critical thinking skills for middle school students

10 Fun Critical Thinking Activities for Middle School Students

Last Updated on October 11, 2022 by Editorial Team

Wouldn’t it be exceptional to see your children learning from games? That’s what activities usually ensure by giving them hands-on experience. While we see academic lessons thriving through activities, can teaching an idiosyncratic concept like critical thinking through activities be possible?

Critical thinking can be boosted at any age. However, being a part of overall development in students, schooling systems today are paying auxiliary attention to it. But, how do you inculcate critical thinking in middle schoolers? 

Just like grown-ups, middle schoolers would love some activities that hit at the right spot to help them think logically and rationally. In this post, we will dive into what critical thinking is, its benefits for middle schoolers, and finally, some cool activities to preach it better. 

Critical Thinking- What it actually is?

Appropriate thinking is imperative if it comes to the pinch. Purposeful thinking, decision making, and appropriate problem solving make a person a critical thinker. 

By Definition, Critical thinking is the “objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.” This definition stipulates you have some crucial attributes. We have talked about this essential trait in our previous posts , but what aspects of critical thinking should middle schoolers be aiming at?

Aspects of critical thinking

You need to comprehend crucial attributes that form a critical thinking mix for middle school students with the definition. These are:

• Quick Thinking

Critical thinkers attribute quick thinking in the first place. It is vital for making quick judgments regarding problems. Recognizing and remembering things is the basis for quick thinking. Identifying a problem, and thinking promptly yet logically about the solution makes a student an avid thinker. 

• Creative Aspect

Being creative requires you to think broadly about the logic and reasons behind every problem. Additionally, it can bring out multiple perspectives, making solutions easier. Moreover, a person needs to visualize the given challenge and distinguish it to infer better to be creative.

• Analytical Aspect

The final aspect is Analytical thinking . This includes taking proper inference, analyzing, and synthesizing the challenge. This not only is for a problem but even for data. This aspect of critical thinking typically succors students during examinations, where a student needs to analyze questions to draft an exemplary answer. 

Critical thinking activities- A virtue for middle schoolers

Based on the above-discussed aspects, some activities inculcate the best critical thinking characteristics that help students in the most quintessential ways. Lending a hand to middle schoolers and indulging them in critical thinking activities would give the students a taste of a better future; other benefits of these activities include-

• Critical thinking activities make students understand the challenges so that they can plan for a solution. Ultimately, fearing and running away from challenges is not healthy.
• Activities improve the student’s problem-solving ability. Brainstorming and getting out of the situation ultimately boosts the diagnostic and investigative spheres, which helps the child think logically, rationally, and critically.
• Decision-making skills make an individual ardent and capable of mighty things. Practices and tasks that enhance critical thinking ensure students become independent during and after school. 
• Activities help students perform better in school. This results in an improved academic performance as these activities also make them self-reliant learners.  

Critical thinking activities for middle school students

1. mind squeeze .

In this activity, the teacher would choose a set of 5 words for every student. The whole process revolves around the teacher showing these words for a few seconds and then hiding them; later, the student would recite the words aloud by remembering them. 

A lot like the memory game, Mind Squeeze tests the recalling ability of the students while giving them a chance to improve their memory. Thus, this is a good recognizing and recalling activity for middle schoolers.  

2. Anonymous Passage

Practising passages would be a great routine to develop reading habits in students. It also helps them retain crucial details. To start with, the teacher makes a passage and a set of questions. The teacher reads the passage aloud so that all the students can hear it. Now, a few questions are asked on the basis of the passage. 

The activity stipulates the students to remember the whole passage so that they can answer the questions being asked later. This game helps students improve their recalling memory, as the whole game is about remembering the passage. Moreover, the communication and understanding skills of the students are put to the test as their answers would wholly depend on it.  

3. The Scene Setting

Creativity is a crucial aspect of critical thinking. To be creative, students need to be good at visualising scenes too. The teacher shows a prop in this game—any object like a pencil, bird, or ball. Students need to create a scene and story around it. This game gets interesting as the prop gets unique. For instance, asking students to write a story around a needle can explore the depth of their creativity. 

At first, it might seem like a challenging and daunting task. But later, it becomes quite fun, and students gather ideas of how to present their prop in front of the whole class. This not only boosts their creativity but also appraises their communication skills. 

4. Touch On The Error

The students can know about their abilities to distinguish by this activity. The teacher gives children a chance to play with letters here. For instance, the teacher provides children with a sentence where some letters are replaced with ‘Z.’ Now, children may be asked to distinguish the errors and find out the right answers for the same. 

The activity’s primary purpose is to form a pattern which the students can notice and later identify the actual word or sentence. For example, The teacher might give words like- BZG, CZT, ZND, ZPPLE. The common letter here is ‘z’; now, the students need to figure out what this Z stands for. 

Teachers may also mark off all vowels or cross 3rd word of each sentence. By increasing the difficulty level of these words, the teachers can help students brainstorm, which would ultimately add to their critical thinking skills. 

5. Settle the Confusion

Critical thinkers seldom get bewildered. In fact, they make the right inferences from gathered information. Students are offered a confusing question to ensure the same. This way, they can infer and conclude better. In this activity, the teacher can read out a story or play a video for the students. Later, confusing and challenging questions can be asked for the kids. This helps them think harder and answer rationally based on their understanding. 

The questions might look baffling at first, but when a child pushes the right buttons, the complexity would not look like a stumbling block.

6. Award the Winner

Here a student is called upon and asked to judge traits of peers. To prop up this, they asked to choose one peer whom they wanted to award. It doesn’t end here; they need to offer reasons behind their choice. To make it more exciting, teachers can take the call of pairing two extremely unlike students together and give them some time to know some crucial things about each other. Later, they can award each other based on their impression given during the few minutes. 

This shows and improves their judgment skills and, ultimately, critical thinking. 

7. One in Million Sentence

Great for helping students get a new idea about the day-to-day objects, this activity would start with each student asked to write a small phrase on a piece of paper and put them in a box.  Once everyone is done with it, the teacher shuffles them up and hands one slip to each student; Later, the whole class is divided into small groups of 5-6 members. Now, each group is asked to arrange their slips to make a meaningful sentence. 

The way students unjumble the sentences to make them look the most meaningful would showcase a lot about their capabilities. Such activities also put their cognition capacity to the test.

8. Make Out Utilities

Creative thinker analyses an object or challenge in multiple dimensions. Making out Utilities can help students to do the same. In this activity, students are provided with an item—say vegetables. They have to mention five ways to use them. Thinking about the five uses of vegetables can bewilder students and encourage them to think hard. This activity teaches students how to take multiple inferences from day-to-day properties.  

Teachers must give unique words to students. Words that have easily thinkable 5 uses should be avoided. This will make them deliberate through, which will ultimately impact their creative and critical thinking, 

9. One day President 

The ultimate agenda of a critical thinker is to put things together for a solution. The activity, One day president, makes every student take the position of a president. Now, each of them should state what changes they can make in the country in three aspects: financial, educational, and people. Other than brainstorming, a lot of the child’s general awareness too can be judged by this activity. 

This game would be riveting if the children are aware of their surroundings and know what’s happening around the globe. As a president in the activity, they will also experience being a leader, which is crucial for free thinking.

10.  Adventure time

As the name implies, Adventure time activity lets students explore. In this, the entire class is divided into groups of 2-3 students. Each group is given a topic on which they have to make a board game. The best board game is the winner.

This activity makes students think about every aspect of the given topic. For instance, if the topic is forest, students will explore what can be the challenges they would face in a forest— wild animals, weather, and many more.

Being a critical thinker can be far-reaching and make the students more decisive, insightful, and coherent. They can be a cut above when mastered at a tender age. 21st-century kids need essential critical thinking skills to apply knowledge and solve unconventional problems. These distinct skills are not limited to an inborn attribute but can be grasped through relevant practices. Personal practices accompanied by activities can give astounding outcomes; thus, the same should be ingrained in students. Ponder the activities above to see if they make a remarkable change.

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having  just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of  Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’, 

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Creative Ways to Use Graphic Novels in the Classroom! 🎥

5 Critical Thinking Activities That Get Students Up and Moving

More movement means better learning.

It’s easy to resort to having kids be seated during most of the school day. But learning can (and should) be an active process. Incorporating movement into your instruction has incredible benefits—from deepening student understanding to improving concentration to enhancing performance. Check out these critical thinking activities, adapted from Critical Thinking in the Classroom , a book with over 100 practical tools and strategies for teaching critical thinking in K-12 classrooms.

Four Corners

In this activity, students move to a corner of the classroom based on their responses to a question with four answer choices. Once they’ve moved, they can break into smaller groups to explain their choices. Call on students to share to the entire group. If students are persuaded to a different answer, they can switch corners and further discuss. 

Question ideas:

• Which president was most influential: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, or Abraham Lincoln?
• Is Holden Caulfield a hero: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree?

Gallery Walk

This strategy encourages students to move around the classroom in groups to respond to questions, documents, images, or situations posted on chart paper. Each group gets a different colored marker to record their responses and a set amount of time at each station. When groups move, they can add their own ideas and/or respond to what prior groups have written.

Gallery ideas:

• Political cartoons

Stations are a great way to chunk instruction and present information to the class without a “sit and get.” Group desks around the room or create centers, each with a different concept and task. There should be enough stations for three to five students to work for a set time before rotating.

Station ideas:

• Types of rocks
• Story elements
• Literary genres

Silent Sticky-Note Storm

In this brainstorming activity, students gather in groups of three to five. Each group has a piece of chart paper with a question at the top and a stack of sticky notes. Working in silence, students record as many ideas or answers as possible, one answer per sticky note. When time is up, they post the sticky notes on the paper and then silently categorize them.

• How can you exercise your First Amendment rights?
• What are all the ways you can divide a square into eighths?

Mingle, Pair, Share

Take your Think, Pair, Share to the next level. Instead of having students turn and talk, invite them to stand and interact. Play music while they’re moving around the classroom. When the music stops, each student finds a partner. Pose a question and invite students to silently think about their answer. Then, partners take turns sharing their thoughts.

• How do organisms modify their environments?
• What is the theme of Romeo and Juliet ?

Looking for more critical thinking activities and ideas?

Critical Thinking in the Classroom is a practitioner’s guide that shares the why and the how for building critical thinking skills in K-12 classrooms. It includes over 100 practical tools and strategies that you can try in your classroom tomorrow!

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Integrating Critical Thinking Into the Classroom

• Share article

(This is the second post in a three-part series. You can see Part One here .)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?

