The analytical thinker can reason and address problems effectively. They'll see a problem or understand how something needs to be accomplished and then carry out steps toward a solution. Analytical thinking sometimes is a natural quality within a person, but more often than not it needs to be taught. One creative way to instill analytical skills within your child is to have him write book reviews, a multi-step process. Here's what you need to know and do if you're looking to make this idea a reality
It's a Review
Reviews are opinions. Opinions are one of the first steps towards analytical thinking. Many times we aren't given the chance to make our opinions known, or if we offer them, we're made to feel they're wrong. If a child is encouraged to review a book or story, it will allow her to open up her mind to what she truly thought about it. Explain how reviewers are many times paid to give their opinion, such as Siskel and Ebert, the famous movie reviewers. Rotten Tomatoes is a great website for seeing if a current motion picture is good or bad, and it also aggregates reviews through analysis to come to a consensus.
It's About Freedom
Great analytical thinkers are created when given the freedom to not be afraid of their thought process. Creative solutions arise out of people that are comfortable with their own thoughts and processes to come up with an end result that others may not think of. Someone like Steve Jobs never would have given the world the products he did if he hadn't been encouraged to be an analytical thinker. He saw need and produced results, many times needs we didn't t even know we had.
In the story of Cinderella, who would've ever thought that the lowly servant girl would need transportation to the ball eventually? And who could've anticipated the solution of a simple pumpkin being turned into a regal coach? If your child didn’t like a portion of a story, encourage her to voice that opinion. Perhaps in the same story, she thinks it is silly that the birds help Cinderella get dressed. Help your child tell you why she didn’t like that section. This will empower a child to start to understand that her opinion matters.
It's a Process
When writing a book review, a child will get a chance to not only read a good book, but look at the book in a series of steps. This will make him view it from a completely different angle. He'll be forced to deconstruct the entire process. Every good story has a beginning, middle and end. Make your child identify these parts in the book and realize that life is like this. Emphasize that problems have beginnings, middles and ends. Have him write about what the “problem” is in the book, then outline and concentrate on the steps that were taken by the characters to come to a solution. Again, relate this to how tasks or problems can be approached in this manner in real life. Sometimes it's just a matter of breaking something down (placing it within a larger context) to understand it, especially if he's stuck somewhere.
Perhaps she's reading about the prince in Cinderella where he is looking for his love from the ball who lost her slipper. If the prince simply sat at home and stared at the slipper, wishing for the owner to show up and claim it, it would've been a much different book. Instead, the prince goes into the world and tries every possible solution he can think of to finally realize his dream.
Reading is one of the greatest gifts we can give a child. Going beyond that gift and into the world of understanding and deconstructing what they read will go beyond providing a great gift--it will hone their analytical skills, something infinitely important in today's job market and education system.
Joseph Rodriguez writes about all things related to child development and psychology. His recent work is about the Top Online Early Childhood Education Degree Programs.
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