Introduction

"Imagination is more important than knowledge, for imagination embraces the world." (Albert Einstein)

The concept of hands on, creative, critical thinking seems to be something that many students have not experienced in their education process. Students have become so used to having all concepts spread out before them, and being told what and when or where to do something that real creative thinking is something that is new and often hard for them to do.
Our society, school system and peer pressure often contribute to the stifling of the natural inquisitiveness that each one of us is born with, that innate desire to question, explore, create. Students learn very early in their schooling to keep their mouth shut rather than ask questions which they may imagine peers or teachers would consider dumb. This action on the part of the students will create a block to open, creative, critical thinking. The students will rely more and more on what the group or teacher/adult is thinking or doing, rather than thinking and creating on their own.
Creative, critical thinking is a personal life skill that is necessary in our fast paced changing world. There are very few areas in which a person can find employment that creative, critical thinking is not part of the job.

"We don't have to make human beings smart. They are born smart. All we have to do is to stop doing things that make them stupid." (John Holt)

Purpose

The thrust of this Technology Education supplementary section is the development of creative, critical thinking. The students will be faced with a number of problems in which they will be taught and encouraged to think, invent, use critical analysis and evaluation to solve the problems.

When the students are asked to solve a problem they will be required to draw upon experiences they have in their background (stored knowledge), personally explore, create, invent and learn (new knowledge), as well as absorb information from the teacher and other team members (shared knowledge). These together will help the development of creative, critical thinking.

Goals

1) To foster and develop creative thinking.
2) To foster and develop critical thinking.
3) To foster and develop-open minded evaluation.
4) To develop the basic understanding of the tied interactions of different technologies.
5) To develop basic hands-on skills with hand and power tools.
6) To explore working with and manipulating different kinds of materials.
7) To develop within the student a feeling of confidence with creative, critical thinking.
8) To learn to work within a team sharing equally in gained personal and group knowledge.

Format

The handbook is laid out in seven main sections. The first two sections are guidelines for discussions on creative and critical thinking. Informative hints on what to discuss and possible activities which may be used with the class as a whole and individual teams will be found here.

The third section contains the master copies of the problem- solving activities handouts for the students. These handouts present the problem and state the development guidelines the students must follow. The marking structure for each project is also outlined here. Since this program is designed to allow the students to invent and develop projects on a group, team and individual basis there are no, and cannot be, any set criteria for project design. Each project will have an information sheet to go with it that will outline the various performance parameters that the student's project must meet, ie.. speed, time, size, etc. but each student is free to meet these parameters in any manner of design they choose.

The fourth section contains the master handouts for the student's journal. This journal must be kept for each project that the student does. Each worksheet assists the student in a step- by-step process for completing the project.

The fifth section is the evaluation report that the teacher will fill out on the student and his/her project.

The sixth section is the teacher's background information on each of the problem solving activities that the students will be working on. Here will be found teaching hints and background information on the various projects. There are also provided concept drawings of some of the projects and suggested design paths. These are to help the teacher understand the various ways that the project may be completed. Under no condition should the students see these, as they may be influenced by the designs and creativity may be inhibited.

The seventh section is a list of resources that may be handy for further information.

Everyone at one time or the other is faced with a problems which need solving. Most of us do a recpectable job of solving problems based on gut instincts, advice from others or the live and learn method, but true effective problem solving is often lacking in the averages person's store of skills.

There are four basic skills in the problem solving precess which can looked at as stages in the process of dealing with and solving problems. These stages will be utilised in dealing with techincal problem solving, they are;

1. Creative Thinking

2. Critical Thinking       

3. Planning and Organising 

4. Reviewing and Evaluating

Brain Storming: Brain storming is a structured non-physical activity in which the participants are actively encouraged to think of as many varied and diverse ideas as they can. Some of these may be crazy and completely outrageous. The whole idea is to come up with original ideas that are as diverse as possible on the subject being discussed.

Students must be directed on the task, and given a specific period of time. A five minute length of time, or several five minute sessions interspersed with evaluation work well. Be sure to emphasise that this time should be for thoughtful ideas not just silly ones.