Part One ‘s guests were Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Today, Dr. Kulvarn Atwal, Elena Quagliarello, Dr. Donna Wilson, and Diane Dahl share their recommendations.

‘Learning Conversations’

Dr. Kulvarn Atwal is currently the executive head teacher of two large primary schools in the London borough of Redbridge. Dr. Atwal is the author of The Thinking School: Developing a Dynamic Learning Community , published by John Catt Educational. Follow him on Twitter @Thinkingschool2 :

In many classrooms I visit, students’ primary focus is on what they are expected to do and how it will be measured. It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests. But are we producing children that are positive about teaching and learning and can think critically and creatively? Consider your classroom environment and the extent to which you employ strategies that develop students’ critical-thinking skills and their self-esteem as learners.

Development of self-esteem

One of the most significant factors that impacts students’ engagement and achievement in learning in your classroom is their self-esteem. In this context, self-esteem can be viewed to be the difference between how they perceive themselves as a learner (perceived self) and what they consider to be the ideal learner (ideal self). This ideal self may reflect the child that is associated or seen to be the smartest in the class. Your aim must be to raise students’ self-esteem. To do this, you have to demonstrate that effort, not ability, leads to success. Your language and interactions in the classroom, therefore, have to be aspirational—that if children persist with something, they will achieve.

Use of evaluative praise

Ensure that when you are praising students, you are making explicit links to a child’s critical thinking and/or development. This will enable them to build their understanding of what factors are supporting them in their learning. For example, often when we give feedback to students, we may simply say, “Well done” or “Good answer.” However, are the students actually aware of what they did well or what was good about their answer? Make sure you make explicit what the student has done well and where that links to prior learning. How do you value students’ critical thinking—do you praise their thinking and demonstrate how it helps them improve their learning?

Learning conversations to encourage deeper thinking

We often feel as teachers that we have to provide feedback to every students’ response, but this can limit children’s thinking. Encourage students in your class to engage in learning conversations with each other. Give as many opportunities as possible to students to build on the responses of others. Facilitate chains of dialogue by inviting students to give feedback to each other. The teacher’s role is, therefore, to facilitate this dialogue and select each individual student to give feedback to others. It may also mean that you do not always need to respond at all to a student’s answer.

Teacher modelling own thinking

We cannot expect students to develop critical-thinking skills if we aren’t modeling those thinking skills for them. Share your creativity, imagination, and thinking skills with the students and you will nurture creative, imaginative critical thinkers. Model the language you want students to learn and think about. Share what you feel about the learning activities your students are participating in as well as the thinking you are engaging in. Your own thinking and learning will add to the discussions in the classroom and encourage students to share their own thinking.

Metacognitive questioning

Consider the extent to which your questioning encourages students to think about their thinking, and therefore, learn about learning! Through asking metacognitive questions, you will enable your students to have a better understanding of the learning process, as well as their own self-reflections as learners. Example questions may include:

• Why did you choose to do it that way?
• When you find something tricky, what helps you?
• How do you know when you have really learned something?

‘Adventures of Discovery’

Elena Quagliarello is the senior editor of education for Scholastic News , a current events magazine for students in grades 3–6. She graduated from Rutgers University, where she studied English and earned her master’s degree in elementary education. She is a certified K–12 teacher and previously taught middle school English/language arts for five years:

Critical thinking blasts through the surface level of a topic. It reaches beyond the who and the what and launches students on a learning journey that ultimately unlocks a deeper level of understanding. Teaching students how to think critically helps them turn information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. In the classroom, critical thinking teaches students how to ask and answer the questions needed to read the world. Whether it’s a story, news article, photo, video, advertisement, or another form of media, students can use the following critical-thinking strategies to dig beyond the surface and uncover a wealth of knowledge.

A Layered Learning Approach

Begin by having students read a story, article, or analyze a piece of media. Then have them excavate and explore its various layers of meaning. First, ask students to think about the literal meaning of what they just read. For example, if students read an article about the desegregation of public schools during the 1950s, they should be able to answer questions such as: Who was involved? What happened? Where did it happen? Which details are important? This is the first layer of critical thinking: reading comprehension. Do students understand the passage at its most basic level?

Ask the Tough Questions

The next layer delves deeper and starts to uncover the author’s purpose and craft. Teach students to ask the tough questions: What information is included? What or who is left out? How does word choice influence the reader? What perspective is represented? What values or people are marginalized? These questions force students to critically analyze the choices behind the final product. In today’s age of fast-paced, easily accessible information, it is essential to teach students how to critically examine the information they consume. The goal is to equip students with the mindset to ask these questions on their own.

Strike Gold

The deepest layer of critical thinking comes from having students take a step back to think about the big picture. This level of thinking is no longer focused on the text itself but rather its real-world implications. Students explore questions such as: Why does this matter? What lesson have I learned? How can this lesson be applied to other situations? Students truly engage in critical thinking when they are able to reflect on their thinking and apply their knowledge to a new situation. This step has the power to transform knowledge into wisdom.

Adventures of Discovery

There are vast ways to spark critical thinking in the classroom. Here are a few other ideas:

• Critical Expressionism: In this expanded response to reading from a critical stance, students are encouraged to respond through forms of artistic interpretations, dramatizations, singing, sketching, designing projects, or other multimodal responses. For example, students might read an article and then create a podcast about it or read a story and then act it out.
• Transmediations: This activity requires students to take an article or story and transform it into something new. For example, they might turn a news article into a cartoon or turn a story into a poem. Alternatively, students may rewrite a story by changing some of its elements, such as the setting or time period.
• Words Into Action: In this type of activity, students are encouraged to take action and bring about change. Students might read an article about endangered orangutans and the effects of habitat loss caused by deforestation and be inspired to check the labels on products for palm oil. They might then write a letter asking companies how they make sure the palm oil they use doesn’t hurt rain forests.
• Socratic Seminars: In this student-led discussion strategy, students pose thought-provoking questions to each other about a topic. They listen closely to each other’s comments and think critically about different perspectives.
• Classroom Debates: Aside from sparking a lively conversation, classroom debates naturally embed critical-thinking skills by asking students to formulate and support their own opinions and consider and respond to opposing viewpoints.

Critical thinking has the power to launch students on unforgettable learning experiences while helping them develop new habits of thought, reflection, and inquiry. Developing these skills prepares students to examine issues of power and promote transformative change in the world around them.

‘Quote Analysis’

Dr. Donna Wilson is a psychologist and the author of 20 books, including Developing Growth Mindsets , Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , and Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching (2 nd Edition). She is an international speaker who has worked in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, Jamaica, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Wilson can be reached at [email protected] ; visit her website at www.brainsmart.org .

Diane Dahl has been a teacher for 13 years, having taught grades 2-4 throughout her career. Mrs. Dahl currently teaches 3rd and 4th grade GT-ELAR/SS in Lovejoy ISD in Fairview, Texas. Follow her on Twitter at @DahlD, and visit her website at www.fortheloveofteaching.net :

A growing body of research over the past several decades indicates that teaching students how to be better thinkers is a great way to support them to be more successful at school and beyond. In the book, Teaching Students to Drive Their Brains , Dr. Wilson shares research and many motivational strategies, activities, and lesson ideas that assist students to think at higher levels. Five key strategies from the book are as follows:

• Facilitate conversation about why it is important to think critically at school and in other contexts of life. Ideally, every student will have a contribution to make to the discussion over time.
• Begin teaching thinking skills early in the school year and as a daily part of class.
• As this instruction begins, introduce students to the concept of brain plasticity and how their brilliant brains change during thinking and learning. This can be highly motivational for students who do not yet believe they are good thinkers!
• Explicitly teach students how to use the thinking skills.
• Facilitate student understanding of how the thinking skills they are learning relate to their lives at school and in other contexts.

Below are two lessons that support critical thinking, which can be defined as the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.

Mrs. Dahl prepares her 3rd and 4th grade classes for a year of critical thinking using quote analysis .

During Native American studies, her 4 th grade analyzes a Tuscarora quote: “Man has responsibility, not power.” Since students already know how the Native Americans’ land had been stolen, it doesn’t take much for them to make the logical leaps. Critical-thought prompts take their thinking even deeper, especially at the beginning of the year when many need scaffolding. Some prompts include:

• … from the point of view of the Native Americans?
• … from the point of view of the settlers?
• How do you think your life might change over time as a result?
• Can you relate this quote to anything else in history?

Analyzing a topic from occupational points of view is an incredibly powerful critical-thinking tool. After learning about the Mexican-American War, Mrs. Dahl’s students worked in groups to choose an occupation with which to analyze the war. The chosen occupations were: anthropologist, mathematician, historian, archaeologist, cartographer, and economist. Then each individual within each group chose a different critical-thinking skill to focus on. Finally, they worked together to decide how their occupation would view the war using each skill.

For example, here is what each student in the economist group wrote:

• When U.S.A. invaded Mexico for land and won, Mexico ended up losing income from the settlements of Jose de Escandon. The U.S.A. thought that they were gaining possible tradable land, while Mexico thought that they were losing precious land and resources.
• Whenever Texas joined the states, their GDP skyrocketed. Then they went to war and spent money on supplies. When the war was resolving, Texas sold some of their land to New Mexico for $10 million. This allowed Texas to pay off their debt to the U.S., improving their relationship.
• A detail that converged into the Mexican-American War was that Mexico and the U.S. disagreed on the Texas border. With the resulting treaty, Texas ended up gaining more land and economic resources.
• Texas gained land from Mexico since both countries disagreed on borders. Texas sold land to New Mexico, which made Texas more economically structured and allowed them to pay off their debt.

This was the first time that students had ever used the occupations technique. Mrs. Dahl was astonished at how many times the kids used these critical skills in other areas moving forward.

Thanks to Dr. Auwal, Elena, Dr. Wilson, and Diane for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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Middle school teachers of all subjects are interested in fostering critical thinking in their classroom, but it’s not always an easy task to incorporate in the never-ending quest to match lesson plans to state learning standards. Here are seven resources that will easily add critical thinking to your lesson plans.

The Critical Thinking Community

The Critical Thinking Community is a resource site designed to encourage critical thinking in students. There are teaching strategies, a glossary of important terms, as well as articles by thought leaders in critical thinking, such as one by Bertrand Russell on the importance of developing critical thinking skills. Visit the site.

Here are some recommended pages for critical thinking strategies for the middle school classroom.

