Critical And Creative Thinking: Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Critical and creative thinking are two sought-after competencies in this competitive and dynamic world. These are useful in an individual’s life at each stage. And help them to be more productive in all the phases of life.

Both critical and creative thinking deals with the thinking abilities beyond the rote memory. Because they involve innovative thinking and question the exciting findings through logic and reasoning. Owing to the importance of these skill sets, our modern-day education system aims at nurturing these in students.

Despite the differences in their individual constructs, these two types of new-age competencies are quite similar to each other.

Let’s explore more about these types of thinking abilities!

CREATIVE THINKING

As per the ‘Journal of Gifted Education and Creativity’, creative thinking is related to both problem solving and critical thinking. The Journal also explains three dimensions of creative thinking namely, ‘synthesizing’, ‘articulation’, and ‘imagination’. It further highlights the general characteristics of this thinking ability. And labels it as a universal capability useful in every sphere of life.

In other words, creative thinking is more about generating new ideas through an innovative bent of mind. And it goes to the extent of creating new rules and principles by violating the existing ones.

Creative thinking is also called divergent or lateral thinking. Because it challenges the existing methods of problem solving. And offers new perspectives of looking at a problem. For students in a digital schooling platform or a traditional institution, this ability is an asset that allows them to apply innovative ideas to new contexts. And it empowers a student to discover new possibilities. And supports the creation of new knowledge.

CRITICAL THINKING

UNESCO defines critical thinking as a process that involves gathering information, asking questions, sorting relevant facts to reach credible conclusions. It is more about applying logical reasoning to understand the problem. And conclusions are drawn in the light of the available evidence.

This thinking ability is rightly considered a relevant 21st-century competency. Because it is a sought-after skill that largely determines workplace success.

This competency empowers an individual to reconstruct or restructure his/her previous knowledge. And this new knowledge is based on the quality of the logic and reasoning power of the individual. Critical thinking is ideal to rectify the errors/gaps/deficits of the previous findings. Because the individual looks at situations from various perspectives. And discards the prejudices that can hinder his/her path of discovery. In this way, critical thinking is a productive thinking process wherein the individual makes choices by thinking critically. And he/she interprets facts through his/her own power to analyze logically. This reasoning-based thinking ability also saves one’s time and energy. Hence, it is a credible way of thinking that can boost productivity. And at the same time, it also leads to better outcomes.