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[|ChoncyPena] 5 days ago In our text there was a section comparing creative and critical thinking.

The Calvin and Hobbes strips are placed throughout the textbook and they got me thinking about how most childrens book are more creative than critical.

Although kids do want approval from their teachers and to be liked, I believe that their thinking is mostly creative and less critical. I believe this because they are still learning and do not have a sense of danger or punishment until it happens, basicly through experience.

A book I found at home is called "When the tv broke". The child is without a tv for an undiclosed amount of time because it is being fixed, therefore he is forced to be creative and entertain himself. He even read!

Thinking about this makes me believe that creative thinking is a precursor to critical thinking. I think that is possibly why Alec is pretty succesful with his entertaining of younger children because it is creative and then once the concept is grasped the children will be able to thinking critically with the information given.

I think this realization will help me with my approach to children of different ages and grades. [|danielosborn]· 3 days ago I really liked your post it got me thinking. i know that children at the younger ages are still trying to figure out the difference between reality and make believe which is why I believe they are so open to fantasy, and are not so closed-minded as a lot of adults. I think we as teachers when we can use their interests combined with their creativity (imagination) we are given some pretty powerful tools in our tool boxes as educators. What do you think?

I'm not sure if this going to format correctly, but I wanted to say that we do have a giant toolbox from which to work from. As Choncy says, children have a serious creative side to them and if given the chance will use it to their benefit (and to add to their work). Its all about motivation and roleplaying when it comes to little kids (as well as D&D!). -Alec

Class reflections