (1989) points out, from vagueness of the concept of a field or subject and from the obvious existence of inter-field principles, however broadly the concept of a field is construed. For example, the principles of hypothetico-deductive reasoning hold for all the varied fields in which such reasoning occurs. A third kind of subject-specificity is empirical subject-specificity, according to which as a matter of empirically observable fact a person with the abilities and dispositions of a critical thinker in one area of investigation will not necessarily have them in another area of investigation.

The thesis of empirical subject-specificity raises the general problem of transfer. If critical thinking abilities and dispositions have to be developed independently in each school subject, how are they of any use in dealing with the problems of everyday life and the political and social issues of contemporary society, most of which do not fit into the framework of a traditional school subject? Proponents of empirical subject-specificity tend to argue that transfer is more likely to occur if there is critical thinking instruction in a variety of domains, with explicit attention to dispositions and abilities that cut across domains. But evidence for this claim is scanty. There is a need for well-designed empirical studies that investigate the conditions that make transfer more likely.

It is common ground in debates about the generality or subject-specificity of critical thinking dispositions and abilities that critical thinking about any topic requires background knowledge about the topic. For example, the most sophisticated understanding of the principles of hypothetico-deductive reasoning is of no help unless accompanied by some knowledge of what might be plausible explanations of some phenomenon under investigation.

Critics have objected to bias in the theory, pedagogy and practice of critical thinking. Commentators (e.g., Alston 1995; Ennis 1998) have noted that anyone who takes a position has a bias in the neutral sense of being inclined in one direction rather than others. The critics, however, are objecting to bias in the pejorative sense of an unjustified favoring of certain ways of knowing over others, frequently alleging that the unjustly favoured ways are those of a dominant sex or culture (Bailin 1995). These ways favour:

• reinforcement of egocentric and sociocentric biases over dialectical engagement with opposing world-views (Paul 1981, 1984; Warren 1998)
• distancing from the object of inquiry over closeness to it (Martin 1992; Thayer-Bacon 1992)
• indifference to the situation of others over care for them (Martin 1992)
• orientation to thought over orientation to action (Martin 1992)
• being reasonable over caring to understand people’s ideas (Thayer-Bacon 1993)
• being neutral and objective over being embodied and situated (Thayer-Bacon 1995a)
• doubting over believing (Thayer-Bacon 1995b)
• reason over emotion, imagination and intuition (Thayer-Bacon 2000)
• solitary thinking over collaborative thinking (Thayer-Bacon 2000)
• written and spoken assignments over other forms of expression (Alston 2001)
• attention to written and spoken communications over attention to human problems (Alston 2001)
• winning debates in the public sphere over making and understanding meaning (Alston 2001)

A common thread in this smorgasbord of accusations is dissatisfaction with focusing on the logical analysis and evaluation of reasoning and arguments. While these authors acknowledge that such analysis and evaluation is part of critical thinking and should be part of its conceptualization and pedagogy, they insist that it is only a part. Paul (1981), for example, bemoans the tendency of atomistic teaching of methods of analyzing and evaluating arguments to turn students into more able sophists, adept at finding fault with positions and arguments with which they disagree but even more entrenched in the egocentric and sociocentric biases with which they began. Martin (1992) and Thayer-Bacon (1992) cite with approval the self-reported intimacy with their subject-matter of leading researchers in biology and medicine, an intimacy that conflicts with the distancing allegedly recommended in standard conceptions and pedagogy of critical thinking. Thayer-Bacon (2000) contrasts the embodied and socially embedded learning of her elementary school students in a Montessori school, who used their imagination, intuition and emotions as well as their reason, with conceptions of critical thinking as

thinking that is used to critique arguments, offer justifications, and make judgments about what are the good reasons, or the right answers. (Thayer-Bacon 2000: 127–128)

Alston (2001) reports that her students in a women’s studies class were able to see the flaws in the Cinderella myth that pervades much romantic fiction but in their own romantic relationships still acted as if all failures were the woman’s fault and still accepted the notions of love at first sight and living happily ever after. Students, she writes, should

be able to connect their intellectual critique to a more affective, somatic, and ethical account of making risky choices that have sexist, racist, classist, familial, sexual, or other consequences for themselves and those both near and far… critical thinking that reads arguments, texts, or practices merely on the surface without connections to feeling/desiring/doing or action lacks an ethical depth that should infuse the difference between mere cognitive activity and something we want to call critical thinking. (Alston 2001: 34)

Some critics portray such biases as unfair to women. Thayer-Bacon (1992), for example, has charged modern critical thinking theory with being sexist, on the ground that it separates the self from the object and causes one to lose touch with one’s inner voice, and thus stigmatizes women, who (she asserts) link self to object and listen to their inner voice. Her charge does not imply that women as a group are on average less able than men to analyze and evaluate arguments. Facione (1990c) found no difference by sex in performance on his California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Kuhn (1991: 280–281) found no difference by sex in either the disposition or the competence to engage in argumentative thinking.

The critics propose a variety of remedies for the biases that they allege. In general, they do not propose to eliminate or downplay critical thinking as an educational goal. Rather, they propose to conceptualize critical thinking differently and to change its pedagogy accordingly. Their pedagogical proposals arise logically from their objections. They can be summarized as follows:

• Focus on argument networks with dialectical exchanges reflecting contesting points of view rather than on atomic arguments, so as to develop “strong sense” critical thinking that transcends egocentric and sociocentric biases (Paul 1981, 1984).
• Foster closeness to the subject-matter and feeling connected to others in order to inform a humane democracy (Martin 1992).
• Develop “constructive thinking” as a social activity in a community of physically embodied and socially embedded inquirers with personal voices who value not only reason but also imagination, intuition and emotion (Thayer-Bacon 2000).
• In developing critical thinking in school subjects, treat as important neither skills nor dispositions but opening worlds of meaning (Alston 2001).
• Attend to the development of critical thinking dispositions as well as skills, and adopt the “critical pedagogy” practised and advocated by Freire (1968 [1970]) and hooks (1994) (Dalgleish, Girard, & Davies 2017).

A common thread in these proposals is treatment of critical thinking as a social, interactive, personally engaged activity like that of a quilting bee or a barn-raising (Thayer-Bacon 2000) rather than as an individual, solitary, distanced activity symbolized by Rodin’s The Thinker . One can get a vivid description of education with the former type of goal from the writings of bell hooks (1994, 2010). Critical thinking for her is open-minded dialectical exchange across opposing standpoints and from multiple perspectives, a conception similar to Paul’s “strong sense” critical thinking (Paul 1981). She abandons the structure of domination in the traditional classroom. In an introductory course on black women writers, for example, she assigns students to write an autobiographical paragraph about an early racial memory, then to read it aloud as the others listen, thus affirming the uniqueness and value of each voice and creating a communal awareness of the diversity of the group’s experiences (hooks 1994: 84). Her “engaged pedagogy” is thus similar to the “freedom under guidance” implemented in John Dewey’s Laboratory School of Chicago in the late 1890s and early 1900s. It incorporates the dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring that Abrami (2015) found to be most effective in improving critical thinking skills and dispositions.

What is the relationship of critical thinking to problem solving, decision-making, higher-order thinking, creative thinking, and other recognized types of thinking? One’s answer to this question obviously depends on how one defines the terms used in the question. If critical thinking is conceived broadly to cover any careful thinking about any topic for any purpose, then problem solving and decision making will be kinds of critical thinking, if they are done carefully. Historically, ‘critical thinking’ and ‘problem solving’ were two names for the same thing. If critical thinking is conceived more narrowly as consisting solely of appraisal of intellectual products, then it will be disjoint with problem solving and decision making, which are constructive.

Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives used the phrase “intellectual abilities and skills” for what had been labeled “critical thinking” by some, “reflective thinking” by Dewey and others, and “problem solving” by still others (Bloom et al. 1956: 38). Thus, the so-called “higher-order thinking skills” at the taxonomy’s top levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation are just critical thinking skills, although they do not come with general criteria for their assessment (Ennis 1981b). The revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson et al. 2001) likewise treats critical thinking as cutting across those types of cognitive process that involve more than remembering (Anderson et al. 2001: 269–270). For details, see the Supplement on History .

As to creative thinking, it overlaps with critical thinking (Bailin 1987, 1988). Thinking about the explanation of some phenomenon or event, as in Ferryboat , requires creative imagination in constructing plausible explanatory hypotheses. Likewise, thinking about a policy question, as in Candidate , requires creativity in coming up with options. Conversely, creativity in any field needs to be balanced by critical appraisal of the draft painting or novel or mathematical theory.

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Thinking About Kahneman’s Contribution to Critical Thinking

A nobel laureate on the importance of 'thinking slow.'.

Updated April 11, 2024 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

• Kahneman won a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work.
• He found that people are often irrational about economics.

During my Ph.D. studies, I recall focusing on reconceptualising what we know of as critical thinking to include reflective judgment (not jumping to conclusions and taking your time in your decision-making to consider the nature limits, and certainty of knowing) on par with the commonly accepted skills and dispositions components. The importance of reflective judgment wasn’t a particularly novel idea – a good deal of research on reflective judgment and similar processes akin to critical thinking had already been conducted (see King and Kitchener, 1994; Kuhn, 1999; 2000; Stanovich, 1999). However, reflective judgment – as opposed to intuitive judgment – didn’t seem to have ‘the presence’ in the discussion of critical thinking that it does today.

