My little brother’s first word was “hot.” At least that’s how family lore has it.
When my brother was learning to crawl, the story goes, his favorite destination was the downstairs bathroom, where a ceramic radiator was the object of his fascination. Despite everyone’s best intentions to keep the door closed and baby gates up, he would occasionally find his way into the room. Whenever my mother realized where he had gone, she would follow behind him.
“No,” she’d exclaim. “Hot!”
But like many other toddler lessons — don’t eat out of the dog’s bowl; sand will hurt if it gets in your eye — this was something he could learn only through direct experience.
After some trial and error, however, he eventually understood that the radiator was, indeed, “hot” and that if he kept touching it, it would continue to hurt his hands.
That imparted another lesson: Mom was a credible source about which objects were hot or otherwise posed a threat to his comfort.
Learning to distinguish which sources of information can be trusted is foundational to what is known as critical thinking, so I can safely say that my brother started acquiring his ability to engage in that sort of evaluation even before he could talk.
The skill will serve him particularly well these days.
In this edition of Valley Parents, we focus on how critical thinking is taught and educators’ strategies for addressing the increasing amount and variety of “fake news” that finds its way into children’s lives. Politics aside, social media has helped create an environment where wildly inaccurate information spreads like wildfire. We’re a long way from the days when kids, looking for a laugh, would bring in Weekly World News stories celebrating the antics of Bat Boy for a social studies unit on current events.
Valley Parents correspondent Jaimie Seaton interviewed Dartmouth College professor Brendan Nyhan about the lexicon of fake news and its prevalence. The focus of this issue is on how to teach critical thinking to children, but Nyhan notes that it’s a skill in short supply among all age groups.
“We are all vulnerable to misinformation, especially online,” Nyhan told Seaton. “As human beings, it’s easy to be led astray by false things that appear to be true; because someone you know endorsed them, or they appear to confirm some point of view you already hold, or whatever the case may be.”
The educators interviewed by Seaton all emphasized that critical thinking skills need to be taught to students in all grade levels and across all subjects. “They need to know how to make sense of the world around them and to go out and do the research to find out what is accurate and true,” said Carl Chambers, director of curriculum for the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union.
Seaton also spoke to members of the Hoffer family about how they talk to each other about the news. Parents, as well as educators, play a crucial role in helping children become critical thinkers.
We’re a long way from the days when fake news was limited to the tabloids, making the acquisition of critical thinking skills, well, critical. Of course, there’s a big difference between having the ability to think critically and the willingness to do so. For example, I’m not sure how interested I am in determining the veracity of my family’s story about my brother’s first word.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
