Focus on G1-12 Education
SERVING BOSTON SINCE 1994
Having the ability to think for oneself and separate good ideas and solutions from bad ones are hugely important abilities in today’s world. These kinds of critical thinking capabilities are also skills that are difficult to teach directly. Instead, it’s often through doing other academic work that children can hone their critical thinking abilities and become the highly capable individuals and leaders they have the potential to be.
The combined English and math classes for middle school students at A+ offer a perfect vehicle to teach your child how to think critically, perhaps even more so than their regular classes in those subjects at school. Want to learn a bit more about why? Here are some of the main reasons.
To think critically is to not rely solely on what you are told, but to consider something for yourself and arrive at your own conclusion. It can be a tricky thing to do, but it is something that can be improved with practice.
In particular, developing skills in observation and analysis can be very valuable. These abilities can help a person notice details that might be important to helping them understand an idea, and allow them to evaluate it carefully before forming an opinion.
English enrichment classes for middle school students offer the perfect opportunity to develop these valuable skills. At A+, our scholars are encouraged and taught to engage critically with texts they encounter, to ask difficult questions about the material, and to delve deeply into the subject matter. It’s a rigorous approach to English study that offers greater challenges—and greater rewards— than regular schoolwork, and is an excellent way for your child to develop their critical thinking skills.
Learning to observe and analyze English texts can have great benefits to a child’s ability to think critically
Logic, reasoning, and problem solving are hugely important to good critical thinking. They are what allow a person to better distinguish the truth from lies, and to predict the potential outcomes of ideas or actions. When a person has strong skills in logic and problem solving, it is likely that they will be able to spot the holes in bad ideas and the strengths in good ones, and use that knowledge as a basis for future action.
Logic and problem solving can benefit from a deliberate, methodical approach, and there are few practices that encourage this type of thinking as well as math. Enrolling in math enrichment programs, is something that can produce benefits far beyond an ability with numbers. The classes at A+, for example, include logic-testing word problems and challenging material that will stretch and strengthen a young scholar’s ability to solve problems. By the time your child finishes their session, the odds are great that they will leave with formidable, translatable abilities that can help them think critically in many areas of their life.
Logic and problem solving learned in our math classes are great training for critical thinking
Are you looking for challenging, rewarding after school classes for your child?
Contact ASC A+ to learn more about the benefits our programs can offer!
