Supporting Innovative Thinking
- Online and asynchronous
- This course will require between 7-10 hours of work per week
- Workload Rating: Standard
Course Description
This course will engage students in an exploration of critical thinking and creativity in education contexts. Key topics include learning and teaching strategies, assessment, and social and physical environments that nurture critical thinking and creativity. This course requires participants to participate in critical and creative exercises and reflect on these experiences, and to apply their understanding of pedagogy for critical and creative thinking to the reworking and design of learning spaces and activities.
Learning Outcomes
The primary learning outcomes for GDE/PME 833 are to:
- Explore two theoretical perspectives of critical thinking in an education context
- Consider the characteristics of learning activities designed to nurture critical thinking
- Reflect on the experience of performing a learning task that invites critical thinking versus a task that does not
- Explore a framework for six kinds of learning tasks that invite critical thinking
- Consider aspects of pedagogy in addition to the design of learning activities that impact the nurturing of critical thinking
- Consider ways to improve pedagogy for critical thinking
- Explore definitions of creativity
- Consider factors present in educational contexts that influence creativity including assessment of creativity, social and physical environments, and habits of mind
- Consider strategies for designing learning activities that nurture and support creativity
Assessments
8 Discussion board posts
Intro Module - Getting to Know Each Other (5%)
Module 1 - Critique Bloom's Taxonomy (5%)
Module 2 - Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking (5%)
Module 3 - My Strengths and Weaknesses in Pedagogy for Critical Thinking (5%)
Module 4 - My Definition of Creativity (5%)
Module 5 - Trying a New Creative Activity (5%)
Module 6 - Thinking Strategies for Creativity (5%)
Closing Module - Critical and Creative Thinking Reflection (5%)
Teaching for Critical Thinking Assignment
Module 3 - 30%
Teaching for Creativity Assignment
Module 5 - 30%
How does this course support learners outside K-12 teaching contexts?
This is a discussion-post heavy course which creates valuable conversations between students from different teaching contexts. The assignments also offer opportunities for those outside the K-12 to draw from their personal and professional experiences. Many of the discussions ask for "life" examples through which to explore the course readings. The assessment points are open to non K-12 examples.
Each student’s professional practice and goals are unique. We highly encourage students to reach out to their course instructors at the start of the term to discuss the relevance and application of course learning and assignments to their own learning goals and context of practice.