The same month I submitted my Ph.D. back in 2011, a book was released that massively helped to accomplish what I had been working to help facilitate – changing the terrain of thought surrounding critical thinking: Thinking, Fast, and Slow . Its author, Daniel Kahneman, passed away a couple of weeks ago at age 90. Psychology students will likely recognise the name associated with Amos Tversky and their classic work together in the 1970s on the availability, representativeness, and anchoring and adjustment heuristics (for example, Tversky and Kahneman, 1974). Indeed, such heuristics, alongside the affect heuristic (Kahneman and Frederick, 2002; Slovic and colleagues, 2002) play a large role in how we think about thinking and barriers to critical thought. In 2002, Kahneman won a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work on prospect theory concerning loss aversion and people’s often irrational approach to economics. Indeed, Kahneman’s resume is full of awards and achievements.

However, the accomplishment I will remember him best for is the publication of Thinking, Fast, and Slow and its contribution to the field of critical thinking. Funny enough, I don’t recall the term, critical thinking being used very often in the book, if at all – and I read it two or three times. No, critical thinking was not the focus of his book; rather system 1 (fast) and 2 (slow) thinking (see also Stanovich, 1999) – intuitive and reflective judgment. Not only did this book put into the spotlight many of the mechanics of reflective judgment for fellow academics and researchers of cognitive psychology, it also did so l for non-academic audiences – becoming a New York Times bestseller. Moreover, it won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Current Interest, and the National Academy of Sciences Communication Award for Best Book (both in 2011). Good thinking was cool again in popular culture.

In the critical thinking literature, reflective judgment – regardless of what you want to call it (for example, system 2 thinking, epistemological understanding, ‘taking your time’) – is becoming more accepted as a core component of critical thinking. The field of critical thinking research and psychology more broadly, owes Kahneman a debt of gratitude for his contributions in helping shine a light on the importance of ‘thinking slow’. Thank you .

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow . 2UK: Penguin.

Kahneman, D., & Frederick, S. (2002). Representativeness revisited: Attribute substitution in intuitive judgment. Heuristics and biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment , 49 (49-81), 74.

King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing Reflective Judgment: Understanding and Promoting Intellectual Growth and Critical Thinking in Adolescents and Adults. CA: Jossey-Bass.

King, P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (2004). Reflective judgment: Theory and research on the development of epistemic assumptions through adulthood. Educational Psychologist, 39 (1), 5–15.

Kuhn, D. (1999). A developmental model of critical thinking. Educational Researcher , 28 (2), 16-46.

Kuhn, D. (2000). Metacognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 9 (5), 178-181.

Slovic, P., Finucane, M., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2002). Rational actors or rational fools: Implications of the affect heuristic for behavioral economics. The Journal of Socio-economics , 31 (4), 329-342.

Stanovich, K.E. (1999) Who is rational? Studies of individual differences in reasoning. Mahwah, Erlbaum.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases: Biases in judgments reveal some heuristics of thinking under uncertainty. Science , 185 (4157), 1124-1131.

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

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• What Is Critical Thinking? | Definition & Examples

What Is Critical Thinking? | Definition & Examples

Published on May 30, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Critical thinking is the ability to effectively analyze information and form a judgment .

To think critically, you must be aware of your own biases and assumptions when encountering information, and apply consistent standards when evaluating sources .

Critical thinking skills help you to:

• Identify credible sources
• Evaluate and respond to arguments
• Assess alternative viewpoints
• Test hypotheses against relevant criteria

Table of contents

Why is critical thinking important, critical thinking examples, how to think critically, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about critical thinking.

Critical thinking is important for making judgments about sources of information and forming your own arguments. It emphasizes a rational, objective, and self-aware approach that can help you to identify credible sources and strengthen your conclusions.

Critical thinking is important in all disciplines and throughout all stages of the research process . The types of evidence used in the sciences and in the humanities may differ, but critical thinking skills are relevant to both.

In academic writing , critical thinking can help you to determine whether a source:

• Is free from research bias
• Provides evidence to support its research findings
• Considers alternative viewpoints

Outside of academia, critical thinking goes hand in hand with information literacy to help you form opinions rationally and engage independently and critically with popular media.

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Critical thinking can help you to identify reliable sources of information that you can cite in your research paper . It can also guide your own research methods and inform your own arguments.

Outside of academia, critical thinking can help you to be aware of both your own and others’ biases and assumptions.

Academic examples

However, when you compare the findings of the study with other current research, you determine that the results seem improbable. You analyze the paper again, consulting the sources it cites.

You notice that the research was funded by the pharmaceutical company that created the treatment. Because of this, you view its results skeptically and determine that more independent research is necessary to confirm or refute them. Example: Poor critical thinking in an academic context You’re researching a paper on the impact wireless technology has had on developing countries that previously did not have large-scale communications infrastructure. You read an article that seems to confirm your hypothesis: the impact is mainly positive. Rather than evaluating the research methodology, you accept the findings uncritically.

Nonacademic examples

However, you decide to compare this review article with consumer reviews on a different site. You find that these reviews are not as positive. Some customers have had problems installing the alarm, and some have noted that it activates for no apparent reason.

You revisit the original review article. You notice that the words “sponsored content” appear in small print under the article title. Based on this, you conclude that the review is advertising and is therefore not an unbiased source. Example: Poor critical thinking in a nonacademic context You support a candidate in an upcoming election. You visit an online news site affiliated with their political party and read an article that criticizes their opponent. The article claims that the opponent is inexperienced in politics. You accept this without evidence, because it fits your preconceptions about the opponent.

There is no single way to think critically. How you engage with information will depend on the type of source you’re using and the information you need.

However, you can engage with sources in a systematic and critical way by asking certain questions when you encounter information. Like the CRAAP test , these questions focus on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

When encountering information, ask:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert in their field?
• What do they say? Is their argument clear? Can you summarize it?
• When did they say this? Is the source current?
• Where is the information published? Is it an academic article? Is it peer-reviewed ?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence? Does it rely on opinion, speculation, or appeals to emotion ? Do they address alternative arguments?

Critical thinking also involves being aware of your own biases, not only those of others. When you make an argument or draw your own conclusions, you can ask similar questions about your own writing:

• Am I only considering evidence that supports my preconceptions?
• Is my argument expressed clearly and backed up with credible sources?
• Would I be convinced by this argument coming from someone else?

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

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Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

Critical thinking skills include the ability to:

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

A credible source should pass the CRAAP test  and follow these guidelines:

• The information should be up to date and current.
• The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching.
• The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.
• For a web source, the URL and layout should signify that it is trustworthy.

Information literacy refers to a broad range of skills, including the ability to find, evaluate, and use sources of information effectively.

Being information literate means that you:

• Know how to find credible sources
• Use relevant sources to inform your research
• Understand what constitutes plagiarism
• Know how to cite your sources correctly

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search, interpret, and recall information in a way that aligns with our pre-existing values, opinions, or beliefs. It refers to the ability to recollect information best when it amplifies what we already believe. Relatedly, we tend to forget information that contradicts our opinions.

Although selective recall is a component of confirmation bias, it should not be confused with recall bias.

On the other hand, recall bias refers to the differences in the ability between study participants to recall past events when self-reporting is used. This difference in accuracy or completeness of recollection is not related to beliefs or opinions. Rather, recall bias relates to other factors, such as the length of the recall period, age, and the characteristics of the disease under investigation.

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Finding Faith Everywhere.

God is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty itself.

Wherever they are found, God is also present.

Finding Faith Everywhere

Teach critical thinking with stories.

Confidently teach your students to seek and love the truth wherever it is found.  

​​People skilled in critical thinking are:

Problem solvers

Truth seekers

​Critical thinking is using reason to pursue the truth by:

Making distinctions between what is true, and what is not true

Considering the possible consequences of an action or an idea

Discovering the principles at the foundations of an idea

Developing your natural process of reasoning

​Critical thinking skills train your mind to:

Observe a situation or object

Analyze what you've observed

Arrive at a logical conclusion

  HOW DO YOU LEARN TO DO THAT WITH STORIES?  

I'll walk you through how to teach critical thinking skills to your students by using stories in my lesson plans.

​ Critical thinking skills train your mind to:

Teaching Critical Thinking with Stories is a series of printable exercises that give you:

Planned Series of Exercises

All students can begin with the first set of exercises. When they're ready for more challenges, you can add additional levels, or incorporate the challenges in the levels

Additional Challenges to Exercises

The exercises also have additional levels to challenge students to go deeper into the story and develop their capacity for more complex thoughts. That allows you to use the same exercise for an entire class, while making adjustments for individual students who need more of an intellectual challenge

Human Development

I include explanations on what abilities your students will develop as they work through the different exercises, and what foundations they’re laying so that students can learn how to think more clearly and engage in more thoughtful discussions.

These lesson plans can be used with any work of fiction.

These exercises are grouped into 3 levels:

Level 1 (Observation): Memory, Logic, and Sequencing

The exercises help your students to develop their imagination and memory, while learning cause and effect through sequencing exercises. They also take our natural ability to use reason, and develop it. The first few exercises in these lesson plans can be used for children as young as 3, but the rest of the exercises are intended for children who are at least 5. The extra levels to some of the exercises can challenge students even through middle school.

