Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Bhoendradatt Tewarie Director, Institute of Critical Thinking UWI St. Augustine

Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

Bhoendradatt TewarieDirector, Institute of Critical Thinking

UWI St. Augustine

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I

Some basicsto

stimulate discussion

© Institute of Critical Thinking

“I think, therefore, I am”

• René Descartes (1596-1650)

• French philosopher, mathematician and physicist

• “Father of Modern Philosophy”

• In his Discourse on the Method (1637) he attempted to arrive at a fundamental set of principles that one could know as true without any doubt (a foundation of knowledge). To achieve this, he employed a method of systematic doubt, where he rejected any idea that could be doubted, i.e. everything he perceived through his senses.

• Descartes then arrived at the principle: “Je pense, donc je suis” or “I think, therefore I am” (Latin: cogito ergo sum)

© Institute of Critical Thinking 3

“I become what I think”


“High thinking and simple living” –

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

5© Institute of Critical Thinking


People, events, things, issues, ideas, concept – the mundane, material, the world

around us, the meaning of things

The material, the philosophical, the spiritual


Is there any relationship between the focus of one’s thoughts and the quality of one’s

existence, the quality of life?


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II

Logical thinking and lateral thinking


Logical thinking

• A process in which one uses reasoning consistently to come to a conclusion

• The ability to understand and to incorporate the rules of basic logical inference in everyday activities

• Cause and effect


Logical thinking examples

1. A doctor diagnosing a patient’s illness

2. An engineer trying to determine why a machine is not working

3. You have six pairs of black socks and six pairs of white socks in a drawer. In complete darkness, and without looking, what is the least number of socks must you take from the drawer in order to be sure you get a matching pair?

4. A milkman has two empty jugs: a three gallon jug and a five gallon jug. How can he measure exactly one gallon of milk without wasting any?


Lateral thinking

• “methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception” - (Edward de Bono)

• It is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic

• Thinking “outside the box”


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Lateral thinking examples

• Connect the nine dots below using four straight lines without lifting your pen from the paper.

• How could a baby fall out of a twenty-storey building onto the ground and live?

• A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink of water. The bartender thinks for a minute, pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, "Thank you," and walks out. What happened?


Deductive reasoning

• In deductive reasoning one arrives at a specific conclusion based on generalizations

– All apples are fruit. Some apples are red. Therefore some fruit are red.

– The houses in this area vary in size so that some houses may have more rooms or larger rooms than others.


Inductive reasoning

• In inductive reasoning one makes generalizations based on individual instances

– All observed corbeaux are black. Therefore: All corbeaux are black.

– All known cases of human bleeding reveal that the colour of blood is red. Therefore the colour of human blood is red.


• Analysis – the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it

• Reason – to think in a connected, sensible, or logical manner; to find a rational motive for a belief or action

• Rationality – the state of having good sense and sound judgment

• Logic – the study of the principles of valid inference and argument

• Analysis → Reason → Rationality → Logic


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III

Strategic thinking


Strategy

• A long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal

– military strategy

– marketing strategy

– political campaign strategy

– game strategy


Strategic thinking

• Focuses on finding and developing unique opportunities to create value – facilitated by enabling a provocative and creative dialogue among

people who can affect for example, a company’s direction

– solving a problem

– finding new ways of doing something

• Strategic thinking in an organization, involves synthesis, using intuition and creatively forming a shared vision of where the organization should be heading if it is to survive and prosper in the current and future market place.


Strategic thinking

• Systems perspective – see the system as a whole and the linkages between the individual parts

• Intent focus – convey a sense of direction and discovery

• Hypothesis driven – embrace hypothesis generation and testing as core activities

• Think in time – able to connect the past with the present and link it to the future

• Intelligent opportunism – open to new experiences


Jeanne Liedtka. (1998). Strategic thinking; can it be taught?, Long Range Planning, 31, (1), 120-129

Strategic thinking


“Taken together, these five elements describe a strategic thinker with a broad field view that sees the whole and the connections between its pieces”. (Liedtka 1998)

INTELLIGENT OPPORTUNISM

HYPOTHESIS DRIVEN

INTENTFOCUS

SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

THINKING IN TIME

STRATEGIC THINKING

Liedtka Model


Analytical thinking

• In analytical thinking, one uses a methodical step-by-step approach to break down complex problems or processes into their constituent parts, identifies cause and effect patterns and analyzes problems to arrive to an appropriate solution

Strategic planning

• Strategic planning is about analysis (breaking down a goal into steps, determining how the steps could be implemented, and identifying the possible consequences of each step)

– An organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people


• Strategic implementation and the achievement of outcomes


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IV

Creative thinking


Creative thinking

• Creative thinking – generating new ideas by combining, changing, or re-applying existing ideas

