The Role of Critical and Creative Thinking in the Creation of Knowledge - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING IN THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE of The Role of Critical and Creative Thinking in the Creation of Knowledge Introduction Critical thinking and creative reasoning are abilities that we have, which are enabled by the power of our mind. We have free will and it is upon us to think critically and reason creatively to solve the challenges and problems of daily our daily lives. However, the processes of critical and creative thinking require a person to have some unique skills of utilizing these processes of the mind in generation of knowledge. In mathematics, logistical data is used in the analysis and judgment of situations. Moreover, the processes of creative and critical thinking interact in enabling artists extract information from nature and history which is represented in works of art. This TOK essay gives a critical and illustrative discussion of the interaction between critical and creative reasoning in generation of knowledge within the disciplines of Mathematics and Arts. Gruenfeld (2010, p. 71) defines critical thinking as the process of evaluating, judging and reflecting on the assumptions of our own thoughts and ideas as well as the efforts made by us and others. On the other hand Barker (2003, p. 80) describes creative thinking as the development of unique ideas as well as the process in which we form worthy and useful thoughts which enhance further elaborating by us or by other people. Mathematics requires both critical and creative thinking to enhance the skills of our thoughts so that the mathematical knowledge could be applied in solving problems in real life situations. In the field of Arts creative thinking involves using unique ways of expressing ideas and rejecting the standardized ways or formats of doing things as explained by Philley (2005, p. 29). The phases of critical thinking help us to generate mathematical and artistic knowledge. When unexpected events or happenings occur, they initiate critical thinking which helps the mind to make mathematical calculation to provide the most appropriate solution to a given problem. For example when an emergency requires you to be in a certain place within the shortest tome possible, the use of critical thinking will enable you to determine the shortest distance of reaching where you are required. Therefore critical thinking allows one to trigger an event by springing into action based on the available mathematical knowledge. It is through critical thinking that we are able to appraise ourselves in order to determine the logic of being able to solve a problem. This will help in making decisions as whether situations can be solved at a given time and place or not. According to Gruenfeld (2010, p. 79), self appraisal is attained through critical thinking but it is through creative thinking that we are able to apply unique and alternative ways of solving a problem which are usually unlike the standard ways of doing things. Barker (2003, p. 81), explains that it is through critical thinking that we are able to explore into ways of giving explanation into discrepancies. For example through critical thinking we are able to account for time which is lost during an activity. Though evaluation the distance covered and the speed of a sports car we are able to explain why a race is lost. This illustrates the use of critical thinking in generating mathematical ideas which are used to explain various situations. On the other hand, creative thinking will help in concluding why activities happen beyond our expectation. A motorist may creatively navigate through corners to reduce the distance covered and hence win a race against the expectation of the fans. It is through creative thinking that mathematical knowledge is generated to enable us understand such situations. Creative thinking helps us to develop alternative viewpoints of doing various things. Some activities and manner of doing things seem to be the most appropriate, congruent or satisfactory. However, through creative thinking better perspectives of doing things are made possible which would be more admirable compared to the traditional ways which are considered to be the most suitable. For example in creative arts, a presenter of a performance may amuse the audience by applying a new and creative approach of performing a song or dance. Through critical thinking we are allowed to integrate knowledge from various areas of study into mathematics and arts. Gruenfeld (2010, p. 79) explains that there is more integration of knowledge in arts than any other field. On the other hand a creative thinker is interested in diverse fields whether related or divergent so that he would apply critical thinking to integrate the knowledge on these fields in solving problems. In arts for example, creativity is used to represent information on any field in visual format which does not require any verbal explanation. The audience is enables to understand what the artistic presentation is representing without any need for guidance. Creative thinking helps to generate mathematical knowledge through application of trial and error in providing an answer to a specific problem. Through creative thinking mathematicians are therefore able to come up with different formulae of solving an arithmetic problem. On the other hand Hong and Milgram (2010, p. 272) shows that creative thinking is important in future focusing or creating future orientations of a phenomenon. For example creative artists have used creative thinking to make drawings and paintings on the events which are imagined to happen when the world will come to an end. The viewers of such creative works develop a representation of the future in their mind based on the creative thinking of the artist. This illustrates how creative thinking in Arts helps the artist to generate knowledge which also leads to the generation of ideas in the minds of the