• Teaching tactics : Strategies teachers can use to encourage critical thinking in class. For example, asking students to read the instructions of an assignment and then repeat them in their own words. Visit the page.
• Remodeled lessons: How to take a routine lesson plan and remodel it to foster critical thinking. The page has five standard lesson plans, a critique of why they should be changed, and suggestions for improving the lesson plan. Visit the page.
• 35 dimensions of critical thought: Strategies are organized into three groups: Affective, Cognitive Macro-Abilities, and Cognitive Micro-Skills. Each strategy details its importance for student development. Visit the page.

Success story: tips for teaching critical thinking

KIPP King Collegiate High School has developed 10 ideas for teaching critical thinking. These methods are applicable for middle school aged students, giving them exposure to thinking critically before arriving to high school. One notable technique from KIPP is to teach students to constantly ask questions. Visit the page.

Critical thinking in the 21 st century

Microsoft Education offers material for teaching critical thinking for the 21 st -century student. What’s special about this guide is its focus on thinking critically on the Internet. Lesson plans focus on fine-tuning search skills, how to evaluate discoveries and then incorporate findings in student work. Visit the site.

Creative and critical thinking activities

On teachers.net Gazette, a teacher named Emmy recommends five specific activities that are easy to use, take little preparation, and stimulate creative thinking. The most popular feature of this site is its teacher collaboration. Visit the page.

Back to basics

This site details the basics about critical thinking: what it is, the characteristics, and why it should be taught. It also provides several differing perspectives about critical thinking for readers to consider. Different teaching strategies are also discussed, plus links to helpful resources. Visit the site.

Riddle me that

BrainDen.com has a large number of critical-thinking riddles and brain teasers that can be used in the classroom. The answers are provided for the teacher as well as tips for stimulating further discussion on the topic. Teachers can use the exercises as warmup activities at the beginning of class, or at the end of class on days when work is unexpectedly completed early. Visit the site.

Brain boosters

Discovery Education has a “Brain Boosters” section listing specific logical thinking challenges and brain teasers that students love. The activities can be done with groups or individually. The answers are provided for the teacher. Visit the site.

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25 Logic Activities for Middle School

• Critical Thinking and Creativity

Introduction

Middle school is a crucial time for students to improve their logical and critical thinking skills. Engaging them in a variety of activities will enhance their cognitive abilities, while making learning fun. In this article, we will introduce 25 exciting logic activities targeting middle school students.

1. Sudoku – A classic number placement puzzle that requires critical thinking and problem-solving.

2. KenKen Puzzles – Similar to Sudoku, but involving mathematical operations.

3. Logic Grid Puzzles – Solve zebra-style puzzles by eliminating possibilities using a grid system.

4. Brain Teasers – Riddles or puzzles that challenge students to find solutions based on given clues or hints.

5. Lateral Thinking Problems – Encourage creative problem solving by tackling problems from different perspectives.

6. Optical Illusions – Learn about visual perception while improving analytical skills.

7. Tangrams – Assemble seven geometrical shapes into a square or other figures, promoting spatial reasoning.

8. Chess – A strategic board game that enhances pattern recognition and forward thinking.

9. Cryptograms – Decode encrypted text messages by identifying letter frequency patterns and applying logical deduction.

10. If-Then Statements – Formulate hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships using conditional reasoning exercises.

11. Contrapositive Reasoning – Challenge students to determine a statement’s contrapositive and understand its implications.

12. Coding Challenges – Introduce basic programming concepts like algorithms, loops and conditionals, encouraging computational thinking.

13. Debates – Engage in structured discussions about controversial topics, building critical thinking and persuasive communication skills.

14. Science Fair Projects – Apply the Scientific Method to create hypothesis-driven experiments using logic and reasoning.

15. Escape Room Activities – Develop teamwork and problem-solving skills by cracking codes, finding clues, and deciphering messages to escape within a set time limit.

16. Robot Building Kits – Construct programmable robots using logic and mechanical principles.

17. Geocaching – A GPS-based treasure hunting activity that teaches navigation, mapping and planning skills.

18. Detective Club Activities – Read mystery books or watch detective movies, encouraging students to scrutinize evidence and solve cases.

19. Mock Trials – Simulate legal proceedings to evaluate evidence, deduce conclusions, and present logical arguments.

20. Crossword Puzzles – Solve clues to complete a grid of interlocked words, improving vocabulary and reasoning.

21. Hexaflexagons – Create folding paper structures that reveal hidden surfaces, promoting pattern recognition and spatial skills.

22. Pattern Recognition Games – Identify patterns in sequences or sets of items using logic and deduction.

23. Brainwriting Exercises – Encourage creative ideas by writing down individual thoughts on a given topic then building upon them collectively.

24. Estimation Challenges – Practice close estimation through mental calculation and logical reasoning of real-life scenarios.

25. Origami Art – Follow systematic instructions to fold intricate 3D figures from paper, improving spatial reasoning and attention to detail.

Cultivating logical thinking and problem-solving skills is essential for middle school students as they prepare for more complex academic challenges ahead. These 25 logic activities provide diverse opportunities for students to sharpen their cognitive abilities while having fun in the process.

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Home » Blog » General » Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Middle School Students: Tips and Strategies

Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Middle School Students: Tips and Strategies

Welcome to my blog post on developing critical thinking skills in middle school students! In this post, I will discuss the importance of critical thinking skills, provide an overview of what critical thinking entails, and share practical tips and strategies for teaching and developing critical thinking skills in middle school students.

I. Introduction

A. Importance of critical thinking skills in middle school students

As educators and parents, we understand the importance of equipping our middle school students with the necessary skills to navigate the complexities of the world. Critical thinking skills are essential for students to become independent thinkers, problem solvers, and decision-makers. These skills not only contribute to academic success but also prepare students for future challenges in their personal and professional lives.

B. Definition of critical thinking

Critical thinking can be defined as the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information in a logical and systematic manner. It involves questioning assumptions, considering multiple perspectives, and making informed decisions based on evidence and reasoning.

C. Overview of the blog post

In this blog post, I will provide a comprehensive guide on teaching and developing critical thinking skills in middle school students. We will explore the key components of critical thinking, discuss the benefits of developing these skills, and provide practical strategies and activities that can be implemented in the classroom.

II. Understanding Critical Thinking

A. What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is a cognitive process that involves analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information to form reasoned judgments and make informed decisions. It goes beyond simply memorizing facts and requires students to engage in higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and problem-solving.

B. Key components of critical thinking

There are several key components of critical thinking that students need to develop:

• Analysis: Breaking down complex information into smaller parts and examining the relationships between them.
• Evaluation: Assessing the credibility, relevance, and reliability of information.
• Inference: Drawing logical conclusions based on evidence and reasoning.
• Problem-solving: Applying critical thinking skills to identify and solve problems.
• Creativity: Thinking outside the box and generating innovative ideas.

C. Benefits of developing critical thinking skills in middle school

Developing critical thinking skills in middle school students has numerous benefits:

• Improved academic performance: Critical thinking skills enhance students’ ability to understand and analyze complex concepts, leading to improved performance in various subject areas.
• Enhanced problem-solving skills: Critical thinking skills enable students to approach problems from different angles and develop effective solutions.
• Effective decision-making: Students with strong critical thinking skills are better equipped to make informed decisions based on evidence and reasoning.
• Increased creativity: Critical thinking fosters creativity by encouraging students to think outside the box and consider alternative perspectives.
• Improved communication skills: Critical thinking skills help students articulate their thoughts and ideas effectively, both orally and in writing.

III. Teaching Critical Thinking in Middle School

A. Creating a supportive classroom environment

1. Encouraging open-mindedness and respect for diverse opinions

In order to foster critical thinking, it is important to create a classroom environment that values open-mindedness and respect for diverse opinions. Encourage students to listen to and consider different perspectives, even if they differ from their own. This promotes critical thinking by challenging students to question their own assumptions and consider alternative viewpoints.

2. Fostering a safe space for students to express their thoughts

Creating a safe and supportive classroom environment is crucial for students to feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas. Encourage students to share their opinions without fear of judgment or ridicule. This promotes critical thinking by allowing students to engage in meaningful discussions and debates.

B. Incorporating questioning techniques

1. Asking open-ended questions to stimulate critical thinking

One effective way to promote critical thinking is by asking open-ended questions that require students to think deeply and provide thoughtful responses. These questions do not have a single correct answer and encourage students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information.

2. Encouraging students to ask questions and explore different perspectives

Encourage students to ask questions and explore different perspectives. This helps them develop a curious mindset and promotes critical thinking by challenging them to seek answers, consider alternative viewpoints, and think critically about the information they encounter.

C. Engaging in thought-provoking activities

1. Problem-solving exercises and puzzles

Engage students in problem-solving exercises and puzzles that require them to think critically and apply their knowledge and skills. These activities can be both fun and educational, providing opportunities for students to develop their critical thinking abilities.

2. Analyzing and evaluating information from various sources

Teach students how to analyze and evaluate information from various sources, such as articles, books, and websites. Encourage them to critically assess the credibility, relevance, and reliability of the information they encounter. This helps develop their critical thinking skills and promotes information literacy.

D. Promoting reflection and metacognition

1. Encouraging students to reflect on their thinking process

Encourage students to reflect on their thinking process and evaluate their own thoughts and ideas. This promotes metacognition, which is the ability to think about one’s own thinking. By reflecting on their thinking process, students can identify strengths and weaknesses in their critical thinking skills and make improvements accordingly.

2. Teaching metacognitive strategies to enhance critical thinking skills

Teach students metacognitive strategies, such as setting goals, planning, monitoring, and evaluating their thinking process. These strategies help students become more aware of their thinking and enable them to make conscious decisions about how to approach and solve problems.

IV. Strategies for Developing Critical Thinking Skills

A. Developing observation and inference skills

1. Engaging students in observation exercises

Engage students in observation exercises that require them to carefully observe and analyze objects, images, or situations. Encourage them to make logical inferences based on the evidence they observe. This helps develop their observation and inference skills, which are essential components of critical thinking.

2. Teaching students how to make logical inferences based on evidence

Teach students how to make logical inferences based on evidence. Provide them with opportunities to practice making inferences in various contexts, such as reading comprehension activities or scientific experiments. This helps develop their critical thinking skills and enhances their ability to draw conclusions based on evidence.

B. Enhancing analytical thinking

1. Teaching students how to break down complex problems into smaller parts

Teach students how to break down complex problems into smaller parts and analyze each part individually. This helps develop their analytical thinking skills and enables them to approach problems systematically and effectively.

2. Providing opportunities for students to analyze and evaluate information

Provide students with opportunities to analyze and evaluate information from different sources. This can be done through research projects, debates, or class discussions. Encourage students to critically assess the credibility, relevance, and reliability of the information they encounter.

