Creative Thinking And Critical Thinking

Characteristics of a critical thinker include judgment, selectivity and being analytical. He likes to explore and come up with possibilities.Other differences in critical thinking versus creative thinking include thinking vertically (critical thinker) and thinking laterally (creative thinker); being focused (critical thinker) and being diffuse (creative thinker); and being verbal (critical) versus being visual (creative), according to the Virtual Salt website. The thinker progresses from A to B to C, doing so in a straight line.

comes into clearer focus when we recognize it as a creative act that enriches understanding by giving rise to something that wasn’t there before.

What does this symbiotic relationship look like in the classroom?

Efforts to pin down these skills are so quickly muddled, one is tempted to fall back on the old Justice Stewart remark regarding obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” Unfortunately, that yardstick isn’t much help to teachers or students.

Definitions of creativity tend toward the broad and vague.

When you are thinking critically you are using the left part of the brain.

The creative thinker uses the right side of the brain and does not process information in a linear fashion.

A creative thinker looks at things from various perspectives, coming up with ideas and making novel and uncharacteristic connections. A creative thinker is open, nonjudgmental and capable of productive thought.

The creative thinker often goes against standard views and is apt to take risks. He likes a challenge, seeks out problems to solve and is imaginative. The creative thinker strives to find several answers to a problem rather than just one.

Creativity and critical thinking sit atop most lists of skills crucial for success in the 21st century.

They represent two of the “Four Cs” in P21’s learning framework (the other two being communication and collaboration), and they rank second and third on the World Economic Forum’s top ten list of skills workers will need most in the year 2020 (complex problem solving ranks first).