Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Problem Solving

    An essential job of being a teacher is helping students gain specific skills. Some of these skills are thinking critically, thinking creatively, and learning problem-solving skills (Lyman et al., 2015). As others talked about in previous blogs, all of these skills are important for students not only inside of the classroom but also when they are out in the world. These skills relate back to, as well, Bloom's taxonomy. 

    

    Knowledge and recall are the two lowest levels of cognition. These two levels require students to relay knowledge they have learned, but when a student should recall specific knowledge, the recall will question the purpose. 

    

    Comprehension is understanding, and to get the student to show they understand, the student should express their answer in their own words, not just by recalling information. 

    Application is a middle-level cognition, and it is when "information and ideas become more meaningful to students when they are asked to apply what they are learning in new and different ways" (Lyman et al., 2015).  A way to apply this is by asking students to apply/relate information to their own lives. 

    

    Analysis is students being asked to make connections to previously learned information. This is where they are thinking about thinking. Students gain critical thinking skills because they are beginning metacognition through application and analysis. 

    Critical thinking and creative thinking both need students to use their metacognition. Creative thinking is also called divergent thinking; this goal is for students to create different products and outcomes. 

 

References
Lyman, L., Foyle, H. C., Waters, S., & Lyman, A. L. (2015). Teaching Social Studies in the 
    Elementary School: Communities, Connections, and Citizenship. National Social Science Press.