C. Encouraging creativity and divergent thinking

1. Promoting brainstorming sessions and creative problem-solving activities

Promote brainstorming sessions and creative problem-solving activities that encourage students to generate innovative ideas and consider multiple perspectives. This helps develop their creativity and divergent thinking skills, which are essential components of critical thinking.

2. Emphasizing the importance of considering multiple perspectives

Emphasize the importance of considering multiple perspectives when analyzing and evaluating information. Encourage students to think critically about different viewpoints and consider the implications of each perspective. This helps develop their critical thinking skills and promotes empathy and understanding.

D. Practicing decision-making and problem-solving

1. Engaging students in real-life scenarios and ethical dilemmas

Engage students in real-life scenarios and ethical dilemmas that require them to make decisions and solve problems. This helps develop their decision-making and problem-solving skills and enables them to apply their critical thinking abilities in practical situations.

2. Guiding students through the decision-making process

Guide students through the decision-making process by providing them with a framework or set of criteria to consider. Encourage them to weigh the pros and cons, consider the consequences of their decisions, and make informed choices based on evidence and reasoning.

V. Assessing and Monitoring Critical Thinking Skills

A. Using rubrics and checklists to assess critical thinking skills

Use rubrics and checklists to assess students’ critical thinking skills. These assessment tools provide clear criteria for evaluating students’ ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information. They help educators identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.

B. Incorporating self-assessment and peer assessment strategies

Incorporate self-assessment and peer assessment strategies to encourage students to reflect on their own thinking and provide feedback to their peers. This promotes metacognition and helps students develop a deeper understanding of their own critical thinking abilities.

C. Providing constructive feedback to support growth and improvement

Provide constructive feedback to students to support their growth and improvement in critical thinking skills. Highlight areas of strength and provide specific suggestions for improvement. Encourage students to reflect on the feedback and make adjustments to their thinking and problem-solving strategies.

VI. Conclusion

A. Recap of key points discussed

In this blog post, we discussed the importance of developing critical thinking skills in middle school students. We explored the key components of critical thinking, discussed the benefits of developing these skills, and provided practical tips and strategies for teaching and developing critical thinking skills in the classroom.

B. Importance of ongoing practice and reinforcement

Developing critical thinking skills is an ongoing process that requires practice and reinforcement. Encourage students to apply their critical thinking skills in various contexts and provide opportunities for them to engage in critical thinking activities on a regular basis.

C. Encouragement for educators and parents to support the development of critical thinking skills in middle school students

As educators and parents, we play a crucial role in supporting the development of critical thinking skills in middle school students. By creating a supportive classroom environment, incorporating questioning techniques, engaging in thought-provoking activities, and providing ongoing assessment and feedback, we can help our students become independent thinkers, problem solvers, and decision-makers.

Start your EverydaySpeech Free trial here to access a wide range of resources and activities that can support the development of critical thinking skills in middle school students.

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25 Logic Activities For Middle School: Riddles, Debate, Brain Teasers, Challenges, And Worksheets

October 15, 2023 //  by  Sydney Peters

Is logic something you teach or is it something that comes naturally? Actually, it can be taught! Logic and critical thinking are some of the most important skills our students learn in middle school, but how do you teach logic? Middle school students learn about logic through reasoning and deduction. With these skills, students can use critical thinking and reasoning to make a rational conclusion. With this list of 25 logic activities, students can develop the skills they need to tap into those skills and use logic to solve problems!

1. TED-Ed Number Riddle

This video from TED-Ed is a perfect starter activity to engage your middle schoolers and kick those logical thinking skills into action! They’ll enjoy watching the animation that lays out a numerical riddle for them to solve, but can they figure it out? You can pause the video when instructed and all work on this one together! 

Learn More: YouTube

2. Propaganda and Critical Thinking

Teaching students logic is one of the most important skills they will learn.  Use this activity, propaganda, and critical thinking to show students how to be critical thinkers through pop culture.

Learn More: Just Add Students

3. Escape Rooms

Escape rooms provide students with a fun and challenging activity that allows them to practice their logical reasoning and critical thinking. In this activity, students work together to solve puzzles and problems that challenge their logic.

Learn More: Beyond the Worksheet

Want a fun and easy way to help boost your students’ logic and critical thinking skills?  Scientists have proven that riddles do exactly that. Solve these tricky puzzles and boost your logic.

Learn More: Bright Side

5. Have a Debate 

Middle school students are great debaters, they just need something interesting to challenge their thinking.  Use these debate topics to help students tap into their logical thinking skills and challenge their peers.

Learn More: Games 4 ESL

6. Host a Mock Trial

Nothing will challenge your middle school students to use their logical reasoning more than a mock trial. In a mock trial, students use their critical thinking skills to defend their cases. Promote team building, critical thinking, and logic with this fun activity.

Learn More: Law for Kids

7. Logical Fallacies

Sometimes it can be challenging to get middle school students engaged in their learning. In this activity, students play different characters using creative thinking and logic. Watch your students glow with excitement in this fun logic activity.

Learn More: Teach Between the Lines

8. Brain Teasers

Challenging our students to think outside the box and use their critical thinking skills can be difficult. Get your students excited about learning and logic with these exciting brain teasers that challenge your student’s thinking.

Learn More: GCF Learn Free.org

9. Teaching Inferences 

When it comes to logic, teaching students how to use inferences is crucial. Students use inferences to “read between the lines” and develop the skills to put clues together. Using inferences and critical thinking, students can develop their logical reasoning.

Learn More: Love, Laugh, Teach

10. Logic Puzzles

Sharpen your students’ logic by using creative logic puzzles. Nurture and develop your student’s critical thinking by challenging their thinking with these puzzles. Analyze, infer, and solve!

Learn More: Kristine Nannini

11. Brain Teasers

Want an easy way to add logic time to your student’s day? Use these brain teasers to challenge your student’s logic throughout the day. Students develop logic by practicing repeatedly. These fun brain teasers are a great way to add more logic to your student’s day.

Learn More: Teach Mama

12. Games, Puzzles, and Brain Teasers

Every teacher has those students who finish before everyone else. Instead of having them sit at their desk waiting for the next lesson, give them access to brain teasers, puzzles, and critical thinking activities that will help support their logic skills.

13. Illusions 

Our brains can trick us into seeing something that’s not really there or obscure the image to look like something it’s not. These fun illusions will challenge your student’s brains and push their logic to think outside the box. What do you see?

Learn More: Mind Oddities

14. Scary Stories to Promote Logic

It’s no secret that most middle school students love scary stories. Why not use those scary stories to help build your student’s logic? These fun short, scary stories will get your students excited about critical thinking and logic.

Learn More: Hey Natayle

15. Triangle Puzzle

Creating a puzzle that challenges students’ logic is easy! In this creative logic puzzle, students use a square piece of paper to create a triangle. It’s not as easy as it sounds and it’s going to take some extra critical thinking on your student’s part to solve it!

Learn More: What Do We Do All Day

16. Perspective Taking 

Using perspective is a great way to get students thinking about their own logic. It can be challenging to see things from a different point of view, but it’s an important skill for students to learn, especially when it comes to logic. Check out these activities from the Secondary English Coffee Shop.

Learn More: The Secondary English Coffee Shop

17. Forced Analogies 

Have you ever tried to compare two things that are seemingly unrelated? Well in this task, that’s exactly what students are asked to do! It may seem easier than it is, but comparing two things that are unrelated requires a lot of logical thinking.

Learn More: Tammy De Shaw The Owl Teacher

18. STEM Challenges 

It’s should be no surprise that science, technology, engineering, and math are full of logical activities. In this STEM-based activity, students use logical thinking and reasoning to develop experiments. 

Learn More: Brain Ninjas

19. Encourage Critical Thinking 

Critical thinking that promotes logic can be added to any lesson. Add some creative and challenging activities to your student’s reading and writing lessons. Encourage students to use logic in everyday problems.

Learn More: Bespoke Classroom

20. Hexagonal Thinking 

This new and creative mind-mapping strategy is a great way to help students develop their logic skills. Students examine a set of ideas that are written out in hexagon shapes. They create a puzzle using logic and critical thinking.

Learn More: Now Spark Creativity

21. The Marshmallow Challenge

When it comes to helping students develop their logic, the marshmallow activity is one they’ll love. Using marshmallows and spaghetti, students build towers. 

Learn More: Mrs. E Teaches Math

22. Problem Solving

Start each morning or class period with a simple problem. Students use logic and critical thinking to answer problems that challenge their skills.

Learn More: Mosswood Connections

23. Deepen your levels of questioning

Did you know that there are different levels of questioning? Each of the four levels of questioning help students thinks deeper about the content they’re learning. Use these four levels of questioning to help students develop their logic and critical thinking skills.

Learn More: Patheos

24. Logic Games

Learning logic through games is a fun and engaging way to help students build the skills they need to become critical thinkers. These exciting games will be a hit with your students.

Learn More: The Homeschool Scientist

25. Puzzle of the Week 

Looking for a fun and easy way to help your students test their logic? Introduce a puzzle of the week! With these fun puzzles, students use critical thinking and logic to solve simple, yet complicated problems.

Learn More: Critical Thinking

Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Middle School & High School Students

Catherine donges, 26 sep 2017.

Students can be taught to think critically using a mix of explicit instruction and providing ample opportunities to practice skills within the context of content learning, according to Pearson Learning. Despite this knowledge, researchers Lisa Marin and Diane Halpern note that very little specific curriculum for explicit critical thinking instruction is available for secondary students, and teacher preparation programs rarely mention how to teach critical thinking. In fact, although most teachers identify it as necessary, few can articulate a good definition of it, and far fewer can identify strategies to teach it.

Explore this article

• Thinking Critically
• Explicit Instruction Strategies for Middle School
• Explicit Instruction in High School
• Critical Thinking in the Curriculum

1 Thinking Critically

Partnership for 21st Century Skills defines critical thinking as having the ability to reason effectively, to view people and things as parts of complex systems, to make effective and logical judgments and decisions based on a thorough analysis of information obtained from individuals with varying points of view and to solve problems using both conventional and innovative methods. This definition clearly reflects the global nature of critical thinking, but Katie Kirkpatrick, dean of instruction at KIPP King Collegiate High School, describes it more simply in terms of learning content. In teaching fellow teachers how to teach critical thinking, Kirkpatrick says that critical thinking makes learning more relevant because it allows students to analyze, evaluate and use content in their everyday lives.

