The goal of incorporating critical and creative thinking processes into Saskatchewan's K-12 curricula is to develop individuals who value knowledge, learning and the creative process, who can and will think for themselves, yet recognize the limits of individual reflection and the need to contribute to and build upon mutual understandings of social situations. What is desired are students who have purposes for learning, know how and when to question, who recognize when more information is needed and the type of knowledge which is required, know how to find and organize information, and who can generate and evaluate a number of alternatives to human problems.
Critical and Creative Thinking can be described as qualities of good thinking processes and as types of thinking. Creative thinking is generally considered to be involved with the creation or generation of ideas, processes, experiences or objects; critical thinking is concerned with their evaluation.
Critical and creative thinking are interrelated and complementary aspects of thinking. Almost all of the thinking which we undertake contains some critical and some creative aspects. For example, when we try to solve real life problems we move back and forth several times between creative and critical reflection2 as we develop solutions or weigh the consequences of any one solution. It is important, therefore, that any attempts to improve thinking abilities pay attention to both critical and creative aspects of thinking.
Critical and creative thinking processes are combinations of abilities, knowledge, values, attitudes, skills and processes. See Figure 4.1 for a diagrammatic overview of the components which contribute to critical and creative thought. While the knowledge base required for critical and creative reflection varies from subject to subject, the underlying values and attitudes remain constant across school subjects. Although skills and processes are somewhat dependent upon specific subject matter for their form, these same values and attitudes are required in all subjects for their execution. It is also important to note that the content of each category is descriptive of the area but not a final or all inclusive list. Educators are encouraged to evaluate these lists and to generate others as they become more familiar with incorporating critical and creative thinking into their teaching.
Building upon the analysis displayed in Figure 4.1, a teacher's role could be described as one of structuring activities, assignments and lessons which incorporate all of these aspects of critical and creative thinking into the subjects which they teach. Teachers would attempt to do this in ways which build upon their students' innate abilities, interests, experiences and background knowledge.
Critical and creative thinking contribute to achieving such crucial goals for education in Saskatchewan as developing students who work towards the creation of greater social justice, exercise the right to dissent responsibly, and act in accordance with an ethical framework which reflects qualities such as honesty, integrity and compassion (Saskatchewan Goals of Education, 1984). A final aspect of how Critical and Creative Thinking is defined by Saskatchewan Education is related to these goals and can be stated as the intention to develop "strong sense" critical and creative thinkers.
Paul (1987) distinguishes between "weak sense" and "strong sense" critical thinking in the following way. People who have the abilities necessary for undertaking quality critical and creative thought but use them only to their own advantage are critical and creative thinkers in the weak sense. Strong sense critical and creative thinkers, however, are committed to using their abilities to seek out the most accurate and fair positions regardless of or in spite of their own particular interests or desires. Such thinking takes into account the needs, viewpoints and arguments of others and is built upon analysis of one's own motives.
3. Metacognition refers to knowledge of one's own thinking processes and products or anything related to them. It is "thinking about one's own thinking."
4. Dialectical reasoning involves metacognition and also includes thinking about the reasoning, motives and arguments of others. It includes seeing all sides of a question and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of opposing points of view.
The importance of having students develop good critical and creative thinking abilities has to do with the foundations needed for a democracy and with the tools needed for independent and life-long learning. A democracy is only as strong as its citizens are informed, capable of, and willing to engage in critical and creative reflection. Critical thought is necessary for analyzing arguments and for rational decision making, while creative thinking is necessary in order to develop alternatives to ways of life not considered upon reflection to be desirable. Students also need to develop these thinking abilities in order to move their learning beyond memorization or passive acceptance, to understanding and the commitment to persevere until clarity and insight are achieved. Without a commitment to critical and creative thinking the values of rationality, truth and justice achieve little substance in the classroom.
Given the above purposes for developing students' critical and creative thinking abilities, it is important to examine teaching methods or means of instruction in terms of their consistency with these purposes. While the last decade saw the development of many commercial thinking programs designed to teach thinking as generic skills which could be developed in isolation from school subjects and from analyses of underlying values and beliefs, most researchers today (see for example, Klenz, 1987; Marzona, Brandt, Hughes, Jones, Presseisen, Rankin and Suhor, 1988) argue that critical and creative thinking processes are more than simply technical skills.
A technical skill is one which can be taught in the same way across a number of contexts without involving an individual's basic feelings, beliefs or motives in any significant way. A technical skill, then, can be learned in the same manner regardless of whether one is a fair-minded or compassionate individual or whether one has foundational knowledge in any particular school subject. Critical and creative thinking are not these types of skills. Rather, developing these thinking abilities involves will or desire on the part of the thinker to go beyond what is given and to make an attempt to understand the self and question the motives of others. Such thinking is highly dependent upon human purpose. Treating critical and creative reflection solely as technical skills is not consistent with the purposes for which they are being developed in Saskatchewan schools.
In addition, it is important to recognize that critical and creative thinking takes different forms in different disciplines or arts and that critical and creative reflection do not develop in a vacuum. Every occasion of thought requires some content to reflect upon. Thought is shaped by content - by the facts, concepts, principles and theories of various disciplines or fields and by one's experiences and observations.
While critical and creative thinking may contain some common elements, they also take unique forms in unique areas of study. For example, critical thinking in mathematics does not necessarily involve the same mixture of knowledge, skills and processes as critical thinking in social studies or the arts. The criteria for good critical or creative thought in an area of knowledge depends upon the methods developed in that area for establishing the truth of its claims. This implies, then, that being able to think critically about literature is no guarantee that one will also be capable of critical and creative reflection using the concepts and principles of algebra as subject matter. While the values which move people to attempt such reflection remain constant, the knowledge base required does not. Part of the teacher's role in fostering critical and creative thinking abilities is that of building students' understanding of the concepts, skills and processes of the various disciplines and fields and of their methods for constructing and evaluating knowledge. Teachers need curricula and instructional methods which support inquiry into methods for knowledge construction, such as how scientists "do" science or how historians establish historical facts.
