Introduction to the Course

Free course - Creativity in Science

The degree of technical competence is inversely proportional to the level of management.

SCIENTIFIC THINKING

As is generally known, science and education are one of strategic resources of the state, one of fundamental forms of culture of civilization, as well as competitive advantage of every individual.

Global discoveries of modern life occur both deep in and at the junction of various sciences, and at that, often and often the more unusual the combination of sciences is, the wider range of scientific prospects is promised by non-standard conspectus of their combination, for example, biology and electronics, philology and mathematics, etc.

Discoveries in one area stimulate development in other spheres of science as well. Scientific development of a society is a programmable and predictable phenomenon, and this issue is specifically dealt by the futurology science.

Modern techniques of pedagogy, psychology, medicine  and other sciences do not only enable orientation and informational "pumping" of human brain, but also the formation of an individual's character optimally suitable for the role of scientist.

Unlike a computer, any human being has intuition - the element of thinking so far in no way replaceable (although some developments in this sphere are coming into being). Narrow specialization of scientists tapers the scope of their activity and is explained by an immense volume of information required for modern scientist.

This problem is being solved (partially though) through a variety of actions - intellectualization of computers, "simplification" of information (its reduction to short, but data intensive/high-capacity formulas and formulations), application of psycho-technologies. Psycho-technologies (mnemonics, educational games, hypnopaedia, (auto-) hypnosis, propaganda and advertising methods and techniques, including technotronic and pharmacological /nootropic preparations/, etc.) make it possible to solve the following problem.

A "black box" concept applied in computer science designates a system into which the chaotic information is entered, and in a little while a version, hypothesis or theory is produced. A human being represents (with some reservations though) such a system. Information processing occurs consciously and subconsciously based on certain rules (program). The more information processing rules we enter, the fewer number of degrees of freedom remains in the system. Hence, it is desirable to enter the very basic axioms. Differences in programs (even mere default - but without lack of key information) form differences in opinions and argumentation. The longer the period of program operation is (including based on internal biological clock), the greater the effect one can expect. The provability of success is directly proportional to the quantity of samples/tests, hence it is desirable to build in basic mechanisms of scientific thinking at the earliest age possible in a maximum wide audience and to stimulate their active work, and in certain time intervals make evaluation and update of "programs" of thinking.

"Comprehension by an individual of new skills occurs only step-wise. Transition between two following mental conditions takes place: "I'll never understand how this can be done and I'll never be able to do it" and "it is so obvious that I can't understand what needs to be explained here". Except for early childhood, the leaps of this kind occur when mastering reading and mastering writing, mastering all standard extensions of set of numbers (fractional, negative, rational numbers, but not complex numbers), when mastering the concept of infinitesimal value and its consequences (the limits), differentiation, when mastering integration, complex of specific abilities forming the phenomenon  of information generating (in other words, in the course of transition from studying science or art to purposeful/conscious professional  creative work).

We hereby note that at any of these stages, for the reasons not quite clear to us, the leap may not occur. It means that certain ability has not turned into a stage of subconscious professional application and cannot be used randomly by an individual for the solution of problems he/she faces. At that, the required algorithm may be well known.

In other words, an individual knows letters. He/she knows how to write them. He/she can form words from them. He/she can write a sentence. But! This work would require all his/her intellectual and mainly physical effort.  For the reason that all resources of the brain are spent for the process of writing, errors are inevitable. It is obvious that despite formal literacy (the presence of knowledge of algorithm) an individual cannot be engaged in any activity for which the ability to write is one of the basic or at least essential skills.

Similar state of an individual is widely known in modern pedagogy and is called functional illiteracy. Similarly, one can speak of functional inability to integrate (quite a frequent reason for the exclusion of the 1st and 2nd grade students from physical and mathematical departments). Curiously enough, at higher levels the leap does not occur so often, to the extent that it is even considered normal. The formula: "An excellent student, but failed to make proper choice of vocation. Well, he's not a physicist by virtue of thinking - well, that's the way" (the leap allowing to mechanically employ specific style of thinking / physical in this case / did not occur).

As to automatic creativity, these concepts in general are considered disconnected, and individuals for whom the process of creation of new essentialities in science and culture is the ordinary professional work not demanding special strain of effort are named geniuses. However, a child sick with functional illiteracy would perceive his peer who has mastered writing to the extent of being able of doing it without looking into a writing-book, a genius, too! Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that creativity at the level of simple genius is basically accessible to everyone. Modern education translates to pupils' knowledge (of which, according to research, 90% is being well and almost immediately forgotten) and very limited number of skills which would in a step-wise manner move the individual to the following stage of intellectual or physical development.

One should know right well that endless school classes and home work, exhausting sports trainings are no more than eternal "throwing of cube" in the hope that lucky number will come out - in the hope of a "click" (in a brainstorming - "hitchhiking"). And the "click" may occur at the first dash. It may never occur as well. Accordingly, the philosophy "repetition is the mother of learning" in effect adds up to a "trial-and-error method" which has been for a long time and fairly branded as such by TRIZists (the followers of Inventive Problems Solution Theory).

As a matter of fact, the uneven nature of transition between "in"-and "out"- states at the moment of "click" suggests that it is a question of structural transformation of mentality. That is, "click" requires destruction of a structure (a pattern of thought, a picture of the world) and creation of another one in which a new skill is included "hardwarily" to be used automatically. Restrictions stimulate internal activity.

