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Understand this general capability – Critical and Creative Thinking

Introduction 

Critical and creative thinking represent 2 important ways of thinking that work together to help students inquire into the world around them.  

 

Critical thinking involves students analysing and assessing possibilities against criteria for judgement. They construct and evaluate arguments, and use information, evidence and logic to draw reasoned conclusions and to solve problems. 

 

Creative thinking involves students learning to generate and apply new ideas, and see existing situations in new ways. They identify alternative explanations and possibilities, and create new links to generate successful outcomes.  

 

Dispositions such as inquisitiveness, reasonableness, intellectual flexibility, open- and fair-mindedness, and a readiness to try new ways of doing things are enhanced by critical and creative thinking. Students consider alternatives and develop persistence throughout the learning continuum. 

Structure

The Critical and Creative Thinking learning continuum is organised into 4 elements, as shown in Figure 1:

  • Inquiring 
  • Generating 
  • Analysing 
  • Reflecting.
Figure 1: Critical and Creative Thinking elements

Inquiring 

 

This element is organised into 2 sub-elements: 

  • Develop questions – students narrow or expand the focus of their thinking and explore ideas and concepts critically and creatively. When they develop different kinds of questions, students can further their inquiry. They can find more information about a topic and form a better understanding of how something works or why something is the way it is. 
  • Identify, process and evaluate information – students seek information from a range of sources, make decisions about expert or personal opinion and understand which sources are trustworthy, relevant and useful. 

Generating 

 

This element is organised into 3 sub-elements: 

  • Create possibilities – students explore and combine ideas to create innovative solutions, and adapt and present ideas in new ways, as they engage with learning area content. 
  • Consider alternatives – students examine different and creative ways to approach tasks, and make recommendations on preferred options and actions. 
  • Put ideas into action – students experiment with ideas, modify and adapt approaches, and evaluate options and actions in a range of situations.  

Analysing  

 

This element is organised into 3 sub-elements: 

  • Interpret concepts and problems – students interpret concepts, ideas, theories and problems, and deconstruct them into their component parts, to gain a deeper understanding of the context or situation. 
  • Draw conclusions and provide reasons – students reach a conclusion or make a choice for action by connecting to learning area knowledge and understanding. The act of justifying a conclusion also requires the provision of a reason or the development of an argument in support of the conclusion or action. 
  • Evaluate actions and outcomes – students consider the choices made when they solve problems or attempt learning area tasks, and evaluate solutions and outcomes to help plan for future action. 

Reflecting 

 

This element is organised into 2 sub-elements: 

  • Think about thinking (metacognition) – students identify, describe and evaluate the thinking and learning strategies that they use to complete activities. They reflect on the ways that their thinking, and the approaches they take, may be influenced by external contributions or viewpoints. 
  • Transfer knowledge – students make connections between their current knowledge and skills, and new contexts where they can adapt and use what they already know and can do. Both critical and creative thinking are involved, and new contexts can include other learning areas of the curriculum. 
Key connections

General capabilities support and deepen student engagement with learning area content and are best developed within the context of learning areas.  

In English, students develop critical and creative thinking through listening to, reading, viewing, creating and presenting texts. They also develop critical and creative thinking through interacting with others, creating and experimenting with literary texts, and discussing the aesthetic or social value of texts. Through close analysis of texts, students critically analyse the opinions, perspectives and unstated assumptions embedded in texts. They develop critical thinking as they express personal responses and preferences, state and justify their points of view, and respond to the views of others. Students develop creative thinking skills by considering authors’ innovations, and planning, exploring and creating ideas for imaginative texts. They develop creative thinking when they use and adapt language to represent novel ideas.  

In Humanities and Social Sciences, students develop their critical and creative thinking as they investigate historical, geographic, civic, economic and business concepts and ideas through inquiry-based learning. The effective development of critical and creative thinking in Humanities and Social Sciences enables students to learn to apply concepts and skills to new contexts and endeavours. Students build their inquiry skills as they learn to develop and clarify investigative questions, and to assess reliability when selecting information from diverse sources. Students develop analytical skills by using evidence to support an argument or position on a social, cultural or political issue. They interpret and analyse economic data and/or information, and apply discipline-specific knowledge and understandings as they draw conclusions and propose solutions to complex problems.   

