Unit 4.1.1 Creativity and Critical Thinking PDF

MEd: Psychological Perspectives of Education Unit 4:Creativity and Intelligence Unit 4.1: Creativity: Meaning, characteristics, role of teacher in developing creativity and critical thinking George Attanayake BA (Peradeniya) PGDE (Colombo) MA in Education and ELT and Inte...

MEd: Psychological Perspectives of Education Unit 4:Creativity and Intelligence Unit 4.1: Creativity: Meaning, characteristics, role of teacher in developing creativity and critical thinking George Attanayake BA (Peradeniya) PGDE (Colombo) MA in Education and ELT and International Development (London) PGD in TESL (Humber, Toronto)  What is creativity? Robert E. Franken (1994) of University of California defines Creativity as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. Further he says that, In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. The ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things unknown until now.  In simple terms, creativity is the ability to think about a task or a problem in a new or different way, or the ability to use the imagination to generate new ideas. Creativity enables you to solve complex problems or find interesting ways to approach tasks. If you are creative, you look at things from a unique perspective. Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001, revising Bloom’s Taxonomy of human thinking, brings the so far 5th order thinking, ‘synthesis’ to 6th order or the highest order of human thinking, ‘Creating’. Further Anderson and Krathwohl say that creating involves putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole. Creating includes reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through planning. This is the highest and most advanced level of updated Bloom's Taxonomy: Build a model and use it to teach the information to others. The role of a teacher in developing creativity and critical thinking is to provide opportunities for students to explore and express themselves, challenge assumptions, and develop the skills needed to think critically about the world around them.  Characteristics of Creativity There are five key characteristics of creative people that they use to plan, construct, implement, and maintain whatever it is that they have chosen to do. These characteristics are outlined below. 1. Flexibility: This is a key characteristic because it involves a mindset that suggests that there may be more than a single answer or solution to any particular issue or problem. Flexible thinkers are not hemmed in by being overly-focused on one way of doing things and tend to be open to innovation. They also have the capacity to understand when something is not working and then to change to an alternative solution/approach. 2. A sense of intense curiosity: Creative thinkers are fascinated with the world around them. They ask lots of questions, and tend to develop a very intense focus that takes them into almost a reverie as they try to discover how something works, or the detail of a beautiful structure, or anything else they set their mind on. 3. Positive attitude. A positive attitude is essential for thinking creatively as it is this positivity that spurs the mind on to seek detail, wonder, and, indeed, solutions. This is linked strongly to my previous point about intense curiosity. A person who thinks negatively tends to block out possibilities, and not look at the world around them with such detailed wonder. 4. Strong motivation and determination. This is where the hard work of the creativity comes in. So, we can all have creative thoughts — but what use is creativity if it doesn’t actually show itself to the world in an act of construction or creation? From creating software solutions for major problems, through to creating social capital through community building, or painting a work of art, creativity requires the follow-through that can only come from strong motivation and determination. Without this, creative ideas will only reside within the mind of the individual without having the opportunity to influence society and/or the community.  5. Fearlessness This is an interesting characteristic because highly creative people tend to believe in the VALUE of the ideas they come up with. Remember, they are also flexible, so they are willing to change; however, they do not seem to be worried about whether their idea is right or wrong because they believe that their idea brings value to the field in which it resides, even if it may later be debunked. Whether you work in the realm of the arts, or in business, or in community capacity building, it is important to recognize the creative people in your team, but also to cultivate these characteristics, because creativity can be learned.  What is Critical Thinking? Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation. Critical thinking is the ability to effectively analyze information and form a judgment. To think critically, you must be aware of your own biases and assumptions when encountering information, and apply consistent standards when evaluating sources. Critical thinking skills help you to: Identify credible sources. In a Philosophical Paper, Peter Facione (2011)makes a strong case that critical thinking skills are needed by everyone, in all societies who value safety, justice, and a host of other positive values  A simple rule to determine whether you should employ critical thinking in a given situation is when the result of a problem, initiative, goal, or circumstance is very important to your life or to the life of people you care for. In other words, the outcome of the use critical thinking makes a significant difference in your personal situation or business. One of the core critical thinking skills you need every day is the ability to examine the implications and consequences of a belief or action. In its deepest form, this ability can help you form your own set of beliefs in everything from climate change to religion. Especially when you need to reach a resolve or make a judgement, you need to be rational. You have to be specific and not vague; you have to be objective and not subjective. Objective: impartial and not being influenced by personal experiences, value judgments, or preconceived notions. Always referring to evidence and not personal bias. Subjective: being partial or biased, an outlook governed by one's personally held beliefs, opinions, or tastes.  Top 5 critical thinking skills 1. Observation Observational skills are the starting point for critical thinking. People who are observant can quickly sense and identify a new problem. Those skilled in observation are also capable of understanding why something might be a problem. They may even be able to predict when a problem might occur before it happens based on their experiences. Improve your observation skills by slowing down your pace of processing information and training yourself to pay closer attention to your surroundings. You might practice mindfulness techniques, journaling or actively listening during and outside of work to thoroughly examine what you’re hearing or seeing. Then, consider if you notice trends in behavior, transactions or data that might be helpful for your team to address. Journaling: maintaining a journal (e.g.: Reflective Journal)  2. Analysis Once a problem has been identified, analytical skills become essential. The ability to analyze and effectively evaluate a situation involves knowing what facts, data or information about the problem are important. This also often includes gathering unbiased research, asking relevant questions about the data to ensure it’s accurate and assessing the findings objectively. Improve your analytical skills by taking on new experiences. For example, you might read a book about a concept you’re unfamiliar with or take an online math class to push yourself to think in new ways and consider new ideas. Doing so can help you build the skills to interpret new information and make rational decisions based on sound analysis.  3. Inference Inference is a skill that involves drawing conclusions about the information you collect and may require you to possess technical or industry-specific knowledge or experience. When you make an inference, that means you are developing answers based on limited information. For example, a car mechanic may need to infer what is causing a car’s engine to stall (engine not working) at seemingly random times based on the information available to them. Improve your inference skills by placing focus on making educated guesses rather than quickly drawing conclusions. This requires slowing down to carefully look for and consider as many clues as possible—such as images, data or reports—that might help you evaluate a situation. In making inferences, an experimenter should be objective in reasoning. Should be specific in the concerns/assumptions without being vague. In Making inferences a conclusion is arrived at by putting together/deploying the available pieces of information in a logical, cohesive order. So inferencing is an interpretation that goes beyond the literal information given. In deducing or in a deduction an understanding is based on the evidence given in the text. Therefore inferencing is stronger than deduction.  4. Communication Communication Skills are important when it comes time to explain and discuss issues and their possible solutions with colleagues and other stakeholders. Improve your communication skills within the context of critical thinking by engaging in difficult discussions, for example, in situations when you and another participant may disagree about the topic. Maintain good communication habits, such as active listening and respect, to understand other points of view and to be able to explain your ideas in a calm, rational manner. Doing so can help you evaluate solutions more effectively with your colleagues.  5. Problem-solving After you’ve identified and analyzed a problem and chosen a solution, the final step is to execute your solution. Problem-solving often requires critical thinking to implement the best solution and understand whether or not the solution is working as it relates to the goal. Improve your problem solving skills by setting goals to acquire more industry knowledge within your field. Problem-solving at work typically becomes easier if you have a strong understanding of industry-specific information. It can also be helpful to observe how others around you solve problems at work. Take note of their techniques and ask questions about their process. The End Thank You Any Questions?