Level 2 (Reasoning to a Conclusion): Transformation in Stories

You’ll be helping your students learn to think about change, and how changes and conflict that a character experiences lead to that character’s transformation by the end of the story. The exercises guide them through what they should be paying attention to, and how the author prepares the reader for the character's transformation. The first exercises can be used for younger children who are able to read and write. The rest of these exercises are best used beginning with Grade 5/age 10 and continue through high school. Some of the extra challenges should only be attempted by very advanced students.

Level 3 (Abstract Thought): Symbols and Allusions in Stories

You’ll be teaching your students how to identify and understand symbols and metaphors in stories. They will also learn how authors are often referring to other sources when using symbols, and how those references affect the story they're reading. These exercises require the ability to think abstractly, so they’re best used for high school and above. Students in middle school are usually not ready to engage in abstract thought, so my recommendation for using these is for grades 9 through adult. Just as with the Level 2 exercises, some of the extra levels should only be attempted by very advanced students.

Each Lesson Plan Includes:

Background information on what skills the student will develop with the exercises

Additional levels for exercises to challenge your student

A list of recommended stories and authors

A series of exercises that progressively challenge your student

The exercises in Teaching Critical Thinking with Stories allow teachers and parents—who know their kids better than anyone—to decide what their students and children are ready for, and to discern what challenges each individual student or child needs, at every level.

These exercises can be used with any story, so they can be used over and over again.

These exercises help your students:

Form the mind by directing it towards the truth

Engage with ideas in greater depth

Make distinctions between truth and error

Develop abstract thinking

Engage with stories in greater depth

Encourage discussion of ideas

That leads to a higher quality discussion for:

Literature circles for younger students

Book club discussions for adult learners 

Readers of any age will get more out of every story and bring their own insights to any discussion.

Regular Price: $9.97

Regular Price: $19.97

** SendOwl uses popup forms for ordering, so you may need to adjust your browser setting to allow popups when you click to purchase these lesson plans

 How to Get Started: 

1. download the file.

Once you purchase the file, you will receive a link to download the PDF.

2. READ THE STORY

The story is the foundation. Pick any story and read it, or start with one from the included list of suggested stories and authors.

3. PRINT THE EXERCISES

The pages are color-coded so you can go right to the exercises and print them out, or choose to read more about the “why” behind each of the exercises in the packet.

Memory, Sequencing, and Logic

Developing the imagination

Strengthening memory

Understanding how stories work  

Regular Price: $19.97  

Discovering How Characters Change in a Story

How characters are transformed

Where changes happen

Develop memory, logic, analytical skills

Discovering Common Elements Across Stories

Understanding symbols

Literary allusions

Developing abstract thought  

 Save When you Buy the Full Bundle 

Purchase all 3 lesson plans together, save 20% off the full price, automatically get updates through the end of 2021.

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through the end of 2021!   ​

Click here to buy all 3 for $39.97

TO PURCHASE PRINTABLES INDIVIDUALLY, CLICK BELOW

This is the first time these lesson plans have been made available,which is why they are being offered at a low price. When they are updated to the final version, I will send you a link to download the final version.  

Printables are downloadable digital files which can't be returned, so I don't offer refunds on them.

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3 short stories to replenish your creative thinking

Believe the impossible.

In 1295, Marco Polo returned from a 24 year trading epic to China. His trip had taken him 14,000 miles (25,000km) around the world, from his birth town of Venice, through Baghdad and all the way across Asia. He visited dozens of great cities, many of which are now lost to antiquity, finally reaching the bustling trading city of Beijing in the east. After his return, he created a great epic of his travels. His epic spread quickly across Europe, each book meticulously and laboriously copied by hand and destined for the private libraries of the rich and powerful European elite. His wondrous tale became the basis for what all Europeans knew about the Orient for many years to come.

In it, he spoke of many weird and wonderful places he had visited. He spoke of creatures so wild and wonderful, they simply had to be seen. He spoke of dragons , unicorns and birds so large they could lift an elephant high into the air:

It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces;

His stories enthralled all those who read them. People could imagine massive birds, mythical serpents and biblical beasts. His works were entirely believable - except for one story. A story so far fetched that no man, king or peasant would give it credence. One story that beggared the belief of all those who heard of it.

Marco Polo told of how the Mongols used rocks instead of wood for heating and for cooking . He told of how they were collected and how they magically lit up, burning hotter and longer than the dried, dead branches fallen from the oldest trees. “You cannot burn rocks” the people said, and they ridiculed the story.

Marco Polo smirked. He knew, deep inside, that while a great many of his works were embellishments, this one was entirely true. The Europeans did not create industrial coal mines for another 600 years, significantly delaying the start of the industrial revolution and the entry of the West into the modern age.

Understanding problems, not solutions

Sometimes it pays to dig a little deeper to find out what your customers really need.

A young man walks into a hardware store looking to buy a hammer, but they are sold out. “What did you need the hammer for?” asked the proprietor. The man looked at him quizzically. “To hammer in some nails of course. Why else would I want a hammer?”

The store owner persists with another question. What were you trying to hammer in with the nails? “A shelf” the man replied. “Good” said the proprietor. Maybe these will be of use instead - we have a nail free wall glue in stock as well as free hanging shelves - would either be useful instead?

Fear not what the Romans feared

For centuries, Roman military might was unsurpassed anywhere in the world. Their empire spread from Britain in the west, all across Europe to Jerusalem in the east and south to the very edges of the Sahara. Countless more chieftains and kings provided them tribute in an effort to appease their vastly more powerful neighbour. Neither land, nor water nor the gods inspired fear in the Romans - they were the finest navigators since the Greeks, performing feats of seamanship unmatched for well over a thousand years after the end of the empire.

In 84 AD in what is now Scotland in the north of Britain, Agricola wrapped up a successful campaign against the Caledonians . For the first and only time, all of Britain was under the control of Rome. Only the land of Hibernia lay further to the west, a fertile land filled with lawless chieftains and savage tribes that would surely be of interest to the empire. But no Roman legion ever set foot on the land of what is now called Ireland.

They never conquered Ireland because they thought the world was flat. The Romans believed they were coming to the edge of the world. They believe that sea monsters lurked in the choppy voyage across the narrow sea between Ireland and England. The creative embellishments of their cartographers made sure of this. They feared falling off the edge of the world. They looked at their maps, and saw dragons and serpents and feared that they would never return if they took just one more voyage.

Succumbing to fear and ignorance might just mean you miss the most beautiful opportunities you get in life.

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The effects of using collaborative digital storytelling on academic achievement and skill development in biology education

• Open access
• Published: 17 April 2024

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Sinan Bilici   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0610-2126 1 , 3 &
• Rabia Meryem Yilmaz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0453-1357 2  

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of the use of digital storytelling on academic achievement, critical thinking dispositions, co-regulation, and narrative skills of 10th grade students. To this end, the study was conducted using a semi-experimental design with a convenience sample. The participants consisted of 64 students (33 in experimental and 31 in control group) who were studying in a high school. After the groups were trained, a two-week pilot study was conducted by forming collaborative groups among the students. This was followed by eight weeks of main implementation, during which students presented their projects to the class every two weeks. Following the digital story presentations in the experimental group, feedback was provided by the course instructor and peers. In addition, rubric scores were generated by the researchers for each digital story. Academic achievement test, critical thinking disposition scale, co-regulatory skills scale, and digital story evaluation rubric were used as data collection tools at the end of the process. Independent samples t-test, repeated ANOVA, and regression analysis were performed on the collected data. According to the results, digital story activities had moderate positive effects on students’ academic achievement and critical thinking, and high positive effects on co-regulation. In addition, the narrative skills of the students in the experimental group increased significantly over the weeks with a difference of 27.44 points. There was also evidence that storytelling ability was a significant predictor of academic achievement and that this ability increased significantly over the weeks. The results showed that the collaborative creation of a digital story by the students had a positive effect on their academic achievement and the development of their skills.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

With the technological explosion of communication and globalization, there is a shift from traditional understandings of literacy to exploring different forms of meaning-making. In this direction, it has been noted that today’s students, referred to as Generation Z, use information technologies to create information, transform data into information and share it, and also learn in different ways compared to previous generations (Malita & Martin, 2010 ; Toki & Pange, 2014 ). These students, who have grown up with digital technologies, prefer multimedia content that is rich in visual and auditory terms to content that is mainly textual (France & Wakefield, 2011 ). Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to use contemporary learning methods to attract students’ attention (Ohler, 2006 ; Smeda et al., 2014 ). Appropriate teaching approaches supported by contemporary technologies and original teaching methods that create the desired skills for students come to the fore as a need in this sense (Seferoğlu, 2015 ). Digital storytelling, which is considered as one of these teaching methods, has emerged as a result of the combination of today’s transformative technologies and traditional stories (Sadik, 2008 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ).

