Creativity & Innovation – Lecture 2: Patterns of Thinking

Course & Instructor Information

• Course: UNR1102 – Creativity & Innovation

• Lecture: 2 – Patterns of Thinking

• Instructor: Dr. Radwa Ahmed Osman

  • Email: radwa.ahmed@aast.edu

  • Office: Room G201

• Institution: Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT)

Google Classroom

• Each project group must join its designated Google Classroom section.

• Central hub for: announcements, assignments, resource sharing, feedback loops, and peer interaction.

Core Questions Raised in Lecture

• What is thinking?

• What are thinking skills and patterns?

• How do creativity and the cognitive domain interface?

• In which ways do critical thinking, metacognition, and various thinking patterns (superstitious, philosophical, scientific, creative) intersect or diverge?

What Is Thinking?

• A mental process that forms models & associations.

• Manipulates information to:

  • Solve or formulate problems

  • Make decisions

  • Form concepts

  • Seek understanding

• Manifestations: emotions, ideas, images, sounds.

Thinking Skills – Key Points

• Quality of thinking varies with human capacity (often equated with intelligence).

• Influenced by passions, attitudes, values, mental habits.

• Reflects ability to convert cognition into purposeful action.

Pattern of Thinking – Definition & Impact

• Pattern: a regular or habitual way of thinking.

• Directly influences our decisions, problem-solving approaches, and goal pursuits.

• Shaped by culture, education, experience, and social interaction.

• Dynamic: patterns evolve as life contexts change.

Major Patterns of Thinking

• Need multiple patterns to tackle complex, real-world challenges.

• Highlighted patterns:

  • Superstitious

  • Philosophical (Metaphysical)

  • Scientific

  • Creative

Superstitious Thinking

• Relies on unsupported beliefs transmitted through families or culture.

• Example: A black cat crossing the road brings bad luck.

• No empirical evidence; persists through tradition & anecdote.

• Strength: provides emotional comfort or social bonding.

• Limitation: may hinder rational decision-making when evidence is required.

Philosophical (Metaphysical) Thinking

• Evidence-seeking & reason-driven; resists accepting claims without scrutiny.

• Examines origin, purpose, ethics, and meaning—questions beyond hard science.

• Encourages critical examination to avoid hasty judgments, unfounded beliefs, and useless traditions.

• Helps individuals clarify values and decide what is worth doing in life.

• Example distinction: A physicist studies the origin of the universe empirically, whereas philosophical inquiry asks, Why does the universe exist? and What is its purpose?

Scientific Thinking

• Systematic search for knowledge via:

  • Information seeking

  • Questioning

  • Hypothesis testing

  • Observation & experimentation

  • Pattern recognition & inference

• Scientific Method – 5-Step Loop:

  1. Identify the problem

  2. Form a hypothesis

  3. Collect data (observation/experiments)

  4. Interpret data

  5. Draw conclusions

• Associated sub-modes: concrete, critical, mathematical, statistical, spatial, abstract, inferential, analytical, geometrical, mechanical, creative, innovative.

• Strength: produces reliable, repeatable knowledge; weakness: may exclude value-laden or existential questions.

Creative Thinking

• Ability to look at situations in new or unusual ways – think outside the box.

• Generates innovative methods for tackling challenges.

• Purpose: understand the world & solve problems non-traditionally.

• Attributes of creative individuals: curiosity, flexibility, willingness to take risks, tolerance for ambiguity.

Creativity & the Cognitive Domain

• Cognitive domain (Bloom’s Taxonomy) contains 6 hierarchical skills.

  1. Knowledge

  2. Comprehension

  3. Application

  4. Analysis

  5. Synthesis

  6. Evaluation

• Creativity sits at the top—combines or reorganizes elements to yield new outcomes.

• Creative verbs: compose, produce, design, assemble, modify, formulate, arrange, rearrange.

• Viewing thought as patterns, systems, schemes clarifies how creativity leverages and re-structures existing cognitive frameworks.

Intersection: Metacognition & Creative Thinking

• Metacognition: thinking about one’s thinking.

  • Monitors and evaluates knowledge & performance.

  • Uses prior knowledge to plan strategies, solve problems, assess results, adapt approaches.

• Creative Thinking: reframing or transforming knowledge into novel configurations.

• Synergy: Metacognition helps learners select the right cognitive tool for a creative challenge, ensuring ideas are verified by both internal & external standards.

• Effective learners know when, where, and how to deploy particular strategies.

Critical Thinking – Definition & Features

• Reasonable, reflective process aimed at deciding what to believe or do.

• Uses knowledge actively & skillfully to adjust beliefs or behavior.

• Core standards: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, solid arguments, depth, scope, fairness.

• Examines: purpose, assumptions, concepts, empirical bases, reasoning, conclusions, implications, consequences, opposing viewpoints.

• Closely linked to both scientific and philosophical thinking; provides a quality-control layer over all other patterns.

Comparative Snapshot

• Superstitious: Emotion-comforting, evidence-lacking.

• Philosophical: Reason-based, explores meaning & ethics.

• Scientific: Empirical, methodical, focuses on observable phenomena.

• Creative: Novel, boundary-breaking, often blends elements of other modes.

• Critical: Evaluative filter that improves rigor & coherence across modes.

• Metacognitive: Self-regulatory overlay enabling strategic choice & refinement of any thinking pattern.

Practical / Real-World Relevance

• Teams solve multidimensional problems better by combining patterns (e.g., use scientific data, apply critical thinking to evaluate, employ creativity for solutions).

• Innovation emerges where empirical evidence meets imaginative redesign.

• Awareness of one’s dominant pattern helps avoid blind spots and leverage strengths.

Ethical & Philosophical Implications

• Overreliance on superstitions may perpetuate harmful myths or discrimination.

• Philosophical inquiry ensures science & technology align with human values.

• Critical & metacognitive oversight guards against cognitive biases, ensuring fair and just decision-making.

Numerical References, Symbols & Formulas (Marked in LaTeX)

• Lecture number: 2

• Office room: 201

• Scientific method steps: 5

• Bloom’s taxonomy levels: 6

Conclusion – Key Takeaways

• Creative thinking builds new connections between ideas, reshaping how we view the world and overcome tough problems.

• Scientific thinking is rooted in observation & experimentation.

• Philosophical thinking anchors beliefs in reason & evidence, addressing questions science may not cover.

• Critical thinking and metacognition provide the evaluative and self-regulatory scaffolding necessary for any high-quality cognitive work.

• Cultivating multiple thinking patterns equips individuals to navigate complex, uncertain environments with agility and insight.

End of Lecture 2 Notes