audience about a current or future happening. Critical thinking skills are important in the analysis of mathematical relationships between objects and situations to help a person to make realistic conclusions. Li-Fang (2003, p. 517) asserts that in critical thinking, situations are broken down into small units which make it easy to study them in parts. Through such kind of thinking, the relationships which exist between objects are determined and thus appropriate conclusions are reached about how they affect each other. For example in the analysis of research data, statistics can be used to generate knowledge on the relationships between concepts by dividing demographic data into smaller units. The small parts of the data gathered are then used to draw conclusions on the impact of the aspect being studied on each individual group. Critical and creative thinking is very important in the analysis of research data and they help researcher to convert data into relevant information. As illustrated by Giannakopoulos (2009, p. 327), it is through critical and creative thinking that judgments are reached. For example mathematics can be used to draw judgments on the performance of a financial institution based on the figures of its revenues. Such judgments are reached through the application of set criteria of finding out the performance of an organization based on the calculation of figures. In Arts, critical thinking is used to assess various works of art through by applying knowledge generated from the bank of knowledge within our minds. For example, the meaning of graphical presentation of an idea or theme can be obtained through critical thinking. Moreover, the creativity of an artist can be evaluated through creative reasoning to determine what is being communicated by a work of art. For example, through critical thinking a person is able to differentiate the meaning of some colors which are used in a work of art. It is a critical thinker who is able to distinguish meanings based on the social cultural rules or beliefs of a given society. Philley (2005, p. 26) points out that the interaction of critical thinking and creative reasoning enables us to extract knowledge through the search of evidence. For example, forensic analysts use their critical thinking to determine the relationship between objects of evidence with the criminals who commit the crimes. It is through critical thinking that facts are drawn from mathematical logic and therefore used to generate relevant and accurate knowledge for decision making. Gruenfeld (2010, p. 81) says that in creative arts, critical thinking is used to extract historical knowledge and present it in works of art such as paintings. Creative thinking is applied in relating historical works of art in predicting future happenings. The generation of knowledge is therefore allowed by critical and creative thinking by the use of objective data and relating it with the past and future happenings so that accuracy in predicting future happenings is attained. Extraction of subjective knowledge is also possible through the interaction between critical and creative thinking. This helps us to relate information from various subjects on the daily happenings and therefore determining how it affects our daily living. Learning is important in our daily living. Mathematical formulae are used in the calculation of financial budgets which help organization, countries and individual plan for the future. Developers of plans have skills of both critical and creative reasoning to enable them analyze data and extract information which is used to lay accurate, realistic and reliable plans for the future. According to Barker (2003, p. 81), the transformation of mathematical and artistic knowledge is possible through both critical and creative thinking about concepts. This helps us to transform a condition into situations which can easily be managed. For example, it is through critical thinking that students of mathematics are able to derive meaning from statistical data. In addition, students of Arts are only able to generate meaning and knowledge from nature, conditions, forms and concepts which they use to produce a creative work of art such as film, animation, music and paintings. Conclusion The interaction of critical and creative thinking processes facilitate the generation of both Mathematical and Artistic knowledge. Mathematical calculations require us to critically analyze happens so that accurate and creative solutions are effectively reached. Explanations of happenings are also made possible through creative reasoning. Creative reasoning allows us to reach alternative viewpoints or approaches of doing things. Moreover, it is through the interaction between critical and creative thinking that relationships are drawn from different disciplines, happenings and concepts to help us make conclusions or decisions. The learning process is vital in living and survival and it is enabled by critical and creative reasoning. Therefore it is recommended that al of us cultivate the skills of critical and creative thinking. References Barker, C.Y 2003, “Developing Critical Thinking Skills, Set 1 & 2", School Library Journal, Vol. 49, no. 12, pp. 79-80. Gruenfeld, E. 2010, “Thinking creatively is thinking critically”, New Directions for Youth Development, pp.71-83. Giannakopoulos, P., Buckley, S. 2009, “Do Problem Solving, Critical Thinking and Creativity Play a Role in Knowledge Management? A Theoretical Mathematics Perspective”, Proceedings of the European Conference on Knowledge Management, pp. 327-337. Hong, E. & Milgram, R., M. 2010, “Creative Thinking Ability: Domain Generality and Specificity”, Creativity Research Journal, vol. 22 Issue 3, pp. 272-287. Li-Fang, Z. 2003, "Contributions of Thinking Styles to Critical Thinking Dispositions", The Journal of psychology, vol. 137, no. 6, pp. 517-44. Philley, J. 2005, "Critical Thinking Concepts", Professional safety, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 26-32. Read More