1. Thinking Skills – Creative Thinking
Ms. Lalith

2. Objectives Thinking Skills - types Definition of creative thinking
Characteristics of a creative person
Methods of creative thinking
Creative thinking techniques
Summary

3. Thinking Skills
Thinking can refer to the act of producing thoughts or the process of producing thoughts.

4. TYPES OF THINKING Creative Thinking – fresh perspectives and ideas
Lateral thinking – Systematically generate new ideas
Critical Thinking – Thorough or exhaustive
Logical Thinking – Progress of a thought in a linear way
Parallel Thinking – Avoiding group conflict
Structured Thinking – Another way of critical thinking

5. Positive Thinking - Attitude
Strategic Thinking - Thinking required to set directions
Divergent Thinking - Unfiltered pool of action
Convergent Thinking - Development of workable proposals
Associative Thinking - linking thoughts to one thought to another
Radiant Thinking - Thinking radiates from a central idea

6. Will this be on the Test?
LouEllen

8. Creative Thinking Focus on exploring ideas Generates possibilities
Looks for many right answers rather than just one.

9. is for the arts & humanities
True or False
CRITICAL THINKING
is for science & math
CREATIVE THINKING
is for the arts & humanities
Shilpi
Have people share with a shoulder partner their thinking about this question.

10. ANY subject, content or problem.
FALSE
CRITICAL & CREATIVE thinking
can and should be applied to
ANY subject, content or problem.
Shilpi
Share slide and ask for key points from audience.

11. is a right brain activity
True or False
CREATIVITY
is a right brain activity
Shilpi
Shoulder partner turn and talk

12. FALSE
CREATIVE THINKING requires divergent thinking and then convergent thinking.
CREATIVITY requires constant shifting between right and left brain activity.
Shilpi
Creative thinking requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).
Creativity requires constant shifting, blender pulses of both types of thinking (right and left brain activity) to arrive at original and useful ideas.
The Creativity Crisis, Bronson & Merryman

13. CREATIVITY can be taught.
True or False
CREATIVITY can be taught.
Shilpi

14. TRUE:CREATIVITY can be taught.
Practicing promotes more creative thinking.
Shilpi
Those who practice creative activities learn to recruit their brains’ creative networks quicker and better. (connect explicitly to MINDSET)
Fact finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. The Creativity Crisis, Bronson & Merryman
Treffinger’s Creative Problem-Solving Method is composed of fact-finding, problem-finding, idea-finding, solution-finding, and plan of action and has
the highest success in increasing children’s creativity.
Dr. Treffinger’s model for creative problem-solving:
1. Fact-Finding
2. Problem-Finding
3. Idea-Finding
4. Solution-Finding
5. Developing a Plan of Action
Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction, Fourth Edition 2006
Donald Treffinger Ph.D. (Author), Scott Isaksen Ph.D. (Author), Brian Stead-Doval (Author

16. METHODS OF CREATIVE THINKING

26. Creative Thinking Techniques
Brainstorming
Mind mapping
Morphological Matrix
SCAMPER techniques
Value grid
RAFT strategy

27. Creative Thinking Techniques
Example:
Creative Thinking Techniques
I. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is like taking out everything from your wardrobe (the brain)
to have a showcase of clothes and accessories
(what you know about the topic).

28. I. Brainstorming Example: What comes to mind when you think of summer?
Topic: Summer
hot and wet
June to August
summer holiday
swimming
beach
sunny
watermelons
ice-cream
mosquitoes
summer courses
Ocean Park
Food Expo
typhoons
cold drinks
summer holiday homework
relaxing
cartoons
air-conditioners
The brainstorming session will end up with … MANY / FEW ideas.

29. Food I. & II. From Brainstorming … to Mind Mapping Example:
Topic: Summer
hot and wet
June to August
summer holiday
swimming
beach
sunny
watermelons
ice-cream
mosquitoes
summer courses
Ocean Park
Food Expo
typhoons
cold drinks
summer holiday homework
relaxing
cartoons
air-conditioners
Food

30. Using Creative Thinking Tools & Strategies: I. & II
Using Creative Thinking Tools & Strategies: I. & II. From Brainstorming … to Mind Mapping
Example:
Topic: Summer
hot and wet
June to August
summer holiday
swimming
beach
sunny
watermelons
ice-cream
mosquitoes
summer courses
Ocean Park
Food Expo
typhoons
cold drinks
summer holiday homework
relaxing
cartoons
air-conditioners
Weather
Food

