Productive Thinking

Shreepad Karmalkar Professor, Electrical Engineering Department Core Team Member, Teaching Learning Center Indian Institute of Technology Madras karmal@ee.iitm.ac.in

We discuss answers the following questions

How can I develop my thinking to generate ideas ? In how many different ways (tabular, graphical or other) can I present the data ?

Thinking is said to be - reproductive when it is based on similar problems encountered in the past, or taught to solve - productive when it generates as many alternative approaches as possible Research is all about productive thinking which is also called higher order thinking consisting of critical thinking and creativity

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 runof-the-mill physicists) is a Nobel prize winner and recognized as the last American Genius.

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.

Example what kind of questions alter the domain

A scientist questioned the following hypothesis regarding the cause of obesity Overweight people overeat because their level of hunger is higher than that of average weight people. This higher level of hunger is responsible for their overweight.
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Example what kind of questions alter the domain

The scientist reported the following experiment to support his doubt.

50 overweight 50 average weight Group A: 1 Sandwich

50 overweight 50 average weight Group B: 3 Sandwiches

Asking new questions is not enough; work on a verifiable answer too !

Example what kind of questions alter the domain

. and made the following Observation Average number of sandwiches eaten by an average weight person in both Groups A and B 2 an overweight person in Group A 1 an overweight person in Group B 3

Example what kind of questions alter the domain

. and drew the following inference Overeating habit of overweight people is governed by an external factor, namely availability of food, rather than by an internal factor, namely hunger.

Assignment
Read up the following article which highlights the elements of productive thinking: P. S. Blackawton et. al., Blackawton bees, Biology Lett.. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.1056, published online on 22nd December 2010.

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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.

Motivation is recognized as a crucial factor in the development of talent and the application of creativity. The importance of Intrinsic Motivation in driving an individual to practice and work hard to master a specific domain, is undisputed. Cox (1926), in his study of 301 geniuses, wrote: 'high but not the highest intelligence, combined with the greatest degrees of persistence, will achieve greater eminence than the highest degree of intelligence with somewhat less persistence'.

Education is not about learning diverse subjects, but about learning diverse ways to the same subject. - Aurobindo

ACTIVITY
Aim: To gain an appreciation of the levels of thinking Low Knowing or memory Application or Problem solving Evaluation or Critical thinking High Creativity

Make five squares of equal size out of a single large square. You are allowed to cut and paste.

Questions testing levels of thinking

Following questions assume that students are taught the statement and proof of Pythagorus theorem. Q. State and prove Pythagorus theorem. - Tests memory Q. Using Pythagorus theorem, divide a square piece of paper into five equal squares. - Tests application or problem solving ability Q. Divide a square piece of paper into five equal squares. (No hint of Pythagorus theorem). - Tests critical thinking Q. Formulate a question for testing the levels of thinking. - Tests creativity

Assignment
Understand critical thinking in detail using an internet search.

Reason can answer questions, but imagination has to ask them

Imagination is more important than

What is Creativity
Ability to look at the same thing as everyone else and think something different. Ability to take a fresh look at familiar objects and situations, enriched by past experience, but not constrained by it.

Description of attitudes with the help of roses and thorns

Optimistic Roses

Pessimistic Thorns Realistic Stoic Humane Selfish Sadistic Divine Roses and thorns Roses or thorns Roses for you and Roses for me Roses for me and thorns for you Thorns for you and your blood for me Roses for you and your thorns for me

STRATEGIES OF PROBLEM SOLVING

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

REPRESENTATION

Well begun is half-done

Because of the uncertainties involved in illdefined problems, the problem solver must often devote a great deal of time to both the step of forming an initial representation of the problem and the step of reformulating it.

A picture is worth a

TECHNIQUES OF REPRESENTATION
Symbolic representation Reformulation Table: list, matrix Graph Venn diagram Drawing diagram to scale

Problem: Represent the following symbolically

The first term is the product of the given sine and radius of the desired arc divided by the cosine of the arc. The succeeding terms are obtained by a process of iteration when the first term is repeatedly multiplied by the square of the sine and divided by the square of the cosine. All the terms are then divided by the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, .... The arc is obtained by adding and subtracting respectively the terms of odd rank and those of even rank. It is laid down that the sine of the arc or that of its complement whichever is the smaller should be taken here as the

Problem:
How can you become more productive ?

Solution by reformulation: How can you make your job easier ?

Powerful Reformulation or Transformation Techniques

Binary number system Logarithm

Problem:

The Tirupati Temple Problem

Exactly at sunrise one morning, you set out to climb the Thirupati temple. The path wound round the mountain. You climbed the path at varying rates of speed. You stopped many times along the way to rest and to eat the fruit you carried with you. You reached the temple just before sunset.

Continued ..

Tirupati temple problem..

After fasting and meditating for several days, you began your journey down along the same winding path, starting at sunrise and walking, as before, at variable speeds. Your average speed down the hill was more than your average climbing speed. Prove that there must be a spot along the path that you will pass on both trips at exactly the same time of the day.

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.

TABLE( LIST)
Adhesion Strength (106 N / m2)

Doping

Area (cm2)

Expt 1 10 7 5 8 4.3 3 4.1 4.1 3.9 3 2.9

Expt 2 10.2 7.2 6 9 4.7 3.1 4.8 5 5.8 3.2 6.1

0.5 P+ 1 2 0.5 P 1 2 0.5 N 1 2 0.5 N+ 1 2

TABLE (MATRIX)

Area Doping

0.5 cm2 10 8 4.1 10.2 9 4.8 -

1 cm2 7 4.3 4.1 3 7.2 4.7 5 3.2

2 cm2 5 3 3.9 2.9 6 3.1 5.8 6.1

P+ P N N+

Adhesion strength ( 106 N / m2)

GRAPH

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Adhesion strength (106 N / m2)

8 6 4 2 0

1 cm2 0.5 cm2

2 cm2

N+

P+

PROBLEM

Solve the equation:

X = e-X

TABLE (LIST)

X 0 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.55 0.57

LHS 0 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.55 0.57

RHS 1 0.67 0.61 0.55 0.577 0.566

y=x

y = e-x x

TABULAR SOLUTION
y=x

RHS LHS

LHS RHS

y = e-x
0 0.4 0.5 0.6

ITERATIVE SOLUTION

Xn+1 = e-Xn
y=x x1

x5 x4

x3

x2 x0

y = e-x x

PROBLEM

How good is a particular classroom teaching learning process ?

Graphical Representation
Student action Student question Student response Teacher question Teacher response Teacher talk Using chalkboard Using charts Using projections Using multimedia

Time

Teaching-learning Process

Venn Diagram

SS E I S

Drawing diagrams to Scale

8

11

8 0.11

Assignment
Find out different ways of graphical representation of data.