Critical thinking and the Spock Fallacy

This paper illustrates how critical thinking techniques could be used in teaching aesthetics. Exploring unfamiliar territory and moving freely between reflective and active thought processes are components important to both aesthetics and critical thinking. In keeping with the objectives of critical thinking, a classroom exercise titled "Getting Outside of Your Own Skin" was designed to help students acknowledge and address assumptions and biases they may hold about older consumers and the aging process. Students were encouraged to move beyond personal experiences to broaden their thinking about individuals unlike themselves. By working through the project, students were given the opportunity to examine their perceptions and attitudes toward the aging process and to consider their effect on this growing market.

Section: Critical Thinking: Definition and Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Encouraging Critical Thinking in the Classroom: An Example from Aesthetics

DeLong

Hegland

Nelson

1997

“…In an initial search for literature on critical thinking, we encountered over 1,500 citations in the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) database. Walters (1990) and Gallo (1989) also have stressed the importance of creativity and imagination in critical thinking to enrich the capacity of students to imagine alternative perspectives and/or solutions to problems. Stancato (2000) defi ned critical thinking as making judgments about the truthfulness and worth of the statements or answers to a problem.…”

Section: Critical Th Inking Defi Nedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Fitzpatrick (1993) defi ned critical thinking as the process of determining the value of an idea, and Kataoka-Yahiro and Saylor (1994) stated that critical thinking is a process of thinking without a single solution to a situation or problem. Walters (1990) and Gallo (1989) also have stressed the importance of creativity and imagination in critical thinking to enrich the capacity of students to imagine alternative perspectives and/or solutions to problems. Common to each of these defi nitions is the assumption that the student is responsible for evaluating information and making judgments about the relative merit of an answer or idea.…”

Section: Critical Th Inking Defi Nedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Critical Thinking in Product Development: Connections between Textile Science and Consumers' Aesthetic Value

Fiore

Kadolph

Ogle

2005

Educators and researchers alike have written extensively about the importance of integrating critical thinking experiences across the undergraduate curriculum. In the present paper we discuss critical thinking, explain the importance of critical thinking for apparel professionals involved in product development, and provide integrative structures and applications to help students think critically about aesthetics and textiles subject matter, both of which are central to the product development process. Specifi cally, we propose a model and adopt a taxonomy to help students understand (a) the important role played by consumer value in professional decisions, and (b) the range of benefi ts culminating in the value of a product, respectively. To better prepare students for a total customer integration approach to product development, we also propose connections between subject matter areas of textile science and aesthetics and provide example exercises where students integrate textile science and aesthetics subject matter. Graduates of textiles and clothing programs need to understand a total customer integration approach that entails providing the specifi c benefi ts or value in a product desired by the customer.

“…Instead of the passivity that can permeate our higher education classrooms, critical thinking development can help form habits of logical refl ection, rational thought processes, and higher order thinking, while also using creative imagination. Brookfi eld (1990) and Walters (1990) recognize that logic and analysis require creativity to contribute a more holistic approach to critical thought. Th e elements of critical thinking espoused by Brookfi eld (1990) include contextual awareness, assumption analysis, and imaginative speculation.…”

Section: Pedagogy Of Critical Th Inkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretive Reading of Two Maidenform Bra Advertising Campaigns

Lyons

2005

Students studying advertising can benefit from developing an historical appreciation of advertisements that were important in earlier times, as they are apt to mirror the society from which they emerged and thus will inform viewers about those eras. A classroom exercise was developed requiring students to use visual analysis as they examined slides from two Maidenform advertising campaigns. The exercise encouraged them to articulate aesthetic responses, to consider the reactions the ads must have generated among the viewers of the time, and to understand why the first campaign appealed to two decades of consumers, while the second campaign was short-lived. The project is useful because it provides a basis for understanding expectations and tastes of the past, and it helps us evaluate current advertising campaigns that provide insights to our culture.