Abstract
The idea of “critical” implies that viewpoints must change, if we are to see things in a new light. How to elicit and research perspective change for critical thinking thus becomes a central question. This chapter introduces how the notion of perspective change underlies the design of two case studies to test empirically the link between critical thinking and creative writing. The assignment used is based on an eliciting moral dilemma that students work with in steps and in different versions to maximize perspective change. It is presented in full. In addition, an extended example from the collected data is included. The main data consists of 65 student texts, where students sum up what they learned from the assignment. The basic approach to the research is ethnomethodological.
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Notes
- 1.
According to the syllabus for the module “Ideas and Expression” (”idé och uttryck 9 hp”) in creative writing at Södertörn University.
- 2.
Here and in what follows text in italics is a quotation from parts of Elbow’s instruction. (See Sect. 2.1.1 in Chap. 2 for the entire quotation.)
- 3.
The different steps are viewed as resources for perspective change . The texts in parentheses in the instruction texts aim to clarify more overarching aims or possibilities for such changes of perspective central in the construction of the assignment. These comments about perspective change are not included in the instruction texts to the students.
- 4.
The 2007 novel by the Swedish writer and feminist Maria Sveland with the provocative title Bitter Cunt (Bitterfittan) thematizes the entrapping women’s roles, and Swedish American artist Anna Anka discusses women’s emancipation and praises the ideal housewife.
- 5.
Hybridity is not always a salient feature in the reflection texts in the data . Some texts show more dominant features from a specific profile.
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Edberg, H. (2018). Basic Outlines of the Research. In: Creative Writing for Critical Thinking. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65491-1_3
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