31. Food Weather Activities
Using Creative Thinking Tools & Strategies: I. & II. From Brainstorming … to Mind Mapping
Example:
Topic: Summer
hot and wet
June to August
summer holiday
swimming
beach
sunny
watermelons
ice-cream
mosquitoes
summer courses
Ocean Park
Food Expo
typhoons
cold drinks
summer holiday homework
relaxing
cartoons
air-conditioners
Food
Weather
Activities

32. Using Creative Thinking Tools & Strategies: II. Mind Mapping
Example:
ice-cream
cold drinks
Food
watermelons
Summer in Hong Kong
beach
air-conditioners
cartoons
hot and wet
Weather
Activities
Food Expo
June to August
Ocean Park
mosquitoes
sunny
typhoons
relaxing
summer courses
swimming
summer holiday
Summer holiday homework

33. II. Mind Mapping Example:
Concentrating pupils’ thoughts by providing sub-topics
the brainstorming session will end up with a blackboard full of ideas on the same topic, although not yet arranged in any clear order. Pupils may then find it difficult to locate some useful ideas later on.
On the other hand, if pupils do not know the topic well enough, they will be stuck and will not even know where to start thinking about the topic.
In both cases, the teacher can make use of a mind map (Buzan, 1994) which provides pupils with sub-topics to guide them to organise their thoughts or to help them narrow down their scope of thinking so that they know what aspects they should focus on when thinking. A mind map is a non-linear diagram with one focused topic put at the centre. Further details of sub-topics extend on branches from the centre. Apart from helping pupils visualise their ideas, a mind map also allows them to classify and prioritise ideas. It is particularly useful for planning and organising information.
As in brainstorming, there should be no criticism. Pupils are encouraged to make as many suggestions as they can.
Mind mapping is like categorising many pieces of clothing (ideas / what you know about the topic) into different drawers (sub-topics)

34. III. Morphological Matrix
 Combining ideas to explore possibilities and create unusual ideas

35. IV. S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Techniques Thinking outside the box
SCAMPER an acronym for a list of words that represent a series of idea-generating methods.
Thinking outside the box
Combining characteristics of a subject is just one way to form new ideas.
Pupils can let their thoughts run wild and think outside the box using the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. techniques (Eberle, 1971).
The S.C.A.M.P.E.R. techniques were developed to stimulate people to cope with a problem from new perspectives.
They can be applied to many creative classroom activities such as story-writing, creative reading of a text, or simply stimulating pupils to visualise a creative image in their minds.
Teachers could guide pupils with questions to use some of the techniques to form new ideas.

36. V. Value Grid Explore alternatives and evaluate solutions Step 1
Ideas 1
Flowers 2
Mobile phone 3
Photo album 4
Fountain pen
Step 1
In the first column of the grids, list the ideas

37. V. Value Grid Explore alternatives and evaluate solutions Step 2
Ideas A
How much does it cost? B
How long does it last? C
Where can we get it? D
What meaning does it have? 1
Flowers 2
Mobile phone 3
Photo album 4
Fountain pen
Step 2
In the first row list the values to consider when finding an ideal solution

38. V. Value Grid Explore alternatives and evaluate solutions Step 5
Ideas A
How much does it cost? B
How long does it last? C
Where can we get it? D
What meaning does it have? 1
Flowers
~$300 per bunch
1 week
Florists
People give flowers to show love 2
Mobile phone
$500 to $6000
A few years
Electrical appliance shops
Grandpa can keep in touch with us easily 3
Photo album
<$100
Forever
Stationery shops
Grandpa can keep sweet memories in album 4
Fountain pen
~$400
Forever but needs ink refill
Grandpa can carry the pen wherever he goes to remember us
Step 5
Choose the best idea and modify it

39. VI. R.A.F.T. Strategy
Thinking from a new angle
Role: Take on the role of someone or something (an object) to
think about how to react to a situation
Audience: Write to a specific audience, their background,
knowledge, feelings and concerns
Format: Write in different formats
Topic: Write about a variety of topics
Using the RAFT stratergy = looking into different mirrors in different roles from new angles. You will see a brand new image.

41. What sprouted at your table discussions?
LouEllen
Whole group share out

42. Go as far as you can see. When you get there, you can see farther.
Thomas Carlyle
Shilpi