Name: TEDx】TEDxTokyoTeachers - 狩野美紀 - It's Thinking Time (【TEDx】TEDxTokyoTeachers - Miki Kano - It's Thinking Time)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T04:55:29.000Z
Duration: 6 min 22 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

過去形

she took a trial class  at a cram school in Tokyo.

to 不定詞

There she was given this problem to solve:

"The one on the left is more like a square

Later I was told the correct answer  had to refer to the difference

in the function and material of the objects, but not their shape.

not only at cram schools in Japan  but also at public schools,

where children accept  the "correct" answers

without being given much of  an opportunity to question.

And each time I thought to myself, maybe,

something very important is missing in Japanese education.

And that something is  to teach children to think,

or to think critically, to be more precise.

My 20 years of teaching at various  Japanese universities tells me

Japanese students excel at doing  what they are told to do,

but they have a much tougher time  thinking for themselves,

simply because they haven't been trained to do so.

So, I launched my project:  "Critical Thinking for Kids".

I tried to teach young Japanese children,

on the very act of thinking,  there are no desks, no writing.

Just a lot of thinking  through a lot of talking.

Here I'm trying to get kids  to distinguish fact from opinion,

I say sentences like "Mickey Mouse is popular" in Japanese.

And if they think it's a fact  then they raise one flag,

This simple question can be rather challenging for Japanese children

who are not used to giving their opinions in their classroom.

And also in Japanese grammar, the subject is often left out of the equation,

tending to blur the line  between fact and opinion.

to entice critical thinking, I think, is to ask "Why?".

so they come to understand there isn't always just one answer.

And when they give their opinions, I always ask, "Why?",

how they're arriving  at the thought they have.

Another question I often use is  "How did you find out?",

which can enhance  a child's logical thought process.

The other day a first-grade girl told me,

"Plants contain a lot of water just like we do".

Great discovery. So I asked her how she found out,

and she went on to explain  how she reached her conclusion

Two simple questions,  "Why?" and "How did you find out?" can

provoke so much more thought into any classroom experience.

I often have kids  put themselves in other's shoes

because I want them to learn  to have more than one perspective.

I'll ask something like "Imagine you're a second-grader

who came to Tokyo a week ago from Sweden  because of your father's job.

You'll be staying for three years. What about Tokyo do you find inconvenient?

which gets their minds going in a way that can be used

Another question  I've thrown at my students is,

"How do you think the pyramids were built?"

to the top of the pyramids using a huge springboard."

But what this boy  was doing in his head was

connecting all the little bits  of knowledge he had,

that electricity or trucks didn't exist  at the time, for example,

with something from his P.E. class, a springboard.

And through the exploration  of logic and reasoning,

children can learn to have fun  when they think, just as this boy did.

"Everything we do  in Miki's class is really fun."

Getting back to my daughter, she is now eight.

I've encouraged her to think critically for several years,

and I'd like to think  she is now a great critical thinker.

I asked her what she likes about thinking,  and her reply was:

"Critical thinking has given me confidence.

Because many ideas  are based on my own thinking,

they mean so much to me. That's why they've given me confidence."

One day I'd like to see Japanese children express their own ideas

and debate as much as Western children do.

I want them to gain confidence and find out what they really want

to be able to value differences, understand their friends better,

they've crammed into their little, wonderful minds.

And it can happen if more adults are willing

for teaching critical thinking  with anyone interested,