Here’s something that keeps me up at night: we’re living in an age where misinformation spreads faster than wildfire, and our students are caught right in the middle of it all. They’re bombarded with information from every direction, but do they really know how to think through what they’re seeing? That’s where critical thinking comes in—and honestly, it’s never been more crucial. 

I recently stumbled across a podcast episode that offered a roadmap for how to teach these skills. On Tea for Teaching, hosts John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare interviewed Linda Elder, an educational psychologist who’s spent her career studying critical thinking. What she shared wasn’t just theory—it was a clear instruction for actually making this stuff work in real classrooms. 

Here’s the kicker: Elder argues that we can’t teach what we don’t embody. Before we can authentically guide our students toward better thinking, we need to roll up our sleeves and develop these skills ourselves. It’s not about tacking on a few classroom activities. It’s about a genuine, long-term commitment to understanding what critical thought really looks like.

So let’s dig into what Elder teaches us. What does critical thinking actually mean? And more importantly, how can we bring it to life for our students? 

What Critical Thinking Really Is 

Linda Elder cuts straight to the heart of it: critical thinking is the study of reasoning, focused on how we decide what to believe. It’s about taking a hard look at our own thinking—and other people’s thinking—to make sure we’re not just accepting ideas at face value.

Think about it this way. Left to our own devices, our brains take shortcuts. We make assumptions. We jump to conclusions. We let emotions drive our decisions. Critical thinking is the deliberate intervention that helps us catch ourselves in the act. 

Eight Tools Every Thinker Needs 

Elder breaks down reasoning into eight fundamental elements that show up every single time we think through a problem. These aren’t abstract concepts—they’re practical tools you can use tomorrow: 

• Purpose: What am I really trying to accomplish here?
• Question: What questions am I actually asking?
• Information: What data, facts, or experiences am I drawing on?
• Inferences/Conclusions: What interpretations am I making?
• Concepts: What ideas or principles are guiding my thinking?
• Assumptions: What beliefs am I taking for granted without evidence?
• Point of View: What lens am I looking through?
• Implications and Consequences: Where does this thinking lead?

Let me show you how this played out in my own teaching.  

I taught introductory chemistry, and one of the first things students learned was how to balance chemical equations. Most students approach this like a math puzzle—they just want the “right answer.” But I used Elder’s framework to help them think more deeply. 

The purpose isn’t just getting the equation to balance. It’s about understanding the law of conservation of mass—that matter can’t just disappear or appear out of nowhere. When students grasp this, they’re not just following rules; they’re learning something about how the universe actually works. 

The central question becomes: “How do I make sure the same number of atoms exists on both sides?” From there, more specific questions follow, like “What exactly are the reactants (starting materials) and products (results) here?” and “How many atoms of each element are present?” 

To figure this out, students need specific information—chemical formulas, a systematic way to count atoms, and a method for making adjustments. They also have to make inferences. For example, when they see 2H₂O, they need to recognize that this means four hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms. 

The most important concepts include the conservation of mass and the difference between coefficients (the numbers they’re allowed to change in front of a formula) and subscripts (the small numbers inside the formula, which must never be changed because they alter the substance itself).

Here’s where problems often arise—students can make dangerous assumptions. The biggest one? “I can change subscripts to make the equation balance.” Wrong move! Change H₂O (water) to H₃O and you’ve created a completely different substance. 

The real point of view shifts when students stop thinking like test-takers and start thinking like chemists, focused on representing reality correctly. And the implications? If you master it, you can predict how much product will form from a reaction. If you don’t, you’ll struggle with everything that comes next in chemistry. When I walk students through this framework, something clicks. They stop memorizing procedures and start thinking like scientists.

Critical Thinking as Bridge to Inclusion 

Here’s something that surprised me about Elder’s work: she argues that genuine critical thinking skills could make many diversity and inclusion programs unnecessary—because the thinking itself would naturally lead to more inclusive behaviors. 

Think about it. If students learn to identify their unconscious biases, question their assumptions, and think through the real implications of their beliefs, they’re already doing the deep work that superficial diversity training often misses. 

In practice, this means helping students: 

• Catch themselves making snap judgments—noticing when they assume someone’s authority based on gender, appearance or voice, and
• Think through complexity instead of defaulting to oversimplification—especially when discussing identity, equity, and policy.

The beauty of this approach? It’s not about telling students what to think. It’s about giving them the tools to think more clearly about everything. 

Why This Matters More Than Ever 

Elder’s message hit me hard: critical thinking isn’t a “nice-to-have” skill. It’s a survival skill—both for individuals and for our society as a whole.

We’re facing challenges that require clear, careful thinking. Climate change. Political polarization. Technological disruption. Our students will inherit these problems, and they need more than good intentions to solve them. They need the ability to cut through noise, identify what’s actually true, and reason their way to effective solutions. 

The good news? These are learnable skills. And when we commit to developing them ourselves—really commit, not just add them to our syllabi—we can genuinely prepare our students for whatever comes next. 

The question isn’t whether our students need these skills. They absolutely do. The question is, are we ready to do the work of developing these skills in ourselves first and then in our students? That’s where real change begins. 

Want to Learn More? 

If Elder’s approach resonates with you, here are some resources to explore: 

1. Linda Elder. Critical Thinking Therapy: For Happiness and Self-Actualization. Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2025. 
2. Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools. 8th ed., The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2019. 
3. Elder, Linda, and Richard Paul. The Aspiring Thinker’s Guide to Critical Thinking. The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2009. 
4. Halpern DF. Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains. Dispositions, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. Am Psychol. 1998 Apr;53(4):449-55. 
5. Facione, Peter A. Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction (The Delphi Report). California Academic Press, 1990. 
6. María José Bezanilla, Donna Fernández-Nogueira, Manuel Poblete, Hector Galindo-Domínguez, Methodologies for teaching-learning critical thinking in higher education: The teacher’s view, Thinking Skills and Creativity, Volume 33, 2019, 100584, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2019.100584.