In this study, the digital storytelling method was used, which is an innovative pedagogical method that attracts the attention of today’s youth who tend to use technology (Smeda et al., 2014 ). Potential positive aspects such as digital storytelling providing a student-centered, fun and interactive collaborative environment (Chan et al., 2017 ; Çetin, 2021 ; Lantz et al., 2020 ), encouraging critical thinking in the product design process (Hung et al., 2012 ; Malita & Martin, 2010 ), improving narrative skills through efforts to create an original scenario (Dogan & Robin, 2008 ; Foley, 2013 ), and improving learning performance as a result of active interaction (Figg & McCartney, 2010 ) guided this study. Digital storytelling makes this study important because it is a student-centered innovation that combines the power of both traditional storytelling and technology, and its use in education has grown in recent years. The integration of the digital storytelling method, which is economical and easy to implement, into learning environments, especially with the help of existing technologies in the field of education, will have an important place in students’ acquisition of many 21st century skills (Yuksel-Arslan et al., 2016 ). In this regard, it is believed that examining academic success variables along with 21st century skills such as critical thinking dispositions, co-regulation, and narrative skills that are expected of today’s students provides a holistic and broad perspective to the study.

2 Theoratical framework

2.1 digital storytelling.

Digital stories are powerful learning and teaching tools that combine traditional storytelling skills with digital components such as text, images, sound recordings, music, and video (Robin, 2016 ). Digital stories revolve around a chosen topic and often have a specific point of view, similar to traditional storytelling. Digital stories consist of personal perspective, interesting question, emotional content, sound effects, musical power, economy, and pacing (Bull & Kajder, 2004 ; Robin, 2006 ). Although there are different types in the literature covering many disciplines at different educational levels, it is possible to divide the most common types into three categories in terms of content: personal, historical, and didactic stories (Robin, 2008 ).

Digital storytelling, which is a student-centered and constructivist approach, is seen as an educational technology and literacy learning tool that uses almost all the skills expected of 21st-century students (Dogan & Robin, 2009 ; Lantz et al., 2020 ; Yuksel-Arslan et al., 2016 ). It is often mentioned in the literature that it provides a strong foundation for 21st-century literacy, such as digital, global, technological, media, visual, and information literacy (Chan et al., 2017 ; Çetin, 2021 ; Di-Blass et al., 2009 ; Robin, 2008 ; Xu et al., 2011 , Yang & Wu, 2012 ). Due to the potential impact of digital storytelling on skill development, the current study focuses on critical thinking dispositions, narrative skills, and co-regulatory skills in addition to academic achievement.

It is stated that when students collaborate, the learning process can become more interesting and enjoyable despite the repetitive nature of the learning process (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012 ). At this point, it is seen that digital storytelling comes to the forefront as an effective collaborative tool in learning environments. Students who participate in digital storytelling activities perform a dual function of learning and having fun together (Toki & Pange, 2014 ). It is argued that in almost all processes of digital storytelling, from the idea stage to the sharing of products, it often creates an environment for collaboration, communication, and interaction among students (Nam, 2017 ; Ming et al., 2014 ). Technology becomes the focus in the background as students work together to develop their projects. Thus, the process also provides an opportunity to interact with the content and each other while creating digital stories (Lantz et al., 2020 ). When digital stories are created in a collaborative environment, students can take on different roles such as designers, listeners, commentators, readers, writers, communicators, artists, and thinkers (Bull & Kajder, 2004 ). Within the group, students can actively exchange ideas and give and receive feedback. Sharing and evaluating digital stories among peers also allows students to express themselves, talk critically with each other, develop tolerance, and take responsibility (Hung et al., 2012 ; Malita & Martin, 2010 ). Their efforts to synthesize the information they have gathered about the topic into an original scenario also contribute to the development of narrative skills. On the other hand, it is argued that the process of cooperation and communication within the group is effective for students to build the content together, provides more meaningful learning and supports their academic success (Figg & McCartney, 2010 ; Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ).

2.2 Critical thinking and digital storytelling

Critical thinking, defined as a judgment process that guides problem solving and decision making, has two dimensions: ability and disposition. While critical thinking skill is the ability to think critically easily and skillfully with mental effort, critical thinking disposition is seen as the desire, sense of responsibility, and attitude necessary for a person to think critically (Facione, 1990 ). Because it is a factor that affects performance in all areas of social life, the development and promotion of students’ critical thinking skills is considered one of the main goals of today’s educational process (Facione, 2011 ; Giancarlo & Facione, 2001 ).

The literature emphasizes that digital storytelling has an important place in promoting critical thinking (Lampert, 2007 ) and students’ critical reflection on what they have learned (Robin, 2016 ). The digital storytelling process provides students with opportunities to think critically, from identifying topics to sharing, inspiring, encouraging thinking, creativity, interaction, reflecting on their knowledge, and problem solving (Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ; Ohler, 2006 ; Robin, 2008 ; Xu et al., 2011 ). In the process of creating a digital story, students have the freedom to be critical in the selection of content that will support their story in a meaningful way (Chan et al., 2017 ; Czarnecki, 2009 ). As a contemporary, student-centered pedagogy, this study suggests that digital storytelling can be effectively integrated into the learning environment to enhance students’ critical thinking dispositions.

2.3 Cooperative learning and digital storytelling

Collaborative learning is defined as an interactive process in which authority and responsibility are shared among group members and all members are united around a common goal (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012 ; Tezci & Perkmen, 2016 ). During collaborative learning, the organization of activities takes place at different levels of social interaction: individual, pair, and group levels (Hadwin & Oshige, 2011 ). Co-regulation at the group level is expressed as a dynamic regulation process and interaction that coordinates the self-regulation processes between two or more peers in the learning process (Didonato, 2013 ).

Digital storytelling is known to be a powerful method and collaborative tool that promotes classroom collaboration and student knowledge construction (Boase, 2008 ; Hung et al., 2012 ; Yuksel et al., 2011 ). When students are asked to create their own digital stories, either individually or as members of a small group, it has been found that the greatest benefits of digital storytelling can be realized and that team building, cooperation, and other interpersonal skills can be improved (Reinders, 2011 ; Sadik, 2008 ). It is argued that students who create digital stories in a collaborative learning environment improve their communication skills, learn to ask questions, and express their ideas more easily (Hafner & Miller, 2011 ; Malita & Martin, 2010 ; Wang & Zhan, 2010 ). In this direction, it is believed that the digital story activities implemented in the current study will facilitate students’ acquisition of the collaborative skills required today.

2.4 Narrative skill and digital storytelling

When individuals construct stories, many cognitive and linguistic skills play a role in their writing processes (Bumgarner, 2012 ; Ohler, 2013 ). Therefore, narrative skill is seen as a complex product creation process that requires a high level of thinking and interaction in the human mind (Karadağ & Maden, 2013 ; Özbay & Barutçu, 2013 ). The many benefits of storytelling are highlighted, allowing listeners to effortlessly assimilate information and incorporate it into their existing schemas (Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018 ). Although narrative skill plays an important role in the transfer of information and its transformation into gains in learning processes, this skill does not develop spontaneously (Temizkan, 2011 ).

It is argued that the use of various tools and techniques offered by modern technologies, such as digital storytelling, provides important opportunities to improve narrative skills in this sense (Bumgarner, 2012 ; Campbell, 2012 ; Dogan & Robin, 2008 ; Foley, 2013 ; Ohler, 2013 ; Oskoz & Elola, 2014 ). Digital storytelling helps students to manage and understand their story writing processes (Yamaç & Ulusoy, 2016 ) and positively affects their narrative skills, ideas, organization, and sentence fluency (Ohler, 2006 ; Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009 ). Particular emphasis has been placed on the impact of scriptwriting, which is considered the first and most important step in the digital storytelling process, on narrative skills (Ohler, 2006 ; Robin, 2008 ; Xu et al., 2011 ). In this research, it is believed that with the effective integration of digital storytelling into the learning environment, students will increase their academic achievement and improve their narrative skills.

2.5 Significance of the study

Its potential to mobilize and develop 21st century skills (Smeda et al., 2014 ; Wang & Zhan, 2010 ) has made digital storytelling the focus of the current study. In the literature, the pedagogical effects of digital storytelling on students’ academic achievement (Figg & McCartney, 2010 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ), collaboration (Hung et al., 2012 ; Yuksel et al., 2011 ), attitudes (Sadik, 2008 ; Smeda et al., 2014 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ), motivation (Chan et al., 2017 ; Di-Blas et al., 2009 ), critical thinking (Czarnecki, 2009 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ), active learning (Boase, 2008 ; Ohler, 2006 ; Xu et al., 2011 ), writing skills (Oskoz & Elola, 2014 ; Tanrıkulu, 2021 ), communication (Malita & Martin, 2010 ; Sarıca & Usluel, 2016a ), problem solving (Abdel-Hack & Halwa, 2014; Yang & Wu, 2012 ), creativity (Bedir-Erişti, 2016 ; Nordmark & Milrad, 2012 ), reflection (Kim & Li, 2021 ), interest (Ivala et al., 2013 ), social learning (Ming et al., 2014 ; Robin, 2006 ), and deep learning (Barber, 2016 ) were examined. Foreign language teaching comes to the fore as a discipline of study (Fu et al., 2021 ; Hafner & Miller, 2011 ; Ming et al., 2014 ).

