Developing Critical and Creative Thinking

Christian education is learning to....

Dig

Overview

• How we learn• The four stages of learning• Using our hands to help us develop critical and

creative thinking• How Jesus learned and taught• Why (and how) Christian Education should

EXCEL in creative and critical thinking

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

How we learn

Stage One: GATHERING

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

Questions: Gathering

• What do you know already?• What do you notice?• What is different / interesting about it?• Have you got ALL the (kinds of...) data?• ‘Can we say a bit more about this.....’• How does this make you FEEL as well as think?

Stage Two: ANALYSING

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

Questions: Analysing• Have we got all the data? (Looking)• Where have we seen this (pattern etc ) before?

(generalising)• Are there other ways to look at this? (exploring)• What are the core questions? (simplifying)• What models/theories can help us look at this problem?

(connecting)• If we change this, what will that do? (testing)• Can we improve the existing models? (conceptualising)• What questions does this raise now? (extending)

Stage Three: UTILISING

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

Questions: Utilising

• How can you use / make from what you have learned?

• How can we try it out?• What can we do now that we couldn’t do before?• What will we learn by making / doing this?• What needs to happen first....?• Who needs to be involved? How long will it take? • What else could we use this for?

Stage Four: EVALUATING

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

Questions: Evaluating

• Where have we got to?• What have we learned so far?• What do YOU think we now know? (what do I

think YOU know?) How do we know that?• Did we meet our (learning) objective?• What could we improve?• What is the next step?

1 GATHERING2 ANALYSING

3UTILISING

4EVALUATING

What have we learned?

• Creative and critical thinking..... Jesus modelled both

• Christian education should show excellence in these skills

• When we do so we are Thinking God’s thoughts after him

Christian education is learning to....

Dig

St Irenaeus