TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . 2 Divergent Versus Convergent Thinking . .4 Cognitive Flexibility . 6 Curiosity . 9 Abductive Reasoning . 11 Visualization . 13 Abstract Thinking. 15 Visionary Thinking . 17 Imagination . 19 Deferred Critical Thinking. 21 About the Author . 23 CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS–BOOK 3: ON CREATIVITY 1 INTRODUCTION n the first IEEE-USA e-book in this series onCritical Thinking Skills for Engineers, we delved into analytical skills—the ability to examine some- Ithing carefully, whether a problem, a set of data, or text. People with well-honed analytical skills create richer, better solutions to real-world challenges. In the second e-book in the series, we expanded on critical thinking—from that of an individual, to that of a group—where both oral and written communications will be essential to group effectiveness in achieving a specific goal. This third e-book builds further upon critical thinking, yb exploring creative approaches for both individuals and groups. Creativity is often considered the core of engineering; because from creativity, we devise unique solutions to society’s challenges. Don’t just take my word for it. The World Economic Forum moved Creativity up from #10 to #3 in its ranking of important attributes required for jobs of the future.1 LinkedIn’s Learning Study ranked Creativity #1 in its poll of critical job skills.2 Some engineers may not feel they are “creative types”; but as you will learn in this e-book, you can enhance your innate creativity in many ways. Dr. Robert Sternberg, professor of Human Development at Cornell University, provides this encouraging perspective in his book on The Theory of Creativity: “People are not born creative or uncreative. Rather, they develop a set of attitudes toward life that characterize those who are willing to go their own way. Examples of such attitudes are willingness to (a) rede- fine problems in novel ways; (b) take sensible risks; (c) “sell” ideas that others might not initially accept;(d) persevere in the face of obstacles; and (e) examine whether their own preconceptions are interfering with their creative process.”3 1 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/ 2 https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/top-skills/the-skills-companies-need-most-in-2019--and-how-to-learn-them 3 http://www.robertjsternberg.com/investment-theory-of-creativity CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS–BOOK 3: ON CREATIVITY 2 Creativity is, indeed, within us all—and it simply needs activation to over- come a longheld belief—that we are otherwise not creative. Sir Ken Robinson, education expert, says, "There are various myths about creativity. One is that only special people are creative; another is that creativity is only about the arts; a third is that creativity cannot be taught; and a fourth is that it’s all to do with uninhibited self-expression. None of these is true. Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human.”4 In this e-book, we’ll take a deeper look at creativity; and discover how we might enhance this capability so critical to engineering. We will cover the following: • Divergent Versus Convergent Thinking • Cognitive Flexibility • Curiosity • Abductive Reasoning • Visualization • Abstract Thinking • Visionary Thinking • Imagination • Deferred Critical Thinking In each of the chapters, I will share with you a number of ideas and practices to stimulate your creativity. The more you apply what you learn in this e-book, the more you’ll see how your full creative processes can be unleashed. I encourage you to do the recommended exercises that most resonate with you. Try them out. You’ll be glad you did. Let’s get started. 4 https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/40217/sir-ken-robinson-creativity-is-in-everything-especially-teaching CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS–BOOK 3: ON CREATIVITY 3 DIVERGENT VS CONVERGENT THINKING ost of us have participated in brainstorming sessions to generate fresh ideas or new solutions to an engineering problem. Such sessions are Mactually an example of an approach called divergent thinking, which aims to generate as many ideas as possible for solutions to a given problem. Let’s discuss two examples of approaches to divergent thinking that stretch your creative muscle. Exercise 1: The Thirty Circles Exercise IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley; and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and author of the The Art of Innovation, devised a simple method to encourage creativity through divergent thinking. Here’s how it works.5 Step 1: Download and print off a 30 Circles sheet of paper.6 Get a pen or pencil. Step 2: Using as many of the blank circles draw recognizable figures or objects in each of the circles. Step 3: Step back and examine your results. If you did this as a team exercise, how many people filled in ten or more circles? Most people don’t finish drawing in all the circles, and that’s just fine. What patterns do you see in the drawings? For example, is there a theme (e.g. faces, sports balls, symbols)? The purpose of this exercise is to encourage as many ideas as possible in a relatively structured model. After doing this exercise, try taking on a specific engineering challenge at work, and see if you find yourself thinking more broadly than you normally would. This result is divergent thinking at work. Exercise 2: Bisociation Bisociation is a term coined by Arthur Koestler, in his book, The Act of Creation.7 The idea behind bisociation is to connect two seemingly unrelated things together resulting in a surprising new idea. Here’s an example from the article, “In Class Creativity Exercises for Engineering Students,” by 5 https://www.ideo.com/blog/build-your-creative-confidence-thirty-circles-exercise 6 https://new-ideo-com.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/files/pdfs/30_circles_template.pdf 7 https://www.amazon.com/Act-Creation-Arthur-Koestler/dp/1939438985 CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS–BOOK 3: ON CREATIVITY 4 authors Jonathan Weaver and Karim Muci-Kuchler.8 We start with two unrelated inputs (left column) and see what new product concept could emerge (right column), as shown in an excerpt from the author’s article: Things Associated Resulting Product (Inventor) Computers + mail order Dell Computers (Michael Dell) Action + web Amazon.com (Jeff Bezos) Wine press + coin punch Printing press (Johannes Gutenberg) Tablet PC + cell phone iPhone (Steve Jobs) Rubber + waffle iron Sole for Nike shoe (Bill Bowerman) Now let’s do the same exercise; but let’s use “paperclips + home improvement” as inputs, to see what ideas we can generate. As with the Circles exercise, don’t limit or judge yourself. Just keep generating ideas. What did you observe? Did you create some startling new uses for a paperclip that you’d never imagined before? Again, it is divergent thinking at work. Now, let’s look at how we take the rich set of brainstorm ideas from the divergent thinking exercise. Let's figure out how we might narrow the list down to a few, or even one, most compelling one. This process is convergent thinking. In convergent thinking, you will want to establish clear objectives and criteria for assessing ideas. Using the paperclip exercise, we can narrow the list of ideas by testing each of them against some criteria—such as: potential for mass adoption, purchase price, novelty factor, ease of replicating at scale, etc. You can assign a weight to your criteria and use a ten-point scale to score your ideas. The idea with the highest weighted score would be the best one to take forward to product validation testing, and possibly, even to commercialization. Tip: Apply divergent and convergent thinking methods to a specific engi- neering problem or challenge you are facing. See if you can generate a new creative solution. 8 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5143/b71a8308bb139517d142066d05939342d788.pdf CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS–BOOK 3: ON CREATIVITY 5.