In summarizing the purposes and definition of critical and creative reflection, it is important to understand the relationship between why one would undertake such reflection and how one would best go about it. Methods follow from purpose. This understanding may be developed further through an analysis of the teacher's role in assisting students to become critical and creative thinkers.
The role of the teacher in helping to improve students' critical and creative thinking abilities includes examining the personal qualities required of teachers by such a goal and the classroom climate and teaching practices which best support it.
Discussion of the teacher's role in fostering critical and creative thinking must begin from a recognition of the teacher as a person whose unique character, interests and desires can not be separated out from the idea of the teacher's role. Good teachers are doing more when they teach than acting according to prescribed roles. Their desire to nurture a love for learning, to help students recognize and act upon their capabilities, and to establish a classroom climate which is based upon mutual regard and respect gives their teaching purpose and meaning beyond any technical description of the teacher's role. What is required is that teachers be authentic individuals who are striving to improve their practice through the use of critical and creative thought. Acting upon their belief in the importance of critical and creative reflection, teachers would attempt to:5
An integral part of teaching methodologies designed to foster critical and creative reflection is the type of classroom environment which the teacher helps to create. The type of climate which appears to be most desirable (Klenz, 1987; Marzano et al., 1988; and Paul, 1985) is one which fosters psychological safety and intellectual freedom within a structure where individuals respect one another as persons of unconditional worth.
Teachers can move towards making their classrooms more thoughtful places by making judgments and decisions from a base of empathy and understanding, by valuing originality and authenticity, and by using differences of opinion as teaching situations which invite thoughtful analyses. More specific activities and strategies for the improvement of thinking abilities will also be proposed, with the qualification that the best ways to foster critical and creative thinking will continue to be developed by reflective practitioners as they come to know their students. What is needed are teachers who engage their students in meaningful activities - ones which incorporate students' unique interests, abilities, backgrounds and community needs. The ideas presented here are only intended as starting points for further reflection, and like all good ideas will be improved by critically appraising their application to individual situations.
Teachers can foster critical and creative thinking within the various school subjects by 6
Practices such as these do not need to be restricted to middle years or secondary students. Critical and creative reflection can be improved beginning in the early grades when teachers understand these thinking processes themselves. Before students can analyze arguments, tease out the assumptions contained in them, or recognize possible motives which shape people's views or restrict their objectivity, they must have a sense of themselves and of others as persons of worth. This sense is built from an understanding of human feelings and of how individuals' behavior affects the persons around them. Kindergarten teachers begin to develop such understandings from the first day of school, through activities which engage students' emotions while helping them acquire a language to express these emotions. It is also important for teachers of young children to offer support to students in solving their own social problems and conflicts, but not to impose solutions upon them. Critical and creative thinking begins when a child is expected to confront in their own thinking, the reasons for treating other people with respect and the ways in which one can do so.
Quality of thought also improves through direct encounter with reality - with the concrete and with the natural materials which can be provided in an expanded school environment. An important aspect of the teacher's role in providing students with concrete materials and real life experiences is to ask critical questions which foster student reflection about these materials and experiences.
Some general guidelines for teachers, which apply to developing critical and creative capacities in students of all ages, would be to:
Perhaps the most important aspect in developing a climate conducive to critical and creative thinking is to increase students' will or motivation to behave reflectively. While there are many ways to learn and to know, the knowledge retained by students is that knowledge which they find relevant to their daily lives or which can be integrated into larger systems of knowledge. This does not mean that learning should always be easy or that all knowledge should have immediate relevance. It also is not intended to imply that memorization and drill are necessarily inappropriate or meaningless activities. Rather, the suggestion is that students will voluntarily exercise their own willpower and persevere at difficult learning tasks (including memorization when necessary), if they see the learning task as personally meaningful. For educators, this means portraying knowledge as valuable in itself and as a means to important human ends. Thus, the knowledge which students encounter in schools must not be presented solely as isolated or discrete elements, but rather should be explored as parts of meaningful wholes. Knowledge must be examined in terms of its relationship to other knowledge and to students' experiences and understandings. Teaching which encourages students to reflect upon and build these relationships supports critical and creative thinking.
Finally, because teacher-questioning is such an important aspect in the development of critical and creative thinking processes, a brief overview of types of critical questions would be useful. The following types of questions can be used to stimulate individual reflection, process writing, and small or large group discussion in a subject area.7
| Examples | —Could you give me an example? —Is your basic point ___or___ ? |
| Examples | —You seem to be assuming ___ —How would you justify taking this for granted? —Is this always the case? |
| Examples | —How could we go about finding out whether that is true? —Is there reason to doubt that evidence? |
| Examples | —How would other groups or types of people respond? Why? What would influence them?
—How would people who disagree with this viewpoint argue their case? |
| Examples | —What effect would that have?
—If this and this are the case, then what else must also be true? |
| Examples | —To answer this question, what questions would we have to answer first?
—Is this the same issue as ? |
While these types of questions may be more the responsibility of the teacher in the beginning of the school year, with consistent modelling and encouragement students should increasingly take responsibility for asking these questions of themselves and their peers.
In summarizing the teacher's role in developing critical and creative thought processes, teachers need to:
| — | understand the purposes underlying this goal; |
| — | believe in its potential benefits to students; and |
| — | become increasingly reflective about their own practice in order to build the values, skills, knowledge and processes of critical and creative thinking into the subjects which they teach. |