Rules for Brain Storming: *These rules must be followed for creative thinking to take place*

1) No evaluation or criticism of ideas is permitted, to ensure that people are more concerned to generate rather than defend ideas.

2) Participants are encouraged to suggest the most outrageous solutions they can conceive, on the assumption that these often   contain contain kernels of truth that can be extracted during the analysis session.

3) As many ideas as can be thought of are voiced, in the belief that out of quantity will come quality.

4) Participants attempt to build upon, integrate, and develop ideas that have already been voiced in session.

• Alex Osborn (1963)

 In the book The Search for Satori and Creativity (1979), Paul Torrance describes the Creative Thinking Processes as something that allows one to step outside the confines of self set thinking and explore new ideas. Torrance list four concepts which aid in this exploration:

FLUENCY .............................the production of a great number of ideas.

FLEXIBILITY .........................the production of ideas or products that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought.

ORIGINALITY ....................... the production of ideas that are unique or unusual.

ELABORATION ......................the production of ideas that display intensive detail or enrichment.

A worthwhile activity is to have someone who has invented something, or someone like an artist, visit the class and discuss with the students what the process of creating something is like. Students should understand that creativity, as Paul Torrance mused, is almost infinite and involves every human sense, and perhaps even the extrasensory.

Another method to encourage creative thinking with junior students is to use the SCAMPER technique for brain storming. This method uses key words to promote creative thinking.

SUBSTITUTE ........................What else instead? Other ingredient? Other power? Other material? etc.

COMBINE .............................How about a blend, mixture? Combine? force? etc.

ADAPT .................................What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Can I fit it in? Does the past offer a parallel?

MINIFY.................................Form, shape? What to add? More time?

MAGNIFY .............................Higher? Longer? Stronger? Bigger? Faster?

PUT TO OTHER USES ..............New way to do it? Other use if modified? Other place to use it?

ELIMINATE............................Smaller? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Lower?

REVERSE ..............................Interchange components? Other pattern?

REARRANGE ..................... ...Other layout? Upside down? Backwards? Positive vs negative? Opposites?

There are many activities which may be used to teach the function of the scamper system in its role of enhancing creative thinking. The following two methods work well and generally evoke a positive response from the students. The students must understand that what they are doing has value to the outcome of the projects they will be working on.

A) Select 5 to 10 objects from the classroom and have the students in their groups scamper them to find as many variations etc. as possible.

B) List 10 to 12 items on the board (car, spoon, carrot etc.) have the groups combine the words to create new items. Have the students explain    the use of the new item, how it works, and draw a sketch of it. Use the worksheets provided.

This skill involves the ability to analyse and reason in order to make decisions, create or suggest ideas courses of action and strategies. Attainment levels are described in terms of students progressing from creating plans involving a few easily identified factors set in familiar context to more complex situations requiring a greater degree of analysis before appropriate strategies can be devised.

Critical thinking is the analysis step that comes after the creative thinking, or brain storming part of the project. This is the time in which students can reject, or embrace the ideas that have come forward during the brain storming session. This critical thinking process also allows the student to look at what they are developing during the course of the project to see if it will work, where the problems are, if any and look at ways of correcting them.

The combining of critical thinking with problem solving assumes that critical thinking begins with a problem and results in a solution to the problem. This is true in the context of this program.

The problem faced with students in terms of critical thinking is trying to get them to be open minded, and less self centred in their view of the world around them. There is often the "it can't be done" or the "show me, I don't believe it" attitude to overcome.

In assisting students to develop the skill of critical thinking the following points of analysis are useful. These simple but effective statements help students to explore concepts in detail, (often for the first time) simply by taking time to think about them. These points are found as the main part of the analysis work sheet that accompanies each project.

1) Does my idea work? Will it be practical?

2) Is this a new idea?

3) Are there similar components already in use?

4) Can it be made? Will it be difficult or easy?

5) Is it efficient? Is there too much resistance?

6) Is its construction as simple as possible?

7) Will it be reliable? Can it stand up to use?

