Critical Thinking, MetaCognition, Creative Thinking: What’s the Diff?
I was recently asked by a colleague what the difference is between the three types of thinking discussed in this blog thus far:
- Critical Thinking
- MetaCognition
- Creative Thinking
Although I go in depth about each one in previous entries here, here, and here, defining them here in one post can give us clarity.
This the way I see it is outline briefly below.
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Critical Thinking
This type of thinking requires that students objectively judge new information for its credibility and integrity. This skill is used to piece together information from multiple sources and to make sense of a concept.
Example
An educator provides an article to students and asks them to evaluate the credibility of the source and to identify any bias. They are also asked to identify how the content of the article fits in with their frame of reference…and to be objective about their own stance.
MetaCognition
This type of thinking, is “thinking about thinking”. It’s an awareness of the approach one takes towards a task or problem. I see it as a closed loop. A student develops an approach, implements it, and then evaluates it for effectiveness. Metacognition plays a large role in Learning to Learn.
Example
An educator asks the students to take a quiz about their learning styles and to identify their approach to a certain project based on the quiz and their previous experiences. The students implement a strategy and then are asked to review how it worked for them.
Creative Thinking
This type of thinking is about coming up with new ideas/solutions with no judgements of whether they are good or bad.
Example
An educator provides students with a problem. For example, “How to solve poverty” and students come up with solutions. Instructional strategies that foster creative thinking would be used.
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