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
 Knowing
 Comprehension
 Application or Problem solving
 Evaluation or Critical thinking
High
 Creativity
GIFT OR SKILL ?
• “That “creativity” is beyond analysis is a romantic
illusion we must now outgrow” – Peter Medawar.
• 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.
• Creativity is a matter of organizing one’s basic skills,
not regretting that one was not born with a “quick”
or “logical” mind.
INTELLIGENCE versus CREATIVITY
• Marilyn vos Savant (IQ 228 – highest ever) is
merely a question and answer columnist for
Parade magazine.
• Richard Feynman (IQ 122 - less than many runof-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.
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”
Optimistic
Roses
Pessimistic Thorns
Realistic
Roses and thorns
Stoic
Roses or thorns
Humane
Roses for you and Roses for me
Selfish
Roses for me and thorns for you
Sadistic
Thorns for you and your blood for me
Divine
Roses for you and your thorns for me
PRESCRIPTIONS
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.
Examples of Analogies
• Solar system  Atomic structure
• Brownian motion of dust particles
 Electrons in a crystal
Different ways of calculating

• 22 <  < 4 (square), 3 <  < 23 (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
• Graph
• Symbolic
• Trees
• Table: list, matrix
• Venn diagram
• Other diagrams
REFORMULATION
How can you become more productive ?
How can you make your job easier ?
PROBLEM
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.
TABLE
(LIST)
Doping
Expt 1 Expt 2
0.5
1
10
7
10.2
7.2
2
0.5
1
2
5
8
4.3
3
6
9
4.7
3.1
N
0.5
1
2
4.1
4.1
3.9
4.8
5
5.8
N+
0.5
1
2
3
2.9
3.2
6.1
P+
Adhesion
Strength
(106 N / m2)
Area
(cm2)
P
TABLE (MATRIX)
Area
Doping
P+
P
N
N+
0.5 cm2
10
8
4.1
-
10.2
9
4.8
-
1 cm2
7
4.3
4.1
3
7.2
4.7
5
3.2
2 cm2
5
3
3.9
2.9
Adhesion strength ( 106 N / m2)
6
3.1
5.8
6.1
GRAPH
Adhesion strength
(106 N / m2)
10
1 cm2
8
0.5 cm2
6
4
2 cm2
2
0
N+
N
P
P+
Graph
Teaching-learning Process
Student action
Student question
Student response
Teacher question
Teacher response
Teacher talk
Using chalkboard
Time
Using charts
Using projections
Using multimedia
A picture is worth a thousand words
PROBLEM FINDING
CONTENTS
• Problem solving versus problem finding
• Formulation of a problem
• Types and attributes of research problems
• Sources of research problems
Problem Solving vs Problem Finding
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.
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
LITERATURE SURVEY
• Why literature survey
• What to read
• How much to read
• How to read
• Note taking
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
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• Observation
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
• Verification
• Observation
• Generalization
• 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
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Dimensions of Communication
•
Understanding and agreement
•
Effectiveness and efficiency
Ineffective Communication
“Sir, my employer wants a letter about the
completion of my thesis written by you !”
Inefficient  Efficient
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
ORAL COMMUNICATION
Verbal: spoken words, pauses, stress and intonation
vocal
words
38 %
7%
55 %
Non-verbal: gesture and facial expression
Attention span
Attention span of the audience: initial 20 min of
concentration, lapse for 10-20 min, slight recovery
and then renewed relapse till the end.
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.
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
Time management
 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.
 Working out a new idea requires much routine work,
and to this part of an investigation, we can apply
efficiency methods.
Stress management
Persistence and the ability to manage boredom and
frustration are crucial for research work.
Sources of stress
 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.”
Professional 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.
Do not follow where the path may lead
Go instead where there is no path
……… Ralph Emerson
Questions or comments ?