Productive Thinking-1

Shreepad Karmalkar
Professor, Electrical Engineering Department
Core Team Member, Teaching Learning Center
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

karmal@ee.iitm.ac.in

We discuss answers the following questions

How can I develop my thinking to generate
ideas ?
In how many different ways (tabular, graphical
or other) can I present the data ?

Thinking is said to be

- reproductive when it is based on similar problems

encountered in the past, or taught to solve

- productive when it generates as many alternative

approaches as possible
Research is all about productive thinking which
is also called higher order thinking consisting of
critical thinking and creativity

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.

Example what kind of questions

alter the domain

A scientist questioned the following

hypothesis regarding the cause of obesity
Overweight people overeat because their
level of hunger is higher than that of
average weight people. This higher level of
hunger is responsible for their overweight.
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Example what kind of questions

alter the domain
The scientist reported the following
experiment to support his doubt.

50 overweight
50 average
weight
Group A: 1 Sandwich

50 overweight
50 average
weight
Group B: 3 Sandwiches

Asking new questions is not enough;

work on a verifiable answer too !

Example what kind of questions

alter the domain
. and made the following Observation
Average number of sandwiches eaten by an average weight person in both Groups A and B 2
an overweight person in Group A 1
an overweight person in Group B 3

Example what kind of questions

alter the domain
. and drew the following inference

Overeating habit of overweight people is governed

by an external factor, namely availability of food,
rather than by an internal factor, namely hunger.

Assignment
Read up the following article which highlights the
elements of productive thinking:

P. S. Blackawton et. al., Blackawton bees, Biology

Lett.. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.1056, published
online on 22nd December 2010.

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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 ones basic skills,
not regretting that one was not born with a quick

or logical mind.

Motivation is recognized as a crucial factor in the

development of talent and the application of
creativity. The importance of Intrinsic Motivation
in driving an individual to practice and work hard
to master a specific domain, is undisputed. Cox

(1926), in his study of 301 geniuses, wrote: 'high

but not the highest intelligence, combined with the
greatest degrees of persistence, will achieve
greater eminence than the highest degree of
intelligence with somewhat less persistence'.

Education is not about learning

diverse subjects,
but about learning
diverse ways to the same subject.
- Aurobindo