Creativity and Characteristics of Creative People

Creativity

• Defined by Robert E. Franken (1994) as the ability to generate or recognize useful ideas, alternatives, or possibilities for problem-solving, communication, and entertainment.
• Requires viewing things from new perspectives and generating new possibilities.
• Measured by the number and uniqueness of generated alternatives.
• Linked to flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, and enjoyment of the unknown.
• Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) revise Bloom's Taxonomy, placing "Creating" as the highest order of thinking (6th order), involving putting elements together to form a coherent whole.
• Teachers' role is to provide opportunities for students to explore, express themselves, challenge assumptions, and develop critical thinking skills.

Characteristics of Creative People

• Flexibility: Openness to multiple solutions and the ability to adapt approaches.
• Intense Curiosity: Fascination with the world, asking questions, and in-depth exploration.
• Positive Attitude: A mindset that encourages exploration and solution-seeking.
• Strong Motivation and Determination: Follow-through to bring creative ideas to fruition.
• Fearlessness: Belief in the value of ideas, even if they are later proven wrong.

Critical Thinking

• Analysis of facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form unbiased judgments.
• Requires awareness of personal biases and consistent evaluation standards for sources.
• Essential for situations with significant consequences.
• Core skill: examining the implications and consequences of beliefs or actions.
• Involves rational, specific, objective analysis, avoiding subjective viewpoints and personal biases.

Top 5 Critical Thinking Skills

• Observation: Quickly identifying problems; understanding causes and predicting potential issues. Improvement involves slowing down information processing and paying close attention to surroundings.

• Analysis: Evaluating situations, gathering unbiased research, asking relevant questions, and assessing findings objectively. Improvement involves acquiring new experiences and broadening knowledge.

• Inference: Drawing conclusions based on limited information, often requiring specialized knowledge. Improvement involves focusing on educated guesses, considering multiple clues, and objective reasoning. Inference goes beyond literal information, unlike deduction which relies on given evidence.

• Communication: Explaining issues, discussing solutions, engaging in differing perspectives with respect and active listening.

• Problem-solving: Executing solutions, monitoring effectiveness, and building industry knowledge to improve problem-solving abilities. Observing how others solve problems is beneficial.