1. WELCOME: Take a seat in the quadrant that best describes your thinking style.

2. The Whole Brain Model® And How to Think Outside of the Galaxy
Critical Thinking
The Whole Brain Model®
And How to Think Outside of the Galaxy

3. Forbes.com Top 5 Skills that will Get You Hired
Critical Thinking
Complex Problem-Solving
Judgement and Decision Making
Active Listening
Computer and Technical Skills

4. What is Critical Thinking?
2 minutes

5. Last Year’s Presentation

6. Aspects of Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking Is -
Understanding the Problem
Evaluating the Evidence
Making Logical Decisions
Making Thoughtful Decisions
Aspects of Critical Thinking

7. Aspects of Critical Thinking
(aka. Intelligence)
Analytical
Practical
Creative
Sources: Sternberg (1996), Walters (2003) and (Original page by Mary Frangie)

8. Analytical Intelligence
Encompasses the ability to think abstractly and process information effectively
High test scores
High IQ

9. Practical Intelligence
Ability to quickly recognize what factors influence success on various tasks and are adept at both adapting to and shaping their views to meet goals.
Reflected in Test Scores?
No!

10. Creative Intelligence
The ability to formulate new ideas, to combine seemingly unrelated facts or information.
Overlooked by test scores
There was a time when it was
thought that critical and
creative thinking were two
different things.

11. Agile Thinking
Agile thinking is about encouraging and appreciating value, speed, and flexibility.
Agile thinking (again, agile being a set of values) encourages experts to communicate better and to recognize mistakes earlier.
Agile thinking promotes relevant insights to strategy.

12. You are Asked to do More with LESS!

13. COURT The Amazing Acronym
One word will appear below. You have two minutes to create the most amazing ACROYNM that you can think of using all of the letters in the word.
COURT

14. Ned Herrmann’s Whole Brain® Thinking model
While not without it’s critics, the model serves a guide to our thinking preferences.

15. Preferences versus Whole Brain®
Although we all have preferences, we can learn to fully leverage preferences and use our entire brain.

16. Spock
Kirk
Scotty
McCoy

17. Get to Whole Brain Through CREATIVITY
Start with your preferred way of thinking first
Use techniques to bring in the whole brain

18. Creative thought leads to flexible thought – that’s how we get to whole brain.

19. It’s not what you think, but how you think it.
The Whole Brain Game™
It’s not what you think, but how you think it.
2012 Creative Mind Games.

20. Want to Change Seats?

21. Categories What Would Happen If There Was No _______? List All the
Different Kinds
of ___________
How is a _______
Like a ________?
You have been given to the Power to ______.
How would you use it?
What Needed to Be Invented Before _____ Came to Be?
What types of people could be described as this word?
Give human
Characteristics
To _______. How would it interact
In the environment?
Why would this type of person do that?

22. What would happen if there was no -
Coffee?
Back

23. List all the different types of _________
Bottles
Back

24. How is a _______ like a ________?
Butt
Hat?
Back

25. You have been given the power to _____. How would you use it?
Interpret
For Animals
Back

26. What needed to be invented before _____ could come to be?
Toilets
Back

27. What types of people could be described as this word?
Smothering
Back

28. Give human characteristics to _______
Give human characteristics to _______. How would it interact in the environment?
Shoes
Back

29. Why would this type of person do that?
Jesse James
Exercise

30. Debrief
What types of issues must you tackle at work that would require this level of brainstorming?

31. Critical Thinking IS Creative Thinking
Why is brainstorming so difficult at times?
How can you overcome groupthink and “in-the-box” thinking?

32. Reverse Brainstorming
Instead of asking, “How can I solve this problem?” ask, “How can I create this problem?” From those ideas, see if you can work backward to solve your actual problem or issue.
Brainstorm ideas as if you were your role model, or a public figure you admire. What would your parent do? Best friend? Beloved teacher? Bill Gates? Warren Buffett? Thomas Jefferson? Albert Einstein? Mother Teresa? What would this person think or do about the issue or problem?

33. Assess explanations/solutions
Are there erroneous or incorrect assumptions?
Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
Review critical thinking mistakes.
How good is the information?
What is the source?
Can you test it? (Maybe it’s an opinion, not a fact).
Is it vague?
Did you observe for yourself? Check for yourself?
Is the information based on only one occurrence? Or is there a pattern?

34. Assess, cont’d Is information omitted?
Context
Negative or opposing ideas or information
How dependable are the statistics?
Are there other statistics that contradict the data you collected?

35. Alarming Facts
Stats: A study by Dr. John Ioannidis, an expert in medical-research credibility, found that as much as 90% of published medical information is flawed. (Source: Denver Post.) Remember, statistics don’t prove anything; they just support conclusions.
Another common place to practice evaluating information is by looking at nutritional labeling, especially on organic or “natural” foods. Many foods claim to be natural, but what does that really mean? Point: It can take a lot of digging to accurately assess seemingly simple statements or claims.

36. What’s Your Action Plan?

37. Bibliography
Creative Mind Games. “The Whole Brain Game, it’s not what you think…but how you think it.” Plainwell, MI Distributed by Talicor, Inc.
Hermann, Ned. “What is Whole Brain Thinking,” whole-brain-thinking-2/
HRDQ, “Critical Thinking Skills.” King of Prussia, PA HRDQ
Sternberg (1996), Walters (2003) and (Original page by Mary Frangie)