{"id":1445,"date":"2014-09-29T08:33:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T08:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnhub.aucegypt.edu\/cltnewsletter\/?p=1445"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:03:36","slug":"want-your-students-to-think-creatively-and-critically-how-about-teaching-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnhub.aucegypt.edu\/cltnewsletter\/?p=1445","title":{"rendered":"Want your Students to Think Creatively and Critically? How about Teaching Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published on:<\/strong> September 29, 2014<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A Word from the CLT Director<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to a new academic year, and I hope you are having a productive start. This is our first
\u201cNew Chalk Talk\u201d issue this semester, and we are reprinting, with permission, an article by R.
Felder and R. Brent, who are world-renowned for their workshops on effective teaching. Richard
Felder has been a world leader in chemical engineering education and engineering education research for decades12<\/em>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Aziza Ellozy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever hear a conversation like this in your department?
<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Professor X: <\/strong>\u201cAll these students can do is plug
numbers into formulas\u2014give them a problem a little
different from the one in the text and they\u2019re helpless.\u201d<\/em>
Professor Y:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, and they\u2019re also functionally
illiterate\u2014most of them couldn\u2019t write a coherent
grocery list. On a quiz last month I asked for a clear
and grammatically correct definition of vapor pressure, and a bunch of the students stomped me for it on the midterm evals. \u2018I went into engineering to get away from this crap,\u2019 one of them said.\u201d<\/em>
Professor Z: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s this whole spoiled generation\u2014
they want the grades but don\u2019t want to do anything for them!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n


If you haven\u2019t heard anything like that, you haven\u2019t been listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Two popular targets on the list of Things These Students Can\u2019t Do are creative thinking<\/em>
(coming up with innovative ideas) and critical thinking<\/em> (making judgments or choices and
backing them up with evidence and logic). When our colleagues complain to us that their
students can\u2019t do them, after we make appropriate sympathetic noises, we ask, \u201cWhere
were they supposed to learn to do it?\u201d The answers may vary, but one we rarely hear is
\u201cIn my class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Leaving aside anomalous prodigies like Mozart and Gauss, people develop skills of any
kind\u2014musical performance or composition, math or physics, critical or creative
thinking\u2014through a lot of practice and feedback. That\u2019s how you acquired your skills.
You were either given or voluntarily took on tasks, and with someone else\u2019s help or on
your own you learned how to do them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The more you did them, the better you got. Unfortunately, creative and critical thinking
are not routinely taught in our schools, nor are they activities that students eagerly learn
on their own. It shouldn\u2019t surprise us when our students can\u2019t magically do them on our
assignments and exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Let\u2019s suppose you decide to take on the job of helping your students learn to think
creatively or critically. Can you equip all of them to be brilliant at it? No, any more than
you or anyone else can turn them all into brilliant scientists and engineers\u2014they don\u2019t all
have the talent. How about the ones who have it\u2014can you do it for all of them? Probably
not\u2014some lack the motivation to do the required work. Well then, can you help the
talented and motivated students become much better at creative and critical thinking than
they were at the beginning of the course? Definitely! How? Easy\u2014show them examples
of the kind of thinking you have in mind; ask them in class and in assignments to
complete tasks that require that kind of thinking; give them feedback; and repeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In the remainder of this column we offer examples of creative and critical thinking tasks
you can easily incorporate into your course\u2014any course, on any subject\u2014that should
require relatively little time to prepare and grade and not much expertise (if you\u2019re
worried about your own creative and thinking skills). To design more extensive
instructional modules or courses on creative and critical thinking, consult references on
those subjects. A particularly good source of information is Fogler and LeBlanc\u2019s
Strategies for Creative Problem Solving<\/em>132<\/a><\/sup>, which also deals with critical thinking. Also,
consider using a grading rubric to evaluate the students\u2019 products and help them develop
the targeted skill143<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative and critical thinking: Idea generation and prioritization.<\/strong>
(Creative<\/span>) List possible<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n