How about introducing critical thinking in academics?

Imagine a student in class 8 who is a talented cricket player. Let’s call him Ravi. Ravi’s sports teacher has told him that if he practices well and sharpens his skills, he has a great chance of making it to the state cricket team. Ravi is sincere and hardworking, and he practices at least an hour every day and three hours every?Saturday?and?Sunday.

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But imagine now that while practicing his batting, Ravi is only bowled balls of one type – slow, short-pitched and pitched just outside the off stump. Ravi masters playing these kinds of balls and dispatching them to the boundary! He often scores centuries, and his average score is very impressive. But what happens to his overall cricket skills?

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For one, his ability to play any other kind of ball - especially the more challenging, faster balls - declines over time. He is also not able to adjust to a real-life bowler who varies his line and length continuously.

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What are Ravi’s chances now of making it to the state team?

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Students in our Indian school system are like the talented Ravi, but the questions they are posed – whether in Board Exams, school final exams or even in class tests – are largely of just one type – questions that are textbookish, recall-based and based on definitions or standard procedures.

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Tuition classes in India know this and simply make students repeatedly solve questions similar to the ones at the back of the textbook chapter. The students seem to score extremely well in both school tests and Board Exams. But what happens when these students are given an international test which is not limited to just these types of questions?

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When Indian students of class 10 from Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh were given the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test in 2010, they were stumped by the type of questions they were asked.

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Students from these two states were specifically chosen to take the test as they were thought to be among the best in the country. However, their performance in PISA with a ranking of 72 out of 73 countries in the world – scoring ahead of only Kyrgyzstan, highlighted the problem of rote memorisation in Indian classrooms and how familiar textbookish questions had further deepened the gap in learning with conceptual clarity.?

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We find that the skills students develop are significantly dependent on the types of questions and projects they are exposed to. If students are only exposed to rote and recall questions, even the most hardworking students would lose their ability to think critically and creatively and instead become extremely proficient at solving the same types of questions.

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On the other hand, if students are exposed to questions which are unfamiliar in form or context, which require them to think critically and deeply, challenge their understanding, require them to synthesise information from multiple written sources, analyse data or require them to make a case persuasively, they would be able to develop more advanced skills??that would increase their employability and allow them to navigate the challenges of the future workforce.??

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For example, when children of class 8 or 9 are asked the chemical form of pure steam, they have to think about it before they answer. Most textbooks do not mention any chemical formula for steam, so this is not an easy recall question. Students have to remember that steam is nothing, but water heated beyond its boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius. They have to further remember that boiling is a physical change where chemical structure remains unchanged. Hence the formula of pure steam is the same as formula or water, which they easily remember as H20.

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Yet when asked this, more than 50% students of these classes say that steam does not have a chemical formula!

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It is not by chance that questions that are carefully developed and require students to think, develop critical thinking in students. High-quality questions (which some call competency-based questions) develop critical thinking skills in students. Our exams at every level need to have more of these types of questions – research suggests that 40-60% of questions in exams should be of this type (compared to almost none of our exam questions?today).

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Many parents hear these arguments and share two concerns – one, whether our teachers will be able to develop such questions; and two, if students will score lesser if exams shift from rote-recall questions to understanding and thinking based questions.

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The answer here is; teachers will have to be supported both with question banks that aim to evaluate the level of conceptual clarity and understanding and the right training to develop the skill to frame such questions. When this is done, teachers will be able to rise to the occasion as they themselves would find this more interesting and meaningful.

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Student marks on the other hand, will come down to realistic levels thereby reducing college cut-offs – this will have a positive impact in reducing pressure and stress on students along with shifting the focus to true understanding and critical thinking instead of just scoring marks by memorising.

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India?today?is witnessing a phase of rapid development and innovation in every sector. To leverage these changes and emerge as a global powerhouse of knowledge and innovation, we need individuals equipped with non-routine analytical and interpersonal skills. This will only come from teaching our students to think critically and learn with conceptual clarity.