THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING STYLES AND ACADEMICS ACHIEVEMENTS AMONG

POST SECONDARY VOCATIONAL STUDENTS

PROF DR MAIZAM ALIAS

SEMINAR KEBANGSAAN JAWATANKUASA PENYELARASAN PENDIDIKAN GURU 2010

2-3 OGOS 2010 HOTEL CONCORDE SHAH ALAM

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING STYLES

AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG POST-SECONDARY VOCATIONAL STUDENTS

'Maizam Alias 2Busmina Balkis Bt. Abd Hadi

'Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia

Polytechnic, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia

maizam@uthm.edu.my

ABSTRACT

A person's predisposition towards critical or creative thinking style has been shown to

influence performance in specific academic disciplines. The objective of this study was to determine

the relationship between creative and critical thinking styles of post-secondary vocational students

and their academic achievements. The Malay translation of the Yan Piaw Creative - Critical Thinking

Styles Test (Test-retest reliability = 0.89) was used to gather data on thinking styles. One hundred and

nine community college students from four Community Colleges under the Ministry of Higher

Education who were undergoing work-based diploma programmes in Hotel and Catering (»=25),

Electrical Technology (»=34), Computer Technology (w=30) and Automotive Technology («=20)

were the subjects in the study. The results of the data analysis show that the majority of vocational

students have stronger predisposition towards creative thinking (59%). There is no association found

between thinking styles and gender. However, thinking style is found to be associated with academic

achievements. The study concludes that both male.and female students have similar predisposition in

their critical and creative thinking styles and that thinking style is associated with academic

achievements among post-secondary vocational students.

Keywords: Creative, Critical, thinking style, Community College, students, disposition

Introduction

Thinking styles refers to the way a person's natural predisposition in processing information -

embodying the qualities of thinking processes as well as types of thinking. Understanding of a

person's thinking style is important in all areas of social dealings. Thus, there has been much research

and discourse on thinking styles giving rise to many perspectives on thinking style from the

management perspectives, education perspectives and business perspectives among others. Each

perspective may use different framework for classifying thinking style giving rise to many different

labels being assigned to types of thinking styles.

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For example, from the perspective of business and management Harrison & Bramson (2002)

proposes that five types of thinking style is used to classify people namely, synthesist, idealist,

analyst, pragmatist and realist. From the perspective of brain function, thinking style has been

classified into four types, logical, holistic, interpersonal and sequential thinking style (Herman, 1996).

From the perspective of education, understanding a person's thinking style is important as it

contributes towards effective teaching and learning. Learning involved thinking and each student has

different thinking and learning styles that needs to be understood by a teacher (Grarcia & Hughes,

2000). The close relationship between thinking and learning some times lead to the interchangeable

use of the terms. For example, the term learning style as used in education psychology by Kolb

(1984) and Sadler (1997) is similar to the term 'thinking style' as used by Sternberg (1997).

The two most desired thinking styles to be attained by learners through the education system

is the creative and critical thinking style. There is much debate on the definition of the two and no

real consensus on what it means. A widely accepted is the one on creative thinking is given by

Torrance (1967) where creative thinking is generally considered to be involved with the creation or

generation of ideas, processes, experiences or objects (Torrance, 1967). Critical thinking on the other

hand is concerned with their evaluation, argument, judgment, deducing conclusions from information

or data provided, interpreting whether conclusions are warranted on the basis of the data given, and

evaluating evidence or authority (Baker et al, 2000 & Bassham et al, 2005). Creative thinking style

preference is believed to be associated with the right brain dominance (Kim & Michael, 1995) while

critical thinking style preference is related to the left brain and the two styles (creative and critical

thinking) are not thought to be closely related (Baker, Rudd & Pomeroy, 2001). Left brains style is

characterised by information processing in a conceptual and analytic way, and right brain style is

characterised by information processing in a direct and synthesis way (Torrance et a/., 1977)

Individual's thinking styles often can change as a result of significant emotional experiences, life

transitions and other important insight.

Factors Contributing to Differences in Creative-Critical Thinking Style

Differences in thinking style and its acquisition have been attributed to a number of variables,

including age, gender, academic ability, socioeconomic status and culture. With respect to creative

thinking skills, Lehman (1953) proposes that the peak of creativity occurred at the age of thirty while

Stenberg (1997) suggests that children are more creative before going to school because in schools

students must follow the directions and regimentation of the school. A person's age however, was not

found associated with critical thinking Ruth (2000).

Many studies seem to concur on the association between creative thinking skills, culture and

socio-economic status. Studies in the United States and Canada indicate that the Asian community is

less creative compared to their Western counterparts (Stenberg, 2003 & Saeki et.al, 2001). This is

supported by Chua (nd) who found that secondary school students in Malaysia have lower creativity

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index compared to their counterpart in the United State of America. Previously, Torrance (1967) &

Zhang (2002) found that the differences between Asian and Western thinking styles which are

attributable to culture. From the socioeconomics perspective, studies indicate that children from high

socioeconomic background tend to be more creative compared to their counterparts from the lower

socio-economic background (Weisberg, 2006).

