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Nurturing Critical and Creative Thinkers 

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Nurturing Critical and Creative Thinkers 

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If you doubt that we live in a world of accelerating change, just consider the everyday life experiences of millions of children and teenagers today:

They can view live images from every corner of the world and talk with or exchange video images with other young people who live many time zones away.

They have more technology in their classrooms (and in many cases, in their backpacks) than existed in the workplaces of their parents 20 years ago.

They will study subjects that were unknown when their teachers and parents were students, and they may well enter careers that do not exist today.

In contrast with most of their parents, more of today's young people will routinely come into contact with other people of diverse backgrounds and experiences. They will grow up to interact, collaborate, and compete with others around the globe.

Once upon a time, educators might have said to their students, "If you'll pay close attention to what I'm going to teach you, you'll learn everything you need to know for a successful life." It's doubtful that this message was ever entirely true, but it's certainly not true today. We don't know all the information that today's students will need or all the answers to the questions they will face. Indeed, increasingly, we don't even know the questions.

These realities mean that we must empower students to become creative thinkers, critical thinkers, and problem solvers-people who are continually learning and who can apply their new knowledge to complex, novel, open-ended challenges; people who will proceed confidently and competently into the new horizons of life and work.

In education, we routinely teach students how to use various sets of cognitive tools to make academic work easier, more efficient, or more productive: for example, research methods, note-taking strategies, or ways to remember and organize information. In teaching thinking, we need to give students cognitive tools and teach them to use these tools systematically to solve real-life problems and to manage change. These tools apply to two essential categories: creative thinking and critical thinking.

Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking

What is creative thinking? What is critical thinking? We often view these terms as opposites that are poles apart and incompatible. We stereotype the creative thinker as wild and zany, thriving on off-the-wall, impractical ideas; in contrast, we envision the critical thinker as serious, deep, analytical, and impersonal. Consider instead a different view-that these two ways of thinking are complementary and equally important. They need to work together in harmony to address perceived dilemmas, paradoxes, opportunities, challenges, or concerns (Treffinger, Isaksen, & Stead-Dorval, 2006).

Creative thinking involves searching for meaningful new connections by generating many unusual, original, and varied possibilities, as well as details that expand or enrich possibilities. Critical thinking, on the other hand, involves examining possibilities carefully, fairly, and constructively-focusing your thoughts and actions by organizing and analyzing possibilities, refining and developing the most promising possibilities, ranking or prioritizing options, and choosing certain options.

Generating many possibilities is not enough by itself to help you solve a problem. Similarly, if you rely on focusing alone, you may have too few possibilities from which to choose. Effective problem solvers must think both creatively and critically, generating options and focusing their thinking.

Both generating and focusing involve learning and applying certain guidelines (attitudes and habits of mind that support effective thinking) and tools. Let's first look at the guidelines for generating and focusing, and then consider a number of specific tools.

Habits of the Mind for Generating Ideas

Individuals or groups use generating tools to produce many, varied, or unusual possibilities; to develop new and interesting combinations of possibilities; or to add detail to new possibilities. When using these tools, it is important to follow four broad guidelines, or ground rules (Treffinger, Isaksen, & Stead-Dorval, 2006):

Brainstorming is probably the most widely known generating tool (but often the most misunderstood and misused tool, too). Many people use the term brainstorming as a synonym for a general conversation, discussion, or exchange of views. It is more accurate, however, to view brainstorming as a specific tool in which a person or a group follows the four guidelines described above to search for many possible responses to an open-ended task or question. As illustrated in Figure 1, there are also several other tools for generating options (Treffinger, Nassab, et al., 2006).

Habits of the Mind for Focusing Ideas

Focusing tools help individuals or groups analyze, organize, refine, develop, prioritize, evaluate, or select options from the set of possibilities they have at hand. When using these tools, problem solvers should again follow four broad guidelines or ground rules (Treffinger, Isaksen, & Stead-Dorval, 2006):

The Problem Solver's Basic Toolbox

Figure 1. The Creative Problem Solver's Basic Toolbox

Preparing Creative and Critical Thinkers - table

Tools for Generating Possibilities (Creative Thinking)

Tools for Focusing Possibilities (Critical Thinking)

Brainstorming. Generating many, varied, or unusual options for an open-ended task or question.

Hits and Hot Spots. Selecting promising or intriguing possibilities (identifying hits) and clustering, categorizing, organizing, or compressing them in meaningful ways (finding hot spots).

Force-Fitting. Using two objects or words that seem unrelated to the task or problem, or to each other, to create new possibilities or connections.

ALoU: Refining and Developing. Using a deliberate, constructive approach to strengthening or improving options, by considering advantages,limitations (and ways to overcome them), and unique features.

Attribute Listing. Using the core elements or attributes of a task or challenge as a springboard for generating novel directions or improvements.

PCA: Paired Comparison Analysis. Setting priorities or ranking options through a systematic analysis of all possible combinations.

SCAMPER. Applying a checklist of action words or phrases (idea-spurring questions) to evoke or trigger new or varied possibilities.

Sequencing: SML. Organizing and focusing options by considering short, medium, or long-term actions.

Morphological Matrix. Identifying the key parameters of a task, generating possibilities for each parameter, and investigating possible combinations (mixing and matching).

Evaluation Matrix. Using specific criteria to systematically evaluate each of several options or possibilities to guide judgment and selection of options.

Source: Copyright 2008 by the Center for Creative Learning. Used with permission.

Teachers can incorporate instruction in creative and critical thinking into the curriculum in a number of ways, either singly or in combination. I recommend that teachers follow several guidelines.

