MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE PRACTICE: TOOLS, METHODS, TECHNIQUES AND APPLICATION

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. recognize the importance of creative thinking

2. explain the different creative practices
3. identify the tools used in enhancing creativity
4. list down the methods and techniques in creative practice

Introduction

Creative Practice: Tools, Methods, Techniques and Application is a subject focused on enhancing and
developing creativeness and the way of its application.

This module aims to consider the different creative practices and its methods, techniques, and tools for
improving creativity and to produce work for any purpose, as we all aware that every individual is unique and
have different ways to handle problems and challenges in life.

Lesson – Different Creative Practices

What is THINKING?

• It refers to the process, able to think intelligently about complicated things

• the action of using your mind to produce ideas, decisions, memories, etc.
• the activity of thinking about something
• opinion or judgment

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF THINKING

SIX (6) TYPES OF THINKING

1. Creative Thinking a kind of thinking which aims to produce something new &
useful; something better than before, which may be carried
through to a valuable, beneficial productive results.

2. Critical Thinking the careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept,

reject, or suspend judgement about a claim.
 3. Logical Thinking a form of thinking based on logic or logical reasoning.
4. Lateral Thinking a form of thinking that thinks “around” a problem.
5. Autistic Thinking a type of thinking characterized by daydreaming, fantasies, and
delusions. It is typically self-centered, subjective,
accompanied by marked withdrawal from reality.
6. Nomothetic or a form of thinking based on the Word of God.
monotheistic Thinking

Purpose of Thinking:

* To arrive at a solution to a problem

* To decide on something
* To generate ideas
* To make plans
* To judge the worth of a thing or idea
* To initiate action
* To answer a question
* To invent, create, or discover new things
* To learn or to recall materials to mind.

SIX (6) ELEMENTS OF THINKING

1. Thinking Operations the type of mental activity which involves complex

strategies to find meaning, and the way we direct & control
such activity.
2. Thinking Tools a thinking activity that serves as a device that helps us use
to carry out thinking operations.
3. Thinking Structures a type of thinking that describes the way we organize or
pattern our thoughts. (e.g. Logical Thinking operations)
4. Attitudes it is the way we feel or value things, towards anything
around us.
5. Principles are “rules” that we use to guide what we need to do and
what not to do.
6. Habits the routine procedures we apply to thinking about things.

Components of Thinking:

Mental Operations

Most experts agree that thinking consists of some type of mental activity. This activity can be described in terms
of operations.

There are of two types: cognitive & meta-cognitive.

The former consists of those operations used to generate meaning. The latter involves the directing of one’s
efforts to find or make meaning, such as planning, monitoring, and assessing one’s thinking.

There are 3 important knowledge components of thinking

One, knowledge of general heuristics, i.e., rules of thumb on how to execute various thinking operations.

Two, knowledge about the nature of knowledge itself.

Finally, knowledge of the subject area about which one is thinking.

Attitudes

To apply the above thinking components, we need certain attitudes or dispositions to effectively carry out our
thinking goals or tasks.

THINKING STRATEGIES:

Problem Solving – involves several steps – from problem-finding and classifying to identifying a solution &
checking it.

Decision-making – is often considered to be identical to problem solving. Experts see decision making as a
process that differs considerably from problem-solving. It involves:

1. choosing from a number of acceptable alternatives when there is generally no accepted, best, or correct
alternative;

2. simultaneous evaluation of alternatives rather than serial testing;

3. use of non-experimental, qualitative, and quantitative criteria in analyzing various alternatives; and

4. repeated reference to values in applying these criteria.

Conceptualizing – Essentially, this involves identifying the key or critical attributes of several members of a
class or category of phenomena, and then, by continued application of these attributes to additional specific
examples of the phenomena, building a generalized mental image that articulates the common features of the
examples and their interrelationships.

Thinking Skills: Creative Thinking Skills, Critical Thinking Skills

Creative Thinking & Critical Thinking are not the same thing. Whereas creative thinking is divergent;
critical thinking is convergent; functionally, Creative Thinking seeks to generate something new, Critical
Thinking seeks to assess worth or validity in something that exists.

Operationally, Creative thinking is carried on often by violating accepted principles while critical thinking is
carried on by applying accepted principles. Although creative thinking and critical thinking may very well be
different sides of the same coin, they are not identical! (Barry K. Beyer, 1988, p. 62)

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THINKING:

• Environment
• Food & drugs
• Values
• Mental habits
•
Many elements in the environment can catch our attention:

• loud and irritating noise or sounds that distract us from what we are thinking;
 • unusual icons & images that might get our interest & attention;

• people who are of significant interest to us, glittering & flashes of lights, etc.

FOOD & DRUGS

CULTURAL VALUES

Ours is a culture of self. Money is the "means” to acquire what the heart desires.