• Schumpeter (1883-1950) described an entrepreneur as an individual who carries out “new combinations” such as:– Introducing a new good

– Introducing a new method of production

– Opening a new market

– Identifying a new source of supply of raw materials

– Forming a new organization of any industry


Joseph Schumpeter (1934). The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Creativity

• Creativity – a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts


The creative process

• One of the earliest models of the creative process is attributed to Graham Wallas (1926) who proposed that creative thinking proceeds through four phases:

– Preparation (definition of issue, observation, study, information gathering)

– Incubation (laying the issue aside for some time)

– Illumination (emerging of the new idea)

– Verification (checking it out)


The creative process

• Several other models have been proposed, but one common theme is that the creative process involves:– Analysis (breaking down the problem/issue into

smaller more easily understandable parts) – Evaluation (determining whether an item or activity

meets specified criteria)– Imagination (forming images and ideas in the mind)– Synthesis (combining existing ideas/concepts into

something new)


The creative process at work

• Music

• Art

• Dance

• Inventions – airplane, telephone

• Innovations – Apple iPhone, Gateway (Dell personal computers)

• Creative problem solving – using a knife/letter opener to tighten a screw when a screwdriver is not available


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Critical thinking



Critical thinking

• “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” (Scriven & Paul, 1992)

• “reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” (Ennis, 1992).

Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain

KNOWLEDGE

SYNTHESIS

EVALUATION

APPLICATION

ANALYSIS

COMPREHENSION

High order thinking

skills

Low order thinking

skills


Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green

Critical thinking, creativity and the critical/creative process

• Both creative and critical thinking involve the use of high order thinking skills

• In the creative process one uses:

– creative thinking skills (synthesis and imagination) in the preparation and verification phases

– critical thinking skills (analysis and evaluation) in the incubation and illumination phases


Creative vs critical thinkingCreative thinking is described as:• making and communicating connections to think of many

possibilities;• think and experience in various ways and use different points of

view;• think of new and unusual possibilities; and• guide in generating and selecting alternatives.

Critical thinking is described as:• analyzing and developing possibilities to compare and contrast

many ideas• improve and refine ideas• make effective decisions and judgments, and• provide a sound foundation for effective action.


(Isaksen and Treffinger (1985), Creative Problem Solving: The Basic Course)

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Creative vs critical thinking

Creative thinking• Divergent• Right brain (global,

parallel, emotional, subjective)

• Synthesis

Critical thinking• Convergent• Left brain (analytic,

serial, logical, objective)

• Evaluation



• Scientific thinking – using the scientific method (1. Identify a problem you would like to solve; 2. Formulate a hypothesis; 3. Test the hypothesis; 4. Collect and analyze the data; 5. Make conclusions) to study or investigate nature or the universe

• Innovative/adaptive thinking – the ability to react to unexpected changes

• Problem-solving – the ability to analyze information related to a given situation and generate appropriate response options

• Judgment – the formation of an opinion after consideration or deliberation

• Decision-making – the process of choosing between alternative courses of action


Summary of elements of critical thinking

Critical thinking involves using the following skills to make a decision, come to a conclusion or solve a problem.– Conceptualization: forming ideas

– Application: using information in new situations

– Analysis: breaking down problems/issues into smaller more easily understandable parts

– Synthesis: combining existing ideas/concepts into something new

– Evaluation: determining whether an item or activity meets specified criteria

12 pillars of economic competitiveness


Global Competitiveness Index (Ranks 1-20)


Country/EconomyGCI 2009-2010

rankCountry/Economy

GCI 2009-2010 rank

Switzerland 1 Hong Kong SAR 11

United States 2 Taiwan, China 12

Singapore 3 United Kingdom 13

Sweden 4 Norway 14

Denmark 5 Australia 15

Finland 6 France 16

Germany 7 Austria 17

Japan 8 Belgium 18

Canada 9 Korea, Rep. 19

Netherlands 10 New Zealand 20

Global Competitiveness Index (Ranks 21-40)


Country/EconomyGCI 2009-2010

rankCountry/Economy

GCI 2009-2010 rank

Luxembourg 21 Czech Republic 31

Qatar 22 Brunei Darussalam 32

United Arab Emirates 23 Spain 33

Malaysia 24 Cyprus 34

Ireland 25 Estonia 35

Iceland 26 Thailand 36

Israel 27 Slovenia 37

Saudi Arabia 28 Bahrain 38

China 29 Kuwait 39

Chile 30 Tunisia 40

Global Competitiveness Index ranks in Latin America and the Caribbean

Country GCI 2009-2010 Rank Country GCI 2009-2010 Rank

Chile 30 Argentina 85

Puerto Rico 42 Trinidad & Tobago 86

Barbados 44 Honduras 89

Costa Rica 55 Jamaica 91

Brazil 56 Dominican Republic 95

Panama 59 Suriname 102

Mexico 60 Guyana 104

Uruguay 65 Ecuador 105

Colombia 69 Venezuela 113

El Salvador 77 Nicaragua 115

Peru 78 Bolivia 120

Guatemala 80 Paraguay 124


Global Competitiveness Index ranks in some small states

Country GCI 2009-2010 Rank

Population (in millions)

