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Pearson Guide to Critical and Creative Thinking, The, 1st edition

Published by Pearson (July 28, 2014) © 2015

  • Robert J. DiYanni Pace University

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Critical and creative thinking for life experience and career success


The first edition of The Pearson Guide to Critical and Creative Thinking provides students with the tools, techniques, and strategies for thinking both critically and creatively. A toolbox for higher-order analytical and imaginative thinking, readers practice critical and creative thinking by applying learned theories to examples, demonstrations, and exercises. Exercises involve both individual and collaborative critical and creative thinking applications across academic disciplines, as well as in personal and professional career contexts. The clear and easy to follow writing style makes concepts and theories accessible to all students, especially in the foundational chapters.  Later chapters enable students to exercise their reasoning skills and judgment by generating ideas and applying what they’ve learned.

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  • Provides Chapter Overviews - These overviews provide a brief introduction to the material ahead. It allows students to familiarize themselves with key-topics encouraging them to focus on important details in the upcoming section.
  • Integrates Practice Exercises - Sprinkled throughout, these activities involve both individual and collaborative application across a wide range of topics. These activities integrate reading, writing, and self reflection.
  • Supports Instructors - An author-written Test Bank with multiple choice questions is available for every chapter. Author-reviewed-and-revised pedagogical web tools include videos for a key topic in each chapter,  Simulations for a second key topic in each chapter, and Explorations for a third key topic in each chapter.


In This Section:

  1. Brief Table of Contents
  2. Detailed Table of Contents

I) Brief Table of Contents

PART ONE - INTRODUCING CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

  • Chapter 1. Developing Critical Thinking
  • Chapter 2. Developing Creative Thinking

PART TWO - CRITICAL THINKING: ANALYSIS

  • Chapter 3. Analyzing Language
  • Chapter 4. Analyzing Images
  • Chapter 5. Thinking, Reading, Writing

PART THREE - CRITICAL THINKING: ARGUMENT

  • Chapter 6. Reasoning Well: Sound Thinking
  • Chapter 7. Reasoning Badly: Thinking Fallacies
  • Chapter 8. Analyzing and Constructing Arguments

PART FOUR - CREATIVE THINKING: GENERATING IDEAS

  • Chapter 9. Parallel Thinking and Lateral Thinking
  • Chapter 10. Finding Ideas Through Imaginative Thinking
  • Chapter 11. Creative Whacks and Thinkertoys

PART FIVE - CREATIVE THINKING: APPLICATIONS AND EXPLORATIONS

  • Chapter 12. Thinking about Design
  • Chapter 13. Thinking about Innovation
  • Chapter 14. Thinking about Technology and Information

II) Detailed Table of Contents

PART ONE - INTRODUCING CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING

  • Chapter 1. Developing Critical Thinking
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • What is Critical Thinking?
    • Habits of Mind
    • Overcoming Obstacles to Thinking
    • A Model for Critical Thinking
    • Thinking about Thinking: How We Know What We Know
    • Focus on Perception: Perception and Knowledge
    • Being Wrong
    • Intuitions and Rationalizations
    • The Pleasures and Benefits of Error
    • The Perspective of Philosophy
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 2. Developing Creative Thinking
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • What is Creative Thinking?
    • Seeking Alternatives and Possibilities
    • Broadening Perception
    • Reversing Relationships
    • Cross-Fertilization
    • Shifting Attention
    • Denying the Negative, Pursuing the Possible
    • The Eight Commandments of Ideation
    • SCAMPER
    • The Creative Habit
    • Developing Creative Confidence
    • Idea Killers and Idea Growers
    • Creative Questioning
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources

PART TWO - CRITICAL THINKING: ANALYSIS

  • Chapter 3. Analyzing Language
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • Language Saturation
    • Words
    • The Prevalence of Metaphor
    • Language and Thought
    • Reports, Inferences, and Judgments
    • Language and Critical Analysis
    • An Approach to Analysis
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 4. Analyzing Images
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • The Prevalence and Power of Images
    • Image, Icon, Symbol, Sign
    • The Vocabulary of Comics
    • Images with Words: Analyzing an Advertisement
    • Observations and Analysis: Allen Edmonds Shoe Ad
    • Images, Ideas and Emotion
    • Comparing Representational and Abstract Images
    • A Graphic Novel: Shaun Tan's The Arrival
    • Two Powerful Images
    • Moving Images: The Power of Movies
    • The Attraction of Movies
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 5. Thinking, Reading, Writing
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • Why Read?
    • The Pleasures of Reading
    • Kinds of Reading
    • Why Write?
    • The Pleasures of Writing
    • Kinds of Writing
    • Active Reading
    • The Interpretive Impulse
    • An Approach to Reading and Writing
    • Summarizing and Paraphrasing
    • Evaluation—Judging and Considering Values
    • Writing to Evaluate a Text
    • The Value of Reading
    • Digital Reading
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources

PART THREE - CRITICAL THINKING: ARGUMENT

  • Chapter 6. Reasoning Well: Sound Thinking
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • The Pervasiveness of Argument
    • What is an Argument?
    • Argument Basics: Claims, Evidence, Assumptions
    • Argument and Implications
    • Going Further Into Evidence: Claims, Warrants, Backing
    • Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
    • Syllogisms and Argument
    • Argument and Authority
    • Argument and Analogy
    • Argument and Causality
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 7. Reasoning Badly: Thinking Fallacies
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • How Thinking Goes Wrong
    • Fallacies—Errors in Reasoning
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 8. Analyzing and Constructing Arguments
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • Analyzing Arguments
    • Logic and Rhetoric
    • Logos, Ethos, Pathos
    • Argument and Eloquence—“Letter from Birmingham Jail”
    • Constructing Arguments
    • Guidelines for Constructing an Argument
    • Argument and the Classical Oration
    • Rogerian Argument
    • Cultural Relativism
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources

PART FOUR - CREATIVE THINKING: GENERATING IDEAS

  • Chapter 9. Parallel Thinking and Lateral Thinking
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • Thinking Tools
    • Six Thinking Hats
    • Lateral Thinking
    • Concepts
    • Essences
    • Concepts as Cognitive Tools
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 10. Finding Ideas Through Imaginative Thinking
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • The Priority of Imagination
    • Imagination First: Unlocking Possibility
    • Why Imagination?
    • Imagination, Creativity, Innovation
    • Capacities for Imaginative Thinking
    • Raising Your Imagination Quotient
    • The Limits of Imagination
    • What is an Idea?
    • Why Ideas are Important
    • How to Get Ideas
    • Creation and Destruction
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 11. Creative Whacks and Thinkertoys
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • Creative Whacks
    • Explorer, Artist, Judge, Warrior
    • Thinkertoys
    • Using Paradox
    • Combining Things
    • Thinking the Unthinkable
    • Walt Disney—Dreamer, Realist, Critic
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources

PART FIVE - CREATIVE THINKING: APPLICATIONS AND EXPLORATIONS

  • Chapter 12. Thinking about Design
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • What We Talk About When We Talk About Design
    • Design and Everyday Life
    • The Design of Processes
    • Good and Bad Design
    • Levels of Design
    • Design and Human Behavior
    • Designing for Error
    • Paradoxes of Design
    • Principles of Design
    • Design Constraints and Compromises
    • Anti-Design
    • Design Thinking
    • Design, Art, and Society
    • Design and Truth
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 13. Thinking about Innovation
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • What is Innovation?
    • Principles of Innovation
    • Conditions of Innovation
    • Innovation and Resonance
    • Innovation Myths and Innovation Drivers
    • Inadvertent Discoveries
    • Achieving Insights
    • Group and Solo Innovation
    • Where Good Ideas Come From
    • Creating Innovators
    • Zig-Zag Innovation
    • Social Innovation
    • What Thwarts Innovation?
    • Balancing Innovation Factors
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources
  • Chapter 14. Thinking about Technology and Information
    • Learning Goals
    • Chapter Overview
    • Focusing Questions
    • The Power and Promise of Technology
    • The Internet and Responsibility
    • Into the Electronic Millennium
    • Technology Education
    • Technopoly
    • Technology and Ethics
    • Social Networking
    • Does Facebook Reduce Life to a Data Base?
    • The Implications of Artificial Intelligence
    • Technology and Our Brains
    • Digital Citizenship
    • Technology and Information
    • The River of Knowledge
    • The Trustworthiness of Information
    • Big Data
    • Information, Privacy, and Political Control
    • Information, Meaning, and Knowledge
    • Looking Back and Looking Ahead
    • Resources

Dr. Robert DiYanni is a professor of humanities at New York University, where he teaches literature, writing, interdisciplinary humanities, and critical/creative thinking.  Professor DiYanni holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from The City University of New York.  He has lectured and conducted workshops on critical and creative thinking in twenty countries, including Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Mexico, and the US.  Among his many books are Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama; Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions; Modern American Prose; Writing about the Humanities; and Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities.  This last book formed the basis for a series of lectures given with co-author, Janetta Benton, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Prior to coming to NYU, Dr. DiYanni taught at Queens College CUNY, Pace University, and as a Visiting Professor at Harvard University.  He has also served as Senior Director of International Services at The College Board, and as Director of Arts and Aesthetic Education for the Scarsdale, NY public schools.

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