Critical and Creative Thinking

Critical and Creative Thinking
 In the Australian Curriculum, students develop capability in criticaland creative thinking

as they learn to generate and evaluate knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek
possibilities, consider alternatives and solve problems. Critical and creative thinking
involves students thinking broadly and deeply using skills, behaviours and dispositions
such as reason, logic, resourcefulness, imagination and innovation in all learning areas
at school and in their lives beyond school.
 Thinking that is productive, purposeful and intentional is at the centre of effective
learning. By applying a sequence of thinking skills, students develop an increasingly
sophisticated understanding of the processes they can use whenever they encounter
problems, unfamiliar information and new ideas. In addition, the progressive
development of knowledge about thinking and the practice of using thinking strategies
can increase students’ motivation for, and management of, their own learning. They
become more confident and autonomous problem-solvers and thinkers.
 Responding to the challenges of the twenty-first century – with its complex
environmental, social and economic pressures – requires young people to be creative,
innovative, enterprising and adaptable, with the motivation, confidence and skills to use
critical and creative thinking purposefully.
 This capability combines two types of thinking: critical thinking and creative thinking.
Though the two are not interchangeable, they are strongly linked, bringing
complementary dimensions to thinking and learning.
 Critical thinking is at the core of most intellectual activity that involves students
learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that
argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems.
Examples of critical thinking skills are interpreting, analysing, evaluating, explaining,
sequencing, reasoning, comparing, questioning, inferring, hypothesising, appraising,
testing and generalising.
 Creative thinking involves students learning to generate and apply new ideas in specific
contexts, seeing existing situations in a new way, identifying alternative explanations,
and seeing or making new links that generate a positive outcome. This includes
combining parts to form something original, sifting and refining ideas to discover
possibilities, constructing theories and objects, and acting on intuition. The products of
creative endeavour can involve complex representations and images, investigations
and performances, digital and computer-generated output, or occur as virtual reality.
 Concept formation is the mental activity that helps us compare, contrast and classify
ideas, objects, and events. Concept learning can be concrete or abstract and is closely
allied with metacognition. What has been learnt can be applied to future examples. It
underpins the organising elements.
 Dispositions such as inquisitiveness, reasonableness, intellectual flexibility, open- and
fair-mindedness, a readiness to try new ways of doing things and consider alternatives,
and persistence promote and are enhanced by critical and creative thinking.
 This icon shows where Critical and Creative Thinking has been identified in learning
area content descriptions and elaborations.
Key ideas
 The key ideas for Critical and Creative Thinking are organised into four interrelated
elements in the learning continuum, as shown in the figure below.
Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
Organizing elements for Critical and Creative Thinking
 The elements are not a taxonomy of thinking. Rather, each makes its own contribution
to learning and needs to be explicitly and simultaneously developed.
Critical and creative thinking
 Critical and creative thinking is essential for students to become successful learners.
This general capability has 4 main parts:
 posing questions, gathering, organising and processing information and ideas

 imagining possibilities, suggesting alternatives, seeking solutions and putting ideas into
action
 talking about and giving reasons for their thinking and applying knowledge in new
situations
 applying logic and reasoning, drawing conclusions and designing a course of action, and
evaluating procedures and results.
 During their primary and high school years, students develop critical and creative
thinking as they imagine possibilities, consider alternatives, and create innovative
solutions. They apply logic and reasoning to develop a course of action, and weigh up the
consequences.
Examples
 For example, in design and technology, year 9 and 10 students analyse social, ethical
and sustainability factors that have an impact on their designed solutions, including the
production processes involved.
 Another example is in the learning area of humanities and social sciences, where
students consider social, environmental, economic and community issues and make
plans for personal or group action. For example in geography, year 7 students think
critically and creatively to propose actions to create future water security.
 In mathematics, students learn that there is more than one way to approach
mathematical problems, and develop and use a range of different strategies for problem
solving. Students pose questions, and organise and summarise data sets. They interpret
their results and draw conclusions based on the evidence. For example, in year 5
students may collect and analyse data about traffic around their school which might
inform the local council about the need for a school crossing.
Helping your child
You can help your child develop critical and creative thinking by:
 encouraging them to explore, be curious, come up with questions and investigate how
things work
 asking them to think of different ways to solve problems
 providing choices of activities that involve planning and decision making
 asking them to describe their thinking and give reasons for it
 showing them it is OK to make mistakes
 sharing your mistakes and what you learnt from them
 valuing their ideas and efforts.

Critical and Creative Thinking

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Critical and Creative Thinking

 In the Australian Curriculum, students develop capability in criticaland creative thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas

Organizing elements for Critical and Creative Thinking

This general capability has 4 main parts:

 posing questions, gathering, organising and processing information and ideas

Helping your child

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