Ellen Galinsky—already the go-to person on interaction between families and the workplace—draws on fresh research to explain what we OUGHT to be teaching our children. This is must-reading for everyone who cares about America’s fate in the 21st century.

— Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent, PBS Newshour

Critical Thinking in the Bathtub

Quick tips

March 07, 2010

By Ellen Galinsky

Children are born with a drive to understand—to be curious— but this drive can be weakened or strengthened by what we do.

To promote children’s curiosity, be careful not to jump in too quickly to fix things they’re struggling with, since working with the “confounding” situation is where critical thinking is promoted. Instead, where possible, help them figure out how they can resolve it for themselves.

For example, let’s say your child is working on a puzzle and just can’t get one
of the pieces in the right place. Rather than take over, help her look for clues to where the piece might go: “It is a blue piece. Do you see any other part of the puzzle that is blue? Why don’t you try to see if the piece would fit there?” Or “This piece of the puzzle is shaped like the sliver of the moon. Do you see a shape in the puzzle that has the same curved shape?”

Or let’s say that your child is trying to understand why his rubber toy always rises to the top of the water in the bathtub, even when he pushes it down hard. You can help your child create some experiments for understanding floating better: “Do you think that this wet washcloth would float? What about the empty shampoo bottle? What would happenif we filled the empty bottle with water? Here is the bottle. I’ll help you fill it up.” You are helping your child create and test hypotheses, like a scientist.

Ellen Galinsky is president of Families and Work Institute and author of Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs

Skill: Critical Thinking
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Here is a list of Mind in the Making researchers and educators filmed to date

Community Schools: “Mind in the Making and Community Schools: Crossing Boundaries and Creating Strong Linkages for Children Birth through Eight and their Families,” is a collaborative project with The Children’s Aid Society’s National Center for Community Schools and the Institute for Educational Leadership. (Read more)

Learning Communities: Throughout the country, groups of parents, educators, and other family support and health professionals have joined together to learn more about the research on children’s learning from birth through the early elementary school years, and about how to use this research to promote better outcomes for children. (Read more)

Learning Modules for Educators: Mind in the Making Learning Modules for Educators is an 11-part, facilitated learning process designed to bridge the gap between research and teaching practice. (Read more)

Seven Skills Modules: We have created new Modules from the book, called the Mind in the Making Seven Essential Skills Modules. (Read more)

Experiments in Children's Learning DVD: This two-volume series of 42 videos take viewers on a series of virtual “field trips” to laboratories in the U.S. and abroad. (Read more)
View a crosswalk of the experiments to the seven essential life skills

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