The current study was conducted in a high school biology course. It is known that due to the high cognitive load and the excess of scientific concepts and principles, students encounter difficulties in science-based lessons and have difficulties in understanding and remembering the concepts taught (Condy et al., 2012 ; Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018 ). From this perspective, the process of creating a digital story has the potential to improve learning as a result of students’ active interaction with the content, their groupmates, and the teacher, and is well suited for group work (Figg & McCartney, 2010 ; Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ). It was considered important to examine the variables of co-regulatory skills and academic achievement. In addition, although there are digital story-oriented studies in secondary school science education (Çiçek, 2018 ; Dewi et al., 2018 ; Hung et al., 2012 ) and university biology education (Frisch & Saunders, 2008 ; Karakoyun & Yapıcı, 2016 ) in the literature, no study was found to investigate the effect of the digital story, especially in high school biology education. However, although critical thinking is considered as an important educational goal (Facione, 2011 ), there are few studies in the literature on the effect of digital storytelling on critical thinking, and current studies focused on the skill dimension of critical thinking (Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ). The fact that the high school period coincides with the age range of 12–18 years, when thinking skills mature, makes critical thinking education important during this period (Erdem & Genç, 2015 ). In the current study, investigating the effect of digital storytelling on the critical thinking dispositions of high school students is considered valuable in this sense. On the other hand, the prominence of digital storytelling as a powerful approach that can develop narrative skills by initiating a high level of interaction and thought process in the minds of individuals (Abdel-Hack & Helwa, 2014 ; Ohler, 2006 ; Sylvester & Greenidge, 2009 ) has guided the variable preferences in this study. The story scenarios that high school students construct during digital story activities are believed to activate many cognitive skills and enhance their academic performance. In this direction, the current study aimed to examine the effect of digital storytelling on 10th grade students’ academic achievement, critical thinking dispositions, co-regulation, and narrative skills. To this end, answers to the following sub-problems were sought:

10th grade students in the experimental and control groups

Is there a significant difference in levels of academic achievement?

Is there a significant difference in levels of critical thinking disposition?

Is there a significant difference in levels of co-regulation skills?

Is there a significant difference between the narrative skills of the experimental group students according to the weeks?

Is there a correlation between academic achievement, critical thinking disposition, co-regulation, and narrative skill levels of students in the experimental group?

3.1 Research design

The study used a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest equivalent control group. The quasi-experimental design is often used in educational and psychological studies due to the difficulty in determining unbiased samples (Büyüköztürk et al., 2013 ; McMillan & Schumacher, 2010 ). In the quasi-experimental design with paired pretest-posttest control groups, two of the prepared groups are attempted to be equal on certain variables. Then, the equal groups are randomly assigned to the treatment groups and the experimental and control groups are determined. Equivalence is tested by applying pre-tests to the study groups, then the implementation process begins. At the end of the process, post-tests are conducted and the results are compared (Creswell, 2012 ; McMillan & Schumacher, 2010 ). Although the inability to impartially assign the participants seems to be the main problem of this design, the use of pre-tests for the qualifications to be examined in the groups makes the design useful and appropriate. In the current study, since there is no specific grading system among the classes in the selected school, the academic achievement pre-test was conducted to all branches of the 10th grade before the implementation process. The Academic Achievement Test was conducted as a pretest to determine if the students were equal in terms of academic achievement. The two classes with the closest pre-test mean scores were assigned as the experimental and control groups (10/A class control, 10/D class experimental group). At the end of the experimental process, post-tests were administered to the groups. Figure  1 illustrates the paired quasi-experimental design preferred in the study. The fact that the sample group was in the same school as the researcher facilitated communication and coordination with the students and the biology teacher. In addition, the researcher was able to quickly intervene in technical problems that arose in the computer science class.

Quasi-experimental design in this study

3.2 Sample group

The study group of the research was selected from the 10th grade students of a high school using the convenience sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods. In order to determine the equivalence of the groups, the academic achievement pre-test was conducted to the branches. The two classes with the closest pre-test mean scores were assigned as the experimental and control groups. One-factor ANOVA analyses were conducted on the pre-tests of academic achievement, and it was determined that the groups were equivalent to each other ( p  > .05). In the current study, the class size of the experimental group was 33 and the class size of the control group was 31, for a total of 64 students. Demographic information about the sample group is presented in Table  1 .

The demographic characteristics of the sample group were collected using an information form prepared by the researchers. It can be seen that most of the participants have mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and a significant number of them do not have their own computer. Only 5 of the students had created a digital story before this study. 34 students indicated that they could use computers at an intermediate level and 16 students stated that they could use computers at a good level.

3.3 Implementation process

The implementation process of the study, including the administration of pre-tests, training of groups, pilot implementation, main implementation, and post-tests, took a total of 13 weeks. Figure  2 summarizes the stages of the experimental implementation process by week.

Experimental implementation process by week

Lectures were given by the same teacher in both experimental and control groups. Before the implementation, the groups were informed in the first week and the training plans were made. Four-hour (2 + 2) training sessions were given to the experimental group to create a digital story and to the control group to create a PowerPoint presentation. After the training, the students in both the experimental and control groups were divided into 7 groups. The decision of who would be in the groups was left to the students and they were divided into groups of 4–5 people with their friends whom they thought could work in harmony with each other. After the preparation and planning process, a two-week pilot implementation was conducted to test the system and identify problems before the main implementation. In the pilot implementation, small groups of students in the experimental group were asked to create digital stories by distributing the topics and developing solutions to the problems they encountered. After the pilot implementation, another 8-week implementation was carried out. The topics addressed in the experimental and control groups during the implementations are shown in Fig.  3 . The Cell Division unit, in which digital stories were created during the implementation process, includes the subtopics of Mitosis and Asexual Reproduction and Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction. The related topics cover a period of 10 weeks in the curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2018 ). Due to the length of time required for this unit, only this unit was focused on in the study.

The implementation process flow in the experimental and control groups

In this process, which was carried out in collaboration with the students, the researchers mostly followed the story development processes, provided guidance where needed, and ensured data collection. The researchers were actively involved in all processes of group determination, pre-testing, training of experimental and control groups, implementation, and post-testing.

3.4 Data collection tools

The Critical Thinking Disposition Scale, the Co-regulation Skills Scale, and the Digital Story Evaluation Rubric were taken from sources in the literature, and the Academic Achievement Test was developed by the researchers. The relationship between the data collection instruments and the research questions is shown in Table  2 .

3.4.1 Academic achievement test

First, the objectives and outcomes related to the “cell division” unit in the current 10th grade biology curriculum of the Ministry of National Education were identified to determine the behaviors to be measured in the academic achievement test. Then, a pool of 36 multiple-choice questions was created in the first stage at different levels according to Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy to cover the acquisitions. Based on expert opinion, 18 additional questions were added to the pool of questions for the test form, and the levels of some questions were changed. To ensure the content validity of the test, specification tables were created before and after the item analysis. For the construct and content validity of the prepared achievement test, opinions were obtained from an assessment and evaluation specialist, a biology faculty member, a Computer and Instructional Technologies Education (CEIT) faculty member, and two biology teachers. The control form of the test was conducted to a total of 121 students in the 11th grade who had been exposed to the same unit of study the previous year.

In evaluating the item difficulty index and item discrimination index, the values specified by Turgut and Baykul ( 2015 ) were taken as a reference. As a result of the analyses performed on the test form, 25 items with item discrimination index (r) less than 0.30 were excluded from the test. 29 items with item discrimination index of 0.30 and above and item difficulty between 0.27 and 0.73 were included in the final test. The calculated mean difficulty index of the final test was 0.50, and the mean discrimination index was 0.38. These data show that the final test is at the average level of difficulty and can discriminate between those who know and those who do not know at a good level. The KR-20 value, which indicates the internal reliability of the test, was calculated to be 0.82.

3.4.2 Critical thinking disposition scale

The UF/EMI (University of Florida Engagement, Maturity, and Innovativeness Critical Thinking Disposition Instrument) critical thinking disposition scale used in this study was developed by researchers at the University of Florida and adapted into Turkish by Kılıç and Şen ( 2014 ). It is a five-point Likert-type scale consisting of three sub-dimensions; there are 11 items in the engagement sub-dimension, 7 items in the cognitive maturity sub-dimension, and 7 items in the innovativeness sub-dimension. It has been reported that the scale was tested by applying it to 342 students studying in the 9th and 10th grades of secondary education for the validity and reliability study. By applying confirmatory factor analysis for construct validity, X 2 /sd ratio was calculated as 2.99 (813.66/272) and RMSEA = 0.08. The Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated as 0.91 for the total scale, 0.88 for the engagement sub-dimension, 0.70 for the cognitive maturity sub-dimension, and 0.73 for the innovativeness sub-dimension. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients were obtained as 0.89 for the total scale, 0.87 for the engagement sub-dimension, 0.68 for the cognitive maturity sub-dimension, and 0.65 for the innovativeness sub-dimension.

3.4.3 Co-regulation skill scale

The co-regulation skill scale used in the study was developed by DiDonato ( 2013 ) and adapted into Turkish by Pan and Tanrıseven ( 2016 ). Before it was used in this study, the scale was conducted to three 10th grade students to determine if the scale was appropriate for use with high school students. The students indicated that the scale was clear and easy to understand. After receiving a detailed evaluation from the students and consulting the opinions of two experts in the field, the scale was applied. This scale consists of 19 items and measures students’ behaviors related to cooperative organization of the learning process. It was stated that the scale, which is a 4-point Likert type, was applied to 100 pre-service teachers for validity and reliability study. The researchers conducted confirmatory factor analysis to test the validity of the scale, which has a single factor structure. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, the fit indices of the model were found to be RMSEA = 0.074 (> 0.05); NFI = 0.94 (> 0.90); CFI = 0.95 (> 0.95); it has been reported to be detected as AGFI = 0.87 and GFI = 0.91. The factor loads of the scale items ranged from 0.26 to 0.70, and the root mean square error (RMSEA) was calculated to be 0.068. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient calculated to determine the reliability of the scale was 0.89. In the current study, the Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated to be 0.83.

