CC BY
0SOCIAL GAMES AS ONE THE EFFECTIVE WAYS OF ENHANCING
CRITICAL SKILLS
Nigora Mirbakieva
EFL teacher at Inter Nation School
Critical thinking is a cognitive skill, which has a power of opening the full potential of person's mind. In today's fast developing society, in the abundance of information, perceiving the validity of it is becoming more and more demanding, the art of critical thinking has never been more crucial.
In accordance with the Cambridge dictionary, critical thinking is defined as "the process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea, without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you". That is, basically, critical thinking deals with discovering if something is true, partially true or not true at all. When we look at how the notion of critical thinking can be put in teaching, Bloom's Taxonomy should be named which involves diverse types of thinking that guides to learning (Hughes, 2014:2). Subsequently, Anderson rephrased the taxonomy and grouped into the class system of thinking skills from lower to higher level. These skills, specifically, remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, ought to be enhanced with the aim of learning more proficiently. John Hughes and Paul Dummett (2019) made a connection between the six thinking skills and broader levels of thinking: basic comprehension, critical thinking, and creative thinking. Only when we connect the levels of thinking with the activities in the EFL classroom, we will be able to see that on the stage of basic understanding, learners ought to be able to fill in the gaps, do the matching activity, and find the answer in the text. The level of critical thinking gives them a chance to study the text or deduce the meaning, and appraise the opinion. The higher level of thinking that relates with creating thinking empowers learners to make a presentation or write an essay. Dummett and Hughes (2019) highlighted the significance of the subsequent core values. Successful language learning is built up on thinking skills of equally with higher and lower
levels. Consequently, none of them is lower or higher in needs and therefore they must be balanced in education. In addition to that, critical thinking has a big effect on the processing and production of language.
Critical thinking skills are crucial in our speedily changing world. Our Uzbekistan needs the youth who can evaluate information, judge the evidence and make sophisticated decisions. Yet, conventional way of teaching does not always supply the best atmosphere for enhancing these skills. And this is where social-simulation games come useful. The games enable students provide an alluring learning experience that involves participants, facilitate them to try out with diverse scenarios, and assists them develop critical thinking skills. The study which was carried on by Research and Markets informed that the application of social -simulation games in education is growing.(2023) In accordance with Dr John Smith such games offer a unique opportunity for students to enhance the critical thinking skills in a harmless and controlled environment. By performing decision-making and problem-solving in a simulated environment, studetns can learn from their mistakes and improve their decision-making skills over time. (2023). One of the key advantages of simulation games is that they provide students with real-world experience where they are put into an imitated environment and are allowed to make decisions and see the outcomes of their decisions. This gives them a chance to apply a precious learning knowledge into real-world situations. In a study conducted by the University of Colorado (2023), students who took part in a simulation game were found to possess higher critical thinking scores than those who did not take part.
Moreover, Social- simulation games have sprung up as an influential instrument for hypnotic learning. They put forward an efficient and interactive atmosphere where students can conduct experiment with various scenarios and upshots that can be quite impossible to reach in conventional classroom atmosphere. According to Traci Sitzmann , the hypnotic nature of model games develops learning by enabling students to enhance critical thinking skills throughout practical experience. Together with providing a hypnotic learning experience, simulation games are also modeled to be appealing and enjoyable. Being based on interaction and completion, simulation
games inspire students to devote more time and effort into learning, guiding to higher levels of recollection and remembering. A case by Traci Sitzmann (2011), a professor of management at the University of Colorado, discovered that students who learned all the way through social- simulation games had a 20% higher rate of recollection and remembering than those who learned through conventional classroom approaches. The enjoyment feature of social- simulation games can also guide to grown motivation and eagerness for learning, which has a positive effect on general outcome.
In addition, Social- simulation games are planned to provide a safe environment for students to learn and be improved. Differing from real-world decision-making, where mistakes can have considerable cost, students in social-simulation games have a chance of trying out without fear of failure.
This risk-free environment enables them to discover various strategies, methods and viewpoints to problem solving, and learn from their mistakes without any harmful effect on the real world. Also, by encouraging experimentation and learning, these games also empower students to increase confidence in their decision-making abilities. This is because they are able to experiment various scenarios and see the consequences of their decisions, which enables them feel more contented and competent during decision-making process in the real life.
As a result, social- simulation games can become a dominant implementation for building up skills and competencies that are crucial in EFL classes.
There are an increasing numbers of researches on the efficiency of social-simulation games for enhancing critical thinking skills. A study by Van Eck (2006) discovered that these games are mainly effectual for learning complex notions.
In conclusion, social -simulation games are becoming progressively more acknowledged as a way to provide hypnotic learning experiences for students. It also inspires learners to be deeply involved with the content, concerning logic and reasoning to rise above challenges
Reference list:
1. Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classroom https://grade-university.com/blog/developing-critical-thinking-in-efl-classroom
2. https://dictionarv.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/critical-thinking
3. Critical thinking in ELT - A Working Model For The Classroom -National Geographic Learning, a Cengage Company, 2019
4. https://mdatraining.com/the-role-of-simulation-games-in-developing-critical-thinking-skills/
5. Van Eck, R. (2006). Digital Game-Based Learning: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Restless. EDUCAUSE Review,
6. A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games. Traci Sitzmann.2011
