A major challenge in the process of innovation is to generate quality products that are original as well as feasible, because these features are associated with contradictory cognitive thought processes. This study investigated whether opportunities to engage in an idea generation, selection, and subsequent refinement with a simultaneous focus on…

Engineering design has been central to technology education. Currently, online collaborative platforms for designers are widely used as digital forms of an engineer's notebook. However, traditional forms are still valued as the medium of engineering design during the conceptual phase of design since a paper notebook and pen or pencil allow…

Semantic distance is increasingly used for automated scoring of originality on divergent thinking tasks, such as the Alternate Uses Task (AUT). Despite some psychometric support for semantic distance -- including positive correlations with human creativity ratings -- additional work is needed to optimize its reliability and validity, including…

With the emergence of a wealth of research-based information in the field of educational neuroscience, educators are now able to make more evidence-based decisions in the important area of curriculum design and construction. By viewing from the perspective of educational neuroscience, we can give a more meaningful and lasting purpose of leading to…

Forty-two undergraduate and graduate students completed VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style, the non-verbal Torrance Test Thinking Creatively with Pictures, and the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). VIEW assesses individuals' orientation to change, manner of processing, and ways of deciding, while the Torrance test measures several…

The purpose of this study was to learn about teachers' thinking processes as they attempted to implement in their classrooms two recently acquired models of teaching. The first, the concept attainment strategy, focused on having students categorize people, places, or events into classes according to certain cues provided by positive or negative…

Offers a sketch of a concept called the "liminal state" that may represent a central element of designing and a condition that facilitates the best design products and processes. A definition of "liminal state," some contexts in which it may occur, and some areas where liminal states might improve performance are given.…

The teaching of decision-making, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking skills is necessary to ensure adaptability to our world of accelerated change. Living skills in the technology and information age will include the understanding and application of higher level thinking skills, which will be the educational "basics" of tomorrow.…

This study was conducted to determine whether efficiency in concept attainment can be increased as a function of the interaction of the use of good negative instances and increased attention as defined in terms of risk conditions. Subjects were 36 ninth-grade students of average problem solving ability as determined by IQ. Six treatment groups…

This updated 1987 article argues that teaching of thinking skills, common in gifted education, has wider value in regular school instructional programs. It describes programs which have implemented Talents Unlimited, a classroom-level, research-based model for teaching creative- and critical-thinking skills which encompasses productive thinking,…

Planning for the distant future should be an integral part of current decision making. (JD)

Identifies a new source of leadership style--intuitive leadership. Discusses how an intuitive style may fit into the scheme of education leadership-training; reviews literature on intuitive leadership styles; and suggests procedures by which higher educational personnel can employ and encourage the use of intuition as part of the decision-making…

Two hypotheses derived from the theory of action identification, which predicts that people are more likely to adopt a novel course of action if they concentrate on the "how" rather than the "why" aspects of their behavior, were tested with 95 undergraduate students. Hypotheses examined how the level of action identification…

Noting that the ability to think critically and creatively can be encouraged even in the very young, this book provides practical strategies and lesson plans for introducing children in kindergarten through grade 3 to the fun and rigors of skillful thinking. The first set of four lessons is designed to start children thinking and to lay the…

Socrates' contention was that the sophist misconstrues the sphere of ethics. Although the sophist presents a systematized moral world, no experience is implied. This can be applied to the new professionalism in the teaching of ethics. Loosening the creative tension of perceived responsibility effectively closes down the real moral decision. The…