Imagination and Critical thinking

Imagination and critical thinking was brought up last class. Even though imagination, creativity, and art in the curriculum is going to be a topic of discussion with in the following weeks, I want to further touch on how Imagination is important for critical thinking skills.

Thinking imaginatively lets one think beyond what is real and is not limited by what is logical and possible. Thinking Critically lets one think analytically within what is logical and possible.
Imagination and critically thinking seem to contradict themselves in the way I described them. Yet, they are more like teammates. When thinking critically one might first imagine and then cancel out what logically cannot be. Children have such great imagination because of how their brains are developmentally. Critical thinking skills are not developed until later on. Surely a great imagination is fuel for growing a critically thinking mind. Too much desk work in the earlier years can have an averse effect on a child's cognitive abilities. Imagination and critical thinking both have their roles in everyday life; they are equally important.

Albert Einstien said , "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will ever be to know and understand.” Coming from the man who is known as the smartest person who ever lived, this quote is surly not a fallacy of false authority.

Question: What is the relationship between Critical thinking, imagination, and knowledge?

Re: Emily's "Tests"

In Emily's first post she talked about how most teachers test students which teaches them how to take tests rather than how to learn. She ended the post with the question: "Should schools get rid of traditional testing, have fewer tests, or stay the way they are?

From my experience there are four types of assignments for classes. Tests, writing/reading assignments, projects, and worksheets. Teachers use one, two, three or all four of these types. What type or types they use depends on the teacher or the material itself. This class is a reading/writing based class (yet, there is a book review at the end which I would classify as a project). Worksheet classes are typically math and some science classes. Writing classes are typically English and philosophy subjects. Different modes of assignments suit different materials better than others. Worksheets seem to disappear the farther along you get in your learning career, simply because they do not take as much effort as the other three.
Most of the psychology courses I've taken employ writing/reading, tests, and a project. I do not know about everyone else, but I enjoy variety in my learning experience. Testing measures how well you know the material being presented and allows a coverage of a range of material. Writing assignments show creativity and critical thinking skills. Projects show creativity in a visual rather than a linguistic form, and forces you to explain things as if you were teaching them. Each of these have their place. Yes, we should steer away from just test taking. With most classes there should be more than just tests when possible because teachers should have there students think about the subject matter in different ways.

Questions: Are the subjects and details of projects and papers you have worked on, topics that have stayed in your mind the longest? Can you remember more projects and papers that you have done in the past rather more tests?