Teaching critical and systems thinking early: building the cognitive infrastructure for informed judgment and responsible citizenship

This editorial argues for teaching critical thinking and systems thinking explicitly and early using small, repeatable classroom reasoning routines that strengthen students' ability to evaluate evidence, justify claims, and anticipate trade-offs. In an information environment shaped by misinformation, polarization, and artificial intelligence-mediated "answers on demand," these routines support more reliable judgement and responsible citizenship. The piece outlines low-burden, adaptable strategies educators can embed into existing lessons and emphasizes teacher agency as the scaling mechanism for sustained implementation across contexts.