Critical Thinking and Creativity

Teaching Critical Thinking Without Destroying the Creative Thought Process

By Lance Winslow

Critical thinking skills are absolutely important to survive in such a complex and chaotic society. No one can deny that in the United States we are bombarded with instant information, and challenged by all the events going on around us at all times. And, company marketing and advertising is always trying to get us to do impulse buying, and market to our emotions rather than to our critical thinking.

Now then, I have a serious question; how you teach critical thinking without destroying the creative thought process which is also needed to survive in our society?

If you’ll stop right here and go to YouTube and watch “Sir Ken Robinson, Creativity in Schools” video and then come back to this article, I’d like to continue knowing you have the knowledge to follow along with my comments here today. It’s an 18-minute video and the best one you’ll ever watch on this topic.

Okay so, Ken Robinson asks why we don’t teach creativity in schools as we should, and I am asking the opposite question with a caveat; (1) why don’t we teach critical thinking properly in our schools, and (2) how can we teach critical thinking without destroying the creative thought process which is so valuable to the individual? Easier said than done, but I do believe it’s possible.

In fact, I would say that creatively solving problems and then taking that information to form questions is a very important part of the critical thinking process. In fact, there’s a very good book on this subject called; “Critical Thinking Asking the Right Questions,” by M. Neil Brown and Stuart M. Keeley – which is well worth reading also.

If we use our creativity to help us come up with a number of questions, and then use our critical thinking skills to eliminate the silly questions, and keep the good ones, then we can combine the two, without destroying one or the other. We are teaching that they are both very important, and can be used together, and they should be used together, and they should also be challenged against each other to test to see if the answers or the questions chosen are correct. I hope you will please be thinking here as you teach critical thinking to your students.

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Critical Thinking and Creativity

Teaching Critical Thinking Without Destroying the Creative Thought Process

By Lance Winslow

Critical thinking skills are absolutely important to survive in such a complex and chaotic society. No one can deny that in the United States we are bombarded with instant information, and challenged by all the events going on around us at all times. And, company marketing and advertising is always trying to get us to do impulse buying, and market to our emotions rather than to our critical thinking.

Now then, I have a serious question; how you teach critical thinking without destroying the creative thought process which is also needed to survive in our society?

If you’ll stop right here and go to YouTube and watch “Sir Ken Robinson, Creativity in Schools” video and then come back to this article, I’d like to continue knowing you have the knowledge to follow along with my comments here today. It’s an 18-minute video and the best one you’ll ever watch on this topic.

Okay so, Ken Robinson asks why we don’t teach creativity in schools as we should, and I am asking the opposite question with a caveat; (1) why don’t we teach critical thinking properly in our schools, and (2) how can we teach critical thinking without destroying the creative thought process which is so valuable to the individual? Easier said than done, but I do believe it’s possible.

In fact, I would say that creatively solving problems and then taking that information to form questions is a very important part of the critical thinking process. In fact, there’s a very good book on this subject called; “Critical Thinking Asking the Right Questions,” by M. Neil Brown and Stuart M. Keeley – which is well worth reading also.

If we use our creativity to help us come up with a number of questions, and then use our critical thinking skills to eliminate the silly questions, and keep the good ones, then we can combine the two, without destroying one or the other. We are teaching that they are both very important, and can be used together, and they should be used together, and they should also be challenged against each other to test to see if the answers or the questions chosen are correct. I hope you will please be thinking here as you teach critical thinking to your students.

Related articles

• How Do You Define Critical Thinking?


• Critical Thinking


• Teaching Critical Thinking


• Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking


• Using Crowdsourcing to Counter the Spread of False Rumors on Social Media During Crises


• Was Socrates a Hunter Education Instructor?


• Discussing Performance Art, Critical Thinking & Curiosity ~ June 2013


• New Study: Employers Rate Their Employees’ Critical Thinking Skills as Only Average


• Rethinking Creativity in Education


• Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom

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Logical Thinking

Common Sense Vs Logical Thinking

Occasionally I have discussions about the difference between the two. Many argue that they have the same meaning but I disagree and I will explain why. In my opinion and from what I have researched and learnt about the two topics are this:

Logical Thinking means = a way to analyze a problem to come up with an answer sometimes using a formal system similar to mathematics (a process) Common Sense = Is a way of taking social understandings and rules, and applying them to a situation In my opinion that explains the difference in the most simplest form and easiest way to understand. Logic is used to reach a conclusion using the most accurate route available to us. Common sense however is not always accurate and can sometimes be based on assumption with no facts. (to ASSUME can make an ASS out of U and ME) Lets look at an example of the two and how they could apply in our every day lives. At the end of every month you go to the cash point machine and find you are always overdrawn. Common sense would tell you that you are spending more than what you are earning. Logical thinking you would do this: Go home and analyze your outgoings and discover exactly where the money is going. You may discover that the bank has been overcharging you every month in which case that statement above that you are spending more than what you are earning is actually incorrect.

Logical thinking is extremely powerful, take that above example. I have done that and logical thinking led me to then shuffle my bills around, get better deals and save a fortune, as well as get my money back from the bank. If I had relied on common sense alone without further investigation or analysis then I would still have been overdrawn every month. If you have problems of any kind take a moment to jot it down on a piece of paper. Break it down, analyze it and look at tackling the problem with a logical mind. You will be surprised how this simple exercise can make a problem so much easier to solve Many people today worry about issues concerning money, health, jobs, retirement, children etc, however many people do little about tackling their problems in a logical manner, when these problems arise emotions kick in and logical thinking is a process which should involve no facts based on emotion.

It has been proven that people who think logically are smarter. They reach more accurate results and conclusions. They are people who reach a conclusion based on facts and accurate analysis. Incorporate some basic logical thinking into your life now. You will have wished you had done so years ago.

Source

Sharon Slater http://dimnity.com Article Source: http://ift.tt/1etLVj1

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