It is proven that creative task "Draw something" without setting pre-determined conditions with restrictions is carried out less productively and less originally than the task: "Draw an unusual animal with a pencil during 30 minutes". Required personal qualities - traits of character /temperamental attributes/ may be divided into four conventional groups: necessary, desirable, undesirable and inadmissible.

Knowledge can be divided into two groups: means and ways of information processing (including philosophy, logic, mathematics, etc.), the so-called meta-skills or meta-knowledge/ which are universal and applicable in any field of activity), and the subject (subjects) matter per se.

From the view point of methodology all methods of scientific knowledge can be divided into five basic groups:

1. Philosophical methods. These include dialectics and metaphysics.

2. General scientific (general logical) approaches and research methods - analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction, generalization, idealization, analogy, modeling, stochastic-statistical methods, systemic approach, etc.

3. Special-scientific methods: totality of techniques, research methods used in one or another field of knowledge.

4. Disciplinary methods, i.e. a set of methods applied in one or another discipline.

5. Methods of interdisciplinary research - a set of several synthetic, integrative methods generated mainly at the cross-disciplinary junction of branches of science. Scientific cognition is characterized by two levels - empirical and theoretical. Characteristic feature of empirical knowledge is the fact fixing activity. 

Theoretical cognition is substantial cognition /knowledge per se/ which occurs at the level of high order abstraction. There two ways to attempt to solve a problem:  search for the necessary information or investigate it independently by means of observation, experiments and theoretical thinking. Observation and experiment are the most important methods of research in the process of scientific cognition. It is often said that theory is generalization of practice, experience or observations.

Scientific generalizations often imply the use of a number of special logical methods:

1) Universalization /globbing/ method which consists in that general points/aspects/ and properties observed in the limited set of experiments hold true for all possible cases;

2) Idealization method consisting in that conditions are specified at which processes described in laws occur in their pure form, i.e. the way they cannot occur in reality;

3) Conceptualization method consisting in that concepts borrowed from other theories are entered into the formulation of laws, these concepts acquiring acceptably /accurate/ exact meaning and significance.

Major methods of scientific cognition are:

1) Method of ascending from abstract to concrete. The process of scientific cognition is always connected with transition from extremely simple concepts to more difficult concrete ones.

2) Method of modeling and principle of system. It consists in that the object inaccessible to direct research is replaced with its model. A model possesses similarity with the object in terms of its properties that are of interest for the researcher.

3) Experiment and observation. In the course of experiment the observer would isolate artificially a number of characteristics of the investigated system and examine their dependence on other parameters. It is necessary to take into account that about 10 - 25% of scientific information is proven outdated annually and in the near future this figure can reach 70%; according to other sources, the volume of information doubles every 5 years. It means that the system of education/teaching and "non-stop" retraining applied in some cases will become a universal and mandatory phenomenon, whereas the boundary between necessary and desirable knowledge will become more vague and conventional. In modern conditions active and purposeful studying of someone's future sphere (spheres) of activity should start 4-5 years prior to entering the university.

Considerable development will be seen in "preventive" (pre-emptive, anticipatory) education taking into account prospects of development of science for 3-5-10 years from no on. Masterful knowledge of methods of scientific-analytical and creative thinking is becoming the same social standard and a sign of affiliation to elite social groups as, for example, the presence of higher education diploma. The law of inverse proportionality of controllability and the ability to development says the more the system is controllable, the less it is capable of development. Controllable development may only be overtaking/catching up/.

Now, a few thoughts about errors in the course of training.  Traditional approach tends to consider an error as the lack of learning, assiduity, attention, diligence, etc. As a result the one to blame is a trainee. Error should be perceived as a constructive element in the system of heuristic training. An educational institution is just the institute where the person should make mistakes under the guidance of a teacher.

An important element of cognitive system is professional terminology. The lack of knowledge of terms would not release anyone from the need to understand ... Each term contains the concentrated mass of nuances and details distinguishing the scientific vision of the matter in question from the ordinary, unscientific understanding... It should be mentioned that the process of teaching/educating/ is a stress which has pluses and minuses, whereas the process of studying is a much smaller stress.

One of the main tasks in terms of (self-) education may be the formation of active desire (internal requirement) to study and be engaged in (self-) education with independent search of appropriate means and possibilities.

Special consideration should be given to teaching/training means and methods, i.e. what is comprehensible to one group of trainees may be useless for others. Major differentiation would be seen in age categories plus individual features.

Training games are quite a universal tool used for a wide range of subjects and development of practical skills, since the game reflects the trainee's behavior in reality. It is a system that provides an immediate feedback. Instead of listening to a lecture the trainee is given the individual lesson adapted for his/her needs. Game is modeling of reality and method of influencing it by the trainee. Some minuses of game include conventionality and schematic nature of what is going on and the development of the trainee's behavioral and cogitative stereotypes.

Major strategic consequences of wide spread of scientific thinking skills may include systemic (including quantitative - qualitative) changes in the system of science, education and industry, sharp increase of labor force mobility (both "white" and "blue collar") and possible global social-economic and social-political changes.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.