Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2010
There have been numerous demands in U.S. education for enhanced creative thinking and reasoning skills in our students. Unfortunately, there appears to be a dearth of research regarding the relationship between creative thinking and reasoning. Interestingly, Marzano (1998) reported that Goal 3 of The National Educational Goals Report: Building a Nation of Learners (National Education Goals Panel, 1991) addressed the improvement of thinking and reasoning skills. It is suggested, though, that creative thinking and reasoning are essential skills for student achievement and, ultimately, success in school. The purpose of this chapter, then, is to examine the relationship between creative thinking and reasoning. The chapter begins with a discussion of reasoning. This is followed by a discussion of creativity/creative thinking. Next is a discussion of research related to creative thinking and reasoning. Last, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications to research and practice.
REASONING
There are many definitions of reasoning. For the purpose of this chapter, reasoning is defined as “ … a deliberating process of working things out to solve problems …” (Calne, 1999, p. 18). As Calne noted, it may be perceived as a tool. However, he felt that reason does not have the ability to motivate because it has no affective component, which is required for one to attain any “mental rewards” (p. 27).
Interestingly, it was Inhelder and Piaget (1958) who first stipulated that there was an invariant sequence of stages of cognitive development that influenced mental/intellectual reasoning.
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