Creating conditions for critical and creative thinking

Description

In recent times, the effective development of students’ critical and creative thinking skills is an area of increasing interest in school-based education. While positioned as a cross curriculum capability within the Australian curriculum, it is argued that STEM education provides rich opportunities to enhance such thinking, particularly through authentic problem-based learning. This STEMinar seeks to learn more about how teachers are using  STEM education as a pedagogy to enhance student critical and creative thinking. The following questions are explored:

• What types of learning opportunities are teachers providing for students?
• How are students responding?
• How is critical and creative thinking demonstrated in student work?
• What does this reveal about student capacity in relation to such thinking?

Teachers and students shared their experiences providing insights about their learning and how STEM education can be used to create learning conditions which effectively nurture and progressively develop such capabilities.