2 Explicit Instruction Strategies for Middle School

Explicit instruction of critical thinking skills can be accomplished in teaching Internet literacy. On the middle school level, Microsoft Education author Mary Lane Potter suggests there are a number of things middle school students should be taught, including persuasive vocabulary connotations, reputable sources and how to recognize faulty arguments. Rather than telling them, however, teachers should guide them through the process and help them discover what you want them to understand by asking probing questions. For example, when helping students determine what are reputable sites have the ask whether the author is attempting to inform or trying to persuade the reader to do or buy something? In verifying an author's credibility, students need to ask what makes the author an authority on the subject? In other words, how does the author know what he claims to be true?

3 Explicit Instruction in High School

By the time they are in high school students should be using metacognitive strategies. In other words, they should be thinking about world views and how differences affect how they and others think. Learning on this level, according to Potter, should be project-based. For example, they should be able to create a checklist to guide peers by asking the same types of questions a teacher might when evaluating a website as an authority or as an advertisement or hoax. Another project could be to have them do research on different positions on a topic and create a PowerPoint presentation that analyzes the differences between the sides deciding which are disagreements of facts and which are disagreements of values. This is an essential understanding because disagreements of fact can be resolved scientifically, while disagreements of value cannot.

4 Critical Thinking in the Curriculum

Teachers have an ethical responsibility to teach from different perspectives, according to Professor Claudette Thompson at St. Bonaventure University. Critical evaluation and logic should be embedded within language arts instruction on reading and writing. Teachers need to develop the ability to ask good open-ended questions that stimulate critical thought. They should resist the urge to tell and should encourage hands-on learning. They should consider using role-playing activities that allow students to act like researchers, mathematicians, scientists, historians and archaeologists that engage in problem-based learning.

• 1 Partnership for 21st Century Skills: Framework for 21st Century Learning
• 2 Pearson Learning: Critical Thinking-A Literature Review
• 3 Partnership for 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• 4 The George Lucas Educational Foundation: Training Teachers to Teach Critical Thinking
• 5 Microsoft Education: Developing Criticial Thinking Skills Through Web Research Skills
• 6 nternational Journal of Humanities and Social Science; Critical Thinking across the Curriculum: Process over Output; Claudette Thompson
• 7 The Source for Learning: Rubrics to the Rescue

About the Author

Based just outside of Harrisburg, Pa., Catherine Donges teaches adjudicated adolescents in a residential treatment facility in York, Pa. Donges earned both her Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Wilkes University and a Master of Science in education from Capella University and has written both a women's fiction and a young adult novel.

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Critical thinking skills not emphasized by most middle school teachers.

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Students raise their hands to answer a teacher's question at the KIPP Academy in the South Bronx, ... [+] part of a network of public middle schools that is becoming a model for educating poor children. KIPP — which stands for Knowledge is Power Program — institutions are rigorous college preparatory schools where both students and their parents must sign a contract pledging long hours, extra homework, summer school, and excellent attendance records. Using strict discipline with highly motivated — and paid — teachers, the KIPP program has proven that public education can work. In the Bronx, the school has a famous music program, where children practice the songs of Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Recent events show that there has never been a more crucial time for critical thinking. A global onslaught of misinformation, social media saturation, partisan politics, and science skepticism continuously challenge how information is shared, understood, and how it influences the decisions people make.

Research from the Reboot Foundation and others show that an overwhelming majority of the population recognizes the importance of critical thinking skills in today’s modern society. From parents to employers, there is near unanimous support for the teaching of critical skills in American classrooms, yet new national survey data shows schools may not be teaching those skills often enough.

A new Reboot paper, Teaching Critical Thinking in K-12: When There’s A Will But Not Always A Way , examines the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and found that the teaching of critical thinking skills is inconsistent across states and tends to drop as students get older.

Among some of the key findings from NAEP:

• While 86 percent of 4th grade teachers said they put “quite a bit” or “a lot of emphasis” on deductive reasoning, that figure fell to only 39 percent of teachers in 8th grade. Deductive reasoning is one of the key skills in critical thinking, as it requires students to take a logical approach to turning general ideas into specific conclusions.
• At the state level, the analysis found that only seven states had at least 50 percent of their 8th grade teachers report that they place “quite a bit or a lot of emphasis” on teaching their students to engage in deductive reasoning.

While the numbers themselves are cause for concern, the age range at which these statistics are being reported is equally concerning. Research shows that while critical thinking skills can be learned at any stage of life, the teen years are an opportune time to engage young people as their brains are developing strong cognitive abilities.

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These years are exactly when students should be building a strong foundation of critical thinking competencies that can last a lifetime. Developmental psychologists have noted that beginning at around age 13, adolescents can begin to acquire and apply formal logical rules and processes, if they are shown how. Yet the data shows that schools are largely failing to capitalize on this period, despite a desire by many educators to do so.

Per NAEP, nearly 90% of 4th grade teachers nationally said they put “quite a bit” or “a lot of emphasis” on deductive reasoning, only for that figure to fall to less than 40% of teachers in 8th grade – what issues are contributing to the drastic drop?

In 2020, Reboot surveyed teachers and found that many teachers harbored misconceptions about how to best teach critical thinking. The survey found that, among teachers, 42 percent reported that students should learn basic facts first, then engage in critical thinking practice, while an additional 16 percent said that they believed basic facts and critical thinking should be taught separately. This line of thinking is wrong, as research strongly suggests that critical thinking skills are best acquired in combination with the teaching of basic facts in a subject area.

This commonly-held misconception about when and how to teach critical thinking skills might be a clue as to why deductive reasoning instruction seems to tail off as students get older and take more specialized, content-driven classes. This might be made worse by the fact that eighth grade is a crucial year for many schools to show success under their state accountability measures.

In many states, students cannot move on to high school if they fail state exams in eighth grade. And things such as teacher pay, school funding and other “high-stakes” accountability measures often hinge on student performance in that grade. This pressure forces schools and teachers to focus on preparing their eighth graders for state exams in lieu of a more well-rounded educational experience. Indeed, our 2020 survey of teachers revealed that 55 percent believed that the emphasis on standardized testing made it more difficult to incorporate critical thinking instruction in their classrooms.

Reboot and others are working to identify ways teachers can implement critical thinking skills education into their curriculums more simply and efficiently. Among the stepping stones toward broader adoption are:

• A shared standard or consensus around critical thinking education that could contribute to more uniform and equitable teaching of these key skills nationwide.
• An easier way to broach critical thinking for a wide-ranging group of students. New research by Reboot and researchers from Indiana University explores innovative, inexpensive and scalable ways to teach critical thinking skills. The research found that educators and others can teach and hone essential critical thinking skills using a simple method that is easy to implement across diverse groups of students.

So even as the recent data from NAEP is disappointing on skills like deductive reasoning, it also shows where improvement needs to occur. What remains to be seen is the nation’s commitment to advancing critical thinking skills and its support for the educators, administrators and stakeholders working to knock down the challenges being faced. As NAEP and other surveys show, there is indeed a will to move forward with critical thinking skills education among teachers. Dedicated resources and consistent collaboration will be crucial to finding “the way.”

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Sparking Students’ Curiosity to Enhance Their Problem-Solving Skills

Curiosity about small questions, or micowonderings, can help students solve problems in any discipline.

When you hear the word wonder , what images come to mind? Perhaps you’re imagining a person with their hand on their chin and a thought bubble above their head filled with images of the universe.

Yes, this is one important version of wonder. Some of the most important innovations of humankind came from the sort of curiosity that breeds wild ideas on the cosmic level. However, wonder is not always as big as looking up into the sky and questioning our cosmos. Just as many of humankind’s brightest solutions came from microwonderings, the kinds of questions that all good problem solvers ask.

The Importance of Staying Curious

Imagine a mechanical engineer tasked with designing a particular gear to be used in an airplane. She might spend years using computer-aided design software in the process of perfecting the cog. How does she stay motivated for such work day after day? Enter microwonderings. Each day, she must ask herself small questions like “What if I slightly elongate this element and shorten this one?” or “What would the addition of ridges do?” She has to stay curious all the time.

Regardless of the discipline you operate in, solving problems and pushing for a solution requires constant micromusing.

Mathematicians ask, “Where have I seen a problem like this before? How can I adjust that procedure for this new context?” Historians ask, “Who’s telling this story, and where can I find another perspective?” Writers ask, “How does this particular word choice affect my meaning, and what changes if I swap the word for another?” While these may seem like small questions, the iterative process of improvement that they catalyze is the key to progress.

So how do we teach students to become curious on a small scale like this?

Encouraging Small-Scale Curiosity

One of the most important things teachers can do is model this line of questioning. Regularly demonstrate the problem-solving process, and vocalize your thoughts as you do so. For example, in an English class during a writing conference, make sure to voice aloud the microwonderings you have while editing the students’ work. Demonstrate the iterations that a sentence might go through in the editing process by changing it, asking what the effect is, changing again, and so on.

Another way that teachers can encourage microwondering is to provide question stems associated with the problem-solving process in their discipline. You might even have a poster on the wall that reminds students of the sorts of questions they should be asking.

For example, a math class might have question stems like “How is this similar to a problem I have seen before? How is it different? How can I turn the problem into a simpler one that I know how to solve?” Frequently refer to the list, and continuously add to it as you and your students discover additional fruitful questions.

Finding the Right Problems

An important aspect in guiding students to apply their curiosity to problem-solving is presenting them with problems that are interesting enough to warrant the effort of arriving at a solution.

The process of choosing such problems is twofold. First, the problems must be in the students’ zone of proximal development (ZPD). In other words, they can’t be so easy that the students automatically know what to do, and they can’t be so difficult that the students have no hope of solving them. Using frequent formative assessment to determine each student’s unique ability level and then choosing problems to match that is crucial. This means that students may not all be working on the same problem, and that’s OK!

One way to ensure that all students operate in their ZPD is by carefully designing a sequence of problems. Start with problems that the students can definitely solve, and progressively build in complexity. The added complexity requires students to build off of strategies they know work but then ask themselves about what adjustments need to be made in order to solve a novel problem.

Finally, the problems should be meaningful. The engineer that we talked about earlier must believe that her work is important and that discovering an optimal solution is worth all of the experimenting that she does daily.

For students, this might mean choosing problems or tasks that are relevant to their lives, ensuring that they find value in seeing the task through to the end. It could also mean creating a culture of high craftsmanship where students are motivated not only to see a task through to the finish, but also to create the best final product possible.

Curiosity is the urge to understand something that you don’t already understand. It could mean having a big, seemingly crazy, novel idea that changes the way we think and operate. It could also mean asking question after question, resulting in little experiments and incremental progress. Both paths are crucial to innovation, and teachers have the responsibility (and opportunity) to help students build these skills.

