This document provides strategies for teachers to develop creativity and critical thinking in the classroom. It defines creativity as divergent thinking and innovative problem solving, and notes that creativity is important for students and countries to remain competitive globally. Some suggested teaching strategies for creativity include visual thinking skills, role-playing, problem-solving activities, and creative writing. Critical thinking is defined as examining evidence from multiple perspectives to form independent opinions. It is important for making valid decisions and problem solving. Recommended strategies for developing critical thinking involve Socratic seminars, research projects, media analysis, identifying main ideas, and student-generated inquiries.

1. STRATEGIES FOR
DEVELOPING CREATIVITY
AND CRITICAL THINKING
Karin Bomar
MED/560
March, 17, 2014
University of Phoenix

2. DEAR TEACHER,
This is intended to be a resource which you can use to enhance creativity and
critical in your classroom. This presentation, I hope, will help you in your
planning. I have included some useful strategies but it is not an exhaustive list.
You may want to complete this repertoire with your own ideas and research!
Bon courage!

3. WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
• Creativity is “characterized by divergent thinking, innovative
solutions to problems, and fresh new ideas.” (Fletcher, 2011,
p.37)
• Creativity is a right-brained thinking. (Mescolotto, 2010)

4. WHY IS CREATIVITY IMPORTANT?
• Creativity is important because of globalization and technology. Today,
computers can carry out many tasks, jobs are outsourced. Creativity can be
the key to success not only of students but of the country as a whole.
(Saebo, 2007)
• Creativity is becoming the focus of many countries education in the world.
In order to remain competitive, creativity must be taught in our schools.

5. TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR CREATIVITY
1. Visual Thinking Skills (VTS)
2. Role-play
3. Problem-solving activities
4. Creative writing
5. Questioning

6. EXPLANATIONS
1. Visual Thinking Skills (VTS)
The teacher shows students a painting. The students need to say what
is going on in the painting. They need to support their opinions with
elements of the painting. (Mary, Kay, Dave, & Lisa, 2013)
2. Role-play
This strategy can be used to help the students make connections with
what they are learning. When students read a novel, for instance, they
can produce a skit in which they play the roles of the main characters.

7. 3. Problem-solving activities
The teacher gives the students a real-life problem to solve in groups. The
students find creative solutions.
4. Creative writing
There are many examples of this kind of activity: story telling, writing their own
fictitious journals for characters of the novel…
5. Questioning
The teacher can ask the students thought-provoking questions which will make
the students think creatively.

8. WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?
• “Critical thinking involves examining clues, considering alternatives while
holding opposing ideas and exploring possibilities.” (Mary, Kay, Dave, & Lisa,
2013, p.58)
• Critical thinking is the ability for an individual not to simply accept everything
he is is told . He is able to take information, analyze it and separate the
objective information from the subjective information. In doing so, he is then
able to read or listen critically and form his own independent opinion about
the information given. This skill empowers people.

9. WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING IMPORTANT?
“Many in the workplace express their concerns about the need for intellectual
abilities because they have a direct bearing on productivity, innovation, and
overall success in the marketplace.” (Burke, 2010, p. 7)
Critical thinking is the key to making valid decisions and solving problems.

10. TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR CRITICAL THINKING
1. Socratic Seminars
2. Research
3. Media-decoding activities
4. Big idea
5. Inquiry

11. EXPLANATIONS
1. Socratic Seminars
Socratic Seminars are group discussions where students express their thoughts based
on evidence gathered in their reading. The discussion benefits from open-ended
questions.
2. Research
The students are given a topic or better yet, they chose a topic. They find resources
and evaluate them in terms of credibility, bias, … They synthesize the information and
write a cohesive project.
3. Media-decoding activities
For instance, in a science class, the students compare scientific facts with what they
can read in the media, “evaluate conflicting views on controversial topics, analyze
the sources of information in your classroom.” (Sperry, 2012, p. 57) Then, they write
their own article.

12. 4. Big Idea
Students read a book and they try to identify the big idea. Then, they should
be able to relate all the passages of the book to it.
5. Inquiry
Students generate their own questions. They make hypotheses. This enables
students to delve deeper into what they are studying.

13. I HOPE THIS HELPS!

14. REFERENCES
Burke, J. (2010). What's the Big Idea? Question-Driven Units to Motivate Reading, Writing and Thinking. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Fletcher, T. S. (2011). Creative Thinking in Schools: Finding the "Just Right" Challenge for Students. Gifted Children Today vol.34, no.2, 37-42.
Mary, M., Kay, C., Dave, F., & Lisa, W. (2013). Visual Thinking Strategies = Creative and Critical Thinking. Kappan, 56-60.
Mescolotto, L. M. (2010). Supporting Right-Brained Thinking. The Science Teacher, 36-39.
Saebo, A. B., McCammon, L. A., & Larry, O. (2007). Creative Thinking - Teaching Creativity. Carribean Quaterly, 205-255.
Sperry, C. (2012). Teaching Critical Thinking Through Media Literacy. Science Scope, 56-60.