What are the key features of critical and creative thinking concepts?

Reflect on the models of critical and creative thinking discussed in the chapter.
Consider the characteristics and principles that define each concept.

Critical and creative thinking skills are one of the most important skills that a
person could have. It is important because it involves a person thinking deeply
about certain concepts, whether in real life, work, or school. To effectively
address the complex environmental, social, and economic problems or daily
problems that a person faces through the use of a series of thinking skills,
students get a more comprehensive grasp of the procedures they can employ in
the face of challenges, they develop critical thinking and creative thinking
skills that provide an answer on whatever challenges they may face. The key
feature of critical thinking is Bloom’s Taxonomy that is created by an
educational psychologist, Benjamin Bloom, as a means of hierarchically
categorizing the thinking skills or cognitive performance of students. He
discussed six levels of cognitive skills these are evaluation, synthesis, analysis,
application, comprehension, and knowledge. Starting from knowledge
according to Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge is the ability to deliberately and
appropriately recall information, facts, processes, and procedures. Knowledge
is an important key feature a person must have because not only does it
empower their mind but helps them to analyze challenging situations and
navigate information that could help to make decisions. Followed by
Comprehension is defined as the ability to take ideas and concepts and make
meaning of them by interpreting, classifying, summarising, and explaining. In
this day and age, comprehension is very important for every information that
is exposed to us on social media. It supports learning, critical thinking,
problem-solving, and effective communication. It's a skill that helps with
success in many facets of life and improves both professional and personal
development. Next is Application is the ability to use knowledge to apply
problem-solving techniques. After knowledge and comprehension, it is
important that an individual can apply what they have read and
understand using their knowledge based on the new information they
acquire. The fourth level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is Analysis is the ability
to identify and analyze patterns, organize ideas, and recognize trends.
Breaking a topic or idea into parts and looking at it from different
perspectives. This is about revealing the connections between the facts.
Real-world scenarios frequently require a high level of complexity. By
dissecting complicated material into digestible parts, analysis makes it
easier for people to understand complex systems, processes, or issues. It
also aids in scenario assessment and the identification of an issue's
underlying causes. Next is Synthesis according to Bloom’s taxonomy
Synthesis is the ability to take the components derived through analysis
and combine ideas to form a new whole that draws conclusions or
identifies themes. It plays a major role in critical thinking because it lets
students or individuals use their ability to connect ideas and develop an
argument. Last but not least the last level of Bloom’s taxonomy is the
Evaluation it is defined as the ability to develop opinions or judgments,
or make decisions. Evaluation is an important part of critical thinking
because it helps in assessing what action is effective or what works well
and what could be done more to improve.

The creative thinking features are the analysis stage, synthesis stage,
and evaluation stage. The first stage is the analysis stage which is
defined as the ability to convert instructions into action under this stage
there are 3 questions asked do they complete all parts of their work tasks? Do
they complete them on time? Do they complete them at or close to your standard of
quality? The second stage of creative thinking is the synthesis stage has 4
questions Can they identify all the important insights? Do they exclude all
unimportant insights? Do they accurately assess the relative importance of those
insights? Can they communicate important insights clearly and succinctly? Lastly,
the evaluation stage also has 4 questions Do they always provide a
recommendation instead of relying on you to come up with answers? Have they
considered the potential downsides of their recommendation? Do they consider
alternatives before recommending them? Are their recommendations backed by
strong, sensible reasoning? These questions that are presented in the stages are
questions on how effective a team’s critical and creative thinking skills are and
becoming a high-performing team capable of critical and creative thinking.
Creative and critical thinking skills are both important in decision-making and
help an individual to be successful in school and work environments.
Describe each of the six steps taken to create a workplace learning environments
in an organisation?
Reflect on the workplace learning environment discussed in the chapter and how
it begins with asking the right questions in reference to the 6 steps.
To create a workplace wherein employees can learn and grow individually
Benjamin Bloom a six thinking skills or performance levels to make the most
creative, innovative, and insightful decisions, solutions, and interventions. By
having a thorough understanding of the six steps the traits of each skill level, and
the procedure for moving up the "rungs." It could help leaders and teams improve
their competencies, potential, and capacities to do great things in the workplace.
The six main areas of the taxonomy framework are knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge as defined in the
module is the capacity to consciously and suitably recall details, facts, actions, and
processes. The questions that can be asked are who? where?, when? how?, describe?
and what is? The module, also gives how knowledge might be presented in the
workplace by knowing how to perform a certain rudimentary task, Knowing the
location of various work tools bullet, and recognizing and recalling the names
of key external stakeholders when they visit the building. The next step is
Comprehension which is defined as the ability to take ideas and concepts
and make meaning of them the questions that could be asked here are
what is the purpose of this? What is the difference between this and that? Can
you write a brief outline of that? Comprehension can be practiced by
writing an email summarising three different quotes received for a
service, being able to describe an issue in the workplace, and writing minutes
of a meeting. Followed by Application, after a thorough understanding of
information and mindfully retaining information the next part is applying that
knowledge in the workplace this might be by knowing which procedure to
apply when faced with a particular situation, being able to write a manual or
guide that another person can use, and generating ideas on what could be
changed when faced with a problem on a work task. The questions that are
asked are how is an example of that? How is this related to that? Why is this
significant? Could this have been happened if? The fourth step that is presented
in Bloom’s Taxonomy is Analysis, At this level, an individual can assess the
situation, identify patterns, and organize by idea. Breaking topics and
analyzing them in their ways. This might be presented in the workplace by
Looking at a problem and being able to determine the contributing factors and
Understanding and articulating the perspective of a key stakeholder or another
department. To use Analysis these questions are given in the module to help
individuals to analyze what are the parts or features of this. What evidence do you
have for this? How does this compare with that? How would the other stakeholders
see this? The fifth step is Synthesis which is described as the ability to connect
new ideas from a piece of old information. The questions that could be asked are
what would you predict based on this information? What ideas can you add to this?
How would you design a new system? What solutions would you suggest for these
issues? What would have happened if you combined these two? Last is the
evaluation step, a skill wherein a person can develop information or judgment
through assessing which are effective actions. It can be presented by taking a
piece of complex information and making the best decision to move forward
analyzing a process or procedure and making recommendations on how to
change it to improve productivity. It consists of five questions to ask what do
you think about this? What is the most important takeaway from this? How would
you prioritize these idea? How would you decide this? Upon what criteria would you
assess these?

The six steps that are discussed in this chapter are important in the workplace
to create an environment wherein learning is encouraged and decision making
are deeply rooted in critical thinking. The six steps for employees and leaders
encouraged independent thought and ownership making new ideas easily
assessing a challenge and answering them without hardship. It also helps to
uplift each team member's responsibilities. Asking the right questions in the
process of developing a workplace learning environment. By making sure
learning is prioritized efficiently, and in line with organizational goals, it
starts with a thorough awareness of the unique demands and difficulties that
employees encounter and continues through each step of the process.