THINKING SKILLS Creativity, Problem solving, Problem finding

1
THINKING SKILLSCreativity, Problem solving,
Problem finding
2
Generally our thinking tends to be Re-productive,
i.e. based on similar problems encountered in the
past, or taught to solve. However, we must learn
to do Productive thinking, i.e. generate as many
alternative approaches as possible.
3
LEVELS OF THINKING

• Knowing
• Comprehension
• Application or Problem solving
• Evaluation or Critical thinking
• Creativity

4
GIFT OR SKILL ?

• That creativity is beyond analysis is a
  romantic
• illusion we must now outgrow Peter Medawar.

• Creativity is a skill which can be developed by
  practice.
• Conscious application is needed, not the
  vagaries of
• inspiration, in order to achieve a creative
  output.

• Creativity is a matter of organizing ones basic
  skills,
• not regretting that one was not born with a
  quick
• or logical mind.

5
INTELLIGENCE versus CREATIVITY

• Marilyn vos Savant (IQ 228 highest ever) is
• merely a question and answer columnist for
• Parade magazine.
• Richard Feynman (IQ 122 - less than many run-
• of-the-mill physicists) is a Nobel prize
  winner
• and recognized as the last American Genius.

6
INTELLIGENCE versus CREATIVITY
Intelligence and creativity are not the same
things. Intelligence in a domain means the
ability to function at a high level in that
domain, but creativity involves asking new
questions and altering the domain. One can be
highly intelligent but rigid, noncreative, or
lacking in the kind of single-minded passion that
drives creators.
7
Creativity is the ability to look at the same
thing as everyone else and think something
different.
8
Description of attitudes with the help of roses
and thorns
Optimistic Roses
Pessimistic Thorns
Realistic Roses and thorns
Stoic Roses or thorns
Humane Roses for you and Roses for me
Selfish Roses for me and thorns for you
Sadistic Thorns for you and your blood for
me
Divine Roses for you and your thorns for
me
9
PRESCRIPTIONS

• Creativity can be developed by -
• Looking at the world in terms of analogies.
• Learning about different ways to solve a problem

If you have 10 hours for chopping a tree,
spend 5 hours sharpening the axe.
10
Examples of Analogies

• Solar system ? Atomic structure
• Brownian motion of dust particles
• ? Electrons in a crystal

11
Different ways of calculating ?

• 2?2 lt ? lt 4 (square), 3 lt ? lt 2?3 (hexagon)

• ? / 4 Tan-1 1 (x x3/3 x5/5 x7/7 .)
  at x 1

• Buffons needle experiment
• ? 2 x (total drops) / (no. of hits)

Education is not about learning diverse subjects,
but about learning diverse ways to the same
subject - Aurobindo
12
STRATEGIES OF PROBLEM SOLVING

• Representation
• Logical thinking
• Division into sub-problems
• Stretch to the extreme

13
TECHNIQUES OF REPRESENTATION

• Reformulation
• Symbolic
• Table list, matrix

• Graph
• Trees
• Venn diagram
• Other diagrams

14
REFORMULATION
How can you become more productive ?
How can you make your job easier ?
15
PROBLEM
Derive the trend in the behavior of plating
adhesion on a silicon substrate from the measured
data as a function of substrate area and doping
level. The adhesion is measured for 0.5, 1 and 2
cm2 area, and P, P, N and N doping levels. Each
measurement is repeated twice.
16
Doping Area (cm2) Expt 1 Expt 2
P 0.5 10 10.2
P 1 7 7.2
P 2 5 6
P 0.5 8 9
P 1 4.3 4.7
P 2 3 3.1
N 0.5 4.1 4.8
N 1 4.1 5
N 2 3.9 5.8
N 0.5 - -
N 1 3 3.2
N 2 2.9 6.1
TABLE(LIST)
Adhesion Strength (106 N / m2)
17
TABLE (MATRIX)
Area Doping 0.5 cm2 0.5 cm2 1 cm2 1 cm2 2 cm2 2 cm2
P 10 10.2 7 7.2 5 6
P 8 9 4.3 4.7 3 3.1
N 4.1 4.8 4.1 5 3.9 5.8
N - - 3 3.2 2.9 6.1
Adhesion strength ( 106 N / m2)
18
GRAPH
19
Graph
Teaching-learning Process
Student action
Student question
Student response
Teacher question
Teacher response
Teacher talk
Using chalkboard
Using charts
Using projections
Using multimedia
A picture is worth a thousand words
20
PROBLEM FINDING
21
CONTENTS

• Problem solving versus problem finding
• Formulation of a problem
• Types and attributes of research problems
• Sources of research problems

22
Problem Solving vs Problem Finding

• Finding a problem
• is harder than solving it or doing the actual
• research
• is often more essential than its solution
• is as much a scholars responsibility as that
• of the guide - a problem must spring from
• a researchers mind like a plant springing
• from its own seed.