3.4.4 Digital storytelling evaluation rubric

This measurement tool, developed by Sarıca and Usluel ( 2016b ), consists of a total of 30 criteria, 8 for the story section, 4 for the storyboard section, and 18 for the digital story section. It was reported that the created rubric was presented to the opinion of five experts working on digital stories and two experts in the field of measurement and evaluation, and weighted kappa coefficients were calculated by two independent raters for reliability. According to the results they obtained, it was stated that all the criteria of the story, storyboard and digital story sections showed a significant and good level of agreement.

3.5 Data analysis

The analysis types that meet each research question are given in Table  3 .

The analysis of the variables of academic achievement, critical thinking disposition, co-regulation, and narrative skills revealed no missing data or extreme values in the dataset. The normality analyses indicated that the data had a normal distribution. The kurtosis and skewness values of all variables in question were determined by Tabachnick et al. ( 2007 ) to be between + 1.50 and − 1.50. Analysis of variance assumptions were tested and it was found that the variances were homogeneously distributed ( p  > .05).

4.1 Differences between academic achievement levels

The results of the independent group t-test analysis, which was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the academic achievement post-test scores of the groups, are presented in Table  4 .

According to Table  4 , the post-test academic achievement mean of the experimental group students ( M =  76.82, SD =  13.72) was significantly higher than the mean of the control group students ( M =  68.35, SD =  16.68) ( t (62)= -2.224, p  < .05)

4.2 Differences between critical thinking disposition levels

The results of the independent group t-test analysis, which was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the groups’ post-test scores on critical thinking dispositions, are presented in Table  5 .

According to Table  5 , a significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in the engagement factor ( t (62)= -2.190, p  < .05), cognitive maturity factor ( t (62)= -3.736, p  < .001) and total scale scores ( t (62)= -2.830, p  < .05) in favor of the experimental group. In the innovativeness factor, although there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups ( t (62)= -1.631, p  > .05), the mean of the experimental group ( M  = 29.18, SD  = 3.66) was higher than the mean of the control group ( M  = 27.74, SD  = 3.37) was higher.

4.3 Differences between co-regulation skill levels

The results of the independent group t-test analysis, which was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the groups’ post-test scores on co-regulationskills, are presented in Table  6 .

According to Table  6 , the post-test mean of the experimental group students’ co-regulation skills ( M  = 66.15, SD  = 4.94) was significantly higher than the control group students’ mean ( M  = 59.00, SD  = 6.73) ( t (62)= -4.862, p  < .001)

4.4 Change of narrative skill levels by week

The results of the one-factor repeated ANOVA test showing the change in narrative skill scores according to the weeks in the experimental group are presented in Table  7 .

According to the findings in Table  7 , there was a statistically significant difference between the students’ digital story scores by week [ F (2.142, 68.551) = 847.214, p  < .001]. The change in the mean score of narrative skill over time is shown in Fig.  4

Increase in narrative skill scores by week

4.5 The relationship between academic achievement and other variables

The results of the multiple regression analysis performed to determine the power of the variables in predicting the academic achievement of the students in the experimental group are presented in Table  8 .

Mahalanobis distance values were examined in the dataset of the study for multiple regression analysis, and it was found that all values were less than the critical x 2 table value ( D 2  < 18.47, p  > .001) for three independent variables, were normally distributed, and did not contain extreme values. According to Seçer ( 2015 ), there should be at least 15 participants for each predictor variable. In this study, the number of participants is 64. The values of Durbin-Watson (1.783), tolerance (0.773), and VIF (1.293) show that there is no multilinear problem in the analysis. When examining the data in Table  8 , the regression model that was established was statistically significant ( F  = 6.185; p  < .05). These three variables together explain 39% of the total variance in the academic achievement post-test. When the t-test results were analyzed for significance of the standardized regression coefficient ( β ), it was found that only narrative skill was a significant predictor of Academic Achievement Post-test scores ( β  = 0.353; t  = 2.140; p  < .05). The relative order of importance of the predictor variables on the academic achievement posttest: narrative skills, critical thinking disposition, and co-regulatory skills. The mathematical regression model that emerged within the conditions of this study regarding the prediction of the academic achievement post-test is “Academic achievement=-73.889 + 0.296 narrative skills”.

5 Discussions and implications

This study aimed to examine the effect of using digital storytelling on 10th grade students’ academic achievement, critical thinking disposition, co-regulation, and narrative skills. In the study, students in the experimental group actively interacted with their teachers, friends, and subject content throughout the collaborative digital storytelling process, produced creative products that reflected their perspectives, and became the heroes of their own stories. The study, which was conducted in such an environment where high levels of participation and motivation are effective, had important findings that are a contribution to the literature.

According to the results, students in the experimental group who created digital stories were more successful at the end of the process than students in the control group. This result shows parallelism with other studies in the literature (Çiçek, 2018 ; Figg & McCartney, 2010 ; Foley, 2013 ; Gömleksiz & Pullu, 2017 ; Hung et al., 2012 ; Korucu, 2020 ; Robin, 2006; Yang & Wu, 2012 ). The obtained results can be primarily explained by the constructivist environmental features revealed by the collaborative digital story creation activities. It is believed that the constructivist environment features such as cooperation, active participation, and interaction during the digital story creation process among the students in the experimental group positively affected the learning outcomes. It is known that digital stories are a teaching tool that supports learning, encourages cooperation, improves creativity and decision making, and enables students to actively participate in the learning process and learn from each other (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ; Dogan & Robin, 2008 ; Robin, 2006 ; Smeda et al., 2014 ). It is argued that active interaction and communication with the content, peers, and teachers throughout the digital storytelling process provides students with more meaningful learning and supports their achievement (Figg & McCartney, 2010 ; Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ). On the other hand, the fact that students who create digital stories create meaning with their perspective and add comments to their products (Malita & Martin, 2010 ; Robin & McNeil, 2012 ; Sadik, 2008 ; Yuksel-Arslan et al., 2016 ) may have affected their achievement by allowing them to take in more information.

The positive effect of digital storytelling on academic achievement can also be related to its multi-sensory and information embodiment aspect. In fact, it is emphasized that the flexible and dynamic nature of digital storytelling uses many cognitive processes by activating the senses. It can activate students’ visual and auditory senses in different ways than printed textbooks and by integrating visual images with written text. It also improves and accelerates student comprehension (Dreon et al., 2011 ; Nordmark & Milrad, 2012 ; Sadik, 2008 ). It has been stated that digital stories can be used to transform soft information into concrete information and make difficult concepts more understandable, because some abstract information may be difficult for students to understand due to their cognitive abilities (Ohler, 2013 ; Robin, 2008 ; Yuksel-Arslan, 2016). On the other hand, the fact that digital storytelling facilitates the recall and retention of information, especially with its effect on memory, may be related to the increase of students’ academic success (Bromberg et al., 2013 ; Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018 ; Di-Blas et al., 2009 ; Sarıca & Usluel, 2016b ; Wang & Zhan, 2010 ). It is believed that students’ active participation in the collaborative process to improve their products and the repetition of similar processes in each product contribute positively to students’ performance by supporting recall and permanence (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ).

According to the results obtained in the study, the digital storytelling process significantly increased the critical thinking disposition of the students. This result can be explained primarily by the desire and motivation (Giancarlo & Facione, 2001 ) generated by the digital storytelling process. It is stated that the relaxed atmosphere and lively environment created by digital storytelling encourages students to interact, talk, and discuss critically with each other more than traditional methods (Karami et al., 2012 ). It contributes significantly to the development of critical thinking, which is a desirable educational outcome for students, and to critically reflect on what they have learned (Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ; Lampert, 2007 ; Robin, 2016 ). Students critically consider multiple perspectives when researching and selecting multimedia content that meaningfully supports their stories and ideas, and when deciding what information to include to convey their message (Chan et al., 2017 ; Czarnecki, 2009 ; Kulla-Abbott, 2006 ). It is expected that the presence of students with different abilities and different views will create a diversity of ideas. In this sense, the process of digital storytelling with the group can be seen as a process in which students see, accept, and respect each other’s differences. In the current study, it is believed that students’ constructive criticism of their peers’ ideas and products and feedback on group activities (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ; Wang & Zhan, 2010 ) also contribute to increasing their critical thinking disposition. Although there was no significant difference between the groups in the " innovativeness " dimension of the critical thinking disposition scale, the results in favor of the experimental group in terms of mean scores support the view that students with high innovative tendencies try to learn new information by researching, reading, questioning, and acting selectively thanks to their curiosity and impulses (Kılıç & Şen, 2014 ). From an educational perspective, it is emphasized that the stages of the digital story creation process are highly related to the transferable and applicable skills of critical thinking in innovative individuals, such as idea formation, selection, comparison, inference, organization, and review (Boase, 2008 ; Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2007 ; Lantz et al., 2020 ).