Country GCI 2009-2010 Rank

Population (in millions)

Denmark 5 5.52 Botswana 66 1.95

Finland 6 5.34 Estonia 35 1.34

Singapore 3 4.84 Trinidad & Tobago

86 1.34

Norway 14 4.83 Mauritius 57 1.29

United Arab Emirates

23 4.60 Cyprus 34 0.80

Ireland 25 4.42 Guyana 104 0.76

Puerto Rico 42 3.98 Suriname 102 0.52

Panama 59 3.45 Luxembourg 21 0.49

Uruguay 65 3.36 Iceland 26 0.32

Jamaica 91 2.72 Barbados 44 0.26


T&T Global Competitiveness Index ranks from 2001 to 2009

Year GCI rank

2009 86

2008 92

2007 84

2006 67

2005 60

2004 51

2003 49

2002 37

2001 38


Trinidad & Tobago economy

• GDP (ppp): $24.2 billion

• GDP per capita (ppp): $18,087

[source: ECLAC (2008 preliminary figures)]


T&T – Share of GDP

Sector Share of GDP (at current prices, 2008)

Manufacturing 19.8%

Oil & Asphalt including Mining & Refining 27.8%

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 0.3%

VAT 3.6%

Electricity, Water and Construction 10.0%

Distribution and Restaurants & Hotels 14.0%

Transport, Storage and Communication 4.7%

Other activities including Government 19.8%

[source: CSO Pocket Digest 2008]


T&T – Labour force

Age Population (2008) Economically active population (2008)

(thousands) (% of total pop.) (thousands) (% of total pop.)

0-14 282 21.1

15-19 120 9.0 31 2.3

20-24 144 10.8 113 8.4

25-39 330 24.7 283 21.2

40-54 267 20.0 212 15.8

55-64 103 7.7 52 3.9

65+ 91 6.8 8 0.6

Total 1,338 100 701 52.2

[source: LABORSTA (ILO database on labour statistics) <http://laborsta.ilo.org/>](2008 projections)


T&T – Employment by economic activity

• Agriculture: 3.8%

• Mining and quarrying (incl. petr. & gas extraction): 3.5%

• Manufacturing: 9.2%

• Construction and utilities: 19.5%

• Services and other: 64.0%

• Public sector: 26.5%

– General government sector:23.1%

– Publicly owned enterprises: 3.4%

• Private sector: 73.5%[source: LABORSTA (ILO database on labour statistics) http://laborsta.ilo.org/](2008 figures)


T&T Exports

• Exports: $15.9 billion

• Oil and gas account for 80% of exports

[source: World Factbook (2008 estimates)]


Unemployment Relief Programme (URP)

• Main objective is to provide short term employment relief while enhancing the skills of individuals in the community

• Work is provided on a rotation basis, every two to three fortnights (four to six weeks)

• URP workers are not entitled to any employment benefits or vacation leave

• Labourers are paid a stipend of about $650 a fortnight (about $1,300 per month)

• URP employs 50,000-60,000 people


Community Based Environmental Protection

and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP)• Designed to facilitate social transformation in the national

community through empowering communities to improve their living standards by increasing employment opportunities; enhancing and improving the environment; and developing a cadre of entrepreneurs

• CEPEP has over 100 contractors who employ over 5,000 contract workers

• In 2008/2009 national budget, TT$300 million allocated to CEPEP


CEPEP – For $300m shared among 100 contractors and 5,000 workers

Contractors Workers

$100m to contractors,$200m to workers

$100m/100 = $1m per contractor

$200m/5,000 = $40,000 per worker

$200m to contractors,$100m to workers

$200m/100 = $2m per contractor

$100m/5,000 = $20,000 per worker

$300m shared equally $58,824 per contractor $58,824 per worker


T&T – Tertiary education

• Gross Enrolment Ratio (tertiary)*: 11%

• Total tertiary enrolment*: 17,000

• Enrolment in science and technology**:– Science: 13.7%– Engineering, manufacturing and construction:

22.6%[source: UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2009] *2005 data; **2004 data 53© Institute of Critical Thinking

Productivity


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VI

Non-critical thinking

DAY 2


Non-critical thinking

• Prejudicial thinking – gathering evidence to support a particular position without questioning the position itself

• Habitual thinking – thinking based on past practices without considering current data

• Group thinking (groupthink) – “A mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” (Janis, 1972)


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The Art of Deception and

the Role of Critical Thinking



How to gain audience sympathy

• Appeal to pity, appeal to emotions

• Appeal to authority, experts

• Appeal to tradition – ideals, accepted norms

• Appeal to precedent


Presenting facts

• Use of statistics– Is the source reliable?– What is and isn’t being said? e.g. “More people

choose brand X than Y” How much is “more”? – How is the data being interpreted/represented?– Don’t be fooled by large numbers, don’t overlook

small numbers

• Organizing/classifying information – use of “all” or “some”, or implicit use of “all”

• Definition of terms


The role of critical thinking

• Critical thinking can be used to help make more well thought-out evaluations and judgements in tasks such as reading reports, listening to interviewee responses and mediating conflicts.


