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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Give girls regular chances to ask questions, examine evidence, hear different viewpoints and propose solutions—and make sure the adults, materials and learning environment do not quietly limit who gets those chances. The goal is not to teach girls a special kind of thinking or to prescribe what they should enjoy. It is to support every learner’s agency while making room for girls’ varied interests and experiences.
What critical thinking looks like in practice
Critical thinking is something children practise: asking questions, weighing reasons and evidence, considering another perspective and working toward a conclusion or solution. It does not require a child to argue constantly or to have a polished answer on demand. A learner can think actively by listening, reflecting, writing, making something or talking through an idea with a partner.
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UNICEF’s 2021 brief on gender-transformative education frames the work more broadly than coaching an individual child. It calls for challenging stereotypes, attitudes, norms and practices across education systems, and for building critical consciousness about inequality. That framing keeps the emphasis on opportunity and agency rather than on making girls conform to a prescribed image of confidence.
Start with questions that invite reasoning
At home
Use ordinary moments—reading a story, playing a game, seeing an advertisement or discussing a news item—to invite a child to explain an idea. Practical prompts include:
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- What makes you think that?
- What evidence supports that idea?
- What might someone else think about this?
- What else could explain what happened?
- What information might change your mind?
These are useful prompts, not a script a child has to follow. Give her time to think aloud, change her mind or say she is unsure. The point is to explore how an idea is formed, not to reward speed or a single “right” style of response.
In classrooms and youth programs
Present a question or problem and let learners investigate it before asking them to defend a conclusion. Depending on age and setting, they might first reflect alone, compare ideas in pairs, write a response, work in a small group or speak to the whole class. Varying the ways to contribute can make active participation possible without treating public speaking as the only evidence of thought.
For a technology-related example, a group might investigate how a familiar device is used, identify a problem it helps solve and consider who benefits or faces barriers. Ask learners to explain what supports their conclusions and what further information they would need. The exercise is about inquiry and evidence—not assuming that girls will be more interested in one technology topic than another.
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Check who gets the chance to participate
Equal opportunity depends on interactions as well as lesson plans. Teachers and program leaders can informally observe—or track more systematically—who is invited to answer, whose contributions receive follow-up questions, who gets interrupted and who is offered leadership or equipment-handling roles. Use what you notice to adjust participation, rather than assuming that a quiet learner has nothing to contribute or that one outspoken girl represents all girls.
Ask whether adults respond consistently to the same behavior from different children. Notice who gets time to finish an explanation, whose mistakes are treated as part of learning and who is encouraged to try an unfamiliar task. IIEP-UNESCO’s principles for gender-transformative learning emphasize participatory learning, valuing personal experience as knowledge, and equal opportunity to participate actively and benefit from learning.
UNICEF’s guidance also points to teacher development in gender-responsive pedagogy and the use of assessment information to address learning gaps. Those are system-level responsibilities; they should not be replaced by asking an individual girl to speak up more in an environment that gives her fewer openings.
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Audit examples, books, games and technology
Materials can broaden a child’s sense of what is possible, or reinforce narrow assumptions. UNESCO notes that school programs, curricula, teaching materials and teaching itself can either reinforce or challenge bias. Look at both what a resource depicts and what it asks children to do with its ideas.
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- Varied roles: women and girls appear in different fields and kinds of work; boys and men also appear in caring and collaborative roles.
- Room to reason: a story, game or activity invites children to explain, question, create or solve an open-ended problem instead of only following a fixed script.
- More than token representation: a girl is not reduced to a single example meant to stand for all girls, and characters are not assigned abilities or interests solely because of gender.
- Access and age fit: the activity suits the child’s age and needs and offers a way to participate without relying on one narrow skill.
- Unexamined assumptions: marketing, instructions or examples do not imply that particular toys, subjects or tasks belong naturally to one gender.
When a character or example makes a gendered assumption, ask what the child notices and whether the assumption is supported. UNICEF Parenting recommends inclusive books and play, equal time for play and chores regardless of gender, and games that can build literacy, numeracy, spatial, cognitive and social skills. A book or game can be a useful opening for discussion, but the adult’s responsive conversation and the child’s opportunity to explore matter too.
Use real questions in STEM without singling girls out
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics can provide a practical setting for inquiry when learning connects to real-world problems. UNICEF’s 2020 report on girls’ education through STEM describes integrated learning in which learners examine social or environmental issues, take part in debate and propose solutions. That is a concrete way to practise reasoning and agency; it is not evidence that every STEM activity produces the same result.
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- Motivate students with high-interest non-fiction articles from TIME For Kids
- Articles, primary source documents, and questions are included as reproducible pages on the Teacher Resource CD
- Step-by-step guides include document-based questions for maps, census reports, population reports, charts, and graphs related to the article
- Strengthen students' comprehension skills and prepare them for standardized tests
Offer girls access to technical activities, tools and mentors as part of a broad range of opportunities. Seeing women in technical fields can help make a career seem imaginable, particularly where children have had little exposure to those roles. UNESCO’s event report quotes Stephen Jalenga, a representative of Kenya’s Ministry of Education, saying that meeting female engineers or pilots can give girls “the impetus to move ahead.” A role model should expand a learner’s options, not suggest that her interest or ability is surprising or unusual.
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UNICEF Innocenti’s November 2022 early-years research summary identifies teacher-student interactions, play, curricula, and teaching and learning materials as places where gender bias can be reproduced. It says these patterns can shape children’s identities, aspirations, expectations and later choices. Reviewing only a book list, for example, will not address unequal opportunities to lead, use equipment or have an idea taken seriously.
A broader review can ask what is taught, who teaches and learns, where and how learning happens, and how activities are evaluated. It can also consider whether learners can disagree respectfully and whether examples show people without reducing them to a token. UNESCO’s education-and-gender-equality overview similarly calls attention to access, content, teaching and learning contexts and practices, outcomes and future opportunities.
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- Logic Workbook for Gritty Kids: Spatial reasoning, math puzzles, word games, logic problems, activities, two-player games. (The Gritty Little Lamb companion book for developing problem solving, critical thinking & STEM skills in kids ages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)
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Avoid replacing one stereotype with another
Do not assume that girls are naturally less critical, less confident or more in need of a particular thinking style. Girls do not all share the same interests, circumstances or barriers. UNICEF’s gender-transformative education framing also recognizes that gender norms can constrain boys and young people who do not identify within traditional gender binaries.
Nor should critical thinking become a demand that girls constantly debate, confront others or perform confidence in public. A safe and respectful environment can support disagreement while allowing different ways to participate. The reviewed guidance recommends equitable, gender-responsive opportunities and describes promising approaches; it does not establish that one particular question, book, toy, mentor or lesson produces a specified increase in critical-thinking outcomes.
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