23
Attributes of Research Problems

• Difficulty
• Value or usefulness
• Originality
• Is it interesting (does it deny
• commonly held assumptions ?)
• Significance / impact (all the above and more)
• Cost / equipment / cooperation

24
LITERATURE SURVEY

• Why literature survey
• What to read
• How much to read
• How to read
• Note taking

25
EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING SKILLS
26
CONTENTS

• Scientific method
• Design of an experiment
• Need for precision
• Errors types, sources, estimation
• and elimination
• Documentation

27
SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Non-scientific thinking
• Authority
• Pure logic
• Intuition spontaneous judgment not based on
• conscious reasoning.
• common sense practical intelligence shared by
• a large group of people
• These are practical rather than theoretical.
• Scientific results can be counterintuitive

28
SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Observation
• Hypothesis
• Verification
• Generalization

• Experiment
• Observation
• Inference

29
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Hypothesis is an imaginative preconception or an
inspired guess about some particularly
interesting aspect of the world. Every discovery
begins as a hypothesis.
Experiment is the act undertaken to verify a
hypothesis.
30
SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• A way of understanding the world by objective
• observations.
• Its goal is to discover laws and develop
  theories
• to explain them.

31
SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Law
• A statement that certain events are regularly
• associated with each other in an orderly way.
• Theory
• A set of statements explaining one or more
  laws,
• usually including one indirect concept needed
  to
• explain the relationship

32
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
33
Dimensions of Communication

• Understanding and agreement
• Effectiveness and efficiency

34
Ineffective Communication
Sir, my employer wants a letter about the
completion of my thesis written by you !
35
Inefficient ? Efficient
a considerable amount of ? much
the given data ?
data in the event
that ? if deposited
precipitate ? precipitate the nature
of Hoyles work is Hoyles work is
always of a provocative kind ? always
provocative
36
ORAL COMMUNICATION
Verbal spoken words, pauses, stress and
intonation
words
vocal
38
7
55
Non-verbal gesture and facial expression
37
Attention span
Attention span of the audience initial 20 min of
concentration, lapse for 10-20 min, slight
recovery and then renewed relapse till the
end.
It can be increased by adding variety to the
talk - interaction, diagrams, audiovisuals, pace
of speech, pitch of the voice, length of
sentences, pauses, repetition gesturing with
hands, humor.
38
WRITING AND THOUGHT

• Writing is the means of discovering new
  knowledge.
• Writing makes people think about their work in
  a
• different way.
• The only time when we think is when we write !
• A lot is written when little has been achieved.

39
Prescriptions

• Read the editorial of newspapers daily.
• Read the newspaper aloud.
• Do writing for two hours / week .
• This could be notes for the lectures that
• you gave, or description of an important
• idea. It can also be precis writing.

40
"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station
and my belly is much swelling with jackfruit. I
am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the
nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train
to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand
and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and
expose all my shocking to man and female women on
platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.
This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung
that dam guard not wait train five minutes for
him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big
fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I
making big report in papers." Okhil Chandra Sen
to Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office (1909)
41
MANAGEMENT SKILLS
42
Time management

• We cannot say go and discover the second law
  of
• thermodynamics in the afternoon, but if we
  arrange
• our schedule so as to set aside time for
  thinking and
• experimenting, we put ourselves in the way
  of
• discovering something.

• Working out a new idea requires much routine
  work,
• and to this part of an investigation, we can
  apply
• efficiency methods.

43
Stress management

• Persistence and the ability to manage boredom
  and
• frustration are crucial for research work.

Sources of stress

• Monotony and repetitiveness of concentrating on
  the
• same idea for an extended period of time.
• Criticism
• Loneliness I work alone in a lab, full of
  people - all
• research students, all working alone.

44
Professional Ethics

• Research, like all good things in life, is never
  smooth
• sailing
• Plagiarism - cite reference
• Credit to co-workers authorship and
  acknowledgment

45
CONCLUSION

• During research, the feelings of exploration,
  excitement,
• challenge, involvement and passion are
  frequent, and
• one gets an enormous feeling of achievement
  on the
• award of a research degree.
• Research makes you an independent and organized
  
• thinker, a good communicator and stress-time
  manager.
• Education is not about learning diverse
  subjects,
• but about learning diverse ways to the same
  subject.

46
Do not follow where the path may lead Go instead
where there is no path
Ralph Emerson
Questions or comments ?