Critically Creative Method in Research and Higher Education
“Scientific Problems of Engineering Economics of Construction and Real Estate Management, Regions and Territories Development (ICEREE’2019)” organized within 60th International Scientific Conference of Riga Technical University: Book of Abstracts 2019
Jānis Vanags, Ineta Geipele, Ņina Linde

The cognitive basis of the critically creative method is critically creative thinking. In human activities, it has been, is and will be a constant guide to the development of civilization. A small proportion of individuals have always been critically minded, and even smaller proportion has been critically creative, intuitively using the critically creative method. It gives us the opportunity today to use the discoveries of scientists and inventions of designers, from simple everyday things to new knowledge about space. Advances in science and technology have been made thanks to those who, at the beginning of the last century, were critical of the opportunities available to humans to meet their needs, of the knowledge about the world around them, and of scientific regularities. Not only were they critical of the environment and the knowledge available to the public, they analysed, evaluated and synthesised new knowledge and regularities, as well as invented new materials and technical devices without which we could not imagine the possibility of meeting our needs. In spite of this march of critically creative thinking, it became the focus of attention in the academic world only in the middle of the last century. One of the pioneers of critical thinking research is Edward M. Glaser, who defined critical thinking as follows: Critical thinking is an objective analysis of facts to form a judgment. The ability to think critically, as conceived in this volume, involves three things: (1) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way problems and subjects that come within the range of one’s experiences, (2) knowledge of methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and (3) some skill in applying those methods. Unfortunately, this definition cannot be considered scientifically significant because it expresses a utopian ideal attitude towards the subject, considering that a person is capable of analysing the facts objectively. In practice, there is much evidence that a person is incapable of thinking objectively and of making objective decisions. Moreover, formation of the judgement is the positive effect of creative thinking rather than critical thinking. Thus, the definition does not reveal what critical thinking is, but explains what it consists of and what is needed to develop the ability to think critically. In the academic environment, there are many definitions of critical thinking where similar mistakes are made. It should be noted that the critical thinking method has not yet found its place in globally recognised glossaries of scientific terms. Therefore, within the framework of the research, critical thinking is interpreted as follows: Critical thinking – a type of cognitive activity that results in the discovery of imperfections in the research object and in obtaining a more objective view of it at a particular place and time. However, the explanation of the critical method is similar: Critical method – a set of purposefully selected, mutually compatible and complementary elements used to discover the flaws of the research object under study in order to gain a more objective picture of it at a particular place and time. From this follows the explanation of the critically creative method: a set of purposefully selected, mutually compatible and complementary elements that are used to discover the flaws of the research object under study in order to gain a more objective idea of developing improvements or other products at a specific place and time. The results of the research demonstrate that the characteristics of pseudoscience are increasing in the academic environment. This, to a large extent, relates to social sciences, where researchers rate the form of expression higher than the accuracy of the content of the research. This tendency also spreads in higher education. It can be seen as a product of synthesis of liberal politics implemented in the developed countries and misunderstood freedom of expression, but it does not mean that it has to be accepted. In a rapidly changing external environment, higher education institutions face new challenges in order to maximally adjust the content of the study process to the changes in the labour market; to make the knowledge, understanding and awareness of the internal and external environment of the company and/or other systems obtained at higher education institutions commensurate with the threats and opportunities they will face, at least in the short to medium term. The critically creative method, its purposeful and fair use can be a useful aid in increasing the relevance of scientific research and higher education, which are the most important aspects of increasing demand for higher education and research.


Atslēgas vārdi
Critical thinking; Critical thinking method; Critically creative method.
Hipersaite
http://buni.rtu.lv/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2019/09/ICEREE-2019-Abstracts.pdf

Vanags, J., Geipele, I., Linde, Ņ. Critically Creative Method in Research and Higher Education. No: “Scientific Problems of Engineering Economics of Construction and Real Estate Management, Regions and Territories Development (ICEREE’2019)” organized within 60th International Scientific Conference of Riga Technical University: Book of Abstracts, Riga, 27.-28. septembris, 2019. Riga: RTU Press, 2019, 54.-56.lpp. ISBN 978-9934-22-369-3.

Publikācijas valoda
English (en)
RTU Zinātniskā bibliotēka.
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