Introduce the tools directly, using engaging, open-ended questions from everyday life. Be clear that the purpose of such out-of-context work is to gain confidence and skill in using the tool, so everyone will be successful when using it in context.

Next, provide opportunities to apply the tools in lessons or activities related to specific content areas. Any of the generating and focusing tools can be used to help students master a variety of specific content standards in many areas (see Treffinger, 2007; Treffinger et al., 2004a, 2004b, 2004c).

Kopcak (2007), for example, describes using the Brainstorming, Hits and Hot Spots, and Paired Comparison Analysis tools with high school seniors as they worked on the Virginia learning standard "The student will write documented research papers." The students began with a stack of blank sticky notes on which they wrote possible topics (one per sticky note). After covering a chalkboard with sticky notes, the class paused to discuss the characteristics of a good research topic. The students used the Hits and Hot Spots focusing tool to select promising topics and organize them into categories based on theme or overarching topic; they used the Paired Comparison Analysis focusing tool to narrow down the most appealing options.

Other examples of applications of the tools in content areas include

Be deliberate about applying the basic tools in several different content areas, to help students learn how to transfer their learning about the tools across contexts. As you work with the tools, be explicit about metacognitive skills. Ask, "What is the tool? How did you use it? When and why would you use it in other situations?"

Beware of presenting too much newness at once. When you are working with new content, start with familiar tools. When you are introducing new tools, start with familiar content. Don't try to teach all the tools at once.

When students are comfortable with the basic generating and focusing tools, teachers may guide them in applying these tools through the Creative Problem Solving framework, a model for attaining clarity about tasks, defining problems in a constructive way, generating possible solutions, preparing for action and successful implementation of solutions, and dealing with change. For more information about the Creative Problem Solving framework, see the resources at the Center for Creative Learning .

It is also important to engage students in finding and solving real-life problems or challenges within the classroom, the school, or the community. Two widely known enrichment programs can provide engaging opportunities for students to apply creative problem solving.

Enrichment Programs That Foster Creativity and Problem Solving

Future Problem Solving Program

Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) is a nonprofit educational corporation administering creative problem-solving activities for students in grades K-12. More than 250,000 students in several countries participate annually in competitive and noncompetitive activities in creative problem-solving. Students or teams may participate in the junior division (grades 4-6); the middle division (grades 7-9); or the senior division (grades 10-12). FPSPI selects five topics each year, and students participate in team problem solving, community problem solving, or scenario writing. The topics for 2008-09 are Olympic Games, cyber conflict, space junk, counterfeit economy, and pandemic.

Destination ImagiNation

The Destination ImagiNation flagship program is a process-based program that helps young people build lifelong skills in creative and critical thinking, teamwork, time management, and problem solving. Up to seven participants work together as a team for 8-12 weeks to create their solution to a team challenge, which can have a theatrical, structural, improvisational, scientific, or technical focus. Teams also learn and practice quick-thinking skills for the Instant Challenge portion of the program.

Preparing Students for a Changing World

By helping students learn and apply the attitudes and practical tools of effective problem solvers, teachers can enhance student learning in powerful ways that extend beyond memorization and recall. Even when teachers are compelled to place great emphasis on basic learning and doing well on standardized tests-indeed, particularly at such times-it remains important to balance the emphasis between process and content in teaching and learning. Students who are competent in not only the basics of content areas but also the basics of productive and creative thinking will be lifelong learners, knowledge creators, and problem solvers who can live and work effectively in a world of constant change.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

Let us help you put your vision into action.

We empower educators to reimagine and redesign learning through impactful pedagogy and meaningful technology use. We achieve this by offering transformative professional learning, fostering vibrant communities, and ensuring that digital tools and experiences are accessible and effective.

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Preparing Creative and Critical Thinkers

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Teachers can help students become 21st-century problem solvers by introducing them to a broad range of thinking tools.

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Engage and assess your students in every lesson!

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Critical thinking...the awakening of the intellect to the study of itself.

Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2,500 years. The term "critical thinking" has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. Below, we offer overlapping definitions which together form a substantive and trans-disciplinary conception of critical thinking.

Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987

A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987.

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinking - in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes - is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.

Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as an exercise") without acceptance of their results.

Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful manipulation of ideas in service of one's own, or one's groups', vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually, though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish use.

Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things, the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions is a life-long endeavor.

Another Brief Conceptualization of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers - concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living , because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world.

~ Linda Elder, September, 2007

Why Critical Thinking?

The Problem
Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

A Definition
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and
imposing intellectual standards upon them.

The Result

A well cultivated critical thinker:

raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;

gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;

thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and

communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

(Taken from Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008)

In a seminal study on critical thinking and education in 1941, Edward Glaser defines critical thinking as follows "The ability to think critically, as conceived in this volume, involves three things: ( 1 ) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences, (2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and (3) some skill in applying those methods. Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends. It also generally requires ability to recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values, to comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discrimination, to interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions, to draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience, and to render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life.

( Edward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1941)

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Critical thinking...the awakening of the intellect to the study of itself. Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2,500 years. The term "critical thinking" has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. Below, we offer overlapping definitions which together form a substantive and trans-disciplinary conception of critical thinking.

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What we know about creativity (State of research from 2004) 

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What we know about creativity (State of research from 2004) 

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This padlet will morph as we advance in our exploration of creative and critical thinking.  

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This padlet will morph as we advance in our exploration of creative and critical thinking.  

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More columns will be added when we meet.

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Teresa Amabile - Creativity and Motivation

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Start a new post for your response to each question. 

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Start a new post for your response to each question. 

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Remember to add your name in the header of your post so we know who wrote it!

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There are two essential dimensions of thinking that students need to master in order to learn how to upgrade their thinking. They need to be able to identify the "parts" of their thinking, and they need to be able to assess their use of these parts of thinking , as follows:

All reasoning has a purpose

All reasoning is an attempt to figure something out, to settle some question, to solve some problem

All reasoning is based on assumptions

All reasoning is done from some point of view

All reasoning is based on data, information, and evidence

All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, concepts and ideas

All reasoning contains inferences by which we draw conclusions and give meaning to data

All reasoning leads somewhere, has implications and consequences

The question can then be raised, "What appropriate intellectual standards do students need to assess the 'parts' of their thinking?" There are many standards appropriate to the assessment of thinking as it might occur in this or that context, but some standards are virtually universal (that is, applicable to all thinking): clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic.

How well a student is reasoning depends on how well he/she applies these universal standards to the elements (or parts) of thinking.

What follows are some guidelines helpful to students as they work toward developing their reasoning abilities:

1. All reasoning has a PURPOSE:

Take time to state your purpose clearly

Distinguish your purpose from related purposes

Check periodically to be sure you are still on target

2. All reasoning is an attempt to FIGURE SOMETHING OUT, TO SETTLE SOME QUESTION, TO SOLVE SOME PROBLEM:

Take time to clearly and precisely state the question at issue

Express the question in several ways to clarify its meaning and scope

Break the question into sub questions

3. All reasoning is based on ASSUMPTIONS:
Clearly identify your assumptions and determine whether they are justifiable

4. All reasoning is done from some POINT OF VIEW:

Identify your point of view

Seek other points of view and identify their strengths as well as weaknesses

5. All reasoning is based on DATA, INFORMATION and EVIDENCE:

Restrict your claims to those supported by the data you have

Search for information that opposes your position as well as information that supports it

Make sure that all information used is clear, accurate, and relevant to the question at issue

6. All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, CONCEPTS and IDEAS:

Identify key concepts and explain them clearly

Consider alternative concepts or alternative definitions to concepts

7. All reasoning contains INFERENCES or INTERPRETATIONS by which we draw CONCLUSIONS and give meaning to data:

Infer only what the evidence implies

Check inferences for their consistency with each other

8. All reasoning leads somewhere or has IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES:

Trace the implications and consequences that follow from your reasoning

Search for negative as well as positive implications

Consider all possible consequences

(Paul, R. and Elder, L. (April 1997). Foundation For Critical Thinking,
Online at website: www.criticalthinking.org)
To read this and many other articles, join the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online and visit the Libraries there.
The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online is the world's leading online community dedicated to teaching and advancing critical thinking. Featuring the world's largest library of critical thinking articles, videos, and books, as well as learning activities, study groups, and a social media component, this interactive learning platform is essential to anyone dedicated to developing as an effective reasoner in the classroom, in the professions, in business and government, and throughout personal life. Join the community and learn explicit tools of critical thinking.

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The Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual Sta

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There are two essential dimensions of thinking that students need to master in order to learn how to upgrade their thinking.

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A crash course in creativity: Tina Seelig at TEDxStanford

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*Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York: Longman.

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Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York: Longman.

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Paul's Reasoning Model: S-35 Critical Thinking Strategy List 

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Paul's Reasoning Model: S-35 Critical Thinking Strategy List 

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If you want to break Creativity down further... 

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If you want to break Creativity down further... 

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Encouraging the Einstein and Edison in Everyone

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Teach creativity by emulating great scientific thinkers: make friends with failure, generate ideas, connect the unconnected, and don’t judge answers while creating them.

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There are two essential dimensions of thinking that students need to master in order to learn how to upgrade their thinking. They need to be able to identify the "parts" of their thinking, and they need to be able to assess their use of these parts of thinking , as follows:

All reasoning has a purpose

All reasoning is an attempt to figure something out, to settle some question, to solve some problem

All reasoning is based on assumptions

All reasoning is done from some point of view

All reasoning is based on data, information, and evidence

All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, concepts and ideas

All reasoning contains inferences by which we draw conclusions and give meaning to data

All reasoning leads somewhere, has implications and consequences

The question can then be raised, "What appropriate intellectual standards do students need to assess the 'parts' of their thinking?" There are many standards appropriate to the assessment of thinking as it might occur in this or that context, but some standards are virtually universal (that is, applicable to all thinking): clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic.

How well a student is reasoning depends on how well he/she applies these universal standards to the elements (or parts) of thinking.

What follows are some guidelines helpful to students as they work toward developing their reasoning abilities:

1. All reasoning has a PURPOSE:

Take time to state your purpose clearly

Distinguish your purpose from related purposes

Check periodically to be sure you are still on target

2. All reasoning is an attempt to FIGURE SOMETHING OUT, TO SETTLE SOME QUESTION, TO SOLVE SOME PROBLEM:

Take time to clearly and precisely state the question at issue

Express the question in several ways to clarify its meaning and scope

Break the question into sub questions

3. All reasoning is based on ASSUMPTIONS:
Clearly identify your assumptions and determine whether they are justifiable

4. All reasoning is done from some POINT OF VIEW:

Identify your point of view

Seek other points of view and identify their strengths as well as weaknesses

5. All reasoning is based on DATA, INFORMATION and EVIDENCE:

Restrict your claims to those supported by the data you have

Search for information that opposes your position as well as information that supports it

Make sure that all information used is clear, accurate, and relevant to the question at issue

6. All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, CONCEPTS and IDEAS:

Identify key concepts and explain them clearly

Consider alternative concepts or alternative definitions to concepts

7. All reasoning contains INFERENCES or INTERPRETATIONS by which we draw CONCLUSIONS and give meaning to data:

Infer only what the evidence implies

Check inferences for their consistency with each other

8. All reasoning leads somewhere or has IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES:

Trace the implications and consequences that follow from your reasoning

Search for negative as well as positive implications

Consider all possible consequences

(Paul, R. and Elder, L. (April 1997). Foundation For Critical Thinking,
Online at website: www.criticalthinking.org)
To read this and many other articles, join the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online and visit the Libraries there.
The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online is the world's leading online community dedicated to teaching and advancing critical thinking. Featuring the world's largest library of critical thinking articles, videos, and books, as well as learning activities, study groups, and a social media component, this interactive learning platform is essential to anyone dedicated to developing as an effective reasoner in the classroom, in the professions, in business and government, and throughout personal life. Join the community and learn explicit tools of critical thinking.

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The Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual Sta

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There are two essential dimensions of thinking that students need to master in order to learn how to upgrade their thinking.

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Of all the so-called 21st-century skills, perhaps none is revered in both the education and business worlds as much as creativity.

In the past year alone, creativity topped lists of the most valued skills for students to develop in polls of parents and teachers as well as surveys of employers in professional groups like LinkedIn. Even so, experts say schools need to re-examine their view of creativity, reframe it, and think about it more as a core skill to be taught rather than a personality trait or a way to motivate students.

Educators and business people tend to "talk at cross purposes" when it comes to creativity, said R. Keith Sawyer, a professor of educational innovations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of the 2019 book The Creative Classroom.

"Business leaders are saying we need creative employees to invent new products or to identify new markets to sell our products in," Sawyer said. "A lot of educators think of creativity as something you'd associate with the arts, ... [but] you need creativity in all spheres of life. It's not something that's reserved for the arts. It's something that you find in any discipline."

University of Georgia creativity researchers Aubra Shepard and Mark Runco argue that creativity also suffers in schools because teachers can't easily measure it in students. In content areas such as reading, it's easy to see what the results of a lesson should look like-a student who can comprehend a story and write a concise review of it, for example.

"With creativity, the return on the investment is largely unknown," Shepard and Runco say in an analysis in the international Journal on Learning, Research and Innovation in Education. "If something is predictable, it is probably not very original but is instead consistent with what came before. Because of this risk, administrators are usually disinclined to invest in creativity."

'An AI-Proof Skill'

Those returns on investment are becoming clearer in a post-industrial and global economy.

"I think there's been a greater emphasis on creativity lately because of the automation scare," said Megan Fasules, a research economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. "Being able to solve problems using skills that you weren't taught or approach them differently than how you were taught is seen as a way to secure your job, because machines aren't able to do that now. So it kind of gives you an AI-proof skill."

In a forthcoming study, Fasules identifies the intensity of creativity required in various careers-for example, how often a worker has to come up with original products or use unusual ways to solve problems-and how critical creativity is considered to performing the job well. This intensity can look very different from field to field. For example, while a poet and an architect are among the careers requiring the most intense creativity in her research, so are a physicist and a chief executive officer.

Fasules finds that at each education level, jobs that require more intense creativity pay more and yield bigger rewards in the labor market. For example, while computer science and mathematics were not among the top five fields requiring creativity, she finds workers earn a higher-than-average premium for their creative skills in those fields.

J.D. LaRock, the former chairman of the Massachusetts Commission on Digital Innovation and Lifelong Learning, agreed.

"I think we are broadly, as a society, accepting that the world of work really is changing: that technology is reshaping things," LaRock said. "The fundamental skill sets that will keep young people and new employees engaged as productive employees for a lifetime are much, much less about content mastery and much, much more about adaptability and a creative mindset."

The Massachusetts commission concluded that most students needed more experiential learning and training in soft skills such as creativity to work with rapidly changing technology in the state.

LaRock now runs the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which trains teachers and partners with schools to engage students in entrepreneurship projects. Each year, more than 100,000 mostly Latino and black students across the country research and develop new products and pitch new businesses in local and international competitions through the program.

"Future orientation, the ability to deal with risk and uncertainty, the ability to spot opportunities: These are skills that our schools haven't been set up to teach well, which is why experiential learning and project-based learning models are important," LaRock said.

Aligning Practices

In nationally representative surveys of U.S. teachers and students last year, Gallup pollsters asked how often classes included practices which have been shown to boost creativity, such as discussing topics with no right or wrong answer; working on projects that incorporate material from several different subjects; or allowing students to try out different ways to solve a problem, even if they may not work.

Gallup found teachers were significantly more likely to report they were using creative instruction than their students. For example, 52 percent of teachers said they assigned projects based on the real world, twice the rate of their students, and 56 percent of teachers said they discussed topics with no correct answer, versus only 36 percent of students who said the same. However, teachers who reported frequently using creative-teaching practices were more likely than other teachers to have students who demonstrated self-confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

"As of now, I don't think we do a good job teaching creativity. In our standardized-testing world, a lot of people are taught to conform," Fasules said. She recalled tutoring students in math who refused to submit problems they had solved correctly because they had not used the same process they had been taught in class. "To be creative, students have to be allowed the freedom to not conform, to take up new ideas and new ways to do things."

While competitions and clubs can help to engage students creatively, Sawyer found that depending on arts or extracurricular programs to teach creativity ends up being counterproductive, because teachers in other core subjects like science or math don't change the way they teach in response.

"If we add a few hours on Friday afternoon focused on creativity, that's really a Band-Aid," he said. "If you're learning knowledge in every subject in a way that results in this shallow, superficial understanding, you just can't be creative with the knowledge. If we want students to be creative, we really have to change the way we teach every subject-and it's a much more difficult transformation than adding in arts classes."

Based on more than a decade of research on creativity and collaboration, Sawyer and his colleagues found schools that have been successful in nurturing creativity in their students use an approach he dubs "guided improvisation," to borrow a jazz metaphor. Rather than entirely student-led instruction, teachers ground students' creativity within a domain such as history or science, using a few core concepts to anchor a student's exploration and teaching students to look for connections to other subjects. A series of studies found students taught this way remembered content-area knowledge equally as well as students whose classes focused on covering more total content, but they performed better at using their knowledge in creative ways and for unfamiliar problems.

Despite the criticism of current teaching practices, U.S. 15-year-olds scored above the international average on a 2012 international assessment of creative problem-solving, the most recent one. And the nation has long been seen as a leader in nurturing creative thinking, when it comes to technology, business, and entertainment, prompting educators from some other countries, such as Japan, to visit U.S. classrooms for clues to boosting creativity in their own classrooms.

And schools can play a role, noted Sawyer. "You're absolutely not born being more or less creative. It's ways of acting and thinking that anyone can learn," he said. "I think that's an empowering message, especially for those people who have always thought, 'I'm not a creative person.' "

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A Creativity Conundrum: Can Schools Teach Students to Innovate?

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Employers and teachers agree that creativity is a valued skill for the workplace, but they disagree on what it means to be creative.

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Fifth graders were busy writing acrostic poems on small posters. One girl wrote a school spirit poem, with the first letter of each line spelling out the school name: S for "super," N for "nice," and so on. She even drew a picture of a bobcat (pictures were not required) that was a spot-on replication of the school mascot. A boy wrote an acrostic poem with the first letter of each line spelling out his name: A for "agressive" (unfortunately spelled incorrectly); N for "nutty"; and so on. No picture.

So what kind of feedback did the teacher give? Her comments gave students the impression that the girl's poem was perfect and that the boy's poem was not so good, mostly because of that one misspelled word and the fact that his lines sloped downward on the poster.

This assignment was a giant missed opportunity for both students. The girl's work was a skillful replication of things she'd seen before. All the words were simple, the school spirit theme was a common one, and the point of her drawing was to duplicate the school mascot. She needed to know that her work was proficient-but she also needed to be challenged to work with more originality when writing poems. She only received half that feedback.

The boy's work was more original. Although the poem was only five lines long, it gave readers a real sense of who he was-or, at least, how he saw himself. He needed to know that he had used a prescribed format creatively-but he also needed to be challenged to check his spelling and use a ruler to make straight lines of text on posters. He, too, only received half that feedback.

What was missing in the teacher's feedback is easy to diagnose-her criteria for success were too limited-but it's harder to put right. Can creativity be an assessment category? If so, how do you handle it? Surely you wouldn't downgrade the girl's perfectly good poem, beautifully and dutifully written and presented.

Here's how to assess and give feedback about creativity and, in the process, help students become more creative in their work.

What Is Creativity?

Creativity is a simple concept that can be difficult to get your head around. In its most basic sense, creative means "original and of high quality" (Perkins, 1981, p. 6). The girl's school spirit poem was of high quality, but it was workmanlike and derivative. The boy's self-analysis poem was original, and the poetic composition and word choice were fine; he just needed to attend to the quality of the mechanics. Of course, a poem that is uninterpretable or meaningless, no matter how original, can't be creative.

What does it look like when schoolwork is original and of high quality? Probably the foremost characteristic of creative students is that they put things together in new ways (Brookhart, 2010). For example, while writing a poem about a sunset, a student who observes that moment when the sunset looks very much like a sunrise and makes the connection to other endings that can also foreshadow beginnings is more creative than a student who describes that moment as "red and fiery."

Students who are able to put things together in new ways can observe things others might miss, construct more novel products, give more novel performances, use more unusual or unconventional imagery to make points, observe ordinary things and find in them an area to wonder about or a problem to solve, and the like.

Not all schoolwork, even performance assessments, supports this sort of thinking. Before you can assess creativity, you need to make sure that the tasks you set for students are conducive to creativity.

Stimulating Creative Thinking

Myriad opportunities for fostering creativity are right under our noses in school, because learning is a generative act. However, what's missing in many classrooms is deliberately noticing and naming opportunities for creativity when they occur, giving feedback on the creative process, and teaching students that creativity is a valued quality.

Brainstorming in any subject can be a creative activity. Elementary teachers who ask students to begin the writing process with a graphic organizer, list, or outline can give feedback on the originality of the ideas as well as their suitability for the writing assignment. For example, an elementary teacher might ask students to list several farm animals, imagine a funny situation that might happen to each, and then pick one animal and write a story about it.

Science teachers who have students brainstorm a list of hypotheses to test can give feedback on the originality of ideas as well as their suitability for the experiment that the students will design. For example, a teacher might mention that her coffee cools too quickly in the cup and then ask students to brainstorm a list of things that might slow down the cooling process, write a hypothesis about each one, and design an experiment to test one hypothesis.

Assignments that require students to produce new ideas or reorganize existing ideas in a new way are likely to foster student creativity. In mathematics, asking students to identify a problem for which multiplication would be useful in finding the solution requires more creativity from them than giving students a multiplication word problem to solve. Similarly, in music, an assignment in which students write an original melody requires more creativity than one in which they analyze a preexisting melody.

Assignments that require students to put two things together are also likely to promote creativity. For example, in English language arts, asking students to write or speak about how The Adventures of Tom Sawyer would have been different had Huckleberry Finn been the main character sparks more creativity than asking students to discuss the character of Tom Sawyer. In social studies, asking students how the events that led up to World War I might be handled if they happened today fosters more creativity than asking students to discuss the causes of World War I.

Students will still exhibit a range of originality and quality in their work, even in response to these more creative prompts. Teachers can give feedback on both of these aspects of the work.

Sometimes teachers and students think that any assignment that allows student choice is conducive to creativity. Although that may be true in general, only assignments that allow student choice in matters related to what the student is supposed to learn develop student creativity in the area under study. For example, if you ask students to compare characters in two novels and allow them to choose the characters or novels, they have the opportunity to develop creativity in their approach to literary criticism. However, if you ask students to compare two specified characters and just give them choices about whether they want to write an essay, give a speech, or write a song, students will not have that opportunity.

Criteria for Creativity

Creativity is not a synonym for clever, humorous, artistically pleasing, enthusiastic, or persuasive. Those are all great qualities that we can assess in their own right, but we shouldn't confuse them with creativity. As early childhood educator Lilian Katz once railed, "Creativity is not animals with long eyelashes!"

Rather, criteria for creativity should match what we expect in creative work: originality and high quality. Creative students

Recognize the importance of a deep knowledge base and continually work to learn new things.

Are open to new ideas and actively seek them out.

Find source material in a wide variety of media, people, and events.

Organize and reorganize ideas into different categories or combinations and then evaluate whether the results are interesting, new, or helpful.

Use trial and error when they are unsure how to proceed, viewing failure as an opportunity to learn. (Brookhart, 2010, pp. 128-129)

The first four characteristics lead to qualities in the work that we can observe, assess, and provide feedback on. For example, are the source materials varied? Are ideas organized in a fresh way and uniquely suited to the problem or product? The last characteristic-using trial and error-is about the student's approach to learning and may or may not show itself in the finished work.

A Rubric for Creativity

If all of these first four characteristics are in play in an assignment, then a rubric like the one in Figure 1 (p. 31)may support teachers and students in assessing creativity (Brookhart, 2013). The rubric describes four levels of creativity- very creative, creative, ordinary/routine, and imitative -in four different areas-variety of ideas, variety of sources, novelty of idea combinations, and novelty of communication.

FIGURE 1. Rubric for Creativity

Assessing Creativity - table

I created this rubric with some trepidation-because where there's a rubric, there will be someone who's thinking of using it to grade. Generating a grade is not the intended purpose of the rubric for creativity. Rubrics help clarify criteria for success and show what the continuum of performance looks like, from low to high, from imitative to very creative. For that reason, rubrics are useful for sharing with students what they're aiming for, where they are now, and what they should do next. I do not recommend grading creativity.

Another advantage of the rubric for creativity is that it functions as a visual organizer that makes us consider creativity apart from the other criteria for the work. For example, in the acrostic poem assignment, other criteria might include the quality of the ideas conveyed, word choice and use, and correct application of the acrostic format. There's more opportunity for creativity in some criteria (ideas) than in others (using the acrostic format properly), so creativity is not entirely separate from the quality of the work. Still, taking a step back from the work and focusing on its creativity allows for the kind of feedback missing in those opening classroom examples.

Giving Feedback on Creativity

As you might expect with such a broad concept as creativity, there's no single formula that will always work. Start by helping students understand what creativity is, using rubrics, examples, and discussion about these. Then give feedback on the level of creativity you observe in their work. In the example of the acrostic poem, the teacher might have coached the girl to work with more originality, explaining that her work was very much like many other poems and challenging her to write a poem that was less like those of others. The boy needed to know that his use of unique personality terms-such as aggressive and nutty -was creative and poetically skilled. In these cases, a few words of feedback to each student would probably have sufficed. The important thing is to say the words-to name, note, encourage, and value the creativity in the work.

Teachers can give more complex feedback on more complex assignments. For example, in the write-a-melody music assignment, some melodies will sound very much like themes that other composers have written. Pointing out those similarities and asking for more differences may be useful. ("This part of your melody sounds a lot like the beginning of 'The Star Spangled Banner.' Were you thinking of that? Can you put together a series of four notes that work as a melody but that don't sound like anything else you've ever heard?")

Just as with all feedback, students need an immediate opportunity to use feedback on creativity. They don't necessarily have to redo their work, although that's one way to give them such an opportunity. They could also brainstorm fresh ways they might have approached the problem, written the poem, and so on. But they need to do something with the feedback immediately. Minds need to stretch to grow more creative.

Putting It All Together

Elaine Shaffer is a 3rd grade teacher at West Hills Primary School in West Hills, Pennsylvania. Her students were learning to identify polygons and understand their characteristics. She gave them an assignment to draw a picture using polygons. The assignment was conducive to creativity because it asked students to put together two unlike things-their knowledge of polygons and their view of the world in which they live. Ms. Shaffer shared three criteria for the picture with her students: (1) There should be at least four different polygons, (2) the polygons should be labeled, and (3) the polygons should form a picture.

Look at Expectations

Let's examine two pieces of student work in terms of these teacher expectations (see fig. 2). Student 1 included and labeled four different polygons, and she created a picture, as opposed to just including four separate shapes. So her work was of high quality. Student 2 included at least three polygons (a square, a trapezoid, and a rectangle). He created a picture, but he didn't label anything. Looking at his work, we can tell he understood that polygons have straight sides, but it's unclear whether he knows their names. Perhaps he just forgot to label them. His work was of lesser quality than that of Student 1, although if he does know the names of the polygons, his understanding is of high quality. A good next step would be for the teacher to ask him whether he knows the names of the polygons he used and, if so, to ask him to label them.

FIGURE 2. Student Polygon Drawings

Look at Creativity

Now let's focus on creativity separately from the other criteria for the work. The rubric for creativity suggests that we can look for four things-variety of ideas and contexts; variety of sources (including personal experiences); whether the author has combined ideas to make something new; and whether he or she has communicated something interesting or surprising.

Student 1 uses ideas that are standard in children's drawings: a neighborhood scene with a house, a path, a tree, and so on. The picture looks similar to many other children's drawings. The creativity in Student 1's work is derived from the assignment, which required students to combine polygons and a picture.

Student 2 uses polygons and creates a picture, incorporating two new ideas: baking and football. That caused me to smile when I first saw this drawing. I'm not used to seeing football, baking, and polygons together. In terms of creativity, his work was more original than Student 1's picture. In fact, although it may be pressing too hard, I think I see a young man who has a good relationship with his mom and who likes to bake-or, at least, likes to eat what his mom bakes. The picture draws the viewer in and invites such speculation, which is part of its "original contribution" or surprise value.

I'm not saying that the boy doesn't need to know the names of his polygons or that his teacher should regard his work as evidence of this knowledge. I'm saying that when teachers appraise creativity separately, additional opportunities for feedback arise. If the teacher tells Student 2 how engaging and original his picture is, she will encourage his continued creativity. If he only hears that he's missing some labels, he will not know the complete value of the work he produced.

Helping Your Students Grow

Teachers can assess creativity at every grade level and in every subject, using both basic and complex student work. Think through an example of an assignment you might give in the grade level and subject you teach. How will your feedback help students grow more creative? And how will you assess their progress?

EL author Susan Brookhart talks with EL Senior Associate Editor Amy Azzam about how to assign and assess creative tasks.

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We can assess creativity-and, in the process, help students become more creative.

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The following resources have been added to help you review your pre-course assignment. 

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The following resources have been added to help you review your pre-course assignment. 

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Remember that the articles are selected to provoke thought. It does not mean we endorse these articles!

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Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning

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Find information, strategies, protocols, and tools to promote curiosity and engage students in asking questions, thinking critically, and solving problems.

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Critical Thinking  & Its Relation to Domain

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Critical Thinking  & Its Relation to Domain

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101 Ways For Teachers To Be More Creative [Updated]

by TeachThought Staff

Creativity isn't always something that just happens. It can take quite a bit of work to nurture, grow, and develop creativity, even for those who are immersed in creative and dynamic fields.

For educators, it can be even more of a challenge to inspire creativity in students or embrace your own creativity while trying to juggle academic requirements, testing, and other issues in the classroom. It may be difficult but it's certainly not impossible, and accomplishing it can help to create a classroom environment that's more motivational, interesting, and educational for both you and your students.

See also How To Use Flexible Grouping In The Classroom

So how do you get there? Here are some tips that can help you get creative in the classroom in a variety of ways.

FINDING CREATIVE INSPIRATION

Not sure where to begin? These tips will help you master the fundamentals and take the critical first step towards a more creative classroom.

CAPITALIZING ON THE CREATIVE SPARK

If you've got creativity in spades, you need to start taking the next steps to make use of it. Here, we offer some ideas that can help.

1. SET ASIDE TIME FOR CREATIVE THINKING.

It's hard to be creative when you don't have any time to even do so much as think about being creative. Make it a priority to set aside a few minutes of your day for free thinking and ensure that your students aren't so overwhelmed with homework that they don't have time to be creative.

2. DEVELOP CREATIVE IDEAS, DON'T LET THEM DIE.

It's not enough to just come up with a creative idea; you have to follow through. Be willing to spend the time nurturing your ideas and developing them into something worthwhile and useful. Encourage students to do the same.

3. CARRY A NOTEBOOK.

Inspiration can strike at any time, so make sure you've got a way to record it when it does by carrying a small notebook with you.

See also 20 Fundamentals: What Every Teacher Should Know About Learning

INSPIRING STUDENTS

Once you're good and creatively inspired, you should help your students embrace their creative side as well.

THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM

Here we share some tips for creating a classroom environment that embraces creativity.

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

These tips offer up some fun and interesting ways to explore lessons creatively in the classroom.

SHARING AND COLLABORATING

Use these ideas to get the most out of working with others.

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Don't know much about creativity? Then learn! These tips will help you to become a creativity expert.

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101 Ways For Teachers To Be More Creative

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Creativity can take work to nurture, grow, and develop. Here are some ways teachers can increase the creativity in their classroom.

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Is it possible to Practise Critical Thinking? 

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Is it possible to Practise Critical Thinking? 

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In thinking through any complex issue, there are going to be different possible solutions and perspectives.

Ideally, a smart and critical thinker would reason through the pros and cons of the different possibilities and come to a balanced view of the issue.

Yet a great deal of research finds that people tend to just consider what they favor about one side. We see this "myside bias" all the time in the real world.

It's also easy to produce in the lab. This cognitive bias has been found in research on intuitive decision making, argumentation, overconfidence, and confirmation bias.

But highly intelligent people reason better than the rest, don't they? They are less susceptible to cognitive biases like the myside bias - aren't they?

Keith Stanovich of the University of Toronto, and his colleagues Richard West and Maggie Toplak have tried to find out.

They reviewed the research linking intelligence to the myside bias. Their paper, Myside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligence was published in Current Directions in Psychological Science.

A number of studies have now been conducted on intelligence and the myside bias. I'll just share a couple of brief examples from the review to give the idea.