These are only 5 characteristics that identify our current culture of self:

1. Sex
2. Sports
3. Food
4. Drink
5. Religion

MENTAL HABITS

A habit is any activity that is so well established that it occurs without thought on the part of the individual. The
habits of mind are those well-established thinking behaviours and patterns characteristic of methodical & logical
thinking. Specifically: problem solving, communicating, reasoning, and making connections.

Strong mental habits can be a barrier to creative and effective thinking!

THINKING STYLES

THINKING STYLES are foundational in all people. Interests, Attitudes, Values, and Natural Behaviors
interact w/ Thinking Styles to drive our Motivations.

Adaptive Behavior

FIVE (5) STYLES OF THINKING

1. THE SYNTHESIST Synthesist are integrators. They like to discover two or more
things that to other people may appear to have little or no
relationship, and find ways to fit them into a new, creative
combination. What they look for is some perspective that will
produce a “best fit” solution, linking the seemingly contradictory
views, not compromise, consensus or agreement on the “best
solution to a problem.
2. THE IDEALIST Idealists are people who like to take a broad view of things!
They tend to be future-oriented and to think about goals, i.e.,
“where are we going and why?” Like Synthesist they are
interested in social values, rather than facts. They understand
that people differ, but they like to believe that arguments and
differences can be reconciled by emphasizing the similarities
that can be found even in opposing views. They also tend to
have a strong ethical sense or value.
3. THE PRAGMATIST concerns with ‘workability as the test for usefulness. They excel
at finding new ways of doing things with the materials that lie at
hand. They tend to approach problems in a piecemeal,
incremental fashion, one thing at a time. They are interested in
“getting from here to there”, in making do and in looking for
shortcuts and the quick payoff.
4. THE ANALYST sees the world as logical, rational, ordered, and predictable.
When a problem is presented, the Analyst will look for a
method, a formula, a procedure, or a system that can solve it.
They prefer to concentrates on objective data, procedures, and
planning, finding on the proven best method.
5. THE REALIST They are empiricists, i.e., what is “real” to them is what can be
felt, smelled, touched, seen, heard, personally observed or
experienced. Their motto is, “facts are facts.”
They want to get things done by proceeding on the facts that
are at hand; rather than by gathering over more data; Realist is
inductive and empirical; the Analysts is deductive and
analytical.
The Synthesist asks: “What are the basic assumptions in this
situation?” But the Realist asks: “What are the facts!”

HOW DO WE THINK?

STAGES OF THE THINKING PROCESS

UNDERSTANDING THE QUESTION

• Ask questions.
• Insufficient data can lead to difficulties.
• Asking clarification questions.

RECALL WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT

 Ask, “what do I know about this?”

 Response limited to info contained in the brain.
 More association, more connection and recall.

PRODUCE AN ANSWER IN A FORM WHICH BEST MATCHES THE QUESTION.

• Analogous to preparing “pandesal”:
information is ingredient; baking & mixing is the
processing.
• Brain searches, sorts, calculates, reject, test
& compare available information.
• Thinking process requires effective matching to
interpret the new subject or produce a
response.
• The way we organize knowledge in our brain
shapes our thinking.
 CONTINUATION OF MODULE 1

Errors in Thinking

Most errors in thinking are based on inadequacies of perception. None of them can be detected as logical error
in the traditional sense. Improving perceptive thinking is the foundation of creativity. Changing perception is the
operating mechanism of creative thinking.

The Basic Errors in Thinking

Based on Edward De Bono’s book on SERIOUS CREATIVITY!

1. Partialism - this thinker is looking only at a part of the situation and basing his argument on that part.
This error occurs when the thinker observes the problem though one perspective only, i.e., the thinker
examines only one or two factors of the problem and arrives at a premature solution.

2. Time scale- is a special case of partialism in which a person looks at a narrow slice of time – usually
the immediate future. This is a kind of partialism in thinking in which the thinker sees the problem from
a limited time-frame.

3. Egocentricity– Narrow band thinking or tunnel vision; the partial area of perception is firmly centered
on the thinker.

4. Arrogance & conceit-– This error arises when there is an apparently logical explanation for something
and this is then taken to be the right explanation. This error is sometimes called the “Village Venus
Effect” because like the villagers who think that the most beautiful girl in the world is the most beautiful
girl in their village, the thinker believes that there is no better solution other than that he has already
found. This block creativity. Not only individuals but societies and even the whole mankind sometimes
fall prey to this error. For example, before Einstein, the whole scientific community believed that time
was absolute.

5. Initial Judgment – occurs at all levels of thinking even among the most brilliant people; the judgment is
most often whether he personally likes or dislikes the idea or somebody else’s proposal. Here the thinker
becomes very subjective. Instead of considering the issue or problem objectively, the thinker approaches
it with prejudice or bias.

