LECTURE TWO: THINKING: CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING
Genuine education aims at transforming learners from a state of dependency to that of autonomy to think for themselves, make good judgements and get things done as decision makers and problem solvers. Learning to reason effectively so as to cope with constant change in our increasingly complex world ought to be the gone of any educative effort to empower learners with necessary flexibility and adaptability to manage varied demands of contemporary life. Critical and creative thinking (CCT) occupies a central placed in the subject of philosophy. Philosophy itself attempts, in a reasoned and reflective way, to understand and make sense of the world and of us as part of that world. As thinking beings, we distinguish ourselves individually by the quality of our thinking and the level of assuming personal responsibility for what we consider true or good; what we believe and what we do critical and creative thinking is the heart of philosophy because it is thinking about thinking to upgrade it and empower us to become better in; making judgements based on reason and evidence. In this introductory lesson of critical and creative thinking, I shall attempt to initiate your to a way of thinking that is self-reflective to require that your take charge of your mind and think effectively for yourself so as to assume responsibility responsibilit y for your your beliefs and actions. It is my hope that as you for through the course you will take the first steps in a lifelong process of thoughtfully interrogating whatever comes your way, generate new ideas to meet the demands of everyday life for human well being.
1.3 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson your should be able to: Explain what critical and creative thinking (CCT) is and be able to justify thinking for oneself in terms of added quality to learning and living. Show that to be effectively educated, in addition to literacy and numeracy one needs also to acquire operacy- the ability to get things done.
¬
¬
Discuss what constitutes individual transformation from dependency to autonomy and clearly distinguish various stages in that development. Argue for higher order thinking that is more clear, more accurate, more precise, more relevant, deeper and broader. Demonstrate an upgraded thinking ability as a critical and creative speaker, listener, reader and writer. Show evidence of heightened sense of self-assessment, self-questioning and exercise of good judgement judgement in decision-making decision-making and and problem solving. solving. Explain how we acquire self-knowledge as thinking beings. ¬
¬
¬
¬
¬
1.4 CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING (CCT)
The term ''quality education'' is quite current. To commend or praise education at present it is fashionable to qualify it with the adjective ''quality''. The implication is that quality adds wanted value to education. It is for this reason that Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training (TIQET) Report, otherwise called the Koech Commission Report, has ''Quality Education'' as part of the name and significantly appearing in that name. The current system of education in Kenya encourages rote-memorization of massive information and facts by way of drilling at the expense of understanding it by thinking through it carefully and interrogating it to evaluate its worth. The purpose of education appears to be merely passing examinations after ''vomiting'' that in formation through simple recall. Clearly rote memorized information merely to pass an examination has little value as it lacks lasting survival value. Good quality thinking and understanding uniquely possesses that value. Critical thinking is thinking that interrogates information to evaluate in and judge whether it is true or false; whether it should be believed or not; and how one should act on it. This type of thinking is of a higher quality as it involves thinking about thinking in search of deeper understanding of things. Critical thinking e powers the learner to think for herself or himself and to have mental discipline to habitually evaluate knowledge and everyday claims in search of truth and rightness. Critical thinking involves the learner actively in search of understanding of the underlying ideas and principles. It is in this sense that critical thinking in its own way adds quality to education. To appreciate what understanding means, consider what it means to know how to count up to a million. We know how to count up to a million without actually having to count up to a million. It is enough to count up to ten, twenty, thirty etc. to capture the insight of tens in the decimal system. Even if we have to memorize counting in the first few sets of tens, sooner than later, the principle involved discovered and we carry on with confidence because we now understand what it means to count up to a million. Clearly there is a marked difference between rote-memorizing counting up to a million and understanding what it is to count up to a million hence the distinction between rote memorizing and understanding. Creative thinking is on the other hand thinking that produces the material that critical thinking evaluates. It is generative thinking. The human mind has two phases of thinking operations. One phase creative thinking produces ideas while the other phase- critical thinking judges them. Creative people are dynamic, daring,resourceful, independent and hard working. These characteristics enable them to solve problems in unacceptable situation that challenge thinking without having any apparent ready way out. The two phases of critical and creative thinking (CCT) are intertwined. The thinking moves back and forth especially in the process of solving a problem each phase reinforcing the other. When critical thinking judges that something wants in what is generated by creative thinking, further generation is called forth to improve the situation. This goes on and on many times. This continuous alternating activity between critical and creative thinking is especially important in intellectual matters where excellence is the goal.
