CRITICAL & CREATIVE THINKING through developmental stages
Jean Piaget was one of the most influential figures in development physchology. Piaget believed thinking develops in a series of increasingly complex stages each of which incorporates and revises those that precede it. It's hard to deny this - we all know that five year olds think and respond differently to 15 year olds. We acknowledge that there are cognitive developmental stages and understand the importance of critical and creative thinking. The question is ... how can we develop these important thinking tools through each stage of cognitive development?
According to Daniel Keating in his book "Cognitive and Brain Development", critical thinking is a skill that must be learned and practised in order for it to develop and is highly dependent on a solid base of more fundamental verbal and numerical skills established during childhood. Without a firm intellectual base, critical thinking is unlikely to develop during the high school years. What we do know is that critical and creative thinking (CCT) does not develop through osmosis, it must be taught directly and explicitly, then practicsed. From birth cognitive development is happening, parents, our environment including stimuli all work together to develop cognitive function in children.
In an education setting, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Report acknowledge the importance of CCT and lists CCT as one of the seven general capabilities to be fostered in the National Curriculum.
In every subject area across the Curriculum CCT is integrated. Students are taught to: think logically, reason, be open-minded, seek alternatives, tolerate ambiguity, inquire into possibilities, be innovative risk-takers and use their imagination.
What is interesting is 'thinking' undergoes significant changes during adolescence. Adolecence is a period characterised by increased problem-solving activity. This must be fostered, nurtured and developed as past studies have shown that fewer than 50 per cent of year 11 students develop effective critical thinking skills. These skills must be modelled - teachers can think aloud or explain how they solved a problem and create environments conducive to critical thinking.
21st Century
Learning Skills
Further reading: Educational Leadership - Preparing Creative and Critical Thinkers by Donald J. Treffinger
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