8) Will it cost too much to make?

9) Is material readily available?

10) Can it meet the performance criteria?

General Notes on Section Management

Student Placement

The method that has proven most successful for placement of students, is in groups of four for the initial work. This will allow the sharing of background and gained knowledge as the project progresses in its initial stages. The groups should then be split into teams of two for the final phase of the project.

1) When in teams of four the students work on the brain storming part of the project, and the initial concept development. The more    input from different people the greater the idea pool to draw concepts from. (it should be noted that the rules for brain storming    must be closely monitored by the teacher to ensure the free flowing of ideas with out ridicule).

2) When workable concepts have been formulated within the groups the students should then be split into teams of no more than two    people to finalise, refine, and construct the project. This will result in one similar concept coming to a tangible reality by two    different paths. This also allows for more individual creativity on the part of each student on the final outcome of the
   project when working in teams of two.

Time

The time allowed for each section will vary according to the progress which the students make in their project development. Generally the time allotment should be as follows.

A) Introduction, general discussion and class brain storming......1 hour
B) Group Brain Storming and trial of ideas...........................1 hour
C) Team brain storming and refinement...............................1 hours
D) Project development and testing......................................10 - 15 hours
E) Final testing and evaluation............................................3-5 hours

The time will be up to the teacher to set and adjust as needed, but this outline will assist in guiding you. Some projects like the marble maze will not take as much time as the Arm or Brick.

Marking

A) Student evaluation:   This area evaluates the student in relation to the goals of the program.

1) project completed within time allowed......1 to 10 marks

2) journal maintained to standards ..............1 to 20 marks

3) interaction with group ..........................1 to 10 marks(this looks at how well the student participates in the brain storming session,do they add to or detract from the exercise)

4) participation in project development .........1 to 20 marks (this looks at how well the student works with their team partner,is the work equal or one sided)

5) hand skills, use of tools and materials .....1 to 20 marks

6) creative, critical thinking ......................1 to 20 marks (are they open minded, can they learn to see other points of view, can they change concept thinking mid-stream)

B) Project evaluation:

 This area evaluates the project in terms of meeting the performance criteria as laid out for each project. There are five areas which will be evaluated. Four areas are areas in which the project must meet specific levels of measurable performance, each of these areas are worth 20 marks. Marks are subtracted from the areas if performance levels are not met, or added to the total if performance levels are exceeded.

C) Teacher's evaluation of the project.

 Did the design do the job effectively, is it well constructed, were fasteners etc. used correctly. This is really up to the teacher to judge according to the expectations given to the students at the start of, and during the project. This mark is out of 20.

Hitch-hiking

This activity will take place when one group will copy the ideas of another group during or after the brain storming sessions, or change design part way through the project adopting ideas from another team. This is often a sign that confidence may be lacking on the part of one group or team.

On the other hand this may also be a sign of keen observation by one group or team in noting that someone else has a better idea, or method of solving the problem. Hitch-hiking is not all that bad if improvements or modifications to the borrowed idea make it better than it was.

A direct, blatant copy of another group or teams idea should not be allowed. The teacher will have to work with the people copying the idea and help them overcome a creative block, or lack of confidence that may be taking place, or to strongly motivate them if it is laziness that is causing the copying.

Journal

This is a must! This handbook contains master copies of material for an effective journal to meet the needs of the class. This journal will assist both the student and the teacher to keep track of the project development and how the student is progressing .

It is advisable that journals be kept in the classroom for the majority of the time to ensure that they are there each class. In doing this the teacher also has access to them for review from time to time without a set day for students to hand them in on.

Materials

As in any shop course materials for use with these projects should be in an area separate from other materials. Student projects should be kept in a secured area to prevent problems that arise from other classes using the same shop . In fitting with the course concept the students should be encouraged to scrounge up as much material as possible from home. This may include parts of old broken toys, appliances etc. If there are items that the students want which are not in the shop or at home they have the option to buy them or to change the project's design. Any materials used from the shop that are not being paid for by the student should be returned to the shop for future use within this course.