6. Adversary thinking – puts emphasis on logical support of positions rather than on mutual exploration.
This makes for polarization. This is a “you are wrong. So, I should be right type of reasoning. Politicians
are the masters in this type of thinking and they use it to their advantage.

7. Ego-involvement– the need to be right at all times is a more powerful objective than most in determining
the direction of thinking. A person will use his thinking to keep himself right & then believe whatever
position that thinking has generated.
 8. Magnitude error– an error in perception in terms of size, amount, weight, coverage, effect, etc.

COMMON ERRORS IN THINKING

 Making Inference Based on:

– Insufficient data or evidence

– Outdated knowledge
– Personal “subjective” experience
– Cause-and-effect reasoning
– Emotional content
– Unverified claim (s)

 Use of imprecise language

 Quick to believe.

 Does not seek other point of view.

 Impulsive; Quick to jump to conclusions

 Failure to check the credibility of a source.

 Inferences based on prejudice

INFERENCE is using observation and background to reach a logical conclusion.

Making Inference Based on INSUFFICIENT DATA OR EVIDENCE

Making Inference Based on OUTDATED KNOWLEDGE

“Relax lang… alam ko ang lugar na ‘to”

Making Inference Based on PERSONAL “SUBJECTIVE” EXPERIENCE

You can almost always tell what a

man does by looking at him. Take
those two. The man near the window
probably is a professor or doctor…”
Making Inference Based on CAUSE AND EFFECT REASONING

Chantecler, the rooster in Rostand’s famous play, realized that every day after he crowed the sun came up.
Therefore, he reasoned, his crowing caused the sun to rise.”

Making Inference Based on EMOTIONAL CONTENT

EMOTIONAL CONTENT, you are creating in awareness, openness and receptivity to everything around you.

Speakers use the appeal to pity whenever they attempt to use human sympathy, rather than facts, to move a
person or group of people toward a conclusion.

Making Inference Based on UNVERIFIED CLAIM

What do you think of Deuterium?

Making Inference Based on IMPRECISE LANGUAGE

If a person constructs one premise using one denotation of a word and constructs the conclusion using a
different denotation of the same word, he commits the fallacy of equivocation.

Example:
Only man is rational.
No woman is a man.
Therefore, no woman is rational.
Making Inference Based on QUICK TO BELIEVE

One of the simplest ruses ever used to get out of jail was employed by the French writer and journalist Leon
Daudet in 1901. For years Daudet had criticized French government officials as unthinking machines, and it
not doubt gave them great satisfaction when they tucked him into Sante Prison in Paris. Only five prisoners
had ever escaped from Sante, built in 1867. Daudet simply had a friend call, pretend he was the minister of the
interior, and say that Daudet had been pardoned. So unthinking was the warden that he immediately released
his prisoner without checking the call.

Source: Bong Barrameda’s TRIVIA column, PDI, June 6, 1995.

Making Inference Based on DOES NOT SEEK OTHER POINT OF VIEW

Abortion
Death penalty
Racial
Discrimination
Atheism
Adultery
Parliamentary government

Making Inference Based on IMPULSIVE; QUICK TO JUMP TO CONCLUSION

Towards the end of WWII, British Intelligence created a fake British Fourth Army “station” near the English
seaport of Dover. The object was to fool the German into thinking that the area around Dover was a staging
area for the Allied invasion of Europe at northern French seaport of Calais. It was equipped with rubber
Sherman tanks, wooden gliders, aircraft and gun emplacements. To hoodwink or fool German reconnaissance
planes, dummy bomb craters were painted on large canvasses. It was such a masterly hoax that when the
actual Normandy invasion took place German generals thought it was a diversionary tactic and that the real
invasion would still occur at Calais. Most of the camouflage work was done by set of designers in English film
studios.

Source: Bong Barrameda’s TRIVIA column, PDI, Jan 31, 1995.

Making Inference Based on FAILURE TO CHECK THE CREDIBILITY OF A SOURCE.

If your boss confides to tell you that he saw your wife with another man, would you believe him?
Making Inference Based on INFERENCE BASED ON PREJUDICE!!!

HOW DO WE EVALUATE IDEAS & BELIEFS?

Israelis behind Egyptian Shark attacks

THE WORLD-Shroud of Turin face, Church says

Scientific tests have shown that the Shroud of Turin, revered by many Christians as Christ’s burial cloth, is a
medieval fake, Turin Cardinal Anastasio Ballestero said yesterday. He told a press conference that carbon 14
dating tests, carried out by laboratories in England, the United States and Switzerland, showed with 95 per cent
certainty that the cloth dated from between 1260 and 1390. (Reuter)

Source: The Philippine Star, Oct. 14, 1988. page 1.

