Course Description
A sequence of experiences leading to increased personal creative behavior and critical thinking with an emphasis on service- learning for nurturing creative talent in elementary-aged students.
Athena Title
Critical Creative Thinking
Non-Traditional Format
One course period will be held at UGA. A second course period will be held at a local elementary school. The field work with students at a local elementary school is incorporated as a service-learning component.
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• Students will recognize critical thinking and creativity in different environments. • Students will identify possible blocks to an individual’s creativity and strategies for overcoming those blocks. • Students will identify ways in which personal creativity is influenced by environment, personality, process, and product. • Students will facilitate critical and creative thinking techniques designed to develop the critical and creative thought process in children and adults. • Students will evaluate techniques for developing critical and creative thinking. • Students will synthesize and adapt the creative thinking techniques to fit a variety of cultural contexts and situations. • Students will serve the local and broader community by participating in critical thinking and creative problem-solving tasks with elementary aged students in a Professional Development School. • Students will strengthen motivation to utilize personal critical and creative thinking. • Students will improve abilities associated with critical and creative thinking, particularly improving the ability to sense problems and produce original ideas of high quality for the solution of problems. • Students will practice identification and application of strategies associated with critical thinking and creativity to solve personal and professional problems in a variety of fields.
Topical Outline
•Creativity •Critical thinking •Levels and domains of creativity •Approaches to critical thinking •Authentic problems and processes •Cultural contexts of creativity and critical thinking •Theories and models of critical and creative thinking •Characteristics associated with creativity and critical thinking •Tools for critical and creative thinking •Programs using critical and creative thinking •Psychological safety •Motivation as it relates to critical and creative thinking