Using Technology to Develop Creativity and Critical Thinking Skills in Students
“Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future.”
- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills www.p21.org
This site is an exploration of three components that are an essential part of a student's education. Creativity, critical thinking and technology must be taught, fluidly incorporated and at the forefront of all curricula. As educators it is our responsibility to use technology to facilitate creativity and critical thinking skills in our students. By helping our students develop these skills we are enabling them to think in NEW (Novel, Effective, Whole) ways, as well as giving them critical thinking experience which allows them to transfer their understandings to new concepts.
Creativity in younger students seems very natural and more visible, however, as they get older, this creativity tends to become less and less apparent in their work. Teachers need to provide authentic platforms for students to display their work, and give them the necessary support to think outside the box, so to speak, when it comes to solving problems (Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity?). Teaching a student to be creative is not about helping them come up with one good idea to solve a problem, but helping them come up with a multitude of different ideas to test, reflect upon, and modify as a part of the learning process.
“Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.”
(Michael Scriven and Richard Paul of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction)
Critical Thinking is not only an important component of most professions, but is a skill that enhances life-long learning. This form of thinking is comprised of several core skills: observation, interpretation, analysis, inferring, evaluation, and explanation. It isn't enough to just have these skills: students (and adults) must also be able to apply them to problems and situations in their everyday lives.
Technology is an integral part of the world we live in. We increasingly depend on it for our news, social networking, entertainment, research, and more. We need to help our students develop the necessary skills that will show them how to utilize the technology that is available to them to its fullest extent.
The importance of creativity, critical thinking, and technology in education are shown in this graphic from The Partnership of 21st Century Skills. This framework shows how each element is distinctly represented, yet all student outcomes are tied to the support systems in place at the bottom of the graphic.
- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills www.p21.org
This site is an exploration of three components that are an essential part of a student's education. Creativity, critical thinking and technology must be taught, fluidly incorporated and at the forefront of all curricula. As educators it is our responsibility to use technology to facilitate creativity and critical thinking skills in our students. By helping our students develop these skills we are enabling them to think in NEW (Novel, Effective, Whole) ways, as well as giving them critical thinking experience which allows them to transfer their understandings to new concepts.
Creativity in younger students seems very natural and more visible, however, as they get older, this creativity tends to become less and less apparent in their work. Teachers need to provide authentic platforms for students to display their work, and give them the necessary support to think outside the box, so to speak, when it comes to solving problems (Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity?). Teaching a student to be creative is not about helping them come up with one good idea to solve a problem, but helping them come up with a multitude of different ideas to test, reflect upon, and modify as a part of the learning process.
“Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.”
(Michael Scriven and Richard Paul of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction)
Critical Thinking is not only an important component of most professions, but is a skill that enhances life-long learning. This form of thinking is comprised of several core skills: observation, interpretation, analysis, inferring, evaluation, and explanation. It isn't enough to just have these skills: students (and adults) must also be able to apply them to problems and situations in their everyday lives.
Technology is an integral part of the world we live in. We increasingly depend on it for our news, social networking, entertainment, research, and more. We need to help our students develop the necessary skills that will show them how to utilize the technology that is available to them to its fullest extent.
The importance of creativity, critical thinking, and technology in education are shown in this graphic from The Partnership of 21st Century Skills. This framework shows how each element is distinctly represented, yet all student outcomes are tied to the support systems in place at the bottom of the graphic.
For more specific information on this framework, visit The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website.