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Afterschool Enrichment Activities in 2024

reviewed by Jo-ann Caballes

Created on Jun 25, 2024

Updated on June 25, 2024

Grades in math, English and other key subjects have been falling since the COVID-19 lockdown.

What’s more, teachers report that kids have been less engaged since the pandemic.

Afterschool enrichment activities are key to making sure kids don’t fall behind in school – especially if they aren’t fully engaged.

Here, we cover the best after-school enrichment activities for kids.

What is an enrichment class in middle school?

Middle school enrichment programs are designed to supplement school learning for kids. They enhance school learning by giving kids a deeper understanding of their favorite subjects – or the subjects they may struggle with.

Some schools deliver enrichment for kids to upgrade their standard curriculum. These programs are optional and offer parents the opportunity to expand their kid’s knowledge and cement their understanding of many subjects. 

If your kid’s school doesn’t offer enrichment classes, there are a number of enrichment activities you can do yourselves. Our article will cover many different after-school enrichment activities or programs to support your kid’s learning in middle school, as well as kindergarten, elementary school and high school.

Types of after-school enrichment activities

There are many types of afterschool enrichment activities that can support your kid’s learning. In this article, we’ll cover the following educational after-school enrichment activities and classes:

Enrichment activities with Brighterly

• Summer camps
• After-school book clubs
• Competitive quiz clubs
• Paying for small items
• Arts and crafts
• Grow bacteria and watch it develop
• Sports activities
• Playing board games
• Coding classes
• Building straw bridges
• Cooking together
• Debate classes
• Music activities
• Teaching language through TV and TikTok

Brighterly offers a range of enrichment activities to support kids from kindergarten to grade 12 in their math learning. Our personalized one-to-one online tutoring will identify gaps in your kid’s knowledge to ensure they learn and understand key math concepts.

We’ve been teaching kids math for years. With Brighterly, they memorize math, understand the concepts, and learn how to apply them.  Our award-winning interactive programs are personalized to your kids and make math fun and engaging.

To further supplement their learning, we offer a range of fun worksheets that illustrate math concepts in a way that’s visually engaging and interesting – there’s no learning by rote or repetitive sums. Our worksheets are available by grade and also by types of math operation, including addition , subtraction , multiplication , division , measurements and fractions .

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Enrichment activities throughout school

Academic enrichment activities.

Academic enrichment activities allow kids to deepen their understanding of a subject. They can also be used to support students in subjects they’re struggling with. Academic enrichment activities can either be delivered at school as educational after-school enrichment activities and classes or at home.

Academic enrichment activity #1: Summer camps

Summer camps are a great way to prepare kids for their next grade and ensure their learning from the previous grade is cemented. It can prevent summer slide – where a prolonged break in learning, like summer vacation, can create gaps in a kid’s knowledge. It’s easy to forget what you’ve learnt when it isn’t reinforced regularly!

Brighterly’s summer camps offer academic enrichment for kids via experienced tutors and fun, game-based learning. Many kids don’t find school fun, but they’ll certainly find Brighterly’s summer camps amusing – and importantly, educational!

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Academic enrichment activity #2: After-school book clubs

After-school book clubs are a great example of enrichment activities for kids. And if they love reading, it won’t even feel like extra learning! This is a great enrichment activity that can apply to kids and teens in all grades, from preschool up to grade 12. As kids progress through their grades, they’ll be given age-appropriate books to read.

Your kids can strengthen the following skills as part of a book club:

• Reading level
• Critical thinking skills
• Understanding hidden meanings
• Increasing vocabulary
• Improved writing skills
• Understanding problems 

Did you know that book clubs can also be used as math after-school enrichment? Math involves a lot of reading – especially when it comes to engaging in math-based word problems, which are a fun math activity . By being able to understand how questions are posed, kids can indirectly improve their math understanding! These afterschool enrichment activities upgrade skills beyond traditional reading and writing.

Academic enrichment activity #3: Competitive quiz clubs

Kids love a bit of competition. Participating in quiz clubs can streamline their learning for a range of subjects, including math, English, history and science. These enrichment activity examples will also bring out their competitive side in a healthy way.

Schools can host weekly quizzes for kids – basically, a kid-friendly version of bar trivia many of us love to attend! They can offer prizes for each week’s winner and create a leaderboard throughout the school year to award a final winner. You can also host quizzes at home with the whole family as a fun after-school student enrichment activity.

The great thing about quiz clubs is that they can be done in a range of formats, meaning kids and teens will never get bored. From question-and-answer rounds and music or video-based sections to interactive rounds, there’s plenty to keep kids engaged, entertained and educated.

Enrichment activities for kindergarten

In kindergarten, your kids will be introduced to some basic concepts in English, math and sometimes science. Their early-year education is critical to how they’ll perform throughout school, so enrichment activities for kids in kindergarten will ensure they’re learning at the right pace.

Enrichment activities for kindergarten #1: Paying for small items

When you go to the local shop with your kid, you can support them with basic math by allowing them to pay for a small treat themselves. For example, a bag of chips or a chocolate bar. In kindergarten, kids should be able to identify and use different coins and notes.

Letting them pay for their own little treats will help them add up small coins to the right amount, or learn to count their change if they pay with a note. As well as reinforcing basic math concepts, this math after-school enrichment will make your kid feel super grown-up!

Enrichment activities for kindergarten #2: Gardening

Gardening is a great enrichment activity that kids can start in kindergarten and continue throughout their school years, getting more advanced as they grow. It’s also a wonderful enrichment activity that’s rewarding, as they can see the (literal!) fruits of their labor. 

It’s important to start small. Teach your kids how to pot basic plants and flowers and how to water them. Then, as they gain confidence, you can teach them more challenging gardening activities like weeding, composting and mowing the lawn.

Make it even more fun by incorporating creative activities – let your kids decorate their own pots first to give them a creative outlet and let them feel like their work is totally their own. Your kids will enhance endless skills, including:

• Spatial awareness
• Hand-eye coordination
• Understanding how plants, flowers and food grow
• Measuring soil, water and plant food

It’s especially rewarding enrichment for kids as they can enjoy their fruits and vegetables once they’re fully grown!

Enrichment activities for elementary students

Student enrichment activities are essential at elementary school age when kids are starting to learn about a wider range of subjects. These activities will ensure they continue to learn at the right pace and deepen their understanding of a range of subjects.

Enrichment activities for elementary school #1: Arts and crafts

What elementary school kid doesn’t love an arts and crafts activity? It’s a tactile elementary enrichment activity that can set their imagination free and give them the space to be creative. As well as encouraging creativity, it can also enhance skills that are required in a lot of other subjects without them even realizing it.

Arts and crafts can be delivered as enrichment classes for elementary students during or after school.

Enrichment activities for elementary school #2: Grow bacteria and watch it develop

Kids will learn about a range of scientific topics in elementary school, and chances are bacteria growth will be on the list. You can reinforce this learning by growing bacteria as an afterschool enrichment activity.

All you’ll need are some petri dishes with agar and some cotton swabs to pick up the material you want to test for bacteria. Swab it into the petri dishes then watch over time as the bacteria grows and multiplies.

This is a great way to visualize some of the key information your kid will learn in school. Plus, as a bonus, it also works as math after-school enrichment. That’s because it reinforces multiplication by showing how quickly bacteria multiplies and grows.

Free enrichment activities for elementary students

The above elementary enrichment activities can be done for free if you already have the resources at home. But if you don’t and you’re looking for free enrichment activities for kids at elementary age, we have some below.

Free enrichment activities for elementary students #1: Sports activities

Playing sports is a really fun, free way to improve a lot of skills. Whether you play one-on-one games like catch with your kid, or they play bigger games with friends, they can enhance a lot of their school learning with sports.

Games like simple catch, or more challenging team games like football or basketball, are the best ways to improve their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Frisbee games can also teach kids measurement if you’re able to measure how far their throws go. The fun nature of sports makes them great enrichment activities for the kids.

Other skills, like math, can be improved with team sports too. Your kids can understand how to distribute teammates on a pitch using mathematical principles, or measure their performance – for example, the angle of their kicks or how fast they can run a certain distance. Sports are ideal elementary enrichment activities, and not only elementary.

Free enrichment activities for elementary students #2: Playing board games

If you already have board games at home, you can do this free afterschool enrichment activity. If not, many public libraries offer board games for free!

Board games are a wonderful enrichment activity that will not only enhance your kid’s learning but allow you to spend some quality time together. Monopoly is a perfect math after-school enrichment game – it teaches kids addition, subtraction and budgeting. Plus, studies have shown that three-to-nine-year-olds who play board games, including Othello and Monopoly, have better math skills!

Word-based games, including Scrabble, Boggle and Mad Libs are a great way to reinforce English learning and increase your kid’s vocabulary.

Enrichment activities for primary schools

Primary school is another term for elementary school. You’ll find similar enrichment activities for primary school students as you would for elementary school students.

Enrichment activities for middle school

Enrichment activities for middle school can be more challenging as they already understand more complex education concepts. 

Fun enrichment activities for middle school

Enrichment activities should be fun to keep middle school kids engaged. We have some fun middle school enrichment programs below.

Enrichment activities for middle school #1: Coding classes

Coding is a pivotal skill for the future and a great example of enrichment activities in middle school. Not all schools teach it as standard – only some states, including California, teach coding as a mandatory subject. Not only is it essential for the future workforce, but it’s also an excellent way to enhance learning in other subjects, including math.

Coding can easily be made fun – afterschool enrichment classes that teach coding often do so via the medium of game coding. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a game brought to life by your own work!

Kids can also learn how to draw with code and understand specific key coding languages, including Python, or via their favorite games like Roblox.

Enrichment activities for middle school #2: Building straw bridges

This is a great enrichment activity that teaches kids so many different skills and can uplevel learning in many areas. Kids are usually put together in teams for communication, teamwork and collaboration skills. They’re given straws and adhesive materials, including glue and tape, and are tasked with building the strongest bridge possible with the fewest resources.

Often, a cost will be attached to each item – for example, 10 cents per straw. This means as your kid goes about building a strong bridge, they’ll also gain skills in addition and budgeting. For a more advanced way of delivering this wonderful enrichment activity, you can teach kids about the different types of bridges, including suspension, beam and arch, so they can work out which option would be best for their bridge.

Enrichment activities for middle school #3: Cooking together

Cooking is another skill that will be essential for your kids as they grow up. As well as this, it can help them to learn and apply many principles that relate to other subjects. The best examples of enrichment activities for kids in cooking include measuring out ingredients to reinforce math and learning to time each stage. Cooking or baking a recipe that has many steps and ingredients can also teach your kids how to multitask and use their time efficiently.

