Think Aloud: Critical Thinking and Philosophy for Children in Ekiti -By Leo Igwe

On Wednesday, October 15, 2025, history will be made in Ekiti, in south west Nigeria. The Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation will organize its first Think Aloud event in the state. The foundation has staged Think Aloud events in Oyo, Lagos, Imo, Ebonyi, Benue, Katsina, and Ogun. The event will be held at a private school, Covenant International School in Ayebode, Ekiti. Since 2021, the critical thinking foundation has been working and campaigning to promote inquiry based learning in schools. The focus has mainly been on primary schools. Parents and guardians, teachers, school managers, students and pupils, and the public have been invited to attend. The invitation is necessary because to skill up Ekiti, or Nigeria as a whole, everybody must be on board with the thinking project. No child or parent, no school or teacher will be left behind. The realization of a thinking society is a collective duty and responsibility. This program is a part of the Think Aloud Nigeria. Think Aloud Nigeria is a philosophy for children initiative that promotes critical and creative thinking skills in schools. It complements the Read Aloud project that fosters literacy skills in schools.

Think Aloud aims to get children to be thinkers, inventors, innovators, and problem solvers. The objective is to foster curiosity and inquisitiveness, creative ingenuity and innovativeness. The aim is to make schools producers and bubbling hubs of thinking teachers, students, adults, and youths. The national policy on education already acknowledged the importance of this mental habit. Page ten of the document states that primary education aims to foster scientific, critical, and reflective thinking. From elementary school, children should be trained to be scientific and reflective thinkers and philosophers. Children should become argumentative, debative, and interrogative.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case. A part of the reason is that there are not enough materials and subjects that inculcate critical and creative thinking habits. The school system puts so much emphasis on memorization and reproduction of information and knowledge. The learning culture is authoritarian and teacher centered. But the introduction of critical thinking or philosophy for children as a subject is set to change this learning culture in schools. Critical thinking encourages inquiry-based learning. Operationalized as questionstorm, critical thinking is the ability to generate questions or interrogate ideas and experiences in all areas of human endeavor.

At the primary school level, the emphasis is on generating questions, highlighting gaps and limitations in knowledge and understanding. These gaps and limitations arouse curiosity and inquiry. They whet the appetite to know, understand, inquire, and explore. Students are taught the tools and techniques used in asking questions and examining issues. For example, words like who, when where and why. The secondary level focuses on discussions and reflections on issues and questions. For instance, who is a friend? Why do we do good? Can human beings live forever? Should we obey laws? Must everyone work hard to succeed? Is it ok to lie? Do heaven and hell exist?

In critical thinking classes, students are guided to express and exercise intelligence through asking questions and reflective inquiry. Students ask questions for the sake of asking questions, not for the sake of answering them. Every answer is questionable. Every question is questionable. Students are taught to evaluate and examine issues through interrogation and scrutiny. At the event, participants will be taught various questioning approaches, including the question-to-question, question-to-answer, simple, and complex questioning approaches. There are also referential, conditional, and quiz question approaches. All these approaches nourish students’ minds and intelligence.

It is important to note that critical thinking or philosophy for children can be taught in two ways. It can be taught as a stand-alone subject or as an infused subject. As a stand-alone subject, students are taught about critical thinking approaches, formats, and exercises. As infused, these approaches are applied to other disciplines and areas of knowledge. The skills and sentiments are integrated into history, science, engineering, and mathematics.

At the event, participants will be told how critical thinking or philosophy for children operationalized as questionstorm constitutes a form of pedagogy or adds value to the science of teaching and learning. The school system puts much emphasis on rote learning, on memorization and reproduction of knowledge. Teachers are knowledge dumpers and depositors. They present information and materials for learning, which students memorize and reproduce during examinations as a demonstration of intelligence. This pedagogic method is flawed because it discourages active thinking and learning. This teaching method has turned students into memory boxes and banks. But critical thinking, as questionstorm, can enhance teaching and learning. Teachers introduce or present learning materials, which students interrogate. Instructors teach or impart knowledge by responding to questions that students ask or generate. Both teachers and students are cooperators in teaching and learning. Questions drive the process of learning and knowledge acquisition.

This initiative will change how students learn in classrooms. It will make learners active participants and contributors to the practice of teaching. The foundation hopes that the Ministry of Education and SUBEB in Ekiti would support this effort to introduce critical thinking/philosophy for children to both private and public schools in the state.

Leo Igwe directs Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation.