PME 833 - Critical and Creative Thinking
Erika Stanischewski as a Critical and Creative Thinker
The image that I am presenting for this first assignment is of the brain itself. The left hemisphere is responsible for critical thinking tasks and the right side for creativity and emotional regulation. This represents me very well since I believe that I often resort to both my creativity and critical judgement on a regular basis. This is often true in both my personal and professional life. In fact, I am almost always thinking about something. My husband teases me about this, playfully suggesting that I "turn off" my brain so that I can get some rest; but, this is rather difficult for me to do.
There are two ways in which I approach given tasks and/or situations. More often than not, I need time to process. Unlike the speed of neuron synapses in the brain, my "processing" time varies. However, during that time my brain is actively asking questions, creating links and waiting for the right moment when inspiration will hit. Once it does, I feel all-consumed and have to get my ideas down as soon as possible. (This is one of the reasons why you may see a post from me at 2am!) When my ideas come through they flow just like a scene from Jane the Virgin as she is in the moment writing her novel. On the other hand, there are unique moments when I am able to think critically on the spot and, as I am faced with a given situation, I skillfully make my way through it with confidence.
This image is significant in what it represents but it is also what is missing that is intriguing to me. How are both hemispheres connected and therefore, how are critical and creative thinking connected? When I think about how I engage in critical and creative thinking, I think of these thought-processes as separate activities just as the image suggests, that there is a divide, a void, between the two (hemispheres and, therefore, thought-processes). But, I know for certain that the two hemispheres work together in order to make sense of a task or situation. Perhaps critical and creative thinking are more linked, more co-operative, and more co-dependent than I am originally inclined to believe. Perhaps once I discover their co-dependency, I will be able to understand how to control and improve my own abilities to be critical and creative and intertwine these processes as opposed to keep them separate.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://free-clipart-pictures.com/explore/drawing-pictures-brain/
Module 1: Critique of Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy has been readily adopted in my professional context, and I have been required to become well acquainted with its intent and role in assessment. For several years I have been part of final exam creation teams whereby we are told to structure and balance the exam based on the number of questions that address the different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, which suggests that we should be assessing all levels of what Bloom would consider to be hierarchal levels of achievement. “One of the most frequent uses of the original Taxonomy has been to classify curricular objectives and test items in order to show the breadth, or lack of breadth, of the objectives and items across the spectrum of categories” (Krathwohl, 2002). The fact that Bloom’s Taxonomy has survived over sixty years since its creation, speaks to some degree of its positive academic intentions in spite of some of the strong arguments made against it.
Therefore, despite having read some significant arguments against Bloom, I find that I remain somewhat in agreement with his Taxonomy in that, misapplication aside, students are engaged in critical thinking even in conducting what Bloom suggests are lower-level thinking tasks. For example, students are presumed to be able to score better on lower-level thinking questions for the reason that this thought process is “easier”. (This assumption is from my assessment team’s opinion and decreed by our school board consultants involved in the assessment process). However, what I have noticed is that there really is no clear divide between student results on lower-level and higher-level questions. After having read these articles, I can now conclude that even what is considered lower-level thinking tasks, require “thinking strategies” that fall into a higher-order skillset, making even rote learning difficult in many situations (Case, 2005, p.47). “[S]o called ‘lower-order’ operations, such as comprehending or remembering, can be occasions for critical thinking … decoding strategies, habits of mind, and background knowledge … mnemonics, lists, mental notes, repetition” are all critical thinking activities that can help a person retain general knowledge (p. 46-47). Should a student be found lacking in these critical thinking strategies, then lower-order thinking tasks, deemed easy, are actually quite difficult for this individual. At the same time, a student who shows success in this area, arguably has a keen ability to utilize their critical thinking strategies to perform at this level of task requirement. Case and Bloom himself state that “mastery of each simpler category was prerequisite to mastery of the next more complex one” (Krathwohl, 2002, p. 213). Through my argument, I am asserting that there may not be such an obvious distinction in what is considered simpler/complex categories. This demonstrates that even the lower-level assessment categories of Remembering and Understanding involve critical thinking strategies that are more difficult for some than others which, justifies evaluating them as part of a comprehensive assessment plan in our teaching contexts.
I still believe that assessing for Knowledge and Comprehension helps in building confidence in a student. It provides the student with a starting point and, contrary to Case’s claim that this creates a “false confidence" by using Bloom’s Taxonomy (Case, 2013, p.199), I find students are frozen in their seats when they feel they have no platform to start on; no springboard to launch into the task at hand. Therefore, I can and have used Bloom’s Taxonomy as a scaffold for students attempting a task involving evaluation, analysis or even creation tasks. The following is an example.
Bloom’s Taxonomy can also be used as a metacognitive assessment tool for both students and teachers alike. Once students have internalized what the vocabulary of each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy indicates, then they can better isolate areas in which they know they are strong, and focus their attention at learning the critical thinking skills needed for the areas they are weak. “It is of increasing significance as researchers continue to demonstrate the importance of students being made aware of their metacognitive activity, and then using this knowledge to appropriately adapt the ways in which they think and operate” (Krathwohl, 2002, p.214). Teachers can also use Bloom’s Taxonomy to categorize their questions and then collect data on the success of these questions by their students. Teachers should then compare the students’ level of success for the different levels of questioning, and compare this with their teaching strategies and unit activities with the goal of determining if the teacher has placed emphasis on only the retention of factual knowledge as opposed to integrating it into higher order thinking tasks. “By using the Taxonomy Table, an analysis of the objectives of a unit or course provides, among other things, an indication of the extent to which more complex kinds of knowledge and cognitive processes are involved" (p.216). In other words, has the teacher adopted an approach to critical thinking as “a curriculum-embedded approach” as advocated by Case and his colleagues at The Critical Thinking Consortium (Case, 2005, p.2005). The answer to this data analysis can be used to improve one’s teaching practice.
However, my arguments above come with a vital necessity for teachers to separate themselves from thinking that “higher-order thinking tasks are inherently more difficult than ‘lower-order’ tasks” (Case, 2013, p.198), which I do believe we are guilty of, myself included. Furthermore, we do need to break away from the notion that it is not always necessary for students to “learn the subsumed tasks before learning the more complex task” (Case, 2013, p. 196-197). Finally, teachers need to pay attention to the way they word and structure their delivery of content, assessment questions, and required unit assignments, to refrain from boxing-in the student’s thought process as categorically lower-leveled. Case mentions “the selective use of verbs to trigger thoughtful student responses often falls short of their intended purpose when the use of any evaluative terms restricted to only one level of thinking” (p.199). The “Alternative” column of the following table provides some suggestions for accomplishing these, what I believe to be, vital necessities.
Table 1: Summary Table - Bloom's Taxonomy
References:
Case, R. (2005). Bringing Critical Thinking to the Main Stage. Education Canada, 45(2), 45-49.
Case, R. (2013). The Unfortunate Consequences of Bloom's Taxonomy. Social Education, 77(4), 196-200.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.
Module 2: Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking
What did I Try?
My son has been showing interest in the concept of money and value. We have been working in a wipe-clean workbook using fictional currency and hypothetical scenarios. However, he has shown a keen interest in this and I decided to take this, normally quiet and colorful static activity, and apply it to a relevant learning scenario.
Weekend groceries are a family event. My son pushes the cart while my husband supervises. However, when there is a decision to be made in regards to which item should be purchased, my son has observed my thought process before. Faced with at least 15 choices of orange juice, I decided to involve my son in an activity of “Judge the Better or Best” therefore including him the decision making process (thus asking him to make a decision), all the while practicing what he has seen me do before which is to make the criteria for my choice evident through dialogue (Wearing, p.1).
We focused on the lowest level of juice options (it is at his height). My son pointed to one juice container and asked if this was the one we should take? I asked him to tell me the price. He said it was $7.00. I then asked him if he thought this was a lot of money. He agreed after we quickly talked about how much that was using his fingers. He then looked to the left and saw two orange juice container options with the same price: $4.00. (I did not prompt him to read the price this time. He did it instinctively). He seemed stuck at this point not knowing which one to choose since we had established that the price of the juice was an important criterion. I prompted him by asking if all of us like juice (Mommy, Daddy, and Sami). He admitted we all love to drink juice. I hoped that this question was enough to get him to create another important criterion. He then indicated that we needed a lot of juice for the week, and I agreed to this assessment. He then decided to pick the largest juice container of the two that were priced the same. Before praising him for his choice, I asked him to explain to me the reason why he chose the bigger of the two. He was able to tell me that the bigger one "will let us drink more juice this week", and that "it did not cost a lot" (Sami, 2020).
What was the Response?
My son was able to co-dependently create criteria for the required task, justify his decision using a level of language that is expected of his age and ability, mimic the act of thinking out loud when engaging in critical thinking, and was proud to be included in the decision-making process. Admittedly, he did require some background knowledge to complete this activity. He needed to be able to read digits and comprehend their value. He also needed to recognize that the entire family used this product and therefore, the quantity required was important. This suggests that he pays attention to the world around him and the preferences of others. Case supports the need for background knowledge; he states “[s]tudents need background knowledge in order to deal competently with critical challenges. If students lack this information, and if they do not acquire it as they address the challenge, the value of posing challenges may be lost” (2008, p.44). He also required some guiding questions from me to push him towards making a decision. I believe this prompting was a necessity, especially if we are “training” our pupils to use critical thinking in an instinctive manner. Therefore, I believe that this activity “invited [my son] to consider an appropriate set of criteria when deciding on the wisest conclusion” (Case, 2008, p.37).
The short, albeit important, activity that my son engaged in met all of Case’s criteria for framing a critical challenge. This includes inviting an individual to make a “reasoned judgement”, is “meaningful” for the individual, “promotes understanding of the curriculum” (the learning outcome decided upon by me), and is “focused to limit the amount of background knowledge” required (2008, p. 46). This is further supported in the following article by Kylie Rymanowicz entitled The importance of critical thinking for young children. She states that some of the best opportunities to teach critical thinking skills is when you incorporate this into a child’s interest (2016). She goes on to state that “[W]hen children are deeply vested in a topic or pursuit, they are more engaged and willing to experiment. The process of expanding their knowledge brings about a lot of opportunities for critical thinking, so to encourage this action helps your child invest in their interests” (2016). Through the above example of a critical thinking activity, I was able to hone in on my son’s interest of numbers and value, and his eagerness to participate in a life skill; grocery shopping.
References:
Case, R. (2008) Beyond Inert Facts: Teaching for Understanding in Elementary Social Studies. Retrieved January 3, 2020, from http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/sspp/html/beyondinertfacts/page12.html
Rymanowicz, K. (2016). The importance of critical thinking for young children. Retrieved 21 January 2020, from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the_importance_of_critical_thinking_for_young_children
Wearing, J. Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking Learning Activities
I am currently on leave as I await the arrival of our second child at the end of March. Despite being away from my 160 science students, my five-year old is my constant pupil, and I decided to take this opportunity to try out a critical thinking task with him. Perhaps as a mom and educator, I have been doing this instinctively, but now that I am actively thinking about the process, I find the task challenging especially since my expertise is at the secondary level. Nevertheless, I attempted the following:
Module 3: My Strengths and Weaknesses in Pedagogy for Critical Thinking
I believe my strengths in promoting critical thinking are rooted in assessing critical thinking and inviting critical thinking through critical learning activities as explained below:
Assessing Critical Thinking:
The science discipline requires that students draw conclusions based on evidence, background knowledge, and a certain amount of critical reflection. As a result, a lot of time goes into training students to utilize what they have at their disposal, their minds included, to come to these conclusions. For example, students are taught the difference between theoretical and practical evidence. Theoretical evidence/knowledge is what they have learned through discussion, documents, and direct instruction. Practical evidence is what they have witnessed in their lab activities. Often, their results in the practical applications yield ambiguous results. When this occurs, I embrace the opportunity to encourage students to question why this could be. This encourages students to “examine issues from varying perspectives” and “look for connections between what is already known and what is new”, which are thinking strategies outlined by Case and Daniels (2008, p.75). In addition, students are encouraged, by either my direct questioning as I circulate around the class, questioning each other, or when we re-convene to discuss what we have learned post lab, to “question ideas; don’t accept everything at face value” but at the same time “value clarity and specificity” (p.75). Many are inclined to think that science is a discipline that has inflexible answers. In some cases this is true. However, every scientist who has contributed to today’s general knowledge, questioned “why” or “how” at one point in their pursuit for understanding and discovery. I encourage my students to take on this same approach. Although science can be approached in a rather systematic procedural manner, I sometimes like to flip this approach on its head and ask students to conduct the procedural activity first, before formulating their theoretical conclusions (however, understandably, this is not always possible with every topic). Both ways support the importance of sifting through evidence, creating links with and/or discovering bits and pieces of factual knowledge, all with the goal for formulating critical judgments and ultimately conclusions to a given problem.
Therefore, when I assess for critical thinking I am looking for obvious deliberation in their work and this needs to be backed up with theoretical and procedural evidence. Finally, their conclusions need to prove that they were based on the evidence that they had at their disposal. Even though they may already know what the outcome of an experiment should be, they need to prove this as factual by incorporating their theoretical knowledge and intertwining it with their procedural evidence. I believe this practice can help in other subject disciplines. I have included an image of the approach I use when new topics are being covered. Many of these strategies are cited as being critical thinking strategies by Case and Daniels.
Science Approach to Critical Thinking
Click on the button below to view the Urinary Stations Lab example used for the following analysis
Inviting critical thinking through critical learning activities
In addition to the strategies suggested in Module 2, I am an advocate for problematizing a situation. I often make a topic we are studying into a problem and students will go through a “stations” activity that will prompt them to use different aspects of critical thinking depending on the station they are at. It is important to stress that when I designed these activities, I used Bloom’s Taxonomy in that some of the stations asked students to take part in lower-level thinking tasks, others in higher-level thinking tasks, and some are a mixture of several types of thinking tasks. I am still in support of a “tweaked” version of Bloom’s, and I feel these activities are also in support of critical thinking since, for example, background knowledge is but one part of an attribute required for critical thinking since “students cannot think critically about a topic they know little or nothing about” (p.76). I have attached my stations activity to this post so that you can see how I have intertwined Bloom’s with critical thinking strategies. The breakdown of these tasks are summarized in Table 1.0. By no means is this a perfect marriage between Bloom’s and Critical Thinking. As I re-read my lesson, I can see flaws and areas for improvement. But, I am happy that I have at least touched on several aspects of critical thinking.
Table 1.0: Marriage Between Bloom's and Critical Thinking in a Stations Activity
I present this stations activity as an example of a critical thinking task because I feel that students do not need to necessarily focus on one activity at a time. Often, critical thinking happens as a matrix of tasks that requires several perspectives and metacognitive actions. A “stations” approach to problematizing a critical thinking challenge is but one example we can use to train students to think from many different angles.
Weaknesses
Despite what I have articulated above, I find many weaknesses in my critical thinking practices. For example, I am not stressing the importance of critical thinking vocabulary. It seems I expect students to know what the difference in this vocabulary is, and this is a great fallacy in my practice that needs to be rectified. I also feel that I could improve on creating a community of thinkers. Again, students are apprehensive to share their thoughts in a general classroom discussion (not in their written work, peer discussions or one-on-one discussion with me). I have myself to blame for this since it is up to me to set safe expectations for my students because I believe students are afraid that they will not “be treated respectfully by everyone, even if their ideas seem wrong or silly” (Case & Balcaen, 2008, p.95). I need to promptly change this in my classroom.
References:
Case, R., & Balcaen, P. (2008). "Supporting a community of critical thinkers." In: Case, R. & Clark, P. (Eds.). The Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Elementary Educators, Pacific Educational Press, Vancouver.
Case, R., & Daniels, L. (2008). "Teaching the tools to think critically." In: Case, R. &Clark, P. (Eds.). The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies Volume Two: Issues and Strategies for Secondary Teachers, pp.74-85. Vancouver, BC: Pacific Educational Press.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.
Stanischewski, E. (2018). Urinary System Stations Lab.
TechThought Staff (2019). 8 Science-Based Strategies for Critical Thinking. [image] Available at: https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/8-science-based-strategies-for-critical-thinking/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020].
Module 3: Critical Thinking Assignment
Part A: Before and After Critical Thinking Lesson
As a culminating project on a nutrition unit, I would assign a "food guide" analysis to students asking them to analyze (loosely) the newly revised Canadian Food Guide and compare it to the old version. Students would then have to find another guide of their choice from any country or region and provide an analysis as well.
Although this is seemingly in-line with critical thinking, my expectations, explanations, and rubric were rather basic in nature and there was no follow-up or conference with the student to show if critical thinking was front and center.
Therefore, the following is a completely re-vamped version of this Food Guide Analysis activity.
Note: You can find the original version and my checklist grading rubric by clicking the button to the right.
Click Here
NEW LESSON:
Unit: Nutrition - Food Guide Analysis
You can find the entire Lesson Plan in PDF by clicking the button on the right.
Student work document and incorporated rubric can be found by clicking the button on the right.
The accompanying PowerPoint Presentation in PDF format can be found by clicking the button on the right.
Part B: Rewrite of Scenario 2: Secondary Science to Incorporate Critical Thinking
Please click on the button to the right to review the rewrite of Scenario 2: Secondary Science Activity with theoretical justification.
Module 4: My Definition of Creativity
My definition of creativity lies deeply in the interconnections with critical thinking.
Creativity Begins with a Purpose:
Creativity begins with a purpose, is unique, and has some value to the individual and/or community. “Creativity involves purposeful creation of ideas or products that are novel or unique and have value or significance” (Gini-Newman & Case, 2015, p.51). The outcome of the creative act or product has to be novel to the individual and this is especially true to children who are experimenting with their respective creative powers and learn best when involved in creative play. Starko confirms this when he says “[t]o be considered creative, a product or idea must be original or novel to the individual creator” (2015, p.12). Gini-Newman and Case refer to this as “Little ‘c’ creativity” and this type of creativity is not only permanently present on a daily basis, but is the basis upon which problem-solving skills and critical thinking can be built. Furthermore, creativity can occur irrespective of the time element, in that creativity can occur as a result of a necessary and prompt situation, and it can result from a significant amount of time dedicated to the purpose. When an answer to a purpose is expected, and creativity is encouraged, motivation sets in and encourages one to seek out their respective creative solution.
Creativity as A Result of Thinking Strategies and is seen as a Continuum:
The ability to remain open-minded (Wearing, 2015) and harness the knowledge of one’s life experiences and compounded sources of information to alter, transform, and create reasoning that is unique to the individual, represents the importance of the thought process in creativity. Being able to merge one’s ability to critically see the world and utilize one’s ability to think critically when formulating a creative thought, shows the inter-connectivity of both and further supports the link between thinking “strategies that support creativity – solving problems, exploring multiple options, and learning inquiry – [which in turn] also support[s] a depth of understanding” (Starko, 2015, p.6). Wearing refers to this as a “figure eight” in the learning process (2015, p.6) and all theorists either confirm or refer to this irrevocable bond between the two thinking frameworks (Gini-Newman & Case, 2015; Starko, 2015; Wearing, 2015). Finally, when exercising thinking strategies when faced with a problem for example, the more “we build the capacity for more flexible thought”, the more it paves the way for more daring and effective creativity (Starko, 2015, p.7).
Creativity as A bond with Critical Thinking:
Creative thinking involves both the enhancement and utilization of critical thinking skills in well developed creative thinking scenarios. The activities that are commonly associated with creative thinking are typically used in critical thinking scenarios as well. For example, “teaching to enhance creativity can help students identify and solve problems, see from multiple points of view, analyze data, and express themselves clearly in multiple genres” (Starko, 2015, p.21). Furthermore, creative thinking activities specifically target skills that are thought to enhance critical thinking such as meaningful communication and questioning (Starko, 2015; Case & Balcaen, 2008). Therefore, there is a viable connection between both thinking frameworks that merit examination. In order for one to draw upon critical thinking skills, one also needs to explore ways in which to be creative since both lend themselves well to each other. One may even go so far as saying that they complement each other, and when approached correctly, can lead to improved abilities in both frameworks.
Examples of Creativity through the Importance of Creative Collaboration:
Unknowingly, I have demonstrated the importance of collaboration in creativity particularly as it pertains to scientists who have made their name known due to their “Big C” creations. Like Gini-Newman and Case state in their article, “[v]irtually every significant achievement has been arrived at because a number of individuals have been able to build on the ideas and experiences of their predecessors and peers” (2015, p.59). In this case I am referring to Einstein’s E=mc2 theory. Many believe that he acted alone in his discovery when in actuality, E=mc2 is the sum of several discoveries from numerous scientists like Galileo, Antoine Lavoisier, Michael Faraday, Emelie du Chatelet, Otto Hann and Lise Meitner, to name a few, upon which their influence upon this world spans upwards of 500 years. Einstein would likely not have been able to mathematically explain the fact that energy and mass are interchangeable without the creative and critical contributions of his predecessors. Furthermore, the unknowingly collective contributions of these scientists are, in actuality, the contents of the secondary 4 (grade 10) science curriculum in Quebec. Therefore, not only am I able to stress the importance of collaboration in creative (and arguably critical) thinking within the science discipline, I am able to show my creativity as a teacher when I ask my students to work collaboratively and think critically to draw links to, what we now refer to as, basic science principals, and how in actuality our science class should effectively be called E=mc2. Although this explains the importance of collaboration for creativity on the scale of grand discoveries, similar benefits of collaboration for every day acts of creativity are just as valuable.
I find that creativity plays a role in my personal life as well. Through many “small c” acts of creativity like scrap-booking, cooking and imaginative play with my son, my creativity is both demonstrated and modeled. In general, my family and peers often use “creative” as an adjective to describe me, but I am realizing that perhaps as an individual and teacher I am creative, but I am not insisting my students demonstrate creativity in a way that is meaningful to our subject on a regular basis. As Starko mentions, there is a difference between being a creative teacher and asking your students to be creative (2015, p. 19-20). This is something I have only recently realized and therefore, what I need to work on.
In conclusion, we should continue to promote the notion that curiosity leads to creativity which then helps people understand the world around them. This is why artists interpret their understanding of the world through their art and scientists question their current beliefs in order to push the boundaries of their understandings. In the end, whether one approaches the world through a creative lens or critical lens, the evidence of their inter-connectivity is unavoidable. “[C]reative thinkers are likely at some point to step back and assess whether their hunches or impulses are worth pursuing … [and] Critical thinkers need to be creative – they must anticipate potential implications, generate original approaches and view things from novel perspectives” through the aforementioned criteria for creativity (Gini-Newman & Case, 2015, p. 50-51).
References:
Case, R., & Balcaen, P. (2008). "Supporting a community of critical thinkers." In: Case, R. & Clark, P. (Eds.). The Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Elementary Educators. Pacific Educational Press, Vancouver.
Gini Newman, G. & Case, R. (2015). “Critical, creative, and collaborative dimensions of thinking, pp. 45-60, Creating Thinking Classrooms: Leading Educational Change for a 21st Century World. Vancouver, BC: The Critical Thinking Consortium.
Starko, A. J. (2015). “What is Creativity,” pp. 1-24. Creativity in the classroom: Schools of curious delight (5 ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Wearing, J. M. (June, 2015). Creativity and learning in four metaphors. Paper presented at the International Conference on Thinking, Bilbao, Spain.
Module 5: Trying A New Creative Activity
For this creative activity, I decided to paint pictures for my son's nursery. Instead of purchasing generic, albeit cute, images, I decided to try my hand at the artistic part of creativity, since the creativity that I often exhibit is in being a creative teacher but not necessarily creative in general.
The Process
Painting 1
Became...
Painting 2
Color mixing shown separately.
and
this
became ...
Painting 3
As I indicated in my definition of creativity, my activity had a purpose and it was an opportunity to draw upon my intrinsic motivation to create something that was meaningful. Furthermore, the artwork that I was going to create was going to be unique. As Starko indicates, “[a]t its most basic, creativity involves the generation of a new product (idea, artwork, invention, etc.) that is appropriate in some context” (2014, p. 12). For a brief moment, I felt as if art in its obvious form, lends itself best to the concept of originality. But then upon further contemplation, other disciplines have this quality too.
How Does my Experience Help Nurture Creativity in Others?
The only idea I had when I decided to do this project was the choice of paint colors and materials I was prepared to use. This meant that I was facing a problem but I did not have any plan as to how I was going to attack it. I feel that this predicament is often what my students feel when faced with a task that seems unknown or impossible to them. Most may likely give up, but I decided to simply start. Once I began opening the paint and preparing my work area, I just went with what my gut was telling me to do. This may seem rather simplistic but it was an incredible lesson for me. Students, young and old, need to be encouraged to do just that; simply start somewhere. Often the end result of creative endeavors seem ambiguous at first, and this deters many from engaging in the process. But, the feeling that transcends when one simply gets going, is quite powerful in instilling the urge of curiosity and this perpetuates imagination. Little did I know, Dr. Rena Upitis identifies this exact feeling in her article Creativity: The State of the Domain (2014) when she paraphrases Eisner (2002): “[c]reative explorations give students experiences with situations in which there is no known answer, where there are multiple solutions, where the tension of ambiguity is appreciated as fertile ground, and where imagination is honoured over rote knowledge” (p.3). Therefore, my first lesson is clear, encouraging anyone to start somewhere is a step in the right direction for encouraging creativity.
I was concerned that my chosen activity would not lend itself well to critical thinking, which I am convinced is in partnership with creativity. But again, my worry was refuted. As I started to paint, the ideas started to flow. I began mixing colors and experimenting with design. I kept taking a moment to assess what I was doing. This led to three end products as you can see above (and I have placed them in order of creation). The first painting prompted the mixing of colors. The second painting is a result of my desire to showcase these colors separately and the third painting is, in my opinion, a culmination of my desired color palette and technique that I developed as the project went along. It is also my favorite one. This was a result of the partnership between the creative process and critical thinking. As I was engaged in the task my thought process analyzed the situation critically and this led me to become more confident which ultimately got me to the final product. “Creativity and critical thinking can be seen to complement one another: being creative without the skills to assess the process and products of creativity is an incomplete creative act” (p.6). What I learned therefore, is that creativity is a means by which critical thinking can be encouraged. Students can be encouraged to use their creativity and teachers can maximize on the opportunity to subtly bring out their critical thinking skills and vice versa.
