How gender shapes critical thinking and creative thinking, and vice versa
A Collaborative Exploration (CE) in which participants investigate the ways that gender shapes critical thinking and creative thinking, and vice versa
- In brief, CEs are an extension of Problem- or Project-Based Learning (PBL) and related approaches to education in which participants address a scenario or case in which the problems are not well defined, shaping their own directions of inquiry and developing their skills as investigators and prospective teachers (in the broadest sense of the word). (For more background, read the prospectus.)
- If you want to know what a CE requires of you, review the expectations and mechanics.
- on hangout for 1 hour each week at Tuesdays at 4pm (US EST), Dec 2, 9, 16, 23. The URL for the first hangout will be provided only to those who register (via http://bit.ly/CEApply), which entails making a commitment to attend that 1st session and at least 2 of the other 3 hangouts.
- If you are wondering how to define a meaningful and useful approach to the topic, let us present a scenario for the CE and hope this stimulates you to apply to participate. We will then let CE participants judge for themselves whether their inquiries are relevant.
- Intended outcomes for participants of this CE are of two kinds:
- a) tangible: a compilation of the ways that gender shapes critical thinking and creative thinking, and vice versa, supported by relevant studies and identifying relevant research that is needed; and
- b) experiential: being impressed at how much can be learned with a small commitment of time using the CE structure to motivate and connect participants.
Are there gender differences? What form do they take? Are the differences a result of other differences, e.g., socioeconomic factors, or a contributing cause to those differences? Are any deficits also explore as a source of opportunities? Is gender a well-defined category in this world of overlap on most traits and with the emergence of various trans- identities?
In a sense, the topic might be seen as an opportunity for conversation among the following four angles on critical and creative thinking. (Equivalent angles can be articulated for differences that refer to race, ethnicity, or European descent vs. other othernesses.)
- 1) Under-representation of women in writing or teaching about critical thinking or creative thinking; Obstacles to and under-recognition of their contributions; Possibilities for women’s standpoint to address aspects of the world under-recognized by men.
- 2) Biases in accounts of sound thinking that claim to represent progress, efficiency, or other universal interests, but in practice promote the elevated social status of men over women.
- 3) The pervasiveness of gender-like dualisms in which one category is subordinate to the other and complex spectra are purified into dichotomies; The suppression of ways these conceptual schemes are troubled by multiplicities and hybrids.
- 4) The contribution of gendered resources among the heterogeneous resources that knowledge-makers link together over time as they construct and reconstruct established knowledge and reliable practices. A very significant source of resources has been the existence of a feminist movement(s) based on a broader set of social and personal concerns.
(Adapted from p. 251 of Taylor, Peter J.
Unruly Complexity: Ecology, Interpretation, Engagement, U. Chicago Press, 2005)
Compare
Gender differences in creative thinking:... [Brain Imaging Behav. 2014] -
PubMed
- "While men and women were indistinguishable in terms of behavioral performance across all tasks, the pattern of brain activity while engaged in the tasks in question was indicative of strategy differences between the genders."
and
Gender differences in creative thinking...Personality and Individual Differences, 43 (5): 1137–1147, 2007 --
ScienceDirect
- "examines the relevance [=some] of sociodemographic factors on gender differences [=not much] in creative thinking"
A google search for "critical thinking gender" or "creative thinking gender" shows up additional articles, some of which may be added here in due course.