[EAS]Thinking outside the Text

[pjk]

Mail*Link¨ SMTP               Thinking outside the Text

Good reminders that the world inside a text book can be a dull place.

  --PJK

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"Use Edward deBono's PMI method to point out flaws without rejecting 
creative ideas. Discuss Positive aspects, Minuses, and Interesting 
features that can be adapted to other designs. Fear of failure can be 
a major block to creative thinking, so let students know it's OK if 
initial designs fail. Encourage them to look for multiple solution 
paths and multiple answers."
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Folks:

The posting below provides provides some good suggestions on how to 
help your students think creatively as soon as they come to your 
institution. It is by By Phillip Wankat and Frank Oreovicz  from the 
March, 2003 issues of ASEE Prism, Volume 12, Number 7. 
<http://www.asee.org/prism/>. Copyright © 2003 ASEE, all rights 
reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Rick Reis
reis at stanford.edu
UP NEXT:  Be a Stress Buster

			      Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning

		------------------------------ 636 words 
-----------------------------

			THINKING OUTSIDE THE TEXTBOOK

By Phillip Wankat and Frank Oreovicz

Creative thinking needs to be part of the every student's education.

Good teachers know that textbook knowledge only goes so far toward 
solving real-world problems. Students will need fresh ideas and 
original thinking to tackle challenges. And it's our responsibility 
as educators to help them develop these skills. So if-as Albert 
Einstein said-imagination is more important than knowledge, why do we 
wait until the open-ended problems of the senior capstone design 
course to encourage creativity in our students? We should start 
helping students to think creatively when they come to us as 
wide-eyed freshmen. Here are some ways we've found to nudge the 
creative process along:

Break out of the one-and-only answer rut. The more ideas students 
have, the more likely they are to have good ones. So, when students 
solve classroom or homework problems, encourage them to generate a 
large number of creative or novel solutions, evaluate them 
critically, and discard the bad ones.

Use creative thinking techniques and games. Brainstorming is an 
excellent way to get students thinking in more creative ways. Be sure 
everyone contributes when you use this technique, and don't criticize 
no matter how outlandish the idea. Write everything down, so the 
ideas can build on one another. And ask questions that get at subtle 
points. For example, TV weather forecasters sometimes say it has to 
warm up to snow. Is this true? Why? Have students discuss the 
question in small groups or ponder it overnight.

Asking how nature does something, asking "what if" questions, 
fantasizing about magical solutions, and looking for the worst-case 
scenario are ways to trigger creative thinking. Use games and 
puzzles, particularly mathematical puzzles, so that students have fun 
while they learn.

Be careful not to punish creativity. A creative solution probably 
won't be as polished as a standard, regurgitated one. It is also 
unlikely to follow the same steps that a standard solution would. So 
use different criteria to score these creative answers because using 
the same grading templates might punish a student's creative problem 
solving with a lower grade.

Use Edward deBono's PMI method to point out flaws without rejecting 
creative ideas. Discuss Positive aspects, Minuses, and Interesting 
features that can be adapted to other designs. Fear of failure can be 
a major block to creative thinking, so let students know it's OK if 
initial designs fail. Encourage them to look for multiple solution 
paths and multiple answers.

Introduce creativity with projects and research. A creative project 
that can be adapted to any course is Rich Felder's "generic quiz" 
(Chem. Engr. Educ., Fall 1985, p. 176). We use this project at Purdue 
by asking students in their first chemical engineering course to 
develop a novel homework problem. This two-week group project is 
worth 10 to 15 percent of the course grade. A group that uses real 
data and develops a unique problem with a correct solution can earn 
an A. If the problem is similar to problems in the book but the data 
is from other sources, the highest possible grade is a B. Problems 
similar to those in the textbook using data from the text merits a 
maximum grade of C. Students do the project at the end of the 
semester to bring together the different elements in the course. 
After a semester of solving problems, they find developing a unique 
problem to be a fun challenge but are usually surprised at how 
difficult it is. To control freeloading, students evaluate what 
percentage of the project grade teammates deserve. Assigned instead 
of a final exam, this project generates more enthusiasm and is an 
opportunity to practice team and communication skills.

Creative students won't come from boring classes and tedious 
assignments. We can make problems more than mere exercises and show 
them that the best solutions are seldom found on dusty library 
shelves.

-----------------------------------
Phillip Wankat is head of interdisciplinary engineering and the 
Clifton L. Lovell Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering at 
Purdue University. Frank Oreovicz is an education communications 
specialist at Purdue's chemical engineering school. They can be 
reached by e-mail at <mailto:purdue at asee.org>purdue at asee.org.

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