Critical Thinking Activities

Dale Seymour Publications /
Pearson Learning Group

The activities in this reproducible book hail from the field of mathematics and are divided into the three areas of patterns, imagery (not the new age type), and logic. Written for grades 7-12, the activities vary in difficulty to reflect that grade span. You can pick and choose appropriate activities by topic and difficulty level.

The patterns section goes far beyond “fill in the missing number” to include work with such topics as equations, charts, Venn diagrams, exponents, geometric formulas, and designs.

Imagery has to do with developing visual skill in “seeing” accurately as well as predicting such things as how a shape will look from a different angle or when combined with another shape. Many activities here resemble those I have seen on intelligence tests. Geometry skills get some extra practice here.

The logic section includes Venn diagrams, logic statements, deductive exercises, and even one word logic game. While almost all activities are related to math, the skills are transferable to other subject areas as well as to life situations.

There are 163 pages of activities, and the answer key is found at the end of the book. Apparently, there are also two more books in this series written for younger grade levels, but I have not reviewed them.