Another finding was that the co-regulation skills scores were significantly higher in the experimental group that created the digital story. In this sense, some studies in the literature (Hafner & Miller, 2011 ; Ming et al., 2014 ; Ohler, 2013 ; Robin, 2006 ; Smeda et al., 2014 ; Wang & Zhan, 2010 ; Yuksel et al., 2011 ) have found that storytelling leads students to communicate more with each other, teaches them to work with the group, prepares an environment for cooperation, and encourages them to work together to achieve certain goals. It is known that due to the nature of digital storytelling, it provides more opportunities for collaborative learning activities, communication and interaction between group members at almost every stage, from brainstorming ideas to the sharing step (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ; Nam, 2017 ; Ming et al., 2014 ). It has been reported that thanks to this interaction provided by group work, students participate more in learning processes, knowledge construction is shared among group members, they have the opportunity to work more together, their responsibility skills develop, and they help each other more thanks to the responsibility they take on (Hung et al., 2012 ; Karakoyun & Yapıcı, 2016 ; Sadik, 2008 ; Smeda et al., 2014 ; Yang & Wu, 2012 ).

The study concluded that the narrative skills of students in the experimental group increased significantly over the weeks. Consistent with this result, various studies (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ; Campbell, 2012 ; Dogan & Robin, 2008 ; Foley, 2013 ; Girmen et al., 2019 ; Yamaç & Ulusoy, 2016 ) have found that narrative skills improved over time in the digital storytelling process and that more skilled products were observed. By consistently organizing thoughts (Ohler, 2006 ; Oskoz & Elola, 2014 ; Sylvester & Greenidge, 2010), digital storytelling activates students’ writing skills (Abdel-Hack & Helwa, 2014 ) and improves ideas, organization, and sentence fluency. It has been stated that it has a positive effect on IT and provides fluency in story writing (Yamaç & Ulusoy, 2016 ). However, it has been argued that a well thought out and well written script will make the digital story more effective and successful (Dogan & Robin, 2008 ; Ohler, 2006 ; Robin, 2008 ). In this regard, it is believed that especially the personal perspective and comments on the digital story narration make it interesting, give students a chance to make their voices or comments heard, and students adopt their stories more easily (Reinders, 2011 ; Robin & McNeil, 2012 ; Xu et al., 2011 ).

The regression results show that the variables in the model explain 39% of the dependent variable. The remaining 61% can be attributed to other factors. This result may be due to the small sample size and can be expressed as a limitation of the study. However, in future studies, researchers can strengthen the model by adding new variables to the model in addition to the independent variables used in this study. According to the model, the relationship between narrative skills and academic achievement can be explained by students’ efforts to create effective and original narratives by combining the information they have researched on the topic in a scenario during the digital storytelling process. This is because it is emphasized that storytelling skills play an important role in transferring the information learned in the learning-teaching process and transforming it into an outcome (Temizkan, 2011 ). While the creation of a story scenario is a complex skill that involves the processes of continuous thinking, organizing, rethinking, and rearranging (Abdel-Hack & Helwa, 2014 ), it is stated that the iterative cycle of this process has a positive impact on student achievement (Balaman-Uçar, 2016 ). In particular, it can be said that the continuous peer feedback throughout the process (Kearney, 2009 ; Kulla-Abbott, 2006 ; Robin, 2016 ) allows students to see and develop their story constructions.

6 Conclusion

This study found that digital storytelling in a collaborative environment had a positive effect on high school students’ academic achievement, critical thinking, co-regulation, and narrative skills. It also found that narrative skills were effective on academic achievement and that these skills developed throughout the digital storytelling process. In order to keep the students interested and engaged in the process, two weeks were allocated for the pilot implementation and eight weeks for the main implementation. During this process, several limitations were encountered. The first is that the scope of the study was limited to the Cell Division unit, since the main implementation period was eight weeks in total. The second is that some technical problems were encountered in the process due to the lack of modern computer infrastructure in the Information Technology classroom of the implementation school. In addition, Microsoft (MS) Photostory 3 software was preferred for creating digital stories because of its ease of setup and use. Other mobile and online applications with animation creation and video editing features could not be preferred due to the lack of mobile devices in the entire working group and the lack of technical infrastructure. Some suggestions that could be beneficial in line with the results of the study are as follows:

Given the significant impact of collaborative digital storytelling on academic performance, critical thinking, collaborative regulation, and narrative skills, incorporating digital story activities into the classroom may help high school students develop these skills.

Students can be encouraged to use digital stories as a tool when preparing their homework and projects.

The current study was conducted in a 10th grade biology class. An interdisciplinary study can compare data from different courses with numerical and verbal content to see which students are more successful or interested.

The consistency of digital storytelling with other topics in biology courses can be examined with more comprehensive studies that include different biology topics.

Unlike MS Photo Story 3 software, depending on the educational level of the sample and their ability to use information technology, other desktop, mobile and online tools can be used.

Studies can be conducted to determine the difference between the processes of creating digital stories individually and in groups.

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This study was carried out as part of the doctoral thesis entitled “The Effects of Digital Storytelling on High School Students’ Academic Achievements, Critical Thinking Dispositions, Co-Regulations and Narrative Skills” ( Thesis Number: 679745).

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How to develop critical thinking skills through essay writing , sponsored post.

• April 16, 2024

Have you ever thought why professors should only appraise students’ understanding of concepts taught in class through continuous assessment tests (CATs) and exams? Usually, such questions and related ones often transpire when you have a backlog of assignments and homework. For example, if you’re pursuing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program, you might wonder why you should do courses or units in English 101 and/or 102, communication skills, and entrepreneurship to the extent of writing essays and research papers. Rather than helping you develop professional expertise such as writing cover letters and Resumes/ curriculum vitae, these disciplines contribute to you developing critical thinking. 

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1. rely on scholarly sources .

If you read an essay completed with blogs and one that integrates journals, chapters of the book, and industrial reports, which of the two would be rich in ideas? Without a doubt, any scholar will appreciate the knowledge communicated in the latter. For example, when a journal presents the efficacy of a placebo drug on a patient with a life-threatening lifestyle disease like obesity, it will explain research on how it alleviates symptoms and corrects anatomical or physiological aberrants. However, such a study will indicate limitations on the medicine. For example, it might not be effective in pediatric patients. This information would provoke your critical thinking to the extent of including your verdict, like “an underlying rationale could be an underdeveloped immune system required to work with the drug.” Surprisingly, you can get an idea of conducting a scientific exploration upon noticing gaps and knowledge deficits.  

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When your professor informs you to argue “whether outsourcing of labor is ethically right or not,” how will you approach this question in your essay to boost your critical thinking? Even before answering this question, think about students who search for information on the Internet and start writing. In most cases, you’ll realize that they will begin describing how US companies that outsourced labor globally found them in unending litigation for violating established ethical policies. Whereas such an essay might have answered the question, it doesn’t contribute to knowledge progression. So, how can one avoid unnecessary descriptions of “whether outsourcing of labor is ethically right or not?” 

Ideally, you have a lot of angles to approach such a question. For example, you might rely on scholarly sources highlighting a US company outsourcing labor from specific countries. You can also identify a firm(s) retailing or wholesaling the same or substitute product as the one depending on foreign workforces. In this case, you can argue that outsourcing promotes unethical competition as it might lower the prices of its commodities. As a consequence, the one that doesn’t use foreign might shut down its operations even though it employs Americans. This simple explanation shows how opting to analyze rather than provide a general description stimulates critical thinking! 

3. Take advantage of the counterargument approach 

If you want to write an essay about “the implications of banning the use of polythene bags,” what comes to your mind? A significant proportion of students would focus on how this policy would contribute to improving the environment or reducing pollution. Of course, you’ll find a myriad of information supporting such an argument. For example, some sources would indicate that since these polythene papers don’t decompose, they tend to scatter when blown by the wind, creating an unpleasant environment. Of course, you’ll score with such points, but you won’t develop critical thinking skills. So, who can apply the counterargument approach? 

In one of the body paragraphs, you can state a controversial topic sentence, such as “The banning of polythene bags would reduce government revenue.” In this case, some can argue that the authorities spent a significant proportion of their budget cleaning the environment. However, you can raise a valid point of how the government collects corporate taxes and pays as you earn (PAYE) from companies and employees who produce polythene papers. What’s more, firms responsible for managing litters remunerate taxes. Such a counterargument approach indicates how you’ve developed critical thinking. 

4. Challenge authors’ arguments 

Whereas incorporating ideas from different sources boosts knowledge in your essay, it might be similar to intentional plagiarism, especially when you use a single source. In other words, it can be the same as paraphrasing your classmates’ work assignment and submitting it. So, who can make it differently? You should challenge the authors’ arguments. For example, if the source said that “the company made a dollar million profit in the ended financial year, making 5% increment from the previous year.” You can challenge this argument by saying that earnings per share remained the same even with the recorded upsurge in net income. This approach will increase your critical thinking on the view of profitability between internal and external stakeholders. 

In retrospect, you shouldn’t take essays as an opportunity to summarize previously written ideas. However, capitalize on this opportunity to expand your knowledge, challenge the existing status quo, and progress your knowledge in any discipline.  

