Thinking Critically and Creatively

Critical and creative thinking skills are some of the most important skills used in everyday situations. They are the most fundamental skills involved in making judgments and solving problems. Therefore, it is important to continuously work on improving them both.

Critical Thinking vs Creative Thinking

Watch the video: Creative Thinking vs Critical Thinking (5 1/2 minutes)

Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking in Academic Contexts

Critical Thinking Skills

The ability to think critically about a matter—to analyze a question, situation, or problem down to its most basic parts—is what helps us evaluate the accuracy and truthfulness of statements, claims, and information we read and hear. When used well, it is a tool that separates fact from fiction, honesty from lies, and accuracy from the misleading. We all use this skill to one degree or another almost every day. For example, we use critical thinking every day as we consider the latest consumer products and why one particular product is the best among its peers. Is it a quality product because a celebrity endorses it? Because a lot of other people may have used it? Because it is made by one company versus another? Or perhaps because it is made in one country rather than another? These are questions representative of critical thinking.

The academic setting demands more of us in terms of critical thinking than everyday life. It requires us to evaluate information and analyze a myriad of issues. It is the environment where our critical thinking skills can be the difference between success and failure. In this environment, we must consider information analytically and critically. We must ask questions—What is the source of this information? Is this source an expert one and what makes it so? Are there multiple perspectives to consider on this issue? Do multiple sources agree or disagree on an issue? Does quality research substantiate information or opinion? Do I have any personal biases that may affect my consideration of this information? It is only through this kind of purposeful, frequent, and intentional questioning that we can sharpen our critical thinking skills, improve as students, learners, and researchers, and make informed decisions.

Creative Thinking Skills

While critical thinking analyzes information and roots out the true nature and facets of problems, creative thinking drives progress forward when it comes to solving these problems. Exceptional creative thinkers are people who invent new solutions to existing problems that do not rely on past or current solutions. They are the ones who invent solution C when everyone else is still arguing between A and B. Creative thinking skills involve using strategies to clear the mind so that our thoughts and ideas can transcend the current limitations of a problem and so that we can see beyond barriers that prevent us from finding new solutions.

The simplest example of intentional creative thinking, which most people have tried at least once, is brainstorming. With the quick generation of many ideas at once, we can block out our brain’s natural tendency to limit our solution-generating abilities so we can access and combine many possible solutions/thoughts and invent new ones. It is like sprinting through a race’s finish line only to find that there is a new track on the other side, and we can keep going if we choose to do so. As with critical thinking, the academic setting requires us to think creatively and is in fact the perfect place to practice and develop the skill.  Everything from word problems in a math class, to opinion or persuasive speeches and essays, calls upon our creative thinking skills in order for us to be able to generate new solutions and perspectives and to fulfill the demands of the task. Creative thinking asks questions such as—What if? Why not? What else is out there? Can I combine perspectives/solutions? What is something no one else has brought up? What is being forgotten/ignored? What about ______? It is the opening of doors and options that happens after we have identified the problem.

Consider an assignment that required you to compare two different authors on the topic of education and select and defend one as better. Now add to this scenario that your professor clearly prefers one author over the other. While critical thinking can get you as far as identifying the similarities and differences between these authors and evaluating their merits, it is creative thinking that you must use if you wish to challenge your professor’s opinion and invent new perspectives on the authors that have not previously been considered.

Developing Your Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

What can we do to develop our critical and creative thinking skills? Although many students may dislike it, group work is an excellent way to develop our thinking skills. Some students do not like working in groups because of different schedules, varied levels of commitment to the group or project, or personality conflicts. True—it is not always easy, but that is why it is so effective. When we work collaboratively on a project or problem, we bring many brains to bear on a subject. These different brains will naturally develop varied ways of solving or explaining problems and examining information.  This places us in a constant state of back-and-forth critical/creative thinking modes.

In group work, we are simultaneously analyzing information and generating solutions on our own, while challenging others’ analyses/ideas and responding to challenges to our own analyses/ideas. This is part of why students tend to avoid group work—it challenges us as thinkers and forces us to analyze others while defending ourselves, which is not something we are used to or comfortable with as most of our educational experiences involve solo work. Our professors know this, and by asking us to work in groups, they want to help us grow as students, learners, and thinkers.

Reflect and Discuss

Attributions

Text Attributions

• This chapter was adapted from Thinking Critically and Creatively in “Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom” by Thomas Priester. Licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence 

Media Attributions

• Creative Thinking vs Critical Thinking by James Taylor. Licensed under the Standard YouTube licence.