Lastly, this creative experience created a sense of timelessness. I was completely immersed in the project and I felt calm and in control. Therefore, from starting off in the zone of unknown to feeling in control was another lesson for me. Students need to pursue and persevere and allow themselves the opportunity to become absorbed. Those who allow this on a daily basis (through music, art, reading, gaming, cooking, etc.) are much more adept at it in other circumstances. “[T]he sense of timelessness and absorption that can occur when one is immersed in creative work” can lead to success in the creative process (p.4).
Moving forward, I will explore how this process can be enhanced when collaboration is involved.
References:
Starko, A. J. (2015). “What is Creativity,” pp. 1-24. Creativity in the classroom: Schools of curious delight (5 ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Upitis, R. (2014). Creativity: The state of the domain. Toronto, ON: People for Education. http://peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/People-for-Education-Measuring-What-Matters-report-on-creaativity-and-innovation-2013-14.pdf
Module 6: Thinking Strategies for Creativity
For this activity, I utilized age appropriate creative thinking strategies and opportunities with my 5-year old son. Keeping in mind my definition of creativity as encompassing purposeful acts that are novel to the individual, utilizing various thinking strategies from both critical and creative thinking frameworks, and the connection between critical and creative thinking, we collaborated on two creative activities using creative thinking strategies. I maintain that it is essential to foster thinking strategies that compliment both frameworks since “[c]reativity and critical thinking can be seen to complement one another: being creative without the skills to assess the process and products of creativity is an incomplete creative act” (Upitis, 2014, p.6). I broke down these activities as follows:
Putty as a Solid
Putty as a Liquid
One final Informal Creative Opportunity:
As mentioned in a previous post, my son is also fascinated by the history of the Titanic. We have read books, watched video-clips and even made a titanic using a box and paint which he uses (along with a pillow as the Carpathia), to re-enact the disaster. On many occasions he asks “What if” questions about the circumstances leading up to the disaster. This is an example of problem reversal whereby he uses opposite scenarios, positive solutions, and also incorporates assumption smashing which is “[a] useful technique of generating ideas is to list the assumptions of the problem, and then explore what happens as you drop each of these assumptions individually or in combination” (Members.optusnet.com.au, 1997). As a result, we engage in discussion as we address each of his thoughts. In the end, it is vital to allow this to happen in our young children. Given the opportunity to think creatively and engage in their creative process is essential in fostering this as a life-long skill.
As I was writing this assignment, my son’s daycare sent me a picture of what my son and his friend were up to today (March 4, 2020). It is wonderful to see learned knowledge reveal itself in a creative manner in other scenarios. Have a look!
Building a ship with a smoke stack out of Jenga blocks.
Closing Reflection
The activities my son took part in helped me understand two very important facts. The realization that “learning is personal … [a]ll students have different interests, and learning styles. What and how they are taught has to engage their energies, imaginations and their different ways of learning” and (Robinson, 2011, p. 251), is even more true at a young age. My son is not yet in school but is still showing strengths in certain areas and it was only natural to create teaching scenarios in the areas that he shows interest, has some background knowledge, and is willing to demonstrate his sense of self-efficacy without the fear of risk or failing. If these behaviors are nurtured at a young age, then the chance of them becoming ingrained in a child’s nature is strong and can continue to be utilized in school if and when creative scenarios and tasks are asked of them. Beghetto (2010) confirms this when he states “[s]tudents’ self-beliefs also play an important role in determining whether students’ creativity will be expressed (or suppressed) in the classroom” (p. 457). Self-belief is not something that is present in everyone, it needs to be nurtured and brought out hence the importance of early exposure.
The second fact was that we spend a lot of time nourishing the little-c creations. When we look at Big-c creations, we notice a lot of little-c examples in the process. This further supports the notion that creativity needs to start somewhere and even the most basic or simplistic forms of creativity are the stepping stones to potentially Big-c creations. As a result, creativity should not be dismissed both in parenting and in schools since every opportunity to utilize creative thinking strategies ultimately solidify the process in our youth. “Students need to learn content in multiple ways, students need to express themselves and represent content in multiple ways, and students need to find content relevant to their lives”, and this is what I hope I was able to demonstrate through the series of activities above (Starko, 2015, p. 11).
References:
Beghetto, R. A. (2010). Creativity in the Classroom. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.). The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 447-463). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Members.optusnet.com.au. (1997). Random Input Technique. [online] Available at: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Techniques/random.htm [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].
Michalko, M. (2001). Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius. pp. 19-49. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
Robinson, K. (2011). “Learning to be Creative” pp 245-283. In Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. John Wiley & Sons.