 

Students develop creative thinking dispositions when they are encouraged to be curious and imaginative in investigations and field work, to consider multiple perspectives about issues and events, and when thinking deeply about questions that do not have straightforward answers. They imagine alternative futures in response to social, environmental, civic, economic and business challenges that require problem-solving and innovative solutions. They propose appropriate and alternative courses of action and consider the effects on their own lives and the lives of others. 

In Health and Physical Education, students develop logical, critical and creative thinking in response to health and movement issues. Students learn how to evaluate evidence and media messages related to Health and Physical Education topics for bias and reliability. They engage in learning experiences that encourage them to develop questions and seek creative solutions to health and movement situations. Students critique and challenge societal factors that negatively influence their own and others’ health and wellbeing, such as stereotypes, biases, prejudices and discrimination. 

Languages develops students’ ability to think logically, critically and creatively. It provides opportunities for students to inquire, generate, analyse and reflect on a range of information, ideas and perspectives in spoken and written texts. Students learn how to analyse texts and interpret how the language of texts conveys meaning. They reflect on the thinking and processes used to mediate meaning between languages. They apply their knowledge of language as a system to new contexts and learn to revise and modify texts when considering context, purpose and audience.   

In Mathematics, students develop critical and creative thinking as they learn to evaluate information, ideas and possibilities when seeking solutions. A core part of the Mathematics curriculum is engaging students in reasoning and thinking about solutions to problems and the strategies needed to find these solutions. Students are encouraged to be critical thinkers when justifying their choice of a computation strategy or developing relevant questions during a statistical investigation. They are encouraged to look for alternative ways to approach mathematical problems; for example, identifying when a problem is like a previous one, experimenting with new ideas or simplifying a problem to control or limit the number of variables.  

Students develop critical and creative thinking as they learn to generate and evaluate ideas and possibilities when seeking new pathways or solutions. In the Science learning area, critical and creative thinking are embedded in the skills of questioning and predicting, solving problems through planning and conducting investigations, and analysing and evaluating evidence to make decisions and draw conclusions. Students develop an understanding of science concepts through active inquiry that involves selecting appropriate information, evaluating sources of information to formulate hypotheses and reflecting on the processes used to reach evidence-based conclusions.  

 

Creative thinking enables the development of ideas that are new to the individual, and this is intrinsic to the development of scientific understanding. Scientific inquiry promotes critical and creative thinking by encouraging flexibility and open-mindedness as students speculate about their observations of the world and the ability to use and design new processes to solve problems and create solutions. Students’ conceptual understanding becomes more sophisticated as they actively acquire an increasingly scientific view of their world and the ability to examine it from new perspectives. 

Students develop critical and creative thinking as they imagine, generate, iterate and critically evaluate ideas. They develop reasoning and the capacity for abstraction through challenging problems. Students analyse problems, refine concepts and reflect on the decision-making process by engaging in systems, design and computational thinking. They identify, explore and clarify technologies information and use that knowledge in a range of situations.  

 

Students think critically and creatively about possible, probable and preferred futures. They consider how data, information, systems, materials, tools and equipment (past and present) impact on our lives, and how these elements might be better designed and managed. Experimenting, drawing, modelling, designing and working with equipment and software helps students to build their visual and spatial thinking and to create solutions, products, services and environments.  

Students develop critical and creative thinking as they make and respond to arts works, ideas and practices in different contexts. As artists, students develop questions, imagine, consider various options and alternatives and make decisions, acting on possibilities when interpreting and generating ideas. As audiences, students think critically and creatively about their work and the work of other artists. They reflect, analyse, critique and evaluate their thinking about arts works and the roles that The Arts play in the lives of people, cultures and communities.

Downloads

General capabilities documents and glossaries are available on the downloads page.  

General capabilities downloads