UNIT II

Creative Thinking and Critical thinking

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What is creativity?

• Creativity is the bringing into being of something which did not exist before, either as a product, a process or a thought.

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Creative thinking

• involves calling into question the assumptions underlying our customary, habitual ways of thinking and acting and then being ready to think and act differently on the basis of the critical questioning.

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Creative thinking

• Creative thinking is the process which we use when we come up with a new idea.

• It is the merging of ideas which have not been merged before

• This creative thinking process can be accidental or deliberate.

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Creative thinking• Accidental way; like a chance happening making you think about

something in a different way and you then discovering a beneficial change.

Deliberate way: Using special techniques, deliberate creative thinking can be used to develop new ideas. These techniques force the mergance of a wide range of ideas to spark off new thoughts and processes. Brainstorming is one of these special techniques, but traditionally it starts with unoriginal ideas.

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demonstrating creativity

• Invent something which has never existed before• Invent something which exists elsewhere but you are not

aware of• Invent a new process for doing something• Reapply an existing process or product into a new or different

market• Develop a new way of looking at something (bringing a new

idea into existence)• Change the way someone else looks at something

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Creative Thinkers

• Consider rejecting standardized formats for problem solving.

• Have an interest in a wide range of related and divergent fields.

• Take multiple perspectives on a problem.

• Use trial-and-error methods in their experimentation.

• Have a future orientation.

• Have self-confidence and trust in their own judgment.

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Critical Thinking Involves

• Recognizing underlying assumptions.

• Scrutinizing arguments.

• Judging ideas.

• Judging the rationality of these justifications by comparing them to a range of varying interpretations and prospective.

• Providing positive as well as negative appraisal.

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Creative Thinking Questions

• What would exist that does not exist now?• What would be happening that does not

happen now?• What decisions would be made and executed?• What accomplishments would be in place that

are not now?• What patterns of behavior that currently in

place would be eliminated?

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Improving Your Creative Abilities

• Keep track of your ideas at all times. Many times ideas come at unexpected times. If an idea is not written down within 24 hours it will usually be forgotten

• Pose new questions to yourself every day. An inquiring mind is a creatively active one that enlarges its area of awareness.

• Keep abreast of your field. Read the magazines, trade journals, and other literature in your field to make sure you are not using yesterday's technology to solve toady's problems.

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Improving Your Creative Abilities

• Ask questions to yourself every day. An inquiring mind is a creatively active one that enlarges its area of awareness.

• Keep abreast of your field. Read the magazines, trade journals, and other literature in your field to make sure you are not using yesterday's technology to solve toady's problems.

• Engage in creative hobbies. Hobbies can also help you relax. An active mind is necessary for creative growth.

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Improving Your Creative Abilities

• Have courage and self-confidence. Be a paradigm pioneer. Assume that you can and will indeed solve the problem Persist and have the tenacity to overcome obstacles that block the solution pathway.

• Learn to know and understand yourself. Deepen your self-knowledge by learning your real strengths, skills, weaknesses, dislike, biases, expectations, fears and prejudices.

• Learn about things outside your specialty. Use cross-fertilization to bring ideas and concepts from one field or specialty to another.

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Improving Your Creative Abilities

• Avoid rigid, set patterns of doing things. Overcome biases and preconceived notions by looking at the problem from a fresh view point, always developing at least two or more alternative solutions to your problem.

• Be open and receptive to ideas (yours and others). New ideas are fragile; keep them from breaking by seizing on the tentative, half formed concepts and possibilities and developing them.

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Improving Your Creative Abilities• Be alert in your observations. Look for similarities,

differences, as well as unique and distinguishing features in situations and problems.

• Adopt a risk taking attitude. Fear of failure is the major impediment to generating solutions which are risky (i.e., small chance of succeeding) but would have a major impact if they are successful. Outlining the ways you could fail and how you would deal with these failures will reduce this obstacle to creativity.

• Keep your sense of humor. You are more creative when you are relaxed. Humor aids in putting your problems (and yourself) in perspective. Many times it relieves tension and makes you more relaxed.

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Practicing Creative Thinking

• Brainstorm ideas to ask another question or suggest another calculation that can be made for this homework assignment.

Brainstorm ways you could work this homework problem incorrectly.

Brainstorm ways to make this problem easier or more difficult.

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Practicing Creative Thinking

• Brainstorm a list of things you learned from working this homework problem and what you think the point of the problem is.

• Brainstorm the reasons "What if..." questions: The "What if...”

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Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking is the process we use to reflect on, access and judge the assumptions underlying our own and others ideas and actions.

