Adult educators: you know you can help your learners prepare for work by building their reading, writing, and math skills. It’s just as important to develop their thinking skills. These include:

• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Information analysis
• Adapting to change

These skills matter more than ever, as technology changes how work is done. The recent blog “If AI is the future of work, low income workers must be part of the plan,” from the National Skills Coalition (NSC), explains the impact of artificial intelligence (AI): 

“. . . while about one in three AI-exposed workers overall are in office and administrative jobs, fully half of lower-income workers with high AI exposure work in those occupations. . . . When you zoom in on those lower-income office and administrative workers, the leading industry they work in is Healthcare and Social Assistance—think of administrative assistants in doctors’ or dentists’ offices or in community food or housing organizations.” 

Learners need support using new tools. They also need practice thinking clearly and being flexible as their jobs change. Try incorporating these thinking-building skills into your instruction.

Critical Thinking: Making Sense of Information

Critical thinking means thinking carefully and asking good questions. Learners use critical thinking when exploring new situations—considering the context, evaluating the information provided, deciding what this means for them and what they’re being asked to do, and responding in ways that make sense to them. This strengthens the decision-making skills that are valued across industries.

What does this look like in the classroom? When asking learners to work with real-world information such as utility bills, charts, or media graphs, encourage them to explain their thinking, question what they see, and determine whether the information provided is clear and balanced.

Problem Solving: Persevering and Making Choices

Employers value workers who can solve problems, especially when the answer is not obvious. You, as an adult math educator, help build this skill by giving your learners non-routine problems that take time and effort.

Instructional approaches such as problem-based learning, Three-Act Math tasks, and Information Gap routines mirror real workplace challenges. Learners might analyze why a bill has increased, determine the most cost-effective option for a project, or decide how to fairly share expenses. Learners have to work within limits (such as with a budget or physical space), weigh trade-offs, and adapt plans when initial attempts do not work. 

The message they absorb is powerful: struggle is not failure; it is part of the process. In the process, they build perseverance, resilience, and confidence—qualities employers rely on when conditions change or unexpected challenges arise.

Processing and Analyzing Information: Using Data to Decide

In many jobs, workers need to read tables, graphs, and reports. These skills are especially useful as technology supports more decision-making tasks. Visual routines like Visual Patterns, for example, help learners notice trends and make sense of information.

In your adult ed classroom, ask your students to use tools such as Excel or AI to process information. For example, they could compare payment plans to determine which is least expensive or offers the best value. They could review sales figures to note when sales are highest or who are the top salespeople. They could plan how much material is needed for a project, based on dimensions or other characteristics. Then ask them to practice checking the reasonableness of their answers. Do their results make sense? Are they too high or too low? Is any information missing? This helps them understand how to use tools wisely. 

Adaptability and Willingness to Learn: Getting Ready for Change

Adaptability means being open to change and willing to learn new skills. This skill may be the most important, as technology keeps changing the workplace.

The NSC blog mentioned above also reports that “low-income workers are already disproportionately impacted by the digital skills divide—a divide that AI could exacerbate.” It also states, “many low-income workers face challenges that could make it harder to adapt to AI without better resources and support.” This is why it is imperative to incorporate workforce skills throughout our adult education classes.

Consider these two examples: 

• Help learners practice choosing the right tools, such as when to use a calculator, a spreadsheet, a graph, AI, or estimation. This supports Standard 5 of the Mathematical Practices: Use appropriate tools strategically. Doing so empowers students to use more efficient approaches or technology when things change or when new information becomes available.
• Model activities, such as planning routes with time limits or comparing options. These help learners understand that plans are not perfect and sometimes need to be changed. This experience builds their comfort with feedback, flexibility in thinking, and a willingness to keep learning—traits important for long-term success at work.

Bringing It All Together

When you incorporate real-life contexts, decision-making, and communication skills into your instruction, learners gain much more than math skills. They build strong thinking habits, problem-solving skills, and the ability to adapt to change.

When you give learners opportunities to apply these important and transferable skills, they gain not just new tools, but also the ability to determine how to use those tools wisely. This will benefit them in their lives and in the ever-changing workplace.

We Can Help! 

The SABES Math Team has many more resources you can use with your students to build workforce skills. You’ll find standards-aligned lessons connected to workforce applications in the Teaching Skills That Matter in Adult Education (TSTM) framework and the BeCALM and CALM math curricula, as well as lots of classroom-ready project-based learning materials. Also, our Math Coaches, all former and current adult education teachers, are here to help. Contact the SABES Math Team today!