Transcript Creative Thinking: An Essential Skill

Creative/Critical Thinking:
Essential Skills
Richard M. Cash, Ed.D.
www.nrichconsulting.com
952-447-7668
Creativity:
The ability to solve problems or find
solutions by thinking “outside the box.”
There is no decisive definition of creativity,
but we know it when we see it. As our world
changes more rapidly each year, our
children must be provided with the skills to
develop their own creativity and creative
thinking abilities.
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What is Creative Thinking?
Bringing into being something which did
not exist before.
Coming up with new ideas/ theories/
formulas.
An essential survival skill for this fast
paced furious world.
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FLUENCY:
The ability to generate many
ideas. This skill requires
students to tell what they know
either through speaking,
drawing, writing or acting.
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Putting Fluency to Work in Your
Classroom: Brainstorming
Generate as many ideas as possible.
Work quickly.
Add to other people’s ideas
(piggybacking).
Defer judgment until all ideas have been
shared.
List things that are….
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Flexibility:
Generating a wide range of
ideas. Thinking of things in
different ways helps students
build perspectives they may
overlook when trying to solve
complex problems.
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Putting Flexibility to Work in
Your Classroom
Organize your fluency list in some
logical way.
Use _____ is a different way.
Create a metaphor: Describe a person,
place, thing or event as a metaphor
(I.e. Bob is a loose cannon.).
Seek out metaphors (Iron Curtain,
computer virus, VW beetle).
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Originality:
Unique, unusual and not
thought of ideas. Development
of this skill is an essential
component of higher-level
learning.
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Putting Originality to Work in Your
Classroom
What is the most unusual or novel
occasion you can think of for writing a
note or letter to a person?
List/Create new ways to use…
Add/Suggest/Combine____ to create
new categories. (Synthesis &
Evaluation)
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Elaboration:
The process of providing
extensive and extended details.
When a student is pushed to
“color in all the spaces” they will
develop a more holistic sense for
solution building.
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Putting Elaboration to Work in
Your Classroom
Discuss the many advantages of
sending a note or letter to someone you
care about or haven’t seen in a long
time.
Add details to a simple picture/story (i.e.
What did the 3 pigs do the day before
the story began?).
Design a new classroom/school.
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CRITICAL THINKING:
Reasonable, reflective thinking
that is focused on deciding what
to believe or do. The ability to
think clearly and reason
logically is a primary goal of
education.
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Critical Thinking Strategies:
Compare & contrast
Sequence & prioritizing
Analyzing arguments
Relevance & Irrelevance
Fact & opinion
Reliable & unreliable sources
Assumptions & generalizations
Cause & effect
Point of view
Bias & stereotype
Deduction & induction
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All students must pass the Basic
Skills Tests.
Positive
PMI
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Negative
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Intriguing
Consider All the Factors (CAF):
When you have to choose or make a
decision or just think about something, there
are always many factors that you have to
consider. If you leave out some of these
factors, your choice may seem right at the
time, but will later turn out to be wrong.
When you are looking at other people’s
thinking, you can try and see what factors
they have left out.
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CAF at Work in Your
Classroom
What factors should you consider in
designing a chair
In deciding how to spend your vacation, what
factors would you consider?
A young couple is undecided whether to get
married at once or wait. What factors should
they be considering?
Do a CAF on the factors of choosing a career.
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CoRT Thinking
By:
Edward DeBono
http://www.edwdebono.com/index.html
The purpose of thinking is not only to deal with problems but
to make better use of what is available. The purpose of
design is to put together known ingredients to create fresh
value.
Seven Critical Questioning
Strategies
Analogy: How is an apple like a house?
Analysis of point of view: What else would account
for the rise in crime? Who would benefit from your
point of view?
Incompletion: How would you end this story?
Web Analysis: How extensive were the effects of
9/11?
Hypothetical thinking: What if there were no rain this
summer? What if the schools ran out of money?
Reversal: What if Al Gore had become president?
Application of different symbol systems: Act out this
math problem.
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Resources:
McLaughlin, M. & Vogt, M. (2000). Creativity
and innovation in content area teaching.
Christopher-Gorgon Publisher, Inc. Norwood,
MA. 800-934-8322
Myers, R.E. (2001). Mind stretchers; Creative
thinking extensions for the content areas.
Prufrock Press Inc.Waco, Tx. 800-240-0333
Piirto, J. (1998). Understanding those who
create. Gifted Psychology Press, Inc.
Dayton, Ohio.
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