Findings from past studies do not come to a consensus on the difference between creative and

critical thinking styles between males and females (Amabile, 1996). Of those who believe in thinking

style difference, Herrmann (1996) was one of them. He found that males have preference for logical

and analytical thinking which is due to the left brain dominances, and females have preference to

feelings and interpersonal based thinking which is due to the right brain dominance as measured by

his Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) instrument. Another researcher who believe in the

gender difference in thinking style is Stenberg (1997) who using a different framework, found that

males have Legislative, Internal, and liberal thinking styles, whereas females have executive or

judicial, external and conservative thinking styles. He suggests that these differences could be

manifested from the time people are born. Working environments that are male-dominated and

female-dominated has also been found to affect creativity. Findings show that women appear to have

higher creativity than men in a female-dominated environment (Gordon, 2007).

Kelleher and Young, (1990), Marlina Ali et al, (2006) and Sharifah Suhaila (2007) on the

other hand find that there is difference between creative and critical thinking styles of males and

females in the technical disciplines. Lack of thinking style difference in the technical disciplines could

be attributable to the nature of the discipline, where it involves logical, fact based, complex,

mathematical thinking and thus the need for exercising critical and creative thinking irrespective of

gender (Muhammad Rahmad, 2006).

Problem Statement

Community colleges that were set under the Ministry of Higher Education to provide

opportunities for those students who fail to secure places in higher learning institutions has

implemented work-based learning programmes in selected colleges. In these programmes students go

through two semesters of work-based learning (WBL) in industries to provide them with authentic

working experience exposing them to the challenges of real life problems. Students work on

assignments in the form of problems encountered in their field of work that requires them to apply

their creative and critical thinking skills to analyse the problem, to generate ideas, to argue

analytically and much more. Better creative and critical thinking skills are expected to be the outcome

after successfully undergoing these programmes as suggested by Wonacott, (2002). The purpose of

this study was to investigate the thinking styles with respect to creative and critical thinking among

community college students who have undergone the work-based learning programmes.

The three research questions that guide this study were as follows:

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i. What is the predisposition of creative and critical thinking styles among Community

College students?

ii. Is there a difference in creative and critical thinking styles between males and females

Community College students?

iii. Is there a relationship between creative and critical thinking styles with academic

achievements?

Methodology

The research participants consisted of hundred and nine final year Diploma students (Table 1)

from the Hotel and Catering, Electrical Technology, Computer Technology and Automotive

Technology Diploma programmes from four community colleges under the Ministry of Higher

Education.

Table 1 Distribution of participants

Programme Numbers of respondents

Percentage (%)

Diploma in Electrical 34 31.2 Technology Diploma in Computer 30 27.5 Technology Diploma in Hotel and 25 22.9 Catering Diploma in Automotive 20 18.3 Technology

Total 109 100

The Malay translation of the Yan Piaw Creative - Critical Styles Test was administered to

participants to determine the level and type of their thinking style disposition. Thirty minutes was

given for them to respond to the 34 items in the test. Two types of thinking style were measured

simultaneously by this instrument namely creative thinking style and creative thinking style. The

scores obtained were used to classify a person into one of the following categories namely superior

creative, creative, balance, critical or superior critical thinking. Two formats were used for the items,

namely multiple answers items and open ended items. Scores for this test is calculated using the

following formula (Formula 1).

Score = Total number of points/ Total number of circles Formula 1

The scores were compared with the YCreative-Critical Scoring Indicator (Chua, 2010) in

Figure 1 to determine the categories of thinking style disposition. Yan divides people's thinking styles

into five categories, superior creative thinking, creative, balanced, critical and superior critical

thinking style. Reliability of this instrument is r=0.89 based on the test-retest method.

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Score line ! i

Thinking

Section

| Thinking

Section A B C 0 E

X . s

Critical Thinking

Section

Superior Creative . Balanced Critical Superior Creative Thinking Thinking Thinking Critical Thinking Style Style Style Thinking

Style Style

Figure 1: The YCreative-Critical Scoring Indicator

Results

Thinking Styles of Community College students

Most participants fall into the creative thinking style category (58.7%) and only 1% falls into

the balanced thinking style (Table 2). None of the participants falls under the superior creative or

superior critical thinking style category.

Table 2: Distribution of Thinking Styles among Community College Student Thinking style Frequencies Percentage (%) Superior creative thinking style 0 0 Creative thinking style 64 58.7 Superior creative thinking style 0 0 Critical thinking style 44 40.4 Balance 1 0.9 Total 109 100

Relationship between Thinking Styles and Gender

Cross-tabulation for thinking style versus gender indicates possible difference between males

and females thinking styles (Table 3). More males are observed than expected in the creative thinking

group while more females than expected are in the critical thinking group. The statistical significance

of the association was tested using the Chi-square test of freedom method but statistical significance

was not found, £ 2 =1.306, df=2,p> 0.05 (Table 4).

