THINKING SKILLS

Creativity, Problem solving, Problem finding

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.

LEVELS OF THINKING

Low

High

Knowing

Comprehension

Application or Problem solving

Evaluation or Critical thinking

Creativity

• 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.

• “That “creativity” is beyond analysis is a romantic

illusion we must now outgrow” – Peter Medawar.

• Creativity is a matter of organizing one’s basic skills,

not regretting that one was not born with a “quick”

or “logical” mind.

GIFT OR SKILL ?

• 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.

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.

INTELLIGENCE versus CREATIVITY

Creativity is the ability to look at the same thing

as everyone else and think something different.

Description of attitudes with the help of “roses” and “thorns”

Humane Roses for you and Roses for me

Optimistic Roses

Pessimistic Thorns

Realistic Roses and thorns

Stoic Roses or

thorns

Selfish Roses for me and thorns for you

Sadistic Thorns for you and your blood for

meDivine Roses for you and your thorns for me

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.

PRESCRIPTIONS

Examples of Analogies

• Solar system Atomic structure

• Brownian motion of dust particles

Electrons in a crystal

Different ways of calculating

• 22 < < 4 (square), 3 < < 23 (hexagon)

• / 4 = Tan-1 1 = (x – x3/3 + x5/5 – x7/7 + ….) at x = 1

• Buffon’s 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

STRATEGIES OF PROBLEM SOLVING

Representation

Logical thinking

Division into sub-problems

Stretch to the extreme

TECHNIQUES OF REPRESENTATION

• Reformulation

• Symbolic

• Table: list, matrix

• Graph

• Trees

• Venn diagram

• Other diagrams

How can you become more productive ?

REFORMULATION

How can you make your job easier ?

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.

PROBLEM

TABLE(LIST)

Doping Area (cm2)

Expt 1 Expt 2

P+

0.5 10 10.2

1 7 7.2

2 5 6

P

0.5 8 9

1 4.3 4.7

2 3 3.1

N

0.5 4.1 4.8

1 4.1 5

2 3.9 5.8

N+

0.5 - -

1 3 3.2

2 2.9 6.1

AdhesionStrength(106 N / m2)

Area

Doping0.5 cm2 1 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)

TABLE (MATRIX)

GRAPH

0.5 cm2

1 cm2

2 cm2

Adhesion strength (106 N / m2)

N+ N P P+

10

8

6

4

2

0

Teaching-learning ProcessStudent action

Student question

Student response

Teacher question

Teacher response

Teacher talk

Using chalkboard

Using charts

Using projections

Using multimedia

Time

A picture is worth a

thousand words

Graph

PROBLEM FINDING

• Problem solving versus problem finding

• Formulation of a problem

• Types and attributes of research problems

• Sources of research problems

CONTENTS

Finding a problem

• is harder than solving it or doing the actual

research;

• is often more essential than its solution;

• is as much a scholar’s responsibility as that of the guide - a problem must spring from a researcher’s mind like a plant springing from its own seed.

Problem Solving vs Problem Finding

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

• Why literature survey

• What to read

• How much to read

• How to read

• Note taking

LITERATURE SURVEY

EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING SKILLS

CONTENTS

• Scientific method

• Design of an experiment

• Need for precision

• Errors – types, sources, estimation

and elimination

• Documentation

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

• Observation

• Hypothesis

• Verification

• Generalization

• Experiment

• Observation

• Inference

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.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• A way of understanding the world by objective

observations.

• Its goal is to discover laws and develop theories

to explain them.

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

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• Understanding and agreement

• Effectiveness and efficiency

Dimensions of Communication

Ineffective Communication

“Sir, my employer wants a letter about the

completion of my thesis written by you !”

a considerable amount of much

the given data data

in the event that if

deposited precipitate precipitate

the nature of Hoyle’s work is Hoyle’s work is always of a provocative kind always provocative

Inefficient Efficient

ORAL COMMUNICATION

words7%

38 %

55 %

Non-verbal: gesture and facial expression

Verbal: spoken words, pauses, stress and intonation

vocal

Attention span

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.

Attention span of the audience: initial 20 min of

concentration, lapse for 10-20 min, slight recovery

and then renewed relapse till the end.

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.

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.

"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)

MANAGEMENT SKILLS

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.

Time managementTime management

Working out a new idea requires much routine work,

and to this part of an investigation, we can apply

efficiency methods.

Persistence and the ability to manage boredom and

frustration are crucial for research work.

Stress managementStress management

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.”

Sources of stress

Professional EthicsProfessional Ethics

• Research, like all good things in life, is never smooth

sailing

• Plagiarism - cite reference

• Credit to co-workers – authorship and acknowledgment

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.

Questions or comments ?

Do not follow where the path may lead

Go instead where there is no path

……… Ralph Emerson