Pages 179 214

1

• CHAPTER 6
• Pages 179 214
• HIGHER-LEVEL THINKING
• Developing Higher Levels of Critical and Creative
  Thinking Skills

Michael Turino, 2008
2

• Three key goals of this chapter are to provide
  you with
• 1. A clear definition of what higher-level
  thinking is and what its not.
• 2. A carefully organized classification of
  different forms or types of higher-level
  thinking.
• 3. Concrete illustrations of how higher-level
  thinking may be applied and demonstrated to
  improve academic performance in college.

3

• In our text, the authors define learning as
  taking place in three progressively high levels
  or forms
• Memorization (surface learning).
• Comprehension (deep learning).
• Higher-level thinking (higher than comprehension)
  that builds on comprehension to move to higher
  levels of thought (e.g., critical and creative
  thinking).

4
(No Transcript)
5

• Becoming a critical and creative thinker is a
  developmental process.
• By making the effort to establish habits of
  good thinking skills early in your college
  experience, they are likely to become natural
  habits that can be applied routinely to improve
  the quality of your performance and
  decision-making in college and in your personal
  life.

6

• Chapter Outline
• What is thinking?
• What is Higher-Level Thinking?
• Defining and Classifying the Major Forms of
  Higher-Level Thinking.
• Strategies for Developing and Applying HLT
  Skills to Improve Academic Performance.

7

• What is thinking?
• The mental process of consciously experiencing
  thoughts, ideas, and images.
• A cognitive activity, as distinguished from
  emotions (anger or anxiety) or drives (hunger or
  sex).

8

• What is Higher-Level Thinking?
• All thought processes that are higher than rote
  memorization or basic comprehension.
• A more advanced level of thought.
• Involves jacking up your thinking to levels
  that go beyond merely remembering, reproducing,
  or regurgitating factual information.

9

• The Major Forms of Higher-Level Thinking
• Analysis Breaking down information and
  identifying its key parts or underlying elements
  (page 183).
• Synthesis Building up ideas by integrating
  separate pieces of information to form a larger
  whole or more comprehensive product (page 183).
• Multidimensional Thinking Taking multiple
  perspectives and considering multiple theories
  (page 184).

10

• Forms of Higher-Level Thinking continued
• Dialectical Thinking Considering opposing
  viewpoints (page 188).
• Balanced Thinking Seeking out and giving
  careful consideration to evidence for and against
  a particular position (page 189).
• Inferential Reasoning Making arguments and
  drawing conclusions. Start with a premise and
  use it to infer or step to a conclusion (page
  191).

11

• Forms of Higher-Level Thinking continued
• Critical Thinking A higher level thought process
  that involves making a judgment or evaluation.
  It is used to evaluate ideas, beliefs, choices,
  and decisions. Critical thinking asks the
  question why ? (page 192)
• Creative Thinking Developing something new or
  different, whether it be a product, an idea, a
  method, or a strategy. Creative thinking asks the
  question why not? (page 197)

12
Strategies for Developing and Applying HLT
Skills to Improve Performance

• 1. Self-Questioning Strategies page 199
• 2. Listening Strategies page 203
• 3. Reading Strategies page 204
• 4. Creating Cognitive Dissonance
• Reverse arguments for a position.
• Defend and refute both sides of an issue.
• Seek out differing viewpoints and positions.
• Be a devils advocate.

13
Strategies for Developing and Applying HLT
Skills to Improve Performance

• 5. Creative Thinking Strategies
• Carry a notepad or post-it notes.
• Stop working on an idea and come back to it
  later.
• When stuck on a problem, rearrange its parts or
  pieces.
• Change the sequence of steps in a problem.
• Represent what youre thinking about in different
  sensory modalities
• (diagram, flow chart, idea map).
• Use multiple sources.
• Be flexible by thinking about ideas in unusual or
  unconventional ways.
• Be experimental.
• Be mobile by moving around a lot.
• Be persistent.

14
Be a Reporter, ask

• WHO ?
• WHAT ?
• WHERE ?

• WHEN ?
• WHY ?
• HOW ?

15
Website Resources

• http//www.criticalthinking.org/
• http//www.amcreativityassoc.org/index1.htm
• http//www.pgcps.org/elc/isquestiontopromote.html
  

16
THE END ?