Your ability to think critically and creatively is a key to your success in college and in life. You should develop and practice these skills.
Bloom’s taxonomy provides a framework to describe the many kinds of thinking we need to do. Up to this point, you probably have practiced most of the lower-level thinking skills but have not had much experience with the higher-level skills (critical thinking and creative thinking).
Critical thinking involves evaluating the strength of ideas or concepts by asking questions about them. Critical thinking will also allow you to identify and weed out logical fallacies that weaken the value of an idea.
Creative thinking is the process of generating new ideas, concepts, or solutions. This often involves adapting existing ideas or combining them in new ways to create a new solution.
Problem solving is effectively achieved by applying both critical thinking and creative thinking to generate viable solutions and decisions.
Chapter Review
List the six levels of thinking described in Bloom’s taxonomy.
Which thinking skill is most important for short answer quizzes? Why?
List five verbs that describe the application level of thought.
What thinking skills are you using if you are blogging? How do you use each one?
What is critical thinking?
Why is it important to pose some questions about the source of the material you read? What kinds of questions should you ask?
What is a logical fallacy? Give an example of two types.
List six words that signal a broad generalization and a recommended alternative that would resolve that problem of each.
What are some ways in which you can feed your curiosity?
Why is brainstorming more effective at generating new ideas than individual work?