In one study, subjects read about a controversial issue, such as whether or not people should be allowed to sell their own organs. Then, they wrote their thoughts about it. The researchers found the typical myside bias.

People mostly wrote arguments favoring their own position. They did not tend to integrate arguments across different perspectives, which would indicate critical thinking.

The researchers also assessed intelligence. They found that people who scored more highly on the intelligence test showed just as much of the cognitive bias as the rest. They found no link between intelligence and myside bias.

In a second study, subjects evaluated arguments, rather than writing them out. They were again shown controversial issues, such as abortion and lowering the drinking age.

For each issue, the researchers had put together short position papers. Some of these positions were one-sided. For example, all of the arguments would be for lowering the drinking age, or all would be against. Others integrated the different perspectives, and were completely balanced.

One interesting finding was that people preferred the one-sided positions regardless of the direction. They didn't like the more integrated perspectives. The researchers also did find the strong cognitive bias in favor of the person's own side. Finally, neither of the previous findings was related to intelligence.

People with high IQ reasoned just like everyone else.

In everyday discussion, intelligence and rational thinking are often treated as "close cousins," or even as one and the same thing. Yet, that does not appear to be the case in actual assessments of intelligence and cognitive bias.

That is, whatever it is that intelligence tests actually get at, they do not measure the extent of a person's cognitive bias or rationality.

Balanced, rational thinking may well be at least as, if not more important than IQ to what it really means to be smart in the modern world.

Image Credit: futureatlas.com

References

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Does High Intelligence Mean Low Cognitive Bias? - Global Cognition

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Studies find little correlation between intelligence and myside bias. People with high IQ are just as one-sided in their thinking as everyone else.

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What contributes to 'Collective Intelligence'? 

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What contributes to 'Collective Intelligence'? 

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Listen to an interview with Anita Woolley.Download this podcast The finding: There's little correlation between a group's collective intelligence and the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises. The research: Professors Woolley and Malone, along with Christopher Chabris, Sandy Pentland, and Nada Hashmi, gave subjects aged [...]

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Defend Your Research: What Makes a Team Smarter? More Women

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Listen to an interview with Anita Woolley.Download this podcast The finding: There's little correlation between a group's collective intelligence and the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises. The research: Professors Woolley and Malone, along with Christopher Chabris, Sandy Pentland, and Nada Hashmi, gave subjects aged [...]

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Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class

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A four-step approach to using a powerful model that increases student agency in learning.

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Teaching Toolbox of Visible Thinking.pdf

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5. Good thinking utilizes a variety of resources and is facilitated by the use of external tools to "download" or "distribute" one's thinking. Papers, logs, computers, conversation, and various means of recording and keeping track of ideas and thoughts free the mind up to engage in new and deeper thinking and help ensure that our thinking doesn't get lost.

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[Self-Paced] Overview of Critical and Creative Thinking

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[Self-Paced] Overview of Critical and Creative Thinking

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Join code: 4WACJ

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Engage and assess your students in every lesson!

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For your reference, if you need to revisit the nearpod course.

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Self-Paced FCGE 2024 Critical  Creative Th 1

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SINGAPORE: Singapore's 15-year-olds came out top in an international benchmarking study on creative thinking, even though they do not think of themselves as creative.

Singapore students were tested on how well they generate creative ideas, as well as evaluate and improve on them in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022.

A total of 6,600 students from 149 secondary schools and 15 private schools, including international schools and religious schools, participated in the study, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a press release on Tuesday (Jun 18). Singapore also topped the scoreboard for mathematics, science and reading.

Since 2012, PISA has included an optional innovative domain in each testing cycle, such as creative problem solving, collaborative problem solving and global competence. Singapore ranked joint-first with Korea for creative problem solving, and first for the other two.

Singapore participated in the creative thinking study because it is an "important competency" that helps to prepare young people for a rapidly evolving world, said MOE, adding that it was interested in having insights on how students have developed in this area.

The findings are useful in improving the curriculum and training teachers to better nurture creative thinking in students, said the ministry's deputy director-general of education Sng Chern Wei.

"We certainly will be analysing the findings, and allowing us to learn from these findings the areas for further improvement, as well as areas of strength that we ought to affirm and preserve, despite the regular changes to our curriculum," he added.

For example, to nurture creative students, they need to be given more space to experience unstructured activities and more exposure to aspects that allow them to come up with different ideas, said Mr Sng.

MOE will take these into account during its curriculum reviews, he added.

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Singapore students top PISA study on creative thinking, despite not thinking of themselves as creative

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Singapore placed first in a study that tested 15-year-olds on how well they generate creative ideas, as well as evaluate and improve on them, ahead of Korea and Canada in second and third place respectively.

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Critical Thinking Slides (after our session) 

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Critical Thinking Slides (after our session) 

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This version includes hidden slides and notes for your review.

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FCGE 2024 Critical Thinking Presentation for Participants (as of 22Nov24)

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Creative Thinking Slides (after our session) 

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Creative Thinking Slides (after our session) 

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Again, slides and notes for your review.

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FCGE 2024 Creative Thinking Presentation for Participants (as of 22Nov24)

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The PISA assessment was available in both computer- and paper-based formats; the available test languages below correspond to the countries and economies that completed the computer-based tests. Try PISA test questions yourself!

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The 4Ps model The 4Ps model was created by Rhodes describing creativity as containing a product, process, person, and press. Rhodes’s notion of creativity comes from his research on…

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Amabile's Componential Theory of Creativity (1983) 

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Amabile's Componential Theory of Creativity (1983) 