• Socratic questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and a number of homework problems draw from R.W. Paul's six types of Socratic questions:

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Critical thinking• Questions for clarification:• Why do you say that?• How does this relate to our discussion?• "Are you going to include diffusion in your mole balance

equations?"

• Questions that probe assumptions:• What could we assume instead?• How can you verify or disapprove that assumption?• "Why are neglecting radial diffusion and including only

axial diffusion?"

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Critical thinking

• Questions that probe reasons and evidence:• What would be an example?• What is....analogous to?• What do you think causes to happen...? Why:?• "Do you think that diffusion is responsible for the lower

conversion?"

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Critical thinking• Questions about Viewpoints and Perspectives:

• What would be an alternative?• What is another way to look at it?• Would you explain why it is necessary or beneficial, and who

benefits?• Why is the best?• What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?• How are...and ...similar?• What is a counterargument for...?• "With all the bends in the pipe, from an industrial/practical

standpoint, do you think diffusion will affect the conversion?"

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Critical thinking

• Questions that probe implications and consequences:• What generalizations can you make?• What are the consequences of that assumption?• What are you implying?• How does...affect...?• How does...tie in with what we learned before?• "How would our results be affected if neglected

diffusion?"

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Critical thinking

• Questions about the question:• What was the point of this question?• Why do you think I asked this question?• What does...mean?• How does...apply to everyday life?• "Why do you think diffusion is important?"

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PHASES OF CRITICAL THINKING

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PHASES OF CRITICAL THINKING

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Critical Thinking Skills

• For each of the critical thinking skills shown below, they give a number of activity statements.

• Analyzing:• Separating or breaking a whole into parts to discover their

nature, functional and relationships.• "I studied it piece by piece"• "I sorted things out"

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Critical Thinking Skills

• Applying Standards:• Judging according to established personal,

professional, or social rules or criteria.• "I judged it according to..."

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Critical Thinking Skills

• DiscriminatingRecognizing differences and similarities among things or situations and distinguishing carefully as to category or rank.

• "I rank ordered the various..."• "I grouped things together"

•

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Critical Thinking Skills

• 4. Information SeekingSearching for evidence, facts, or knowledge by identifying relevant sources and gathering objective, subjective, historical, and current data from those sources

• "I knew I needed to lookup/study..."• "I kept searching for data."

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Critical Thinking Skills

• Logical Reasoning:• Drawing inferences or conclusions that are

supported in or justified by evidence• "I deduced from the information that..."• "My rationale for the conclusion was..."

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Critical Thinking Skills

• 6. PredictingEnvisioning a plan and its consequences

• "I envisioned the outcome would be..."• "I was prepared for..."

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Critical Thinking Skills

• Transforming KnowledgeChanging or converting the condition, nature, form, or function of concepts among contexts

• "I improved on the basics by..."• "I wondered if that would fit the situation

of ..."

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Critical Thinking Habits

• Confidence: Assurance of one's reasoning abilities

• Contextual Perspective :Consideration of the whole situation, including relationships, background, and environment, relevant to some happening

• Creativity :Intellectual inventiveness used to generate, discover, or restructure ideas, imagining alternatives

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Critical Thinking Habits• Flexibility: Capacity to adapt, accommodate, modify, or change

thoughts, ideas, and behaviors

• Inquisitiveness : An eagerness to know by seeking knowledge and understanding through observation and thoughtful questioning in order to explore possibilities and alternatives

• Intellectual Integrity : Process of seeking the truth through sincere, honest means, even if the results are contrary to one's assumptions and beliefs

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Critical Thinking Habits

• Intuition: Insightful sense of knowing without conscious use of reason

• Open-mindedness: A viewpoint characterized by being receptive to divergent views and sensitive to one's biases

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Critical Thinking Habits

• Perseverance: Pursuit of a course with determination to overcome obstacles

• Reflection : Contemplation of a subject, especially one's assumptions and thinking, for the purposes of deeper understanding and self-evaluation

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References:

• Courtesy of B. K. Scheffer and M.G. Rubenfeld, "A Consensus Statement on Critical Thinking in Nursing," Journal of Nursing Education, 39, 352-9 (2000).

Courtesy of B. K. Scheffer and M.G. Rubenfeld, "Critical Thinking: What Is It and How Do We Teach It?," Current Issues in Nursing, J.M. Grace, Rubl, H.K. (2001).

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References:

• http://www.umich.edu/~elements/probsolv/strategy/ctskills.htm

• R. W. Paul, Critical Thinking (Santa Rosa, Calif.: Foundation for Critical Thinking, 1992).

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