Critical reading skills

• What is the problem?– How is the problem formulated?– Why is this problem important?– What is the history of this problem?– Which prominent personalities have been

interested in this problem?



• What solutions to the problem are there?– What are the conclusions reached?– By what argument(s) is the conclusion reached?– What facts or assumptions serve as premises?– When a prominent personality offers a solution, does

he also argue for or against other prominent personalities? Does he raise objections to alternative solutions? Does he consider objections to his own solutions?



• Evaluation– What are the advantages and disadvantages

of the alternative formulations to the problem?– Has the importance or history of the problem

ever been misrepresented?– Are the solutions logically related to the

premises?– Are the facts true? Are the assumptions

acceptable? Are the objections answerable?

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Some important things to appreciate


• Brain – the portion of the vertebrate central nervous system enclosed in the skull

• Intellect – capacity for knowledge

• Mind – the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons

• Imagination – the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality; a creation of the mind




• The creative process at work

• Models of creativity


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Developing yourthinking skills, your

creativity and your mind



CREATE

CreateRelateExploreAnalyzeTransformExperience

CONNECT

DISCOVER

APPLY

INVENT

Open mind

Closed mind

Mindshift

From personal to global – From global to personal


Multiply vs divide – striking the balance


Body, mind, spirit – Harmony


A sunny virtual space

for self immersion


• Using humor to undermine fear

• Transforming fear into directed energy


Triumph over cynicism


Learn to live free by breaking free and persisting


• Take control of your life

• Make the obvious more obvious

• Jump steps to success

• Travel the clear-unclear road to happiness

• Get unstuck

• Relax the big squeeze of life


• Maintain the essential tension

• Resist the slides of boredom and indifference

• Never pass on your passion

• Call it like you see it, honestly

• Remake your self-image

• Take your time … and your space


• Hmmm…find new ideas in the paradox

• “Simplexity”: See the simple in the complex

• Cut the stress lines

• Hunt for satisfying work

• Remove the walls of your mind

• Envision your creative process


• Fish for the bigger meaning

• Add to invention

• Shift your social solar systems


• See the whole of your creativity

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X

Complex thinking


Complex thinking

• Complex thinking combines the basic learning and recall of accepted information, critical thinking, and creative thinking into larger, action-oriented processes.

• Cohen (1971) and Presseisen (2001) described four specific complex thinking processes:– problem solving (resolve a known difficulty)– decision making (choose the best alternative)– critical thinking (understand particular meaning)– creative thinking (create novel or aesthetic ideas or

products).



Complex thinking for public sector leaders

• Although different in many aspects, public and private sector leaders focus on value for their customers/clients

• The customers of the public sector are the citizens to whom services are provided



Complex thinking can be used to:

– Systematically solve problems by sensing, researching information, scanning the global environment, formulating the problem, finding alternatives, choosing a solution and building acceptance




– Produce new ideas by designing, imagining and formulating goals

– Invent, assess and revise a product




– Make decisions

– Systematically selecting between alternatives by identifying issues, generating alternatives, making choices and evaluating

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Learning Community



Communication for a learning community

• “The defining quality of a learning community is that there is a culture of learning in which everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding.” Chris Dede, Technical Horizons in Education (2004)



• The use of technology enhances the capability of complex thinkers to solve problems, formulate new ideas and make sound decisions

• Learning communities in the educational environment are exposed to knowledge sources embedded in real world settings



• The University of the West Indies is presently utilising Moodle as a communications tool to expand the University’s learning community with on-site academics and students as well as with international scholars.



• Facilitates the transfer from the traditional behaviourist model of learning to broader more action-oriented learning

• Allows the learner to actively participate in the analysis and synthesis of data → information, information → knowledge and knowledge → power



• Members of the learning community are masters and creators of their knowledge

• The transfer of knowledge is creative and assists in the formulation of innovative ideas

• Technology can be used easily to create, communicate and innovate



• The learning community, through the exchange of ideas becomes a tool for development

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Motivation, inspiration and team achievement


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Where do we go from here?


Documents

Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Bhoendradatt Tewarie Director, Institute of Critical Thinking UWI St. Augustine