As an added bonus, this can be a wonderful enrichment activity in high school too and will set your kid up well for college. Knowing how to make some essential healthy recipes will be vital when moving away to college. The need for budgeting will be essential at college too – your teens will need to weigh up cost-effective ingredients to make sure they fit into their student loan budget.

High school enrichment activities

In high school, many kids will be preparing to head off to college. Enrichment activities for kids in high school are key to ensuring your teen is well-prepared for their college education. These student enrichment activities will ensure they don’t experience a summer slide and can get their college education off to a flying start.

High school enrichment activity #1: Debate classes

By high school, your kid should be skilled in critical thinking and analyzing. A great way to reinforce these skills is by signing them up for debate classes. They’ll either be split into teams and assigned a topic to debate and a side to argue, or they’ll do this independently and debate with one other person. These enrichment activities for students will see teens debate social topics, such as:

• If the treatment of one country by another is fair and just
• Whether the government should provide aid to citizens – for example, free healthcare
• If drugs should be legalized
• How important climate change is and if governments need to do more

But debate class doesn’t have to be limited to social or political debates. You could debate current topics, such as:

• Is AI a threat to society?
• How important digital skills are to the workforce of the future
• How video games impact kids – are they a good or bad influence?

Debate classes enhance a range of skills, including public speaking, critical thinking skills, rationalization, listening and communicating. As your kid gets closer to college, these skills will be more important than ever.

High school enrichment activity #2: Music activities

Music is an optional subject in many schools, but if it isn’t in your teen’s school, why not use it as a great enrichment activity for the kids?

There are a lot of ways music can be used as an afterschool enrichment activity. You could test your kids by getting them to identify the chords in their favorite songs, or replicate their favorite hits on various instruments.

Playing an instrument naturally boosts hand-eye coordination and teaches rhythm and timing. Singing can be a great enrichment activity too, as it can expand your teen’s vocabulary and increase confidence. It’s an activity that will be fun for all kids and teens – everyone loves music!

High school enrichment activity #3: Teach languages through TV and TikTok

While it’s important to limit screen time for kids and teens, there’s no denying it’s what they enjoy doing. So use it to your advantage and turn it into an opportunity for learning. These enrichment activities for students won’t even feel like education!

If your high schooler is learning a language, they’ll be at an advanced stage by this point. By giving them time to watch their favorite TV shows, but dubbed in their language of choice, they’ll learn as they enjoy.

This goes for other forms of video content too, like TikTok. The platform encourages users to add subtitles to their videos, so by changing the language of the subtitles to their studied language, they can learn as they scroll.

Enrichment programs are essential for improving kids’ knowledge out of compulsory school education. As well as deepening their understanding of a range of subjects, they can also support kids struggling with particular subjects or concepts.

These are just some of the best examples of enrichment activities for kids that will enhance your kid’s learning throughout their time in education, all the way from kindergarten to high school.

These activities prove that learning doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, many fun after-school student enrichment activities, including Brighterly’s online math classes , tutoring and supporting worksheets, focus on making learning fun and engaging. These programs don’t always need to be academic enrichment activities – chores, sports and other hobbies support their education too.

Whether your kid’s school offers these afterschool enrichment activities or you carry them out at home, they’re sure to enhance their learning and boost their school grades.

Jessica is a a seasoned math tutor with over a decade of experience in the field. With a BSc and Master’s degree in Mathematics, she enjoys nurturing math geniuses, regardless of their age, grade, and skills. Apart from tutoring, Jessica blogs at Brighterly. She also has experience in child psychology, homeschooling and curriculum consultation for schools and EdTech websites.

As 7th graders transition to 8th grade, children start to deal with multi-step word problems that use whole numbers, decimals, fractions, and percentages simultaneously. While this can be pretty frustrating, parents and teachers should ensure that kids know that 8th-grade math concepts teach them not only problem-solving but also how to be independent thinkers. What […]

Jun 19, 2024

One of the reasons why parents decide to homeschool their children is because they want more control over their child’s educational experience. The traditional school system formed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, so it does not cater to many children’s needs anymore, leading more and more parents to look into the benefits of […]

Jun 25, 2024

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Fall 2024 Semester

Undergraduate courses.

Composition courses that offer many sections (ENGL 101, 201, 277 and 379) are not listed on this schedule unless they are tailored to specific thematic content or particularly appropriate for specific programs and majors.

• 100-200 level

ENGL 151.S01: Introduction to English Studies

Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Sharon Smith

ENGL 151 serves as an introduction to both the English major and the discipline of English studies. In this class, you will develop the thinking, reading, writing and research practices that define both the major and the discipline. Much of the semester will be devoted to honing your literary analysis skills, and we will study and discuss texts from several different genres—poetry, short fiction, the novel, drama and film—as well as some literary criticism. As we do so, we will explore the language of the discipline, and you will learn a variety of key literary terms and concepts. In addition, you will develop your skills as both a writer and researcher within the discipline of English.

ENGL 201.ST1 Composition II: The Mind/Body Connection

In this section of English 201, students will use research and writing to learn more about problems that are important to them and articulate ways to address those problems. The course will focus specifically on issues related to the mind, the body and the relationship between them. The topics we will discuss during the course will include the correlation between social media and body image; the efficacy of sex education programs; the degree to which beliefs about race and gender influence school dress codes; and the unique mental and physical challenges faced by college students today. In this course, you will be learning about different approaches to argumentation, analyzing the arguments of others and constructing your own arguments. At the same time, you will be honing your skills as a researcher and developing your abilities as a persuasive and effective writer.

ENGL 201.S10 Composition II: Environmental Writing   

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1-1:50 p.m.

Gwen Horsley

English 201 will help students develop the ability to think critically and analytically and to write effectively for other university courses and careers. This course will provide opportunities to develop analytical skills that will help students become critical readers and effective writers. Specifically, in this class, students will:

• Focus on the relationships between world environments, land, animals and humankind.
• Read various essays by environmental, conservational and regional authors.
• Produce student writings. 

Students will improve their writing skills by reading essays and applying techniques they witness in others’ work and those learned in class. This class is also a course in logical and creative thought. Students will write about humankind’s place in the world and our influence on the land and animals, places that hold special meaning to them or have influenced their lives and stories of their own families and their places and passions in the world. Students will practice writing in an informed and persuasive manner, in language that engages and enlivens readers by using vivid verbs and avoiding unnecessary passives, nominalizations and expletive constructions.

Students will prepare writing assignments based on readings and discussions of essays included in "Literature and the Environment " and other sources. They may use "The St. Martin’s Handbook," as well as other sources, to review grammar, punctuation, mechanics and usage as needed.

ENGL 201.13 Composition II: Writing the Environment

Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Paul Baggett

For generations, environmentalists have relied on the power of prose to change the minds and habits of their contemporaries. In the wake of fires, floods, storms and droughts, environmental writing has gained a new sense of urgency, with authors joining activists in their efforts to educate the public about the grim realities of climate change. But do they make a difference? Have reports of present and future disasters so saturated our airwaves that we no longer hear them? How do writers make us care about the planet amidst all the noise? In this course, students will examine the various rhetorical strategies employed by some of today’s leading environmental writers and filmmakers. And while analyzing their different arguments, students also will strengthen their own strategies of argumentation as they research and develop essays that explore a range of environmental concerns.

ENGL 201 Composition II: Food Writing

S17 Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.

S18 Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:15 p.m.

Jodi Andrews

In this composition class, students will critically analyze essays about food, food systems and environments, food cultures, the intersections of personal choice, market forces and policy and the values underneath these forces. Students will learn to better read like writers, noting authors’ purpose, audience organizational moves, sentence-level punctuation and diction. We will read a variety of essays including research-intensive arguments and personal narratives which intersect with one of our most primal needs as humans: food consumption. Students will rhetorically analyze texts, conduct advanced research, reflect on the writing process and write essays utilizing intentional rhetorical strategies. Through doing this work, students will practice the writing moves valued in every discipline: argument, evidence, concision, engaging prose and the essential research skills for the 21st century.

ENGL 221.S01 British Literature I

Michael S. Nagy

English 221 is a survey of early British literature from its inception in the Old English period with works such as "Beowulf" and the “Battle of Maldon,” through the Middle Ages and the incomparable writings of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain - poet, to the Renaissance and beyond. Students will explore the historical and cultural contexts in which all assigned reading materials were written, and they will bring that information to bear on class discussion. Likely themes that this class will cover include heroism, humor, honor, religion, heresy and moral relativity. Students will write one research paper in this class and sit for two formal exams: a midterm covering everything up to that point in the semester, and a comprehensive final. Probable texts include the following:

• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Alfred David, M. H. Abrams, and Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century and Early Seventeenth Century. Ed. George M. Logan, Stephen Greenblatt, Barbara K Lewalski, and M. H. Abrams. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. Ed. George M. Logan, Stephen Greenblatt, Barbara K Lewalski, and M. H. Abrams. 9th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
• Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
• Any Standard College Dictionary.

ENGL 240.S01 Juvenile Literature Elementary-5th Grade

Monday, Wednesday and Friday noon-12:50 p.m.

April Myrick

A survey of the history of literature written for children and adolescents, and a consideration of the various types of juvenile literature. Text selection will focus on the themes of imagination and breaking boundaries.

ENGL 240.ST1 Juvenile Literature Elementary-5th Grade

Randi Anderson

In English 240 students will develop the skills to interpret and evaluate various genres of literature for juvenile readers. This particular section will focus on various works of literature at approximately the K-5 grade level. We will read a large range of works that fall into this category, as well as information on the history, development and genre of juvenile literature.

Readings for this course include classical works such as "Hatchet," "Little Women", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and "Brown Girl Dreaming," as well as newer works like "Storm in the Barn," "Anne Frank’s Diary: A Graphic Adaptation," "Lumberjanes," and a variety of picture books. These readings will be paired with chapters from "Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction " to help develop understanding of various genres, themes and concepts that are both related to juvenile literature and also present in our readings.

In addition to exposing students to various genres of writing (poetry, historical fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, picture books, graphic novels, etc.) this course will also allow students to engage in a discussion of larger themes present in these works such as censorship, race and gender. Students’ understanding of these works and concepts will be developed through readings, research, discussion posts, exams and writing assignments designed to get students to practice analyzing poetry, picture books, informational books and transitional/easy readers.

ENGL 241.S01: American Literature I

Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:45 p.m.

