Critical Thinking Hobbies

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from various sources and perspectives. It is a skill that helps us make better decisions, solve problems, and avoid biases.

Critical thinking helps us to understand the world better, to challenge our own assumptions, and to communicate more effectively. Critical thinking also enables us to cope with uncertainty, complexity, and change. As misinformation and even fake information become more common, critical thinking becomes a critical asset.

Critical thinking is a skill and as such it can be improved. But while many educators believe critical thinking is “the point of what we’re training our students to be able to do“, their programs might be missing a key ingredient: practice.

Ownership is another key ingredient missing many times when aiming to improve critical thinking: in education, and many other areas of life, we do things for others, or things we don’t truly care about. In these cases, faulty reasoning can go unnoticed, because we don’t suffer directly from the consequence.

Hobbies, on the other hand, are activities we are doing for our own sake, and out of interest and passion. That is why hobbies can supply the missing key ingredients for improving critical thinking: practice and ownership.

So, if you want to improve your critical thinking skills, why not try a new hobby or revisit an old one? You might be surprised by how much you can learn and grow from your hobbies.