Presentation: Critical Thinking, Creativity and ImplementationBy: Nor Anisa Musa, Zaleha Ngarip, Mazlina MazlanIntroductionCritical thinking
is assumed to be the purposeful and reflective judgment aboutwhat to believe or what to do in response toobservations,experience,verbalor written
expressions, or arguments
(Oxford English Dictionary, 1989) Critical thinking mayinvolve determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or,concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. Hence, Fisher & Scriven define criticalthinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations,communications, information, and argumentation." Fisher & Scriven, (1997). Parker &Moore define it more narrowly as the careful, deliberate determination of whether oneshould accept, reject, or suspend judgment about aclaimand the degree of confidencewith which one accepts or rejects it.Critical thinking gives due consideration to theevidence, the context of judgment,
the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniquesfor forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding thenature of the problem and the question at hand. Critical thinking employs not onlylogic but broadintellectualcriteria such as clarity,credibility,accuracy, precision,relevance,
depth, breadth,significanceand fairness (Edward M. Glaser, 1941)
In contemporary usage "critical" has the connotation of expressing disapproval, (Hamby,2007) which is not always true of critical thinking. A critical evaluation of an argument,for example, might conclude that it is valid.
Creativity
is a mental and social process involving the generation of newideasor concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts.Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconsciousinsight. Analternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new(Plucker,1999).
From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimesreferred to asdivergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality
and
appropriateness.Although intuitively a simple phenomenon, it is in fact quite complex. It has beenstudied from the perspectives of behavioral psychology,social psychology,
psychometrics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence,philosophy,aesthetics,history,
economics, design research, business, andmanagement,among others. The studies have
covered everyday creativity, exceptional creativity and evenartificial creativity. Unlikemany phenomena in science, there is no single, authoritative perspective or definition of creativity. And unlike many phenomena in psychology, there is no standardizedmeasurement technique (Edward M. Glaser, 1941)Although popularly associated withartandliterature, it is also an essential part of
innovationandinventionand is important in professions such as business,economics,
architecture,industrial design,graphic design,advertising,mathematics,music,science
andengineering, and teaching (Plucker,1999)
Despite, or perhaps because of, the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of creativity, entireindustrieshave been spawned from the pursuit of creative ideas and thedevelopment of creativity techniques.Creativity has been associated withright or forehead brain activityor evenspecifically withlateral thinking.Some students of creativity have emphasized an element of chancein the creative process.Linus Pauling, asked at a public lecture how one createsscientific theories,
replied that one must endeavor to come up with
many
ideas — then discard the uselessones (Twardy, Dr. Charles R., 2003)Another adequate definition of creativity is that it is an "assumptions-breaking process." Creative ideas are often generated when one discards preconceived assumptionsand attempts a new approach or method that might seem to others unthinkable.
Overview Critical Thinking
Thinking is often casual but routine, whereas critical thinking deliberately evaluatesthe quality of thinking. In a seminal study on critical thinking and education writes thatthe ability to think critically involves three things: (Edward, 1941).1.An attitude of being disposed (state of mind regarding something) to consider in athoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one'sexperiences,2.Knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning,3.Some skill in applying those methods.Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposedform of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusionsto which it tends. It also generally requires ability to recognize problems, to findworkable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent(relevant)information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values, to comprehend and uselanguagewith accuracy, clarity, anddiscrimination, to interpretdata, to appraise evidence
and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logicalrelationships between propositions, to draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience, and to render accurate judgmentsabout specific things and qualities in everyday life (Dauer, Francis Watanabe, 2001)Critical thinking can occur whenever one judges, decides, or solves a problem; ingeneral, whenever one must figure out what to believe or what to do, and do so in areasonable and reflective way. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening can all be donecritically or uncritically. Critical thinking is crucial to becoming a close reader and asubstantive writer. Expressed most generally, critical thinking is “a way of taking up the problems of life.” Sumner, William (1906, 1940) Irrespective of the sphere of thought, “awell cultivated critical thinker":
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Raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
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Critic and Creative
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