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Benjamin Bloom (1956) developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior in learning. This taxonomy contained three overlapping domains: the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Within the cognitive domain, he identified six levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These domains and levels are still useful today as you develop the critical thinking skills of your students.
Critical Thinking

Critical thinking involves logical thinking and reasoning including skills such as comparison, classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning, webbing, analogies, deductive and inductive reasoning, forecasting, planning, hyphothesizing, and critquing.

Explore the Georgia Critical Thinking Skills Program. It contains links to lessons and resources in many areas of critical thinking
Creative Thinking

Creative thinking involves creating something new or original. It involves the skills of flexibility, originality, fluency, elaboration, brainstorming, modification, imagery, associative thinking, attribute listing, metaphorical thinking, forced relationships. The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate curiosity and promote divergence.
Critical and Creative Thinking can be described as qualities of good thinking processes and as types of thinking. Creative thinking is generally considered to be involved with the creation or generation of ideas, processes, experiences or objects; critical thinking is concerned with their evaluation.

Critical and creative thinking are interrelated and complementary aspects of thinking. Almost all of the thinking which we undertake contains some critical and some creative aspects. For example, when we try to solve real life problems we move back and forth several times between creative and critical reflection2 as we develop solutions or weigh the consequences of any one solution. It is important, therefore, that any attempts to improve thinking abilities pay attention to both critical and creative aspects of thinking.

Critical and creative thinking processes are combinations of abilities, knowledge, values, attitudes, skills and processes. See Figure 4.1 for a diagrammatic overview of the components which contribute to critical and creative thought. While the knowledge base required for critical and creative reflection varies from subject to subject, the underlying values and attitudes remain constant across school subjects. Although skills and processes are somewhat dependent upon specific subject matter for their form, these same values and attitudes are required in all subjects for their execution. It is also important to note that the content of each category is descriptive of the area but not a final or all inclusive list. Educators are encouraged to evaluate these lists and to generate others as they become more familiar with incorporating critical and creative thinking into their teaching.

Building upon the analysis displayed in Figure 4.1, a teacher's role could be described as one of structuring activities, assignments and lessons which incorporate all of these aspects of critical and creative thinking into the subjects which they teach. Teachers would attempt to do this in ways which build upon their students' innate abilities, interests, experiences and background knowledge.

Critical and creative thinking contribute to achieving such crucial goals for education in Saskatchewan as developing students who work towards the creation of greater social justice, exercise the right to dissent responsibly, and act in accordance with an ethical framework which reflects qualities such as honesty, integrity and compassion (Saskatchewan Goals of Education, 1984). A final aspect of how Critical and Creative Thinking is defined by Saskatchewan Education is related to these goals and can be stated as the intention to develop "strong sense" critical and creative thinkers.

Paul (1987) distinguishes between "weak sense" and "strong sense" critical thinking in the following way. People who have the abilities necessary for undertaking quality critical and creative thought but use them only to their own advantage are critical and creative thinkers in the weak sense. Strong sense critical and creative thinkers, however, are committed to using their abilities to seek out the most accurate and fair positions regardless of or in spite of their own particular interests or desires