Table 3: Cross-tabulation for thinking styles versus gender Gender

Men Women Total Creative Thinking style Count 43 21 64

Expected 41.1 22.9 64.0 Balance thinking style Count 1 0 1

Expected 0.6 0.4 1.0 Critical thinking style Count 26 18 44

Expected 28.3 15.7 44.0 Total 70 39 109

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Table 4: Result of the Chi-square test on difference in thinking styles of males an females Values df P

Pearson Chi Square 1.306 2 0.520 Likelihood Ratio 1.629 2 0.443 Linear-by-linear Association .714 1 0.398 N of Valid Cases 109

Relationship between Thinking Styles and Academic Achievements

Cross-tabulation for thinking styles versus academic achievements indicates possible

relationship between types of thinking and academic achievement (Table 5). Observed frequency for

creative group who are excellent academically are higher compared to the expected frequency. At the

same time, higher frequency of critical thinkers is observed in the average and good academic

groupings.

Table 5

Academic achievement Weak Average Good Excellent Total

Creative Count 3 2 51 8 64 Expected 1.8 4.7 52.3 5.3 64.0

Critical Count 0 6 38 1 45 Expected 1.2 3.3 36.7 3.7 45.0

Total Count 3 8 89 9 109

The Chi-square test for association was used to test for significance in the relationship

between thinking styles and academic achievements (CPA). The results of the analysis indicate that

there is a statistically significant association between thinking style and academic achievement, %2 =

9.314, df=2>,p <0.05 (Table 6).

Table 6: Chi-square test result for the association between Thinking Style and Academic Achievements

x2 df p-value

Pearson Chi Square 9.314 3 0.025* Likelihood Ratio 11.026 3 0.012 Linear-by-linear Association 1.224 1 0.268 N 109

* p < .05, statistically significant at the 5% level of significance

Discussion

The goal of the present study was to investigate the creative and critical thinking style among

community college students who have undergone work-based learning and their relationship to

academic achievement. Slightly more students were found to be creative thinkers than critical

thinkers. This is expected as participations in WBL programmes require students to be involved in

creative endeavours in order to successfully deal with real life problems. Students who had attended

the WBL programmes were exposed to problem solving which required them to have creative

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thinking style in addition to critical thinking style that is also a necessity to deal with the analytical

and logical aspect of problem-solving.

In addition to the work experience, age also influences creative thinking styles. Overall the

Community College Diploma student's age ranged from 22 years old to 25 years old, which is the age

range where greater percentage of creative thinkers is expected. According to Lehman (1953) and

Jaquish (1980), the peak of creative thinking occurs during the age of 18 to 25 years old. Therefore,

the finding in this study is consistent with previous findings.

This study finds that thinking styles for males and females are not that different where similar

percentage of both types of thinkers is found in both gender groups. This situation could be due to two

possible reasons; females who have similar thinking styles to males tend to be attracted to the male

dominated disciplines or the work-experience is contributing to the similarity in thinking style. The

finding in this study is inconsistent with studies on men working in female dominated profession. For

example, men who work in the education field (that has always been dominated by women) was

found to be not as creative as the women who work in the same field.

The current study also shows that there is a relationship between creative and critical thinking

styles with academic achievement. This finding is consistent with that of Toth & Baker, (1990),

Wallach & Kogan (1965) and Yamamoto (1966) where higher score on creative thinking

corresponded with better performance on academic achievement. Academic achievement is also

closely related with student's learning activity and experience. It should be noted that the learning and

teaching experience provided by community colleges are not heavy on theoretical knowledge. The

learning concept in this institutions emphasise hands on learning skills as much as 75%, and only 25%

theoretical knowledge acquisition. Throughout the implementation of WBL, students were evaluated

by the employer in the industries on aspects of problem solving skills through given assignments, oral

examinations, and presentations. Therefore they must apply the creative and critical thinking skills to

analyse problems, give opinions or argue analytically, analyse, prepare for assessments and to

generate ideas to resolve problems. Findings from longitudinal study also indicate that the oral

assessments, presentation and group assignment increase the creative and critical thinking compared

to essay examinations or multiple choice tests (Wang, 2007; Ainon Mohd & Abdullah Hassan, 2000).

Therefore, the higher number of cases of participants in the creative thinking style group is expected.

The findings could be a possible indicator of the success of the WBL programme although a more

controlled study is necessary to make a stronger claim on this.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a slightly larger percentage of community college students are found to have

creative thinking style and the trend is similar among males and females. Further to that, academic

achievements of community college students are found to be associated with thinking styles where the

number of creative thinkers is observed to be higher than expected among those who excel in

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academics. If indeed creative thinkers are more successful academically, more efforts should be

focussed to improve creative thinking skills. However, the finding in this study is not conclusive as

the method used lacks the necessary control that could lend itself to cause and effect conclusion.

Therefore, further study is needed to verify the findings and to make it more useful to the education

community. The fact that no one achieves the superior position could also be a cause for concern and

focus of further research. In all its limitation, the study does provide some indication of the status of

community college students thinking styles in particular and Malaysian post-secondary vocational

students in general.

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