What do I notice?
Separate what you can observe from what you assume.
Heir Standard / CRITICAL THINKING LABQuestion better.
Question better.
Think deeper.
Practice making educated guesses, checking sources, testing explanations, spotting weak arguments, and changing your mind when the evidence changes.
No account. No timer. No names collected.
01 / CHOOSE A GROUP
Start where the challenge feels right.
Age ranges guide the question style—not a person’s ability. Move up or down anytime.
02 / A HABIT FOR EVERY CLAIM01 02 03 04
Stop. Ask. Check. Explain.
How do they know?
Trace the claim to evidence, context, and a qualified source.
What else could explain it?
Compare alternatives instead of stopping at the first story.
What would change my mind?
Name evidence that could strengthen, weaken, or revise your view.
03 / RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Built from child-development research published before 2010.
The levels move from concrete observation and trustworthy speakers toward analogy, causal reasoning, evidence evaluation, bias, probability, and argument. They are learning supports—not diagnoses or fixed limits.
- 1999A Developmental Model of Critical ThinkingDeanna Kuhn
Critical thinking develops through reflection on claims, evidence, strategies, and knowing.
- 2005Preschoolers Mistrust Ignorant and Inaccurate SpeakersMelissa Koenig & Paul Harris
Young children can use a speaker’s past accuracy when deciding whom to trust.
- 2006Children’s Development of Analogical ReasoningRichland, Morrison & Holyoak
Relational complexity and distracting surface features affect children’s analogy performance.
- 2004Causal Learning Across DomainsSchulz & Gopnik
Preschoolers can use patterns of dependence and independence to make causal inferences.
- 2006Children’s Beliefs About Everyday ReasoningPillow, Hill, Boyce & Stein
Children increasingly distinguish reasoning from automatic reactions and better from weaker reasoning.
- 1998Teaching Critical Thinking for Transfer Across DomainsDiane Halpern
Practice, structure training, dispositions, and metacognitive monitoring help thinking transfer to new situations.