CCT aims at realizing intellectual standards such as clarity, accuracy, relevance, precision, depth, breadth and logically. It also strives to cultivate such intellectual traits as integrity, openmindedness, fair mindedness, humility, empathy, perseverance and faith in reason. CCT also attempts to develop reasoning skills such as clarification by use of analogies, elaboration, producing examples and illustration; relating ideas such as cause and consequences, parts and wholes to make connections that enable us to make responsible decisions and judgements. It is, for instance, important to be conscious of the fact that our decisions can initiate causal chains with far reaching consequences affecting not only ourselves but also the whole of the society of which we are only part. CCT is also a good tool to enable us to make distinctions where differences exist. We need, for instance, to distinguish between rotememorization from long term memory which constitutes the story of who we are to give us our unique identity as individual human persons. NOTE: Criticality and creativity are but two sides of the same thinking coin. Neither can exist without the other. QUESTION: How does critical and creative thinking (CCT) add quality to learning? ACTIVITY: Explain critical and creative thinking (CCT) and relate it to understanding. SUMMARY:
We have in this lesson clarified critical and creative thinking (CCT), acknowledged it as the essence of philosophy and contextualized it (CCT) in education as the central source of good quality. We have traced development of rationality and conscience in an individual human person to recognize their contribution in transforming him/her from dependency to autonomy as an individual thinking being at a higher level. We have observed that CCT does facilitate learner's empowerment to become judicious and a better problem solver. 1.5 DEFINiTION OF KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS CREATIVE THINKING: Thinking that generates new ideas to solve problems and innovatively produce things that are useful. CRITICAL THINKING: Thinking that facilitates good judgement (evaluation) because it: a. Relies on criteria, b. Is self-correcting, and c. Is sensitive to context (By Matthew Lipman)
CONSCIENCE: Sense of right and wring and the motivation to pursue the right and avoid the wrong. AN INTELLECTUAL: A person who has a keen interest in ideas and is equipped to manage them. AN INTELLIGENT PERSON: A person who generates novel ideas that help solve everyday problems and innovatively produce useful things. INTELLECTUAL AUTONOMY: Having independent reasoning control of one's beliefs, values and actions as a result of thinking for oneself. INTELLECTUAL DISPOSITIONS: Virtues of the mind and character needed for right thinking and action e.g. fair mindedness, open-mindedness, humility, integrity, empathy, and autonomy. INTELLECTUAL EMPATHY: Imaginatively putting oneself in the place of others to genuinely understand them, thus resisting the egocentric tendency to identify truth and reality exclusively with one's perceptions and understanding. INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY: Consciousness of the need to be true to one's own thinking and honesty in acknowledging benefit from other sources. INTELLECTUALL STANDARDS: Standards by which good reasoning and understanding can be evaluated, e.g. clarity, accuracy, relevance, precision, depth, breadth significance, and consistency. RATIONALITY: Reasoning that enables one to choose the alternative or option that yields the greatest value. REASONING SKILLS: Mental skills that enable persons to achieve intellectual standards and dispositions, e.g. using anologies like biological vomit to explain intellectual vomit- a result of rote memorization; relating ideas like causes and consequences. Parts and wholes; distinguishing ideas such as rote memorization and understanding; getting degrees and being educated. THINKING: Any mental activity; or process that involves ideas.
1.6 REQUIRED READING
Wambari, K. (Ed). 1992. Reading in Introduction to Critical Thinking. Kijabe: A.I.C. Printing Press. 1.7 RECOMMENDED READING Borruso, Silvano; 1998. The Art of Thinking: Charts on Logic. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa. Brown M. Neil and Kelley Stuart. 2001. Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking; upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Laugrehr, John. 2001. Become a Better Thinker, Revised Edition. Bangalore, India: Master Mind Books.
