Teacher-Child Relationships to Promoting Critical Thinking of Preschoolers

Abstract

     This academic article aims to propose a teacher-child relationships that encourage the critical thinking of preschoolers. Relationships are interpersonal relationships that show interaction and relevance through gestures, movements, embrace and positive emotions, smiles, friendliness, or conversation. Relationships between teachers and children that encourages critical thinking of preschoolers can be divided into 3 characteristics 1) Emotional relationship, it shows the teacher's positive feelings when children do activities, play, or solve problems on their own and the teacher waits for the child to think of an answer with smiling faces and friendly with children. 2) Verbal relationship, it is the teacher's speech, conversation and questioning that stimulates the child's curiosity with a soft voice and use of language that is easy to understand and 3) Physical relationships, it shows the teacher's actions with warm expressions and touches, physical response to the child and use of media to stimulate interest or create a learning environment for children to think. However, Teacher-child relationship affects learning success and increases motivation for children to practice thinking in various ways through questioning, understanding, predicting, analyzing, creating, evaluating, explaining, or solving problems. The guidelines for promoting critical thinking include 1) using questions that encourage thinking with children, 2) the discussion of children, 3) the practice of activities that encourage thinking together, 4) using media to promote thinking, and 5) participation in children's thinking. This is the fundamental to cultivate children into individuals who can think and learn throughout their lives and ready to adapt to modern society with quality.