Manila Bulletin, Sat., Oct 15, 1988.

Shroud not Christ’s

Turin, Italy (AP) – Scientific tests on the Shroud of Turin have shown it to be no more than 726 years old,
indicating the linen could not be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, the Archbishop of Turin announced Thursday.
Carbon 14 tests conducted by three separate laboratories put the date between 1260 - 1390, Cardinal
Anastasio Ballestero told a news conference. The scientists are “95%” sure of the accuracy of the tests, he
said.

Ballesteros stressed the importance of the symbolism of the image but repeated that the church never claimed
the shroud to be a Holy Relic. The church believes in the image and not in the history because this image of
Jesus Christ in fact is very interesting and the people believe deeply in Jesus,” the Cardinal said, referring to
the belief that Christ’s image rather than his body somehow was transferred onto the cloth.
NAME: __________________________________________YEAR/COURSE & SECTION_______________

ACTIVITY: SELF-REFLECTION WORKSHOP

INSTRUCTION: Read and answer the following.

1. What particular thinking style do you exhibit?

2. What percentage amount of the styles do you have? Check ( ) the corresponded percentage.

3. Which of the thinking styles do you wish to acquire?

THINKING STYLES 5% 10% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Synthesist

Idealist

Pragmatist

Analyst

Realist

4. If Mr. Medina’s peacock laid an egg in Mr. Aquino’s yard, whose egg would it be?
NAME: __________________________________________YEAR/COURSE & SECTION_______________

ASSESSMENT

MATCHING TYPE

PART 1-Types of Thinking

Directions: Match each word in the left column with its definition in the right. Write the letter on the space
provided.

COLUMN A COLUMN B

1. Creative Thinking A. a kind of thinking which aims to produce

something new & useful; something better
than before, which may be carried through
2. Critical Thinking to a valuable, beneficial productive results.

B. a form of thinking based on the Word of

3. Logical Thinking God.

C. a form of thinking that thinks “around” a

4. Lateral Thinking problem.

D. the careful and deliberate determination of

5. Autistic Thinking whether to accept, reject, or suspend
judgement about a claim.

6. Noothetic Thinking E. a form of thinking based on logic or logical

reasoning.

F. a type of thinking characterized by

daydreaming, fantasies, & delusions. It is
typically self-centered, subjective,
accompanied by marked withdrawal from
reality. a form of thinking based on logic or
logical reasoning.

G. a thinking activity that serves as a device

that helps us use to carry out thinking
operations.
NAME: __________________________________________YEAR/COURSE & SECTION_______________

MATCHING TYPE-

PART II- STYLES OF THINKING

Directions: Match each word in the left column with its definition in the right. Write the letter on the space
provided.

COLUMN A COLUMN B

1. SYNTHESIST A. Integrators. They like to discover two or more

things that to other people may appear to have little
or no relationship, and find ways to fit them into a
2. IDEALIST new, creative combination.

B. They prefer to concentrates on objective data,

3. PRAGMATIST procedures, and planning, finding on the proven
best method. When a problem is presented, they
will look for a method, a formula, a procedure, or a
4. ANALYST system that can solve it.

C. a type of thinking that describes the way we

5. REALIST organize or pattern our thoughts.

D. They excel at finding new ways of doing things with

the materials that lie at hand. They are interested
in “getting from here to there”, in making do and in
looking for shortcuts and the quick payoff.

E. what is “real” to them is what can be felt, smelled,

touched, seen, heard, personally observed or
experienced. Their motto is, “facts are facts.”

F. people who like to take a broad view of things!

They tend to be future-oriented and to think about
goals
NAME: __________________________________________YEAR/COURSE & SECTION_______________

REFLECTION

Write your reflection about the following questions.

1. Have you ever examined your beliefs at any period of time whether they are true or not?

2. List down some of your beliefs that you would like to examine to give you a “peace of mind.”

Assignment

1. Make a poster of what you have learned about creative thinking

2. Enlist the different development and current trend that affects the changes in society
3. Compare local creativity and innovation index to other countries in Asia.
REFERENCES

Bono, E. D. (1969). The mechanism of mind = Edward de Bono. London: Cape.

Ruggiero, V. R. (2011). The art of thinking: A guide to critical and creative thought. New York: Pearson.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/thought/Types-of-thinking

Moser-Wellman, A. (2002). The five faces of Creative thinking genius: styles to succeed at work. NY, NY:
Penguin Books.

Berlyne, D. E. (1965). Structure and direction in thinking. John Wiley.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2014). Critical thinking: Tools for taking charge of your professional and personal life.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Components-of-critical-thinking_fig1_255669900

https://www.britannica.com/topic/thought