Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Critical & Creative Thinking It is amazing how some people see things from a fresh perspective. While others see ordinary things as plain, they view it as more interesting, far from being simple. They also see possibilities where others see dead-ends. They have such vivid imaginations and can come up with unexpectedly witty comments. These are the kind of people who should be placed in jobs that promote innovation. These people, endowed with special skills, are thought of as â€Å"creative†. There are likewise people who get into deep thinking considering all possibilities in analyzing various perspectives. Such critical thinkers engage in higher order thinking skills and welcome analysis, debates and a lot of brainstorming. Both creative and critical thinking skills are highly valued in whatever situation and it is important that these skills be developed from childhood. So what are creative thinking and critical thinking, and how are they related to each other? At this point, definitions are in order: The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking (1987) released the following statement: â€Å"Critical thinking is 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. We will write a custom essay sample on Critical Thinking and Creativ e Problem Solving or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. † (National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987 as mentioned in The Critical Thinking Community, 2009, para 3) Creativity, on the other hand, covers a wide range of definitions. According to J. P. Guilford, in its narrowest sense, creativity comprises â€Å"the abilities†¦characteristic of creative people†¦, which include such activities as inventing, designing, contriving, composing, and planning. People who exhibit these types of behavior to a marked degree are recognized as being creative. † (Guilford, 1950). Some other accepted definitions of Creativity are as follows: the ability to see things in new ways; boundary breaking and going beyond the information given; thinking unconventionally; making something unique or original; and combining unrelated things into something new (Schirrmacher, 1988). Torrance (1965), a proponent in creativity research, defines creativity as the â€Å"process of sensing problems or gaps in information, forming ideas or hypotheses and communicating the results. † Schirrmacher explains that creativity may be explained in terms of product, process, skill set of personality traits or set of environmental conditions.