MPU1033U2

THINKING SKILLS
 TOPIC 1
THINKING SKILLS
 What
are
thinking
skills?
 THINKING SKILLS…
• Mental processes that we apply when we seek to make sense of
experience.
• Thinking skills enable us to integrate each new experience into the
schema that we are constructing of "how things are".
• It is apparent that better thinking will help us to learn more from
our experience and to make better use of our intelligence.
THINKING SKILLS…

•The mind we have is a wonderful thing. You may have heard it is

like a computer. You may have also heard that we use only a
portion of its capability.

•We can improve our thinking skills by understanding specific

types of thinking, how they work, and practicing to improve our
thinking abilities.

•If we become more conscious about those skills, we become

better as a person, family member, and worker.
 Words to Describe Thinking
• Summarising
• Finding
• Hypothesising
• Deciding
• Evaluating
• Solving
• Sequencing
• Justifying
• Ordering
• Remembering
• Sorting
• Planning
• Classifying
• Arguing
• Grouping
• Identifying
• Predicting
• Speculating
• Concluding
• Calculating
• Distinguishing
• Comparing
• Creating
• Deducing
• Planning
• Presuming
• Testing
• Analysing
• Assessing
(Adapted from McGuinness, 1999)
 PRODUCTIVE vs RE
PRODUCTIVE
• Generally our thinking tends to be Re-productive, i.e. based on similar
problems encountered in the past, or taught to solve.

• However, we must learn to do Productive thinking, i.e. generate as many

alternative approaches as possible
 LEVELS OF THINKING

Low

High
 GIFT OR SKILLS?
• “That “creativity” is beyond analysis is a romantic illusion we
must now outgrow” – Peter Medawar.
 CONTINUE…
Intelligence and creativity are not the same things. Intelligence in a domain
means the ability to function at a high level in that domain, but creativity
involves asking new questions and altering the domain. One can be highly
intelligent but rigid, noncreative, or lacking in the kind of single-minded passion
that drives creators.
CREATIVITY
 CONTINUE…
Creativity can be developed by -
• Looking at the world in terms of analogy.
• Learning about different ways to solve a problem.
STRATEGIES OF PROBLEM SOLVING
 TOOLS FOR CRITICAL AND
CREATIVE THINKING
• Mind mapping
• Six Imaginary Thinking Hats
• Six Action Shoes
• SWOT
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
THINKING
Not a Par
Attention

Escape
New Idea
Movement
 ATTENTION
• Creativity requires that we first focus our
attention on something; typically something
that we have not focused much attention on
before.

• By focusing attention on things that are

normally taken for granted, creative thinking
techniques prepare our minds for
breakthroughs.
 ESCAPE
• The second principle behind all creative thinking
methods calls us to mentally escape our current
patterns of thinking.

• The principle of escape explains why a simple walk in

the woods can bring about creative thoughts. When we
walk in the woods, we escape the confines of the
current ways, both mentally and physically. Similarly,
staring at yourself in the mirror while you shave or put
on make-up provides a momentary mental escape that
may allow a novel mental connection about a work
problem to emerge.
 MOVEMENT
• The third underlying principle behind the
diverse tools of creative thinking -- calls us to
keep exploring and connecting our thoughts.
• Movement is a key principle behind the classic
creative thinking technique of brainstorming.
The ground rules of brainstorming are to
generate as many ideas as you can, with no
criticism, building on the ideas of others. In
other words, keep moving.
 NEW IDEA
• New ideas are composed of old elements
• To be creative, must be ready to deviate from
the ordinary and the traditional
• New ideas are actually old ones rearranged in a
new way
• If you have limited domain of knowledge, you
will have fewer resources to draw from in
forming new ideas
 NOT A PAR
• Not all ideas are on a par
• The ability to come up with new and useful
ideas which serve important need or creates a
new trend that makes an impact
• Creativity is divided into cognitive and artistic
creativity
Cognitive creativity
• Is a matter of coming up with solutions to practical or
theoretical problems
• Requires good critical thinking which helps to
determine the relevance and effectiveness of the idea
• Experience also may contribute to cognitive creativity
• Has two parts :-
The generation of new ideas
The evaluation and modification of new ideas
Artistic creativity
• Consists in the creation
of artwork and
expressing one’s ideas
and emotions through
various forms of art
Understanding concepts of Problems/
Challenges

Why do you think understanding concepts is

important to solve problems and challenges?
Blooms’ Taxonomy
•Provides a way to organize thinking skills into six levels, from basic to the
highest order level of thinking

•This cognitive domain consists of knowledge, comprehension, application,

analysis, evaluation, synthesis (from lowest to highest order of thinking)
• Knowledge : recognize and recalling facts,
knowing the patterns and trends

• Comprehension : understand the meaning of

information, make comparisons through
pinpointing similarities and differences

• Application : requires the pupil to use pre-

learned information in a different way to solve
problems
• Analysis : break information into components, see
relationships, formulate theoretical explanations,
mathematical or logical models for observed
phenomena

• Synthesis : use initiative, introducing ideas to solve

problems, put components together to create new
products or ideas

• Evaluation : making judgments, opinions based

on a given brief, theory or statement, justified
choice using specified criteria
THANK YOU