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Physics Teacher Is The 2024 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Recipient

B EDFORD, NH — Jennifer Baney, 2024 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical recipient, hopes to transform the way young people think about physics. She plans to help students develop the teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to excel in science (and life) through sophisticated table-top escape room games.

As a long-time physics teacher, Jennifer Baney knows science is serious, but she also knows that an effective way for students to grasp and apply serious and complicated concepts is to have fun.

“I’ve been a physics teacher now for 20 years and one of the things I’m passionate about is getting kids to see that physics isn’t dry and mathematic,” said Baney, who teaches at Bedford High School.

As the 2024 recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Baney hopes to transform the way young people think about physics. She plans to help students develop the teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to excel in science (and life) through sophisticated table-top escape room games.

Baney’s idea is to produce four digital games in which students will unravel a series of puzzles and challenges, each intricately designed to represent specific science concepts. She is designing games to be used in high school science classrooms, but they will be adaptable for a wide range of science topics and grade levels.

The sabbatical, created in 1986 in honor of the Concord High School teacher and astronaut, gives an exemplary New Hampshire teacher a year off with pay and a materials budget to bring a great educational idea to fruition.

Baney’s project was inspired by physical escape rooms, where participants solve clues to unlock the room and escape. In Baney’s tabletop games, students will apply scientific principles and test theories to achieve a goal with hands-on activities and role-playing – maybe finding treasure as pirates or fixing a problem in a spaceship as astronauts. She is tackling two primary challenges in science education: keeping students motivated and helping them understand Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

For Baney, the best solution is having students collaborate in groups to solve science problems, not merely try to figure out solutions by learning a formula.

For instance, on paper, students can calculate where a projectile might land by learning a formula that includes its angle and velocity – not very motivating, Baney said.

“But if you’re a group of pirates and you need to get your cannon ball to land over there, so you can get a rope up there and get your hidden treasure, now you have a bunch of kids that are really invested in solving this problem,” she said. “They will roleplay and really get into it. They will make themselves a little paper pirate hats, and they will wear them for the rest of the day.”

Teachers around the state have agreed enthusiastically to help test games in their classrooms and provide feedback from their perspectives and from their students.

After supplementing her classroom observations and experience with research on student motivation, game theory and the benefits of game-based learning, Baney plans to develop two games. With teacher/student feedback, she plans to revise them and develop two more. All four will be available on a website for teachers to download, with comprehensive guides and easy-to-obtain materials that can be tailored for a class’s specific needs.

“I can imagine what’s going to work in my class. But I really want this to work for a huge amount of teachers,” she said. “So I want to see what works in everyone’s class, and then use that to hopefully have those second two games work out even better.”

Each game will be designed as a series of challenges linked by a narrative or storyline that guides students through the challenges, providing context and purpose.

Baney said studies show that following a narrative gives students real-world context for science lessons. The narrative helps show how theories were developed and why they need to understand them.

“What I really want them to take away from high school physics is problem-solving – like they hit a wall and do not know what to do, so they have to back up, and on their own say, ‘Okay, what do I need to do get do to get through this?’ That’s so important for every aspect of life.”

Working to overcome a challenge, she said, is what research has shown keeps gamers and students engaged and motivated.

Baney’s science students have benefitted first-hand.

“Sometimes, my classroom kind of spills out into the hallways. We have model cars going down the hallways and we have a lot of sensors set up,” she said. “Science can be loud and sometimes science can be messy, but I think kids are really engaged when you teach this way.”

Sometimes, students build electric circuits, which also can be included in the escape room games.

“A lot of kids who it’s really hard to engage in other ways, when you give them wires and lights bulbs and a battery and ask them to build a circuit, those are the kids that will sit there for a sustained amount of time, and they’re gonna figure it out,” she said.

Baney hopes her innovative and customizable game challenges will help teachers inspire a love for physics, that more students become engaged with STEM and more enter STEM-related jobs in New Hampshire.

“I think too often, in trying to keep kids involved, we make things a little easier,” Baney said. “I’m going the exact opposite way. I think you need to ramp up the challenge and give them something that like tickles that part of their brain where they’re like, ‘How would I do that?’”

Submitted by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

The article Physics Teacher Is The 2024 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Recipient appeared first on Bedford Patch .

Letters to the Editor: Politics, from local school boards all the way to the presidency

Politics in school board race replace critical thinking.

I am concerned that the obvious political views of individual school board members have permeated the purpose of the school board. There were groups identified as political action committees that were pushing one slate of three candidates to get votes and another slate of three candidates to get votes. Is this what we have become where we aren’t sending people to think critically through issues together but rather trying to send like-minded people to do what they have been told to do by an interest group or political action committee?

Michael Scriven, Springfield

Presidential candidates leave much to be desired

I have been a conservative all my life because I believe our country works best when enhancing self-sufficiency, giving people a hand up rather than a hand out, the importance of national defense, individual liberty, limited government, and respect for the rule of law.

During his time in office, Donald Trump often disregarded these principles. He presided over an administration that oversaw significant increases in government spending and deficits. He undermined the principles of limited government and separation of powers. In addition, his behavior and divisive language often went against the values of decency, civility, and respect that conservative people like me hold dear.

Two of his actions after losing the 2020 election were particularly abhorrent. While I agree that this election lacked security and integrity (mainly because of the insecurity of mail-in ballots), the election rules that allowed these inadequacies were legally in place at the time of the election. He lost the election. He obstructed the peaceful transition of power and did NOTHING to quell the insurrection on Jan. 6 for about five hours. Could this inaction recur during another attack on our government (either foreign or domestic)?

The other irresponsible action that he took involved his handling of classified  documents important to our national security. Taking those to his home and showing them off to his guests seems incomprehensible. The lack of security surrounding these national secrets and refusal to return them to my government was egregious. I will not vote for him.

On the other hand, Joe Biden does not seem to have the mental acuity to address the concerns of the nation, particularly as we will be facing new challenges and unforeseen crises over the next four years. He has not been able to bring our divided country together. He has mismanaged foreign policy at the southern border and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. There are ethical questions surrounding his support of his son Hunter and his foreign business dealings. I try to avoid thinking of what our country’s leadership will look like if his vice president needs to take over.

I wish there were an alternative.

Ben Lampert, Springfield

Save lives — register to be an organ donor

There are 1,400 people in our region waiting for an organ transplant. Your family member, friend, coworker, or neighbor may be one of them.

At a time when we grow impatient waiting for inconsequential things, like a two-day Amazon delivery, imagine waiting indefinitely for an organ to save your life.

We’re grateful that so many generous donor heroes and families have made a difference by saying yes to donation. Last year, the lives of over 21,000 people were saved or healed by organ and tissue donors in southwest Missouri.

Still, the waitlist grows. Every eight minutes, another person is added nationwide, and 17 people on the list will die today or become too sick for surgery.

How can we reach the day when NO ONE is waiting?

The best way to reduce the waitlist is to reduce the number of people who may one day need a transplant. Staying active, managing your blood pressure, eating healthy, and seeing your doctor can help prevent diseases that could lead to organ failure.

We also bring hope to those waiting for a transplant by registering as organ and tissue donors. April is Donate Life Month, a time to recognize the second chance at life made possible through donation. Giving the gift of life costs us nothing, but means everything to people waiting for a transplant. Please register to be a donor at SayYesGiveLife.org .  

Kevin Lee is president and CEO at Mid-America Transplant, the organ procurement organization serving Springfield and the surrounding region.

Democracy is our system of government

For those readers of this newspaper who do not know what a democracy is! It is a way of governing that is run by the people — for the people. Defining a threat to democracy is not complicated. It is denying the “will of the people.”

Democracy is the opposite of dictatorship. The word democracy is derived from two Greek words that mean “rule by the people.” America’s voting system may be called a representative constitutional republic, but our system of government is based on sound and reasonable expectations of fairness, democracy, and equality. When someone tries to deviate from our system of government and laws, that is a threat to democracy. The media coverage should be balanced, but for centuries no other former president has caused such political division and strife. He uses threats of mob violence like a weapon.

Let’s just pretend there are no political parties. We choose to live in a country that is a democracy. We have laws to protect our rights and laws to hold those accountable who commit unlawful acts. We have checks and balances in our three branches of government. In a democracy there is really no “us or them,” there is just “us.” You are free to vote for the person who you feel best represents you, and your values.

Norma Salchow, Springfield

Solutions for illegal immigration require clear thinking

When it comes to illegal immigrants crossing the border there are many different opinions. I believe it all comes down to safety. 

Instead of recognizing that other countries such as Canada also require citizenship or some form of ID to be able to enter or be a resident within their communities, the U.S. is put in the spotlight and deemed out of line for wanting similar procedures and regulations.

Some argue that illegal immigrants take advantage of public resources. This includes healthcare, education, and social services. The issue is not that they need to utilize these resources. It is that we cannot be aware of how many resources we need if we don't know how many we are supplying for.

Alongside that comes the avoidance of taxes because they are undocumented. I have no problem welcoming more people to America. I believe it should be done safely. With undocumented immigrants comes undocumented weapons. This only brings chaos and danger to the current citizens.

Other issues are job shortages, property shortages, and economic impact. There are solutions to our problems. Addressing the root causes of illegal immigration is one step we can take to help calmly fix this issue.

Ashtin Reeves, Springfield