Why Is Critical Thinking So Hard for Students?
Willy A Renandya, 27 April 2025
Critical thinking is a highly valued 21st-century skill. Not surprisingly, critical thinking skills have now become a must-teach learning point in the L2 curriculum and other subject curricula, such as Science, Maths, and Humanities subjects.
One of the key reasons is that there is so much information that students need to process, some of which is useful and accurate while the rest may be inaccurate or downright incorrect or even misleading.
Students need to learn how to sift through information, critically evaluating the source of the information, the credibility of the authors, and making informed decisions about what is worth keeping and what is not.
Another important reason has to do with our survival and progress as members of the human race. Without critical thinking, we may still be stuck in the dark ages where progress was nearly impossible to take place.
The many breakthroughs in Science and Technology, for example, are made possible by critical and innovative thinkers of our time who can think out of the box, so to speak, and come up with new ideas and creations. The impact of these breakthroughs has, to a large extent, improved the well-being of the human race.
Why Teaching Critical Thinking is Hard
The big question for us teachers remains: Have we been successful in teaching critical thinking skills to our students? Perhaps to some extent, yes. But repeated empirical observations seem to suggest that we’ve still got a long way to go. The way we teach continues to be quite traditional, often characterized by the presence of an authoritative figure (the teacher) who sees their main job as that of dispensing or transmitting knowledge to their students.
A more dynamic pedagogical approach, however, like inquiry-based learning or problem-based learning, is rarely adopted in the classroom.
Experience and research tell us that when teachers make use of this student-centred pedagogy, there is a higher chance that students may be more willing to explore ideas at a much deeper level.
Students ask more higher-order thinking questions whose answers can’t be found in the classroom, and work collaboratively with their peers to find novel solutions to authentic problems, etc.
In other words, when students are regularly engaged in knowledge-seeking and knowledge-expanding behaviours, they might be able to fully utilize their thinking skills and, with guidance from the teachers, gradually develop their critical thinking skills.
However, even before we teach critical thinking skills using a student-centred pedagogy, we need to know a few important facts about how our brains work. This will help us understand why people (you, me, and our students) are, generally speaking, not terribly critical. Here are three things about our brains and what we need to do to get our brain cells on fire.
Our brains think really fast
Our brains run on auto-pilot most of the time. Research tells us that our brains are very efficient in processing information—things we see and hear. We perceive new information really fast and check it against old information we have in our head equally rapidly. We then make a lightning-speed decision as to whether to give that piece of information more attention or to just ignore it. All this is done in a split second.
Can we slow down our thinking? Yes, we can.
We can train our brains to process incoming information more slowly. One way to do this is to develop greater metacognitive awareness of our own thinking—that is, realizing that we tend to think too fast—and use simple tricks to get our brains to decelerate.
For example, we can ask ourselves questions like, “Am I thinking too fast? What is the text trying to say here? Is the information useful or important for me?” These kinds of reflective questions can help us pause and think more carefully instead of rushing through the process.
Our brains are ‘lazy’
Our brains are wired to look for shortcuts. That’s why we don’t usually enjoy spending too much cognitive energy on a task. In other words, we tend to avoid unnecessary work. Hard work, as we all know, is very tiring.
However, our brains start to work harder and do some serious thinking when we experience some sort of cognitive disequilibrium, for example, when something doesn’t seem right, or when we encounter something completely unfamiliar.
It could also happen when we see a creative way of solving a stubborn problem or when we are genuinely curious about something. For instance, someone might think, “I’ve always wanted to learn how to write a best-selling novel,” or “I really want to know how to learn a new language really fast.” These kinds of thoughts can spark curiosity and motivate the brain to work harder.
One way to make our brains work harder, and perhaps more critically, is for teachers to design lessons that spark students’ genuine interest and curiosity. This often involves finding a nice balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Familiar topics are not very brain-friendly because they don’t challenge students enough. On the other hand, overly unfamiliar topics may just result in total confusion.
Teachers can also design their lessons using a problem-based learning principle. Tasks that require students to solve real-world problems (e.g., how to reduce food wastage or how to stop school bullying) are a great way to get students to make use of their thinking skills.
Our brains become paralyzed when we are bewildered
Our brains become paralyzed when what we see and hear is incomprehensible. When we are totally confused or at a complete loss, we can’t think clearly. This often happens in a second or foreign language classroom when students read a super-difficult text where they can’t make any connections to the content because the topic is too technical, too complex, and way above their heads.
To get students to be more cognitively active, we need to use texts that are at or slightly above students’ linguistic competence. When students are not experiencing linguistic difficulties, they are more likely to focus more on the text content and process it at a deeper level.
For example, if a text is written in simple language but discusses an interesting topic, students can concentrate on understanding the ideas rather than struggling with vocabulary or grammar. This allows them to engage with the material more meaningfully and develop their critical thinking skills over time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, teaching critical thinking skills is essential, but it’s not easy. Our traditional ways of teaching often rely on an authoritative teacher who transmits knowledge to passive students. While this method works for basic learning, it doesn’t encourage deep, critical thinking.
A more dynamic approach, e.g., inquiry-based or problem-based learning, can help students explore ideas, ask higher-order questions, and collaborate with their peers to solve real-world problems.
However, even before we adopt these approaches, we need to understand how our brains work. Our brains think fast, tend to avoid extra effort, and can shut down when overwhelmed. By slowing down our thinking, sparking curiosity, and avoiding overly complex materials, we can create better conditions for critical thinking to flourish.
Only then can we hope to equip our students with the skills they need to navigate the vast amount of information around them and contribute meaningfully to the progress of humanity.
More readings
Why reading matters more than writing in AI-enhanced L2 classrooms
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