Analytical skills and critical thinking is more or less the same thing and in definition, analytical skills is the ability of an individual to utilize their critical thinking capabilities to effectively solve problems and select the most solution for the said problem. Both these competencies are tested throughout or lives, whenever we must make important decisions, both in personal life and professional life. As a parent, you must do your part in planting the seeds of these competencies in your children from a very young age so that by the time they grow up to be mature individuals, they would know how to successfully tackle real life problems using those skills.
Discussed in this article are four effective ways in which you can improve critical thinking and analytical skills in your child.
Interactive questioning
Youngsters are naturally curious and will ask you questions about anything and everything. However, it is also important for you to pose questions to them whenever possible so that they learn to provide answers in a clever and logical manner. It is important for you to pose active questions which cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. For instance, if the child is engaging in Sphero activities, ask them what each of the internal components of the toy (which are visible through the transparent outer cover) does and how the toy moves the way it does. To find answers for the question they will pick it up, carefully observe and present a set of answers as to how they think it operates. Not all these answers will be correct, but they learn the valuable skill of critically analyzing a problem and finding answers which will be useful for the rest of their life.
Educative entertainment
Entertainment and playtime is very important for children as engaging in studies for several hours at a stretch can really wear them down. By making their playtime educative, but just as fun, you can make sure they learn something important for their life even while they are having fun. With the wide variety of educational toys online Australia offers, you can browse through a large number of nifty toys for your children and select the ones that they love the most. This way they learn to have fun with what they learn rather than get bored by it, which will prove to be a great asset in their future.
Information fluency
Children must learn to be selective when it comes to information. There could a large number of different information of which only a limited number is related to the problem at hand. Selecting the right set of information by comparing all components and weighing out the most appropriate ones is what is referred to as information literacy. These skills can be extrapolated by the children in the future when they must deal with larger volumes of information in their professions.