Critical Thinking Blog

This blog contains three types of articles:

1. Critical Thinking for Adults: These articles help adults deepen their critical thinking skills. Topics include what critical thinking is (and is not), how to spot pseudoscience, and how arguments can go wrong.
2. Teaching Critical Thinking to Kids: This section contains practical tips on how to teach critical thinking to children, as well as some more general insights about teaching.
3. Probability Puzzles: These tricky probability puzzles have counter-intuitive solutions.

Critical Thinking for Adults

What is Critical Thinking?

by Jon Guy
Misconceptions about critical thinking include beliefs such as “We are all born critical thinkers” or “Critical thinking comes naturally” or “I’m a critical thinker because I question authority.”

Pseudo-skepticism: What Is Not Critical Thinking?

by Jon Guy
How is rational skepticism different from contrarianism, cynicism, and denialism?

Logical Fallacy Handbook

Logical fallacies are flaws in reasoning. This handbook provides a brief overview of ten common logical fallacies.

How Arguments Can Go Wrong

by Stephanie Simoes
There are two main ways an argument can go wrong.

How Flawed Arguments Can Go Right

by Stephanie Simoes
Sometimes, flawed arguments have true conclusions.

Denominator Neglect: A Poem

by Stephanie Simoes
Unlikely things are likely to happen when happening happens a lot.

How to Spot Pseudoscience

by Stephanie Simoes
Pseudoscience is not the same as bad science. This post covers what pseudoscience is (and is not) and how we can detect it.

How to Type the Connective Symbols of Symbolic Logic

by Stephanie Simoes
A guide on how to type the connective symbols for symbolic logic, also called formal logic or sentential logic, on Mac and Windows.

Teaching Critical Thinking to Kids

Critical Thinking for Kids

by Ronald Crouch
Tips from a child psychologist on how to teach children of various ages critical thinking at home.

Student Questions That I Don't Answer

by Stephanie Simoes
One of my favourite parts of being a teacher is the interesting and sometimes even surprising questions my students ask me. Due to their enormous curiosity, children may ask some questions that adults find difficult to answer.

The Socratic Teaching Method

by Stephanie Simoes
By asking a series of questions, you can guide students to knowledge they didn’t know they already had.

The Power of “I Don't Know” in Education

by Stephanie Simoes
As adults, we must not be embarrassed to say "I don't know" to children. Used correctly, this phrase can be a powerful educational tool, for several reasons.

Learning through Teaching

by Stephanie Simoes
Teaching equips students with essential life skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

How I Teach my Six-Year-Old about the Algorithm

by Jessica Silberman
You can encourage smart and thoughtful technology use in young children by adding in a few questions as you go about your normal day.

Probability Puzzles

The Two Child Problem: A Probability Puzzle in Three Parts

by Stephanie Simoes
The Two Child Problem shows us that our intuition can mislead us when thinking about probability.

The Two Box Puzzle

by Stephanie Simoes
Someone presents you with two opaque boxes. One has two $100 bills. The other has a $100 bill and a $1 bill. You are told that you will get to keep the second bill you withdraw...

Conditional Probability

by Stephanie Simoes
Learning this key concept in probability will help you to understand these probability puzzles.