Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Information Literacy as it Applies to Problem Solving
By: Thiago Marsal Farias
Tags: Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Creative

Our world has changed over the years, and most importantly, with these changes, the world becomes deficient in people who hold critical and creative thinking. The modern world becomes global, and with that, some necessities are urged, and companies seek those who will meet their needs. So, the article will highlight some topics that will guide those who are disposing of themselves to become prepared for this new epoch. According to Goodsett (2020), critical thinking becomes paramount, and this skill turned into the most highly desired in modern companies.

Furthermore, Richardson et al. (2017) state the importance of creativity because creativity is strongly related to thinking, teaching, and learning. In addition, they refer to creativity as the future of schools and societies. Nevertheless, Schooner et al. (2017) approach that critical thinking and creative thinking are pre-requirements for developing an even more important problem-solving skill. They claim that this set of skills are vital for the 21st century. Based on this recent research, the following topics will address each theme to enlighten the importance of holding these skills to fill the gap in these modern companies. As the industry has seen even more for these skills, LDSBC’s College-Wide should put more effort into developing these sets of skills.

Critical Thinking

According to Goodsett (2020), information literacy plays an important role in this game to become effective in critical thinking. For those who bear high education, for example, information literacy helps develop a set of skills on which one is critical thinking. Moreover, Goodsett (2020) defines critical thinking based on “purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, evaluation, and inference …”. Another importance of critical thinking is stated by Adichie (2009), where it revealed some dangerous aspects of checking a single side of a story. Adichie (2009) highlights that to see the truth behind a story. We must be more critical and judge the facts better; after that, we will pursue a more accurate sense of judgment based on our critical and analytical senses. Based on Nappi (2017), questioning is paramount for developing critical thinking. Furthermore, questions lead us to a single and correct answer; instead, they encourage us to engage in critical thinking and empower us to learn more.

Creative Thinking

Being creative is a group of skills that are highly connected to thinking, teaching, and learning within education. Furthermore, creativity means the prospect of schools and societies for the modern world. Most importantly, creativity is viewed as a cultural and systemic value, psychological aspects of incorporating creativity in education, and sociocultural aspects of technology (Richardson et al., 2017). To become a stronger community with a wide variety of creative talents, educators and schools play an important role in supporting new creative minds. Richardson et al. (2017) believe that “what makes a nation or a community strong, is the diversity of talented and creative citizens” (p. 519).

Problem Solving

Adichie (2007) explains some of her histories that we human beings use our judgment to draw solutions or patterns. Furthermore, we must rely on our critical sense and observe all faces of the facts. Nevertheless, critical thinking and creative thinking are bonded on what we learned, and information literacy supports all (Goodsett, 2020). All those previous skills are strongly connected to a highly demanded skill in the 21st century. Besides critical and creative thinking and technology, problem-solving urges as vital 21st-century skills-based (Schooner et al., 2017). Going beyond, they explore some approaches which apply some skills such as design, system, value, problem-solving and critical thinking. Altogether, are a set of requirements for generating a new group of people capable of producing valuable artifacts. Moreover, technology is a crucial resource in a learning path for those who are improving their skills when teachers show the importance of incorporating critical thinking into problem-solving capabilities and others. Schooner et al. (2017) conclude that information literacy to form critical thinkers is primordial for the future. Also, it will help to improve technology with innovation and sustainability based on the student’s skills development.

To sum up, students can take a large advantage in pursuing these skills and be more prepared for the global market, also advanced their careers by applying these learning processes to be more efficient.

References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Goodsett, M. (2020). Best practices for teaching and assessing critical thinking in information literacy online learning objects. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(1), 1–7.

Nappi, J. (2017). The importance of questioning in developing critical thinking skills. Kappa Gamma Bulletin, International Journal for Professional Educators, 84(1), 30–41.

Richardson, C., Henriksen, D., & Mishra, P. (2017). The courage to be creative: An interview with Dr. Yong Zhao. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 61(6), 515- 519. DOI 10.1007/s11528–017–0221–1

Schooner, P., Nordlof, C., Klasander, C., & Hallstrom, J. (2017). Design, system, value: The role of problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities in technology education, as perceived by teachers. Design & Technology Education, 22(3), 60–75.