Starko, A. J. (2015). “What is Creativity,” pp. 1-24. Creativity in the classroom: Schools of curious delight (5 ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Upitis, R. (2014). Creativity: The state of the domain. Toronto, ON: People for Education. http://peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/People-for-Education-Measuring-What-Matters-report-on-creaativity-and-innovation-2013-14.pdf
Module 6: Teaching for Creativity Assignment
Part A: Creative Educational Scenario: Science and Technology Secondary Classroom
The following is a map of my classroom that has been redesigned to nurture creativity. This is to be viewed in conjunction with the explanation and theoretical justification document that follows. For your convenience, you can also download a PDF version of this map by clicking the button to the right.
A comprehensive explanation of the creative classroom map above can be found by clicking on the button to the right which will download the Creative Educational Scenario Explanation and Justification.
Part B: Creative Learning Activity Lesson Plan and Assessment Documents
Please click on the right to access my Creative Learning Activity Lesson Plan that utilizes the above creative space and exemplifies creative learning techniques, skills and teaching techniques.
Please click on the right to access the accompanying Assessment Documents in the form of rubrics for the Creative Learning Activity.
Course Closure Module: Critical and Creative Thinking Reflection
At the onset of this course, I believed myself to be both a critical and creative thinker, and the image I used to describe this was the brain; the left hemisphere acting as the critical judge and the right hemisphere concentrating on creativity. What I was unsure about was the area between them. Was there a connection between the two hemispheres? Yes, we know that both hemispheres work collaboratively together, but my question was whether critical and creative thinking worked in a similar way? As a result, I approached this course with this question in mind.
Our course readings provided us with a variety of valuable information but there was one quote that stood out for me the most; one quote that provided me with the answer to my question; one quote that to me embodies the purpose of PME 833 Critical and Creative Thinking. “Creativity and critical thinking can be seen to complement one another: being creative without the skills to assess the process and products of creativity is an incomplete creative act” (Upitis, 2012, p.6). This confirms that creative tasks are heavily supported by critical thinking in the form of rigorous assessment and reworking of the problem at the same time that critical thinking utilizes methods of infusing creative approaches in solving problems that require critical thinking. Therefore, the image that I have chosen to represent this bond between the two frameworks is that of a partnership, an understanding, between critical and creative thinking, thus filling the “void” between the two hemispheres of the brain; confirming that, in the end, one cannot function without the other.
In retrospect, creativity was more challenging for me to grasp. Although I believe myself to be a creative teacher, I know for certain that I was not asking my students to be creative. In addition, although my definition of creativity was in line with theory, the process of thinking creatively was absolutely enlightening to me. What I am able to conceive from the second half of the course is that creativity is just as involved, if not more so, in the process of thinking as it is in the final output. I would never have imagined a slew of strategies and creative thinking tools that worked vigorously at encouraging the brain to think about a problem differently, looking at different perspectives, playing with what was in front of you to eventually revise the problem in a way that inspires creative solutions. This confirms the need to teach students to confront their thought processes, isolate variables, work on underlying meanings, and push for that “aha” moment; a product of their efforts both critically and creatively.
At first, because I am currently away from the classroom, I thought I would be at a disadvantage not being able to try out critical and creative activities with my secondary science students but, I was very soon corrected. Working with my son was both inspiring and highly educating. I had lost the understanding of how important it was to encourage child-like creativity and questioning. Children are naturals at BOTH of these frameworks and it is vital that we (parents and teachers) continue to encourage the development of these important thought processes. In fact, I learned so much from the innocence of a child that I will not take it for granted when I witness students grappling with their temporary inability to go back to thinking like a child. It has become a vital part of my understanding that nurturing critical and creative thinking at a young age will yield more confident students as they age.
Therefore, moving forward I must remember not to take child-like innocence for granted. I must shift my more rigid approach to classroom dynamics to that of safe questioning and creativity. I must let go of the reins and allow students to get to where they need to be with my guidance, not by me being exclusively in the driver’s seat. I must open the doors to a safe classroom environment that fosters critical and creative thinking in ways that complement each other since, they are, in an infinite partnership.
References:
Upitis, R. (2014). Creativity: The state of the domain. Toronto, ON: People for Education. http://peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/People-for-Education-Measuring-What-Matters-report-on-creaativity-and-innovation-2013-14.pdf
123 Stock Photos, 2020. Vector - Cartoon Stick Figure Drawing Conceptual Illustration Of Brain And Lightbulb Or Light Bulb Characters Shaking Hands. Business Concept Of Creativity And Intelligence.. [image] Available at: https://www.123rf.com/photo_124451300_stock-vector-cartoon-stick-figure-drawing-conceptual-illustration-of-brain-and-lightbulb-or-light-bulb-characters.html [Accessed 6 March 2020].