This course provides a broad, historical survey of American literature from the early colonial period to the Civil War. Ranging across historical periods and literary genres—including early accounts of contact and discovery, narratives of captivity and slavery, poetry of revolution, essays on gender equality and stories of industrial exploitation—this class examines how subjects such as colonialism, nationhood, religion, slavery, westward expansion, race, gender and democracy continue to influence how Americans see themselves and their society.

Required Texts

• The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Package 1, Volumes A and B Beginnings to 1865, Ninth Edition. (ISBN 978-0-393-26454-8)

ENGL 283.S01 Introduction to Creative Writing

Steven Wingate

Students will explore the various forms of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction and poetry) not one at a time in a survey format—as if there were decisive walls of separation between then—but as intensely related genres that share much of their creative DNA. Through close reading and work on personal texts, students will address the decisions that writers in any genre must face on voice, rhetorical position, relationship to audience, etc. Students will produce and revise portfolios of original creative work developed from prompts and research. This course fulfills the same SGR #2 requirements ENGL 201; note that the course will involve a research project. Successful completion of ENGL 101 (including by test or dual credit) is a prerequisite.

ENGL 283.S02 Introduction to Creative Writing

Jodilyn Andrews

This course introduces students to the craft of writing, with readings and practice in at least two genres (including fiction, poetry and drama).

ENGL 283.ST1 Introduction to Creative Writing

Amber Jensen, M.A., M.F.A.

This course explores creative writing as a way of encountering the world, research as a component of the creative writing process, elements of craft and their rhetorical effect and drafting, workshop and revision as integral parts of writing polished literary creative work. Student writers will engage in the research practices that inform the writing of literature and in the composing strategies and writing process writers use to create literary texts. Through their reading and writing of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, students will learn about craft elements, find examples of those craft elements in published works and apply these elements in their own creative work, developed through weekly writing activities, small group and large group workshop and conferences with the instructor. Work will be submitted, along with a learning reflection and revision plan in each genre and will then be revised and submitted as a final portfolio at the end of the semester to demonstrate continued growth in the creation of polished literary writing.

• 300-400 level

ENGL 424.S01 Language Arts Methods grades 7-12  

Tuesday 6-8:50 p.m.

Danielle Harms

Techniques, materials and resources for teaching English language and literature to middle and secondary school students. Required of students in the English education option.

AIS/ENGL 447.S01: American Indian Literature of the Present 

Thursdays 3-6 p.m.

This course introduces students to contemporary works by authors from various Indigenous nations. Students examine these works to enhance their historical understanding of Indigenous peoples, discover the variety of literary forms used by those who identify as Indigenous writers, and consider the cultural and political significance of these varieties of expression. Topics and questions to be explored include:

• Genre: What makes Indigenous literature indigenous?
• Political and Cultural Sovereignty: Why have an emphasis on tribal specificity and calls for “literary separatism” emerged in recent decades, and what are some of the critical conversations surrounding such particularized perspectives?
• Gender and Sexuality: What are the intersecting concerns of Indigenous Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and how might these research fields inform one another?
• Trans-Indigeneity: What might we learn by comparing works across different Indigenous traditions, and what challenges do such comparisons present?
• Aesthetics: How do Indigenous writers understand the dynamics between tradition and creativity?
• Visual Forms: What questions or concerns do visual representations (television and film) by or about Indigenous peoples present?

Possible Texts

• Akiwenzie-Damm, Kateri and Josie Douglas (eds), Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing. IAD Press, 2000. (978-1864650327)
• Erdrich, Louise, The Sentence. Harper, 2021 (978-0062671127)
• Harjo, Joy, Poet Warrior: A Memoir. Norton, 2021 (978-0393248524)
• Harjo, Sterlin and Taika Waititi, Reservation Dogs (selected episodes)
• Talty, Morgan. Night of the Living Rez, 2022, Tin House (978-1953534187)
• Wall Kimmerer, Robin. Braiding Sweet Grass, Milkweed Editions (978-1571313560)
• Wilson, Diane. The Seed Keeper: A Novel. Milkweed Editions (978-1571311375)
• Critical essays by Alexie, Allen, Cohen, Cox, King, Kroeber, Ortiz, Piatote, Ross and Sexton, Smith, Taylor, Teuton, Treuer, Vizenor, and Womack.

ENGL 472.S01: Film Criticism

Tuesdays 2-4:50 p.m.

Jason McEntee

Do you have an appreciation for, and enjoy watching, movies? Do you want to study movies in a genre-oriented format (such as those we typically call the Western, the screwball comedy, the science fiction or the crime/gangster, to name a few)? Do you want to explore the different critical approaches for talking and writing about movies (such as auteur, feminist, genre or reception)?

In this class, you will examine movies through viewing and defining different genres while, at the same time, studying and utilizing different styles of film criticism. You will share your discoveries in both class discussions and short writings. The final project will be a formal written piece of film criticism based on our work throughout the semester. The course satisfies requirements and electives for all English majors and minors, including both the Film Studies and Professional Writing minors. (Note: Viewing of movies outside of class required and may require rental and/or streaming service fees.)

ENGL 476.ST1: Fiction

In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence, and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.

ENGL 479.01 Capstone: The Gothic

Wednesday 3-5:50 p.m.

With the publication of Horace Walpole’s "The Castle of Otranto " in 1764, the Gothic officially came into being. Dark tales of physical violence and psychological terror, the Gothic incorporates elements such as distressed heroes and heroines pursued by tyrannical villains; gloomy estates with dark corridors, secret passageways and mysterious chambers; haunting dreams, troubling prophecies and disturbing premonitions; abduction, imprisonment and murder; and a varied assortment of corpses, apparitions and “monsters.” In this course, we will trace the development of Gothic literature—and some film—from the eighteenth-century to the present time. As we do so, we will consider how the Gothic engages philosophical beliefs about the beautiful and sublime; shapes psychological understandings of human beings’ encounters with horror, terror, the fantastic and the uncanny; and intervenes in the social and historical contexts in which it was written. We’ll consider, for example, how the Gothic undermines ideals related to domesticity and marriage through representations of domestic abuse, toxicity and gaslighting. In addition, we’ll discuss Gothic texts that center the injustices of slavery and racism. As many Gothic texts suggest, the true horrors of human existence often have less to do with inexplicable supernatural phenomena than with the realities of the world in which we live. 

ENGL 485.S01: Undergraduate Writing Center Learning Assistants 

Flexible Scheduling

Nathan Serfling

Since their beginnings in the 1920s and 30s, writing centers have come to serve numerous functions: as hubs for writing across the curriculum initiatives, sites to develop and deliver workshops and resource centers for faculty as well as students, among other functions. But the primary function of writing centers has necessarily and rightfully remained the tutoring of student writers. This course will immerse you in that function in two parts. During the first four weeks, you will explore writing center praxis—that is, the dialogic interplay of theory and practice related to writing center work. This part of the course will orient you to writing center history, key theoretical tenets and practical aspects of writing center tutoring. Once we have developed and practiced this foundation, you will begin work in the writing center as a tutor, responsible for assisting a wide variety of student clients with numerous writing tasks. Through this work, you will learn to actively engage with student clients in the revision of a text, respond to different student needs and abilities, work with a variety of writing tasks and rhetorical situations, and develop a richer sense of writing as a complex and negotiated social process.

Graduate Courses

Engl 572.s01: film criticism, engl 576.st1 fiction.

In this workshop-based creative writing course, students will develop original fiction based on strong attention to the fundamentals of literary storytelling: full-bodied characters, robust story lines, palpable environments and unique voices. We will pay particular attention to process awareness, to the integrity of the sentence and to authors' commitments to their characters and the places in which their stories unfold. Some workshop experience is helpful, as student peer critique will be an important element of the class.

ENGL 605.S01 Seminar in Teaching Composition

Thursdays 1-3:50 p.m.

This course will provide you with a foundation in the pedagogies and theories (and their attendant histories) of writing instruction, a foundation that will prepare you to teach your own writing courses at SDSU and elsewhere. As you will discover through our course, though, writing instruction does not come with any prescribed set of “best” practices. Rather, writing pedagogies stem from and continue to evolve because of various and largely unsettled conversations about what constitutes effective writing and effective writing instruction. Part of becoming a practicing writing instructor, then, is studying these conversations to develop a sense of what “good writing” and “effective writing instruction” might mean for you in our particular program and how you might adapt that understanding to different programs and contexts.

As we read about, discuss and research writing instruction, we will address a variety of practical and theoretical topics. The practical focus will allow us to attend to topics relevant to your immediate classroom practices: designing a curriculum and various types of assignments, delivering the course content and assessing student work, among others. Our theoretical topics will begin to reveal the underpinnings of these various practical matters, including their historical, rhetorical, social and political contexts. In other words, we will investigate the praxis—the dialogic interaction of practice and theory—of writing pedagogy. As a result, this course aims to prepare you not only as a writing teacher but also as a nascent writing studies/writing pedagogy scholar.

At the end of this course, you should be able to engage effectively in the classroom practices described above and participate in academic conversations about writing pedagogy, both orally and in writing. Assessment of these outcomes will be based primarily on the various writing assignments you submit and to a smaller degree on your participation in class discussions and activities.

ENGL 726.S01: The New Woman, 1880–1900s 

Thursdays 3–5:50 p.m.

Katherine Malone

This course explores the rise of the New Woman at the end of the nineteenth century. The label New Woman referred to independent women who rebelled against social conventions. Often depicted riding bicycles, smoking cigarettes and wearing masculine clothing, these early feminists challenged gender roles and sought broader opportunities for women’s employment and self-determination. We will read provocative fiction and nonfiction by New Women writers and their critics, including authors such as Sarah Grand, Mona Caird, George Egerton, Amy Levy, Ella Hepworth Dixon, Grant Allen and George Gissing. We will analyze these exciting texts through a range of critical lenses and within the historical context of imperialism, scientific and technological innovation, the growth of the periodical press and discourse about race, class and gender. In addition to writing an argumentative seminar paper, students will complete short research assignments and lead discussion.

ENGL 792.ST1 Women in War: Female Authors and Characters in Contemporary War Lit

In this course, we will explore the voices of female authors and characters in contemporary literature of war. Drawing from various literary theories, our readings and discussion will explore the contributions of these voices to the evolving literature of war through archetypal and feminist criticism. We will read a variety of short works (both theoretical and creative) and complete works such as (selections subject to change): "Eyes Right" by Tracy Crow, "Plenty of Time When We Get Home" by Kayla Williams, "You Know When the Men are Gone" by Siobhan Fallon, "Still, Come Home" by Katie Schultz and "The Fine Art of Camouflage" by Lauren Johnson.