Creativity & Critical Thinking
Strategies for High School Teachers
Strategies for Developing Creativity:
•Don't constrain students with specific instructions or rigid requirements
•Allow freedom for students to assign responsibilities or roles to individuals
•Facilitate an environment in which students feel comfortable sharing ideas and collaborating
•Relate material to things students are interested in or can relate to
•Allow all students to contribute to a group answer and feed off each others' answers
Some examples for the classroom:
Canvas
Group Collaboration
Keep Material Relevant
Strategies for Developing Critical Thinking Skills:
•Allow students to talk freely and argue/refute their opinions in inter-group debates
•Talk students through answers to their own questions; help them learn how to arrive at answers
•Teach students how to relate unfamiliar experiences with familiar ones
•Incorporate targeted higher-level thinking questions into class discussions to